A few newbie equipment questions, and wort chilling

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freshyill

freshyill

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Hey guys, I'm new both to home brewing and to the forum (this is my first post).

So I just brewed my second batch of beer last night (an amber ale/IPA hybrid from a friend's recipe), and I'm still working with pretty basic equipment. I enjoy doing it, and I think that sooner or later, I'll upgrade to better equipment. Right now, I've got the Ale Pail and the kit that comes with that, and some other basic stuff. I did my boiling in a big turkey fryer pot, but I did it on the stovetop (pretty much destroyed an electric burner in the process). I may actually assemble the fryer base and do it on that next time.

So anyway, what upgrades would be smart to purchase first that will give me the best beer for my buck? I figure I'll add something new each time I do a new batch, which will probably be a few times a year. I'd like to first upgrade the little things that will help the most and then, once my skill has improved, move on to the bigger items.

Now, about wort chilling. As I understand it, chilling it faster can improve the clarity of your beer. I chilled my wort last night in about an hour by immersing my kettle in a tub of very salty ice water. Some of the commercial wort chillers I've seen can get the job done in under 10 minutes, but they also cost $100+. I'm not quite there yet, but I'm curious: How much difference does it really make?

Thanks!
 
freshyill said:
Hey guys, I'm new both to home brewing and to the forum (this is my first post).

So I just brewed my second batch of beer last night (an amber ale/IPA hybrid from a friend's recipe), and I'm still working with pretty basic equipment. I enjoy doing it, and I think that sooner or later, I'll upgrade to better equipment. Right now, I've got the Ale Pail and the kit that comes with that, and some other basic stuff. I did my boiling in a big turkey fryer pot, but I did it on the stovetop (pretty much destroyed an electric burner in the process). I may actually assemble the fryer base and do it on that next time.

So anyway, what upgrades would be smart to purchase first that will give me the best beer for my buck? I figure I'll add something new each time I do a new batch, which will probably be a few times a year. I'd like to first upgrade the little things that will help the most and then, once my skill has improved, move on to the bigger items.

Now, about wort chilling. As I understand it, chilling it faster can improve the clarity of your beer. I chilled my wort last night in about an hour by immersing my kettle in a tub of very salty ice water. Some of the commercial wort chillers I've seen can get the job done in under 10 minutes, but they also cost $100+. I'm not quite there yet, but I'm curious: How much difference does it really make?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Well, if you're making 5 gallon batches (and boiling all five gallons), it's very difficult to cool 5 gallons from boiling to pitching temperature. You can find wort chillers for $60 or so, often. You want to chill fast, not just for clarity although it helps, but also to prevent infection. Wort (and food, too) is most vulnerable under 140 degrees. So, chilling to pitching temperatures quickly so you can pitch the yeast and outcompete any other micro-organisms is important.

I think you'll like the turkey fryer- you'll get to a boil faster, and no mess!

The first thing I'd get is a decent pot, and burner. Since you have that, I'd do the chiller next. After that, it's really a matter of what you want to do. Go to partial mash, so you can use grains that you can't steep, or for cheaper ingredients? If so, you could go with a mashtun made out of a cooler. Right now, you could do partial mashes with a big mesh bag if you want, so it's not necessary.

There are so many ways to brew. You could make great beer for a long time, just with what you have! Even though more equipment makes it more fun for so many of us, once the basics are met you're well on your way.

The biggest improvement in my beer come with temperature control. My fermenting temperatures were all over the place, so that was my priority.
 
Welcome aboard!

I ended up making my wort chillers and it was easy and cheap. The basic chillers will only need the following and you can look in the do it yourself section for more ideas and styles.

At least 20 feet copper tubing
Hose clamps
Connector for either sink or gardenhose
Vinyl tubing
I used a 5 gallon bucket to bend the pipe around and zip ties to hold it’s shape.

Should come out looking similar to this:
wort-chiller.jpg
 
It didn't take me long to buy a wort chiller and more fermenting buckets/lids/airlocks.
 
Looks like a wort chiller will be high on my list of upgrades. I'd consider building one myself. Is the copper easy to bend? I think my main concern would be figuring out how to get a 20-foot piece of copper tubing home from the store. Either way, it'll be my next big investment in my setup.
 
freshyill said:
Looks like a wort chiller will be high on my list of upgrades. I'd consider building one myself. Is the copper easy to bend? I think my main concern would be figuring out how to get a 20-foot piece of copper tubing home from the store. Either way, it'll be my next big investment in my setup.
Click to expand...

you can buy a 3/8" x 20' copper coil from home depot for like $18, it is already circular, but just tighten up the coils. I have yet to brew my first batch but have been looking into getting my setup going. hope it helps, and hope it's halfway right. i'm sure the guys on here can validate/correct me if i'm wrong.
 
freshyill said:
Looks like a wort chiller will be high on my list of upgrades. I'd consider building one myself. Is the copper easy to bend? I think my main concern would be figuring out how to get a 20-foot piece of copper tubing home from the store. Either way, it'll be my next big investment in my setup.
Click to expand...

This isn't rigid copper pipe, it's very flexible tubing. Very easy to bend by hand, but easy to kink if you're not careful. I used Bobby M's method of sweating copper elbows on instead of making any sharp bends. I also laced mine up with copper wiring, but I don't think that's necessary.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
+1 on the homemade copper chiller. Easy to make and cheap. Just bend it around something round rather than trying to bend it freehand.
Put it in your boiling wort for the last couple of minutes to sanitize it, kill the flame and then turn on the hose slowly. You don't need to blast it; you just need a fresh supply of cold water running gently through it.
The stuff coming out of the exhaust hose will be hot for a few minutes so be careful that you don't crank the water pressure and douse your kids with it!
 

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