Money to blow.

Hey all.
Finalized a big sale yesterday Woo-hoo!

I have a little bit of money to finally upgrade.

I am for sure buying / making a mash tun and upgrading to
a large kettle and a nice burner.

Any other ideas on some equipment that might make my life easier?

PS: Saw a kit on Norther Brewer for a wheat whine and thought it sounded interesting.....10%?!..........Anyone tried it, or any other wheat whine ?

Make your own mash tun!!! Ask people in your local home improvement store. The guys in plumbing have likely dealt with folks like us before. I taught myself how to braze copper, and made my own manifold. SERIOUSLY, it is really EASY!!! I just did it myself. The whole bulkhead thing is really over-complicated by pretty much everybody. If you struggle with your mash tun send me a private message, and I would love to help you out. Save your hard-earned money for something more important...like a cheap turkey fryer. BTW, I found 6 propane tanks on the side of the road in my neighborhood all in the same weekend, so don't buy one outright--they will exchange the most rust-laden piece of trash you call a propane tank for a new one. Good luck!

I fyou are looking to get some new equipment your needs will depend on what you currently brew with. From your OP it sounds like you are making the jump to AG. That means Mash Tun, Boil Kettle, burners, which you covered. It may also mean a wort chiller is needed to cool the full boils. Your own grain mill is something most people like to haev eventually.

Congrats on the big sale and money to burn.

There is no need to buy a propane tank, as stated Wally world will swap it out, then you can get the good one filled at a propane store for about 8 bucks cheaper than swaping. You might want a wort chiller, if you dont have one, you can make that too. if your not into making things, you can send me your money I will make everything for you and buy grain with the extra cash

If you don't have one definitely look in to a wort chiller, it will make life easier. Go with the immersion chiller. CFC is nice (I have one) but I don't think it is worth the extra money/time.

conpewter said:

If you don't have one definitely look in to a wort chiller, it will make life easier. Go with the immersion chiller. CFC is nice (I have one) but I don't think it is worth the extra money/time.

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I was just about to suggest the opposite. I got an Immersion chiller and it works fine but is a pain to clean, I saw someone use a CFC and had to build one. It makes cleanup much quicker for me now.

I guess everyone has their own preferences. I don't like spending the time trying to dry out the inside of the tube. If I leave water in there then the copper starts to corrode and then that goes into my wort. With the IC I can just drop it in a bucket of water I collected during cooling and slosh it around some, then hang it somewhere and it will dry.

With the CFC I also pump boiling wort through the whole thing during the last 5-10 min of the boil to sanitize it. I would go back to an immersion chiller but it doesn't fit in there along with the heating element.

Lately I've started recirculating the wort from the CFC to drop the temp on the whole batch quicker, I've gotten some chill-haze issues that I think are related to not cooling the whole batch quick enough.

Yunus said:

I was just about to suggest the opposite. I got an Immersion chiller and it works fine but is a pain to clean, I saw someone use a CFC and had to build one. It makes cleanup much quicker for me now.

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Odd, I built a CFC and would recommend it to anyone, but I don't see how they are easier to clean than an IC. Most people just place their IC in the boiling wort for 10 minutes.

To clean my CFC I run hot water through it, then flush with saitizer (starsan) and let sit. When the wort is ready, I siphon through the CFC into the sink until the wort starts flowing, then into the fermenter.

When I'm done brewing, more hot water to flush the CFC then another round of Starsan. Let sit until brewing is done and then flush with water and drain. I don't completely dry the inside. People have used copper for plumbing for decades with no worries...

+1 on building your own mash tun. FlyGuy's tutorial really helped me; I'm not as mechanically inclined as I'd like but it all made total sense. Actually, I still need one of those SS washers on the inside... I wonder if anybody in my LHBC has one sitting around (if not I know somebody here offered to send you one for a buck, not sure if he's still around)

As for cleaning ICs, yeah I toss it into one of the buckets of hot water that I drain into, then make sure it's clean during the next boil and toss it in 15 minutes before flameout to sanitize.

Homercidal said:

Odd, I built a CFC and would recommend it to anyone, but I don't see how they are easier to clean than an IC. Most people just place their IC in the boiling wort for 10 minutes.

To clean my CFC I run hot water through it, then flush with saitizer (starsan) and let sit. When the wort is ready, I siphon through the CFC into the sink until the wort starts flowing, then into the fermenter.

When I'm done brewing, more hot water to flush the CFC then another round of Starsan. Let sit until brewing is done and then flush with water and drain. I don't completely dry the inside. People have used copper for plumbing for decades with no worries...

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I wouldn't worry about completely drying the inside if you are running star-san through it before you use it, the acid in the star-san will clean any oxides off the inside of the CFC. Sorry to derail the topic a bit...

Do you keg?? If not, that would be one of my first investments after having the essentials .... Saves a lot of time/frustration in the long run. Plus, your buddies will think it's freakin' sweet that you have a few kegs of homebrew on tap in the basement!

rsmith179 said:

Do you keg?? If not, that would be one of my first investments after having the essentials .... Saves a lot of time/frustration in the long run. Plus, your buddies will think it's freakin' sweet that you have a few kegs of homebrew on tap in the basement!

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That is true, but after building a kegerator of my own, I wish that I had gone AG first. The kegerator is a novelty for me. If I had a bunch of buddies drinking my beer then maybe, but with my two taps, it's still a long time between kegs.

Bottling is not hard once you get the hang of it. Right Revvy?

rsmith179 said:

Do you keg?? If not, that would be one of my first investments after having the essentials .... Saves a lot of time/frustration in the long run. Plus, your buddies will think it's freakin' sweet that you have a few kegs of homebrew on tap in the basement!

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Ahhh, didn't even think about that. That would be awesome.

How would this work for a beginner setup?

Brew Logic Dual Tap Draft System- with Reconditioned CO2 Tank :: Midwest Supplies Homebrewing and Winemaking Supplies

Sigafoos said:

Actually, I still need one of those SS washers on the inside... I wonder if anybody in my LHBC has one sitting around (if not I know somebody here offered to send you one for a buck, not sure if he's still around)

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3/4'' cut washers from Home Depot...I think they're only like $0.38 each. They fit the 1/2 inch threaded collars beautifully. Although as I type this, I need another one too, just too lazy to get off my arse and make it happen. I think I to would rather mail somebody a buck and have it sent to me. Sad.