So my budget allows me about $50 per month for beer brewing equipment (and another $30-40 for ingredients). So far I have a basic kit (2 buckets, hoses, capper, etc.), 6 gallon and 4 gallon kettles, brewing bag, and a heating belt. I'm torn between building a mash tun (rubbermaid + conversion), a wort chiller, or an extra secondary fermenter. Which would you buy if you were me? I'm primarily doing partial grain, and probably won't be moving to full grain any time soon.
Best equipment purchase -- $50 or less
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GoldMiner
Well-Known Member
If you don't plan on going all-grain any time soon I'd hold off on the mash tun build and go with the extra secondary fermenter so you can have multiple batches fermenting to build up the pipeline.
Bru
Well-Known Member
Is there any reason for not wanting to go to all-grain ?
If its just a shortage of equipment I'd get the mash tun. Then you can go AG asap. Its an easy project as well. In fact, you may be able to build the chiller and mash tun within your budget.
If its just a shortage of equipment I'd get the mash tun. Then you can go AG asap. Its an easy project as well. In fact, you may be able to build the chiller and mash tun within your budget.
spiffcow
Well-Known Member
AnthonyD
Well-Known Member
I'm totally new, but I'd think the wort chiller would be great for your next purchase.
doobliebop
Well-Known Member
So maybe you should get some sort of water filter with the first month's equipment money...?
thedidey
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I would eliminate the mash tun if you're not going AG anytime soon. A wort chiller will cut down on your brewday which is nice. A second secondary would only be necessary if you're planning on doing some longer aging (like oaking or other adjuncts).
Also, whether you go AG or not, you're still using 5 gallons of the same water. I'm not saying you should go AG, but I am saying that if you think water is holding your beer back then dooblie may be right.
Also, whether you go AG or not, you're still using 5 gallons of the same water. I'm not saying you should go AG, but I am saying that if you think water is holding your beer back then dooblie may be right.
stageseven
Well-Known Member
I personally would get:
1 - tub to make a swamp chiller
2 - second fermenter or carboy
3 - more ingredients
1 - tub to make a swamp chiller
2 - second fermenter or carboy
3 - more ingredients
Save up for a couple of months & get something nice; maybe a kegging setup.
Partial boils or full boil? If full, I'd do the wort chiller first.
Otherwise, if you bottle condition, I'd get a vinator and bottling tree - one of the best purchases I ever made
Otherwise, if you bottle condition, I'd get a vinator and bottling tree - one of the best purchases I ever made
maida7
Well-Known Member
I vote wort chiller.
Then the best ways to improve your beer is thru controlling fermentation. You should be making starters for you liquid yeast. A stir plate and flask are essential for making starters. You can make a stir plate from a computer fan and a cell phone charger. Look for plans on the internet.
The other big upgrade to fermentaion is temp control. I think the best way is with a dedicated fermentation fridge and a digital temp controler. You can often find cheep used fridges on craigslist. A digital temp controler will run you 50.00
Then the best ways to improve your beer is thru controlling fermentation. You should be making starters for you liquid yeast. A stir plate and flask are essential for making starters. You can make a stir plate from a computer fan and a cell phone charger. Look for plans on the internet.
The other big upgrade to fermentaion is temp control. I think the best way is with a dedicated fermentation fridge and a digital temp controler. You can often find cheep used fridges on craigslist. A digital temp controler will run you 50.00
Edcculus
Well-Known Member
If you don't have a wort chiller, I'd put that #1 on the list. You can get a small submersible pump from Harbor freight for less than $15. Throw a hose connection onto it and you have yourself a nice chilling setup.
I start out with tap water and get the wort under 100F. I can get even lower in the winter. When I stop getting rapid decrease, I switch to my submersible pump and recirculate ice water through the chiller. I use an extra 4 gallon pot for this, but you can use a cooler or any large vessel/tub you have around the house. Instead of buying ice, I freeze gallon jugs. The best part is when I switch to the ice water, I just cover my pot and walk away. Since its recirculating, I don't waste water, and it doesn't really matter how long it takes.
