Newbie Equipment Extras Question

So I bought an intermediate brew kit and I just wanted to know what are some good upgrades to get. I bought a bottle washer attachment, grain bags and a wort chiller. What else would make my life easier?

What size brew kettle do you have?

Propane turkey fryer kit, with a good size kettle! If you're doing a split or partial boil, one of these kits would be a great upgrade. Being able to do a full boil helps with the complexity of your brew day, and the turkey fryer burner I've got boils wort in under 30 minutes.

Definitely a turkey fryer with a pot big enough for full boils. My beers got much better when I moved to full boils.

I am a big fan of the counter flow wort chiller. It even makes a fun DIY project.

I vote for a secondary vessel like a better bottle so you can free up your primary fermenter to get another batch going ASAP. I quickly realized that 5 gallons of brew doesn't last very long. I ended up buying two better bottles and a second fermenting bucket so I could get more batches going.

If not included in your kit an autosiphon and a beer thief are 2 very handy tools.

I have a beer thief. My brew pot is 4 gallons. How much does one of those turkey things go for? I was thinking of buying another Carbouy. Should I get a 5 or 6 gallon? The one I have now is a 5 gallon.

Keep your eye on craigslist. Pots can be cleaned out pretty easily. If you cannot find deals on there, check with homedepot or lowes. Some have found 30qt cookers with a burner for under $50 I believe.

Once you get a burner, check this out to help cut down on boil times.

EDIT: Found the Homedepot one.

Thanks man. I bought a wort chiller and brewpot off ebay but they turned out to be crap so I am going to buy that turkey pot thing but I am still in the market for a wort chiller. What kind of wort chiller should I look into?

Assuming you are still bottling....a bottle tree was the best $25 I ever spent.

Ya I think I am going to buy a bottling tree and a wine thief because it turns out I don't have one.

I heard that oxidizing, (is that a word?), the beer prior to putting the yeast in is good. What can I buy that will do this for me?

thedude123 said:

I heard that oxidizing, (is that a word?), the beer prior to putting the yeast in is good. What can I buy that will do this for me?

Click to expand...

Oxidizing is indeed a word, but not the word you are looking for. Oxidizing is a bad thing and can sometimes happen if you start pouring the wort while it is too hot.

The word you are looking for is aerating or (more accurately) oxygenating. This is adding oxygen to the cooled wort for the yeast. There are lots of contraptions that you can get to pump oxygen or air into the wort. Most homebrew shops sell kits that use an oxygen canister. Some people rig up an aquarium pump with an inline air filter to remove nasties from the air.

But, all that being said, I don't use one. I just be sure to splash the wort and my top-off water a lot while pouring into the fermenter. I have never had a problem. One of my buddies has the oxygen canister thing, and he said that it was a waste of money.

I would save the $45 or so on the oxygenation system and put it towards a wort chiller....I don't have one yet, but a wort chiller is definitely going to be my next purchase.

Thanks I will just stick with the wort chiller then.