If you could spend $100-150 for your first upgrade..

Picture this:

- You have one 5.5 gallon SS kettle
- You also have one 2 gallon pot
- You've been restricted to partial boils on the stove because of this
- Your microwave is just above your stove, so an 8 to 10 gallon pot probably wouldn't even fit on the stove. Even so, a full boil would probably cook the microwave.
- You want to make a jump to all-grain someday soon

You have $100 to $150 to spend. (If SWMBO can buy shoes, I can buy beer equipment )

Would you upgrade for a 8 to 10 gallon turkey fryer + propane tank, to allow you to do full boils easily?

I thought about getting another 5-6 gallon pot to help with partial mashes and stove-top all grains but I think I'm still going to have problems doing a full boil because of the small headspace between the stove and microwave. My best chance of doing a full boil will probably be a turkey fryer.

I know I would need a MLT someday too. But from digging around, it looks like I could do a BIAB method of all-grain brewing with my existing 5.5 gallon pot, and a turkey fryer.

Thanks for your input.. I am just looking for advice so I don't end up purchasing something I'll regret. And also looking for reinforcement to buy something

Make a keggle buy a burner.

Steal a cooler from a friend or relative and make the mlt

Bigger kettle and burner for sure! and using a big pot on my stove destroyed my microwave

I'd buy a burner so you can do BIAB or full boils outside first, then see if you can squeeze in a bigger kettle. With boil off 5.5 gallons won't really be able to do a full one hour boil.

I would start with the burner and bigger pot. You should be able to find a deal for both in your budget and definitely do what Davis119 said and steal a cooler from a friend or relative and make a MLT. That's what I did and I love the all grain brewing. You can buy the stuff you need for it at any hardware store.

I say get a larger kettle and outdoor burner. You can experiment with all-grain using BIAB. This is exactly what I did recently and I am not going back to extract!

two burners...find another pot and split the boil

Thanks for the quick suggestions! Looks like the burner option is highly recommended.

I was kind of thinking for BIAB all-grain, I could still mash in my 5.5 SS pot on the stove, and do a sparge using a larger pot on an outdoor burner. And then combine everything into the larger pot on the outdoor burner for the full boil. Which would just require the addition of a burner and larger pot (or a turkey fryer kit).

And if I want to move away from BIAB someday, I'd just make a MLT from a cooler.

Burner & kettle for sure. Of course then you will need to consider how to chill the full boil. But you can make an immersion chiller pretty easily and for far cheaper than the ones they sell at homebrew stores.

Oh and go with a 10 gallon kettle. I went w/ an 8 gallon when i switched over a year ago and I'm making it work but really wish I had gone with a 10 gallon.

I just did this except I haven't picked out my 9 gallon kettle yet.

9 gallon kettle cheap
Build a $30 mash tun see my blog
Get an outdoor burner for 50

You can easily batch sparge with your other pot $ this setup - could even brew 10 gallon partial boil

Turkey fryer for sure. And then build a chiller...

hogwash said:

Burner & kettle for sure. Of course then you will need to consider how to chill the full boil. But you can make an immersion chiller pretty easily and for far cheaper than the ones they sell at homebrew stores.
.

Click to expand...

Im having the same problem Haven't gotten the money for my IC yet.
But I disagree I don't see his u can make one cheaper than newyork homebrew supply has them for.

You should be pretty close to getting to all grain for $150. Turkey fryer = $60, Propane tank $30, The "cheap and easy mash tun" from this forum = $~70. That is $160ish. You would want a chiller asap for another ~$60 but I have a friend who chills 5 gallons with a bunch of ice. (about 20-25 pounds). It would add some cost per batch but it works. Or forgot the mash tun and get a chiller and do BIAB. Lots of options. Good luckl!

Edit: I saw you are in NM. If your ground water is warm I would highly recommend saving up and getting a big chiller. I recently upgraded from a 25 foot to a 50 foot 3/8 diameter with a pump to recirculate icewater towards the end of the chilling process and it makes a huge difference. Even with the icewater pump on the 25 foot I was at about 20-25 minutes to chill to 75. The 50 footer is 13 min to get it to 65.

I would look at a 15gal pot, then you could do occasional 10gal batches. Get a kettle with a ball valve for sure, check prices on chillers, depending on local copper prices you might be able to make one cheaper, but chances are you are better off buying one. Unfortunately the ic, burner and kettle upgrade is around 200 to 250 unless you get a cheep pot or keg to convert.

rjsnau said:

Edit: I saw you are in NM. If your ground water is warm I would highly recommend saving up and getting a big chiller. I recently upgraded from a 25 foot to a 50 foot 3/8 diameter with a pump to recirculate icewater towards the end of the chilling process and it makes a huge difference. Even with the icewater pump on the 25 foot I was at about 20-25 minutes to chill to 75. The 50 footer is 13 min to get it to 65.

Click to expand...

My ground water is a bit warm out here. I had a feeling full boils means probably needing a wort chiller. Good suggestion on maybe needing the larger one.

I don't want to start some aluminum vs. stainless debate, but I assume a lot of people are using aluminum pots on their burners? Heck of a lot cheaper than a 10-gallon SS kettle..

davis119 said:

Im having the same problem Haven't gotten the money for my IC yet.
But I disagree I don't see his u can make one cheaper than newyork homebrew supply has them for.

Click to expand...

Well maybe not a LOT cheaper but you can save few bucks DIY. Copper is pretty pricy.

I would say keggle and outdoor burner.

I would agree that a large pot (or keggle) and burner is a great next step, and that a chiller is not only great for your beer but a huge time saver as well!
I also advocate getting in a position to provide a constant, set temperature for fermentation. When I first got going I was more interested in the boil (and later the mash) than the yeast-side of the things. Those are important, but you can boil wort on a burner, stove, in a keggle, or in three old soup pots and it'll all turn out about the same. The biggest jump my beer made (and I started out just like you and now have HERMS, keggles, etc) was building a fermentation chamber and getting all my beers bubbling at whatever temperature I want. Fairly easy here in NW Montana, just have to apply heat and seldom ever cool anything down, but an old fridge could be cheaply converted to chill or warm!
I definitely see the argument for the burner/pot/chiller though...if you go that route you'll have time to start planning a fermentation chamber!

I was looking at 15 gallon pots on Amazon this morning and noticed that they had some good combo deals. You could get the pot, a burner (in fact, the one that I have) and a chiller for $215, I think it was.

Chiller...

blkandrust said:

I would say keggle and outdoor burner.

Click to expand...

This. and if u are handy you can build an ic and stay under 150. Keggle $30. Fittings 20. Bayou burner 45. 25 ft copper and Fittings another 50.

used chest freezer + temperature controller = fermentation chamber. probably the biggest improvement to my beer was getting fermentation temperatures under control.