Another great purchase would be an oxygen system. Its $34 from Brewmasters Warehouse and comes with a regulator, hose and diffusion stone. All you need is a small red oxygen bottle for less than $10. You can get them at any hardware store in the welding section.
I start out with tap water and get the wort under 100F. I can get even lower in the winter. When I stop getting rapid decrease, I switch to my submersible pump and recirculate ice water through the chiller. I use an extra 4 gallon pot for this, but you can use a cooler or any large vessel/tub you have around the house. Instead of buying ice, I freeze gallon jugs. The best part is when I switch to the ice water, I just cover my pot and walk away. Since its recirculating, I don't waste water, and it doesn't really matter how long it takes.
Another great purchase would be an oxygen system. Its $34 from Brewmasters Warehouse and comes with a regulator, hose and diffusion stone. All you need is a small red oxygen bottle for less than $10. You can get them at any hardware store in the welding section.
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MY CFC Wort chiller build is my favorite addition to date.
If I weer you I'd build a CFC, then save your equipment budget for a month and put it towards a Burner the next month. Full boil's rock. Then you only need a Mashtun the next month and you are onto saving money per brew with AG.
If I weer you I'd build a CFC, then save your equipment budget for a month and put it towards a Burner the next month. Full boil's rock. Then you only need a Mashtun the next month and you are onto saving money per brew with AG.
doobliebop
Well-Known Member
Don't mean to threadjack, but I've always wondered how long those bottles last for. What has your experience been? Whenever I've thought about adding airation my cheapskate gets the better of me and I resort to just doing an aquarium pump with an inline HEPA filter... I'm sure O2 is better though
nutty_gnome
Well-Known Member
vinator and a secondary. Thats around 50 bucks from a LHBS I think. Vinator will make your bottling day so much easier. Secondary will allow you more flexibility in your brewing schedule.
maida7
Well-Known Member
I use those bottles. I do about 60 seconds of gas per batch then shake it vigorously to mix the gas into the wort. I don't keep track but I'd wager that a bottle lasts for at least a dozen batches. Perhaps as many as 20 or more. You could conservatively say that the oxygen costs less then 1.00 per batch.
I second the suggestion that the O2 is a good upgrade.
oceanselv
Well-Known Member
If you do not have a wort chiller get one ASAP. Next save up your money and get a turkey fryer or burner stand and a 40 qt kettle. The problem with electric stoves is heat control. It is very difficult to moderate the heat during a boil on an electric stove. The heating element and the kettle are in constant contact and there is little chance for the heat to dissipate. Also even a partial boil taxes the elements in ways they were not made for. Once you get a burner and a 40 qt kettle, you have the most expensive pieces of a basic all grain set up.
I agree, even with stove top brews the wort chiller is a godsend. It beats a sink full of ice hands down. If you get the 25 footer (which I payed 50 exactly for last year, iirc) it will fit most stove top pots, and at the same time will still cool off a 7.5 gallon turkey fryer kettle easily as well.
Just make sure your sink can take the faucet to garden hose adapter and you will be all set.
Next after that, I would look at your fermentation temp control, and like others have said, that can be as simple as a rubbemade bin and frozenplastic bottles, that's what I use. That's going to be no more than 10 dollars, so you could get more ingredients, or another couple of bucket fermenters at 12.00 apiece.
After that I WOULD do a cooler mod, because with your wort chiller and your temp control, YOU CAN do all grain on your stove top. (Or you could do Deathbrewer's way and you wouldn't need the cooler) But I prefer using a cooler mash tun, and even a 5 gallon one, (at about 30-35 for the cooler and about another 20 for parts) works great. It holds 14 pounds of grain, and in a 5 gallon batch I rarely exceed that for most of my beers. and if doing a 2.5 gallon stovetop all grain batch 14 pounds of grain is close to barelywine range.
That way, if you do even partial mashes, or stovetop all grain your cost per batch goes down considerably. If you are doing 2.5 gallon ag batches on your stove 50 bucks gets you at least 4 if not 5 2.5 gallon batches. Especially if you buy grain and hops in bulk. 50 bucks retail will get you a 50 pound sack of 2-row which is a lot of beer, especially if you harvest yeast, and toast your own grain to make your various crystal malts.
