What was your most recent kit purchase and how did it affect your brew?

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ophillium

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To phrase it another way: what's your most recent upgrade or addition to your brewhouse, and what in what way specifically did it improve your product or process?

The more details the better, for nerdery and knowledge :D
 
I've made several small upgrades in between brews but here are the high lights:

Refractometer - Holy. Crap. Got one as an amazon lightening deal for like 22 bucks shipped. Its such a small thing but not having the keep the hydrometer around on brew day makes life so much easier. Being able to take samples of 1st and 2nd runnings, pre and post boil gravities w/o any cooling time or toting around a test jar is so much less stressful. Dollar for Dollar it may be my best investment in terms of satisfaction.

2nd BK - I've had an 8 gallon 2 weld w/ a 6" thermo probe and a ball valve for a while and I love it. I picked up a 2nd 8 gallon 2 port (weldless this time for costs sake) with a 2" thermo probe and a ball valve. Again, less moving parts on brew day is great. Before I was draining my 1st runnings into a fermenter bucket, dumping the sparge water into the cool then moving the runnings from the bucket back to the BK. Too much lifting, then have to clean the bucket. This is much better.
 
I got a chest freezer and Inkbird controller so I could ferment lagers. I have a fermentation chamber also but it will not cool low enough.

How it improved things is that I can now do lagers in the summer. Though I haven't done one in a while.
 
Yeast starter kit and stir plate. Game changer.
When I started brewing, I kinda felt that yeast starters where only an advanced brewing technique and were likely overstated in their need.

After two IPA brews, with an OG of 1.070 and attenuating down to only 1.016 and 1.017, and being overly sweet, I made the purchase and started trying to learn about yeast and proper pitching.
My last two IPA's that were also 1.070 OG, but this time I made 2L starters. They ended up attenuating down to 1.008 and 1.010. Same yeast, same ferm chamber settings.
No more overly sweet beer!
 
I've made several small upgrades in between brews but here are the high lights:

Refractometer - Holy. Crap. Got one as an amazon lightening deal for like 22 bucks shipped. Its such a small thing but not having the keep the hydrometer around on brew day makes life so much easier. Being able to take samples of 1st and 2nd runnings, pre and post boil gravities w/o any cooling time or toting around a test jar is so much less stressful. Dollar for Dollar it may be my best investment in terms of satisfaction.

I've always heard refractometer's are inaccurate / unreliable. It seems I have some research to do.
 
Yeast starter kit and stir plate. Game changer.

That's huge. Yeasties and pitching rates are high on my list for areas to zoom-in on next. Were there any resources you found particularly helpful?
 
I got a chest freezer and Inkbird controller so I could ferment lagers. I have a fermentation chamber also but it will not cool low enough.

How it improved things is that I can now do lagers in the summer. Though I haven't done one in a while.

Just made this purchase too! I'm going to be brewing my first lager this weekend!:mug:
 
Nothing major, my system has been pretty stable ever since the great electric conversion. The most recent thing I did was adding a pair of new compression fittings to my BK and HLT to replace the previous solution of sheathing ds18b20s in 1/4 silicon tubing. Been meaning to do that for ages, just kept forgetting to order the bits. Makes for a cleaner looking kettle.
 
Finally got a chest freezer for a fermentation chamber. Had already bought the Inkbird awhile back; just needed a good price on a freezer. First beer from it will be kegged on Monday when the dry hop finishes.

I can now do anything I want in the summer. My basement temps are pretty stable, but just too warm in summer for most beers.

The chest freezer was all about improving production. Now I need a couple more kegs. Ha!
 
I've always heard refractometer's are inaccurate / unreliable. It seems I have some research to do.

They won't be accurate post-fermentation because the presence of alcohol changes the refraction.

Prior to fermentation? Golden.

Makes me wonder this: since there are calculators to correct for the alcohol, why hasn't anyone produced a refractometer for post-fermentation?
 
They won't be accurate post-fermentation because the presence of alcohol changes the refraction.

Prior to fermentation? Golden.

Makes me wonder this: since there are calculators to correct for the alcohol, why hasn't anyone produced a refractometer for post-fermentation?

According to this article you can use Beersmith work out the conversions post-fermentation.
 
Finally got a chest freezer for a fermentation chamber. Had already bought the Inkbird awhile back

That's wicked. I'm a long way off from any kind of temp control on my carboys. Next on my list is a second brew pot, which will help shave 2 hours off my double-batch days.
 
Simply retiring my old buckets for two big mouth bubblers. Small but positive upgrade.

Oh, and getting a ten gal BK on Wednesday.
 
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