Help Me Spend $200!

OK Guys and Gals,

I am a new home brewer. In fact I have only made one homebrew. I’m happy to report that the nut brown ale turned out quite nice. Not the best beer ever, but it is very drinkable.

Anyway, my in-laws gave me a $200 gift certificate to an online homebrew supplier for my birthday and I need some advice on how to spend it. I am looking for suggestions on the must have equipment/reading. One thing that will probably be on the list is another carboy so I can have two beers conditioning at the same time. Here is a list of the equipment I have currently.

2 Glass Carboys
20qt. stainless stock pot
Auto siphon
Spring Loaded Bottle Filler
Thermometer
Triple Scale Hydrometer
Airlock
Turbo Scrubber
Bottle Capper
Bottling Bucket

Thanks for the suggestions.

I'd put a 40 qt pot at the top of the list, followed by a wort chiller. You didn't say what you are using as a heat source, but if it's a stove, I'd spring for a propane burner as well.

david_42,

Thanks for the advice. For the record, I am using a gas stovetop for heating.

1911Man said:

david_42,

Thanks for the advice. For the record, I am using a gas stovetop for heating.

Click to expand...

Then like David said...a propane burner should be at the top of your list...even if you're going to continue to do partial boils.

I concur... propane burner then a wort chiller...and if you are going to continue bottling... I love my bottle tree with washer...

Oriondriver

1. A software package looks pretty good.. promash or beersmith look to be programs people here seem to like.

2. Dont know what books you have if any. The book Brewers Companion by Moshe (at http://www.radicalbrewing.com/). I was looking at the book by MIller yesterday and it looks real good.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0882669052/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

3. And certainly dont spend all the money on equipment! Get supplies to keep you busy for a while

4. Be sure to get a few more carboys if you plan to brew more then one beer too

A burner

A couple carboys

A wort chiller

16.9 or 22 oz bottles (I decided after 5 batches 12 oz bottles are the devil)

BUTT-TONS of malt and hops

I agree that a larger stock pot (sabco keggle...I'm using mine for the first time tomorrow), wort chiller, and a propane burner (also first time tomorrow) should be on your list. If you want good reading I'd recommend The New Complete Joy of Homebrewing by Charlie Papazian (it's the homebrewer's bible, really), Dave Miller's Homebrewing Guide by (you guessed) Dave Miller, and also two recipe books, both by the same authors, although I have no idea who they are...Clone Brews and Beer Captured. I'd also recommend a subscrition to Brew Your Own Magazine (also known as BYO). It's been an indispensible resource for me (along with this website...haha).

david_42 said:

I'd put a 40 qt pot at the top of the list, followed by a wort chiller. You didn't say what you are using as a heat source, but if it's a stove, I'd spring for a propane burner as well.

Click to expand...

This is what I was thinking. The only thing I would add is a ball valve for the kettle. You might be able to get away without a propane burner. I just realized my 40qt polarware kettle covers two burners on the gas range. On my next batch, I am going to see if the two burners will provide enough heat. If so, my propane burner will be limited to summertime use. I am curious to know if anyone has had any success with this.

Where is the gift cert too? This way we can look and see what they have to help you get the most from it.

But a gas burner , wort chiller, and more carboys would be on the list deff!!

I second everyone else's recomendations, but if you have about 40 bucks left, spring for a digital scale. I love mine. Especially for specialty grains and hops.

I hate being in suspense So tell us, what did you decide to buy

PT Ray said:

This is what I was thinking. The only thing I would add is a ball valve for the kettle. You might be able to get away without a propane burner. I just realized my 40qt polarware kettle covers two burners on the gas range. On my next batch, I am going to see if the two burners will provide enough heat. If so, my propane burner will be limited to summertime use. I am curious to know if anyone has had any success with this.

Click to expand...

This is what I do and it works awesome! My pot is only 8 gallons, so it only just barely covers two burners on my gas stove. I get to a boil in about 30 minutes, or a bit a faster if i start heating my wort halfway through the sparging process(which is the way I do it). I drain out a couple gallons before starting my fly sparge, and start heating that right away, and then continue the fly sparge and continue adding more of the extracted wort as I go. This is totally unecessary, but cuts down my brew time quite a bit(probably cuts it down to 20 minutes)! And lets me take my time with the fly sparge. Otherwise, getting my 6.5 gallon wort to a boil takes a good 30 minutes on my gas stove.

I just read a thread that happened before high school graduation thinking I could help a guy spend his money hahaha. Thought it was a new thread.

Now that I read it all, what did you end up getting?


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Wonder how much stuff you could get back in 2005 for $200.

It's like the "olden days", haha!

Gas was under $2 then, I know that for certain


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