And if you can get into a bulk grain buy, that will be even less, the last couple buys the Michigan Mashers did, the 50 pound bag price was down to iir 35 bucks...so again, 15 bucks more to spend on other stuff.
If you can reduce, if not cut out your extract usage per batch, your costs will go down. Even doing a partial mash with half your fermentables coming from grain rather than extract will make your 50.00 budget go far.
Next after that I would look at moving outside to a turkey fryer and full volume 5 gallon boils. If you hunt around you can pick them up off season (like even right now since the holidays are over) Pretty cheap, I paid 25.00 for mine at a grocery store. So again if you find them for 25, that's another 25 for ingredients or another fermenter or something else, like bulk hops, or some other malts.
The 7.5 gallon kettle is fine for just starting out, heck I have been using mine for 3 years now and it works fine. I haven't yet upgraded to a keggle.
Though a bottle of fermcap-s foam control is a must for both a turkeyfryer kettle or stovetop brewing setup. In a 5 gallon stove top pot I have been able to have a stove top rolling boil about 1" below the rim of the kettle and gone and napped between hop additions without fear of ruining the stovetop.
Somewhere in this mix, I would buy some brewing software, if you don't already have some some. Free one's like beercalculus are awesome, but limited, and beersmith at 25 bucks has an awesome amount of features. And again, 25 for that means 25 for something else.
After that although not necessary, but really helpful is a refractomter, the nice thing about it is that it uses very little wort to take you initial gravity readings, and that is invaluable for small batch brewing. And maybe Forrest at Austin Hombrew will have another great 25.00 refractometer sale, but you can get them on ebay.
If you did that, spread out over 6 months or a year, your 50 bucks a month budget will go far. After you get that basic setup then your monthly budget will go for ingredients.
To me kegging, on your budget should be a low priority. Personally it's better to get your brewing process nailed down, and get your batch cost, in regards to ingredients, to stretch far.
And bottles are pretty free. And if you nail your bottling process down, it's really no more effort than kegging. And a lot cheaper. You don't need something to keep your kegs cold, you don't need kegging equipment.
To be that's a luxury, and at 50.00/month brewing budget, you need to concentrate on necessities.
It's the same with fermenters, better bottles and glass carboys are not cheap, buckets are. And if like many of us you opt not to secondary for the majority of your beers, then having more primaries is more important than any vessel to secondary in. And even if you brewe a lot, and secondary to add fruit or oak, you maybe only need one dedicated secondary vessel. I have 9 primaries, and - 5 gallon glass carboy I rarely use. Because I rarely secondary.
Hope this helps. I may be a little more pragmatic that the other folks, but I think over a few months you can do awesomely with a 50 dollar budget.
If you're doing stovetop boils and don't have the heat to do full boils, i would highly recommend building a heatstick (https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/heatstick-awesome-142803/).
If you have a menard's near you, you can build a heat stick (~$30) and a 20ft wort chiller ($12 for tubing, $10 for accessories) for a little over $50. If you step it up to a 50ft chiller, it would add another $25 on the bill (50ft of 3/8" copper is $35).
If you have a menard's near you, you can build a heat stick (~$30) and a 20ft wort chiller ($12 for tubing, $10 for accessories) for a little over $50. If you step it up to a 50ft chiller, it would add another $25 on the bill (50ft of 3/8" copper is $35).
I couldn't live without my wort chiller
Richabt
Well-Known Member
+1 on the wort chiller!
I like your process with this. Ive been using the ice water and pump method from the start and tend to run low before my temp is ready. I'll try the tap first next time until it gets to around 100F.
Conodor
Well-Known Member
(I don't have a water problem but here's my order)
I went with a turkey fryer First and a chiller second. Then a mash tun then kegging then oxygen and the latest was a refractometer.
You can always add secondarys in when you need. There's cheap alternatives Like a homer bucket.
The fryer/chiller/MLT really steps up your ability fast.
Make sure you check craigslist. Might find a used fryer or cooler for a MLT cheap and get a month ahead.
I went with a turkey fryer First and a chiller second. Then a mash tun then kegging then oxygen and the latest was a refractometer.
You can always add secondarys in when you need. There's cheap alternatives Like a homer bucket.
The fryer/chiller/MLT really steps up your ability fast.
Make sure you check craigslist. Might find a used fryer or cooler for a MLT cheap and get a month ahead.
hal2814
Well-Known Member
I respect Revvy's advice more than anyone else on this forum but I wouldn't do things in the order he listed. But it's not like his advice is bad. I just don't think it would necessarily be the progression I take if I were to start all over.
I hear a lot of talk about wort chilllers but IMHO, I'd skip it for now. I personally don't use one but I don't want to start one of those no-chill holy wars. Even if you want to cool your wort quickly, it's the middle of winter. You have options. A near-to-below freezing night with sanitized frozen milk jugs will do just fine.
The first thing I would do is expand my pipeline. You want to be a better brewer? Brew more beer. If you don't have enough fermenters to keep your pipeline going, get more. If any other equipment is holding you back from brewing more get it. To paraphrase Dune, the homebrew must flow. I had to get a propane burner early on because the wife didn't want me brewing in the house. A nice side effect of that is that it shortened my brew day so I got more brew days in. The homebrew must flow. Figure out what is keeping you from brewing and get that first and foremost. And yes, that means if a wort chiller would lead to you brewing more, get it.
Once you get to the point where equipment isn't holding you back from brewing, then I'd start looking at dedicated all-grain equipment, kegging, better temp control and stuff like that. And that sort of thing is entirely dependent on your interests. I got into kegging early because kegging interested me. I didn't get bit by the all-grain bug for a long time because I didn't have the interest initially (though I brew almost exclusively all-grain now). But those are my interests. What are yours?
I hear a lot of talk about wort chilllers but IMHO, I'd skip it for now. I personally don't use one but I don't want to start one of those no-chill holy wars. Even if you want to cool your wort quickly, it's the middle of winter. You have options. A near-to-below freezing night with sanitized frozen milk jugs will do just fine.
The first thing I would do is expand my pipeline. You want to be a better brewer? Brew more beer. If you don't have enough fermenters to keep your pipeline going, get more. If any other equipment is holding you back from brewing more get it. To paraphrase Dune, the homebrew must flow. I had to get a propane burner early on because the wife didn't want me brewing in the house. A nice side effect of that is that it shortened my brew day so I got more brew days in. The homebrew must flow. Figure out what is keeping you from brewing and get that first and foremost. And yes, that means if a wort chiller would lead to you brewing more, get it.
Once you get to the point where equipment isn't holding you back from brewing, then I'd start looking at dedicated all-grain equipment, kegging, better temp control and stuff like that. And that sort of thing is entirely dependent on your interests. I got into kegging early because kegging interested me. I didn't get bit by the all-grain bug for a long time because I didn't have the interest initially (though I brew almost exclusively all-grain now). But those are my interests. What are yours?
mosquitocontrol
Well-Known Member
I went in this order:
1. More primary buckets (cheap water bottles for secondaries when needed) ~$30
2. Wort chiller (<$50 DIY)
3. Ferment chamber fits 4 ales (used mini fridge, rigid insulation) ~$60 total
4. Stir plate (should have got sooner!)
5. Saved for kegging equipment
Not saying that fits you because it all depends on circumstance. Ferment chamber, provided you have the space, is nice because you don't need to control your house thermostat based on your brew schedule. I was getting sick of having the A/C blast 60F air thru my apt all day long (and my electric bill was nice the next month too).
My advice is to waste less time deciding. Its just a matter of the order. Eventually you will buy everything people are listing anyway.
1. More primary buckets (cheap water bottles for secondaries when needed) ~$30
2. Wort chiller (<$50 DIY)
3. Ferment chamber fits 4 ales (used mini fridge, rigid insulation) ~$60 total
4. Stir plate (should have got sooner!)
5. Saved for kegging equipment
Not saying that fits you because it all depends on circumstance. Ferment chamber, provided you have the space, is nice because you don't need to control your house thermostat based on your brew schedule. I was getting sick of having the A/C blast 60F air thru my apt all day long (and my electric bill was nice the next month too).
My advice is to waste less time deciding. Its just a matter of the order. Eventually you will buy everything people are listing anyway.
spiffcow
Well-Known Member
Thanks everyone! I think I'm going to go with an aeration system and maybe a stir plate first.. Trying to aerate by pouring 5 gallons between the bucket and the boiling pot is starting to get dangerous, and I do need to be able to make good starters. I know a lot of you suggested a wort chiller, but I'm able to chill a full boil using the pot-in-sink method within about an hour and a half, so I can probably hold off on that for now.
Arkador
Well-Known Member
an immersion chiller is a great investment for both Extract and All grain brewers.
If you are going to go all grain, here are some things to add to your shopping list, in adition to the things you already listed.
Keggel
turky fryer
If you are going to go all grain, here are some things to add to your shopping list, in adition to the things you already listed.
Keggel
turky fryer
maida7
Well-Known Member
You can build a stirplate for under 10.00. Look around there is lots of info about that on the web.
Aeration can be as simple as an aquarium pump and a sterile filter.
Long cooling times can lead to DMS in your beer. The hot wort is still producing DMS pre-cursors until you get the temp below 140F. DMS will make you beer taste like creamed corn.
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If this is a problem it should be your first priority. One of the GE under the sink filters worked for me. In the long run, it will save you money that you can spend on equipment and ingredients.
spiffcow
Well-Known Member
Well, the other factor here is that my sink doesn't have anything that will connect to a wort chiller. I guess I could go out into the garage to do it, but that seems like a lot of hassle, and a hotbed for contamination. I'm usually getting the temp down to 140 in about 20-30 minutes using the sink method (I have an aluminum pot, so it loses heat very quickly). Is that quick enough to prevent this problem? Also, what exactly is DMS?
spiffcow
Well-Known Member
I don't mind buying water for it.. It adds about $6 to the cost of brewing a batch, but it guarantees that I have tasty water to start with.
Double post
I find it really strange that your faucet doesn't have a threaded part under the aerator. 99% of the Faucets in the world do, then you hook the faucet to garden hose adaptor onto the threads.
I bet you you have one and don't know it, a lot of folks don't realize the the tip of the faucet is threaded and there is an aerator on it.
You can usually unscrew it by hand.
Then you screw something like this on
Which you can get with your wort chiller, or any hardware store.
spiffcow
Well-Known Member
I have a weird specialty faucet head... It's somewhat similar to the movable shower heads you sometimes see in showers. My wife and I have talked about replacing it, as it annoys the hell out of us, but that probably won't happen until we get a new sink, which won't happen until we get new countertops, etc.
I guess I could move it into the bathroom though. I think it has a pretty standard sink.
maida7
Well-Known Member
DMS = Dimethyl sulfides
Does your sink have an aerator that threads on to the end of the faucet? If so the there are adapters that will allow you to hook up a chiller. I generally brew out doors or in the garage when it's cold. I use a propane burner. I cool with the garden hose, an immersion chiller and stir with a spoon. Stirring makes a world of difference when using and IC. I do everything outside, except in the freezing winter when the hose is frozen. Then I hook it up to the kitchen sink.
Is the funky head screwed in? If so then it is threaded to what you want.
maida7
Well-Known Member
I agree. I think every sink has a threaded aerator. Some have different sized threads but they all can be adapted for use with a chiller.
spiffcow
Well-Known Member
Arg.. It looks like I might have more to worry about because I have to cover the brew kettle almost completely to get it up to boiling temperature.. This hobby is going to get really expensive.
hal2814
Well-Known Member
Keep in mind that getting water to boiling temperature takes a lot more energy than keeping water at boiling temperature. The only stovetop brewer I personally know covers to get to boil but has no problem keeping a decent rolling boil uncovered.
engus
Active Member
I have the same type of faucet. It doubles as the sprayer and the head of the faucet can be detached from the base to use as a wand. It does not have threads to attach adapters.
