Equipment Upgrade Recommendations?

[flanken]

I've brewed about 5 batches over the past few months and I'm loving it, so naturally I'm looking into getting some new / different equipment to make life easier and brewing a little more exciting. So far I have the following:

- 3.5 gal aluminum stock pot
- "ale pale" plastic primary bucket
- "ale pale" plastic bottling bucket
- racking system
- home-made copper tubing wort chiller
- home-made charcoal water filter (for filtering chlorine treated tap water)
- Tons of glass bottles & a bottle capper

I also have an unconverted 7 gallon Gatorade cooler I've been thinking about converting to a mash / lauter tun, but wasn't sure exactly if I could use it effectively with the smallish pot I've been using. I've only done extract / steeped grain recipes but would like to move on to all-grain.

I guess I'm just looking for recommendations from those of you who have been here a while longer and know which pieces of equipment would be the best places to start to upgrade... I've been thinking about:

- Glass carboy for primary
- Glass carboy for secondary
- Larger pot for boiling wort
- Some nifty way to keep my fermentation temps under control (usually ferm temps end up a little warmer than recommended...)
- Spending the money / time to convert the cooler to a mash tun
- Kegging equipment to avoid bottling
- etc.

Any insight would be helpful and appreciated... thanks!

 

[kpr121]

1st thing you can do to increase your beer quality is to perfect your fermentation control. Whether that be a swamp cooler, DIY ferm chamber, or temp-controlled chest freezer, no other change in your brewing process will produce the same results from proper fermentation temperatures.


Are you brewing on stovetop?

If so, and you are happy with it, I would look to convert the cooler to a mash tun. This will allow you to do 5 gallon partial mashes or 2-3 gallon all grains with your current kettle.

If so, and you are not happy with it (or have a SWMBO that isnt happy), get a turkey fryer and larger pot (7 gallons min). That will allow you to step up to full boils.

 

[flanken]

I'm with you on the fermentation temp control... I'm not familiar with the different options you have listed there (swamp, ferm chamber, etc.) but I'll do a little digging to see if I can find some ideas / instructions on the forums here.

I am indeed brewing on the stovetop and my wonderful SWMBO is supportive, although she hasn't found a particular fondness to the sweet smell of malt quite yet. That being said, I'm not well versed enough on the mashing process and how I could do it with my smaller pot.

The turkey fryer / propane burner and larger pot may be in my future either way, as I'd like to start doing full boils.

Thanks for the quick feedback kpr!

 

[jerryalan]

kpr121 nailed it. Fermentation control turned my good beer into great beer! I use a chest freezer with a brew belt so I only use glass carboys.

Also, consider ditching secondary fermentation except where needed such as adding fruit to your beer.

 

[krenshaw]

if you move your brewing outside, the wife may be more apt to let you make some more upgrades as a thank you

- the cooler would be good for a mashtun, you can easily make a manifold from instructions on here which is what i did..
- i would go with better bottles for carboys, i have 3 and wouldn't trade them
-temp controlled fermentation is good, though depending on your situation it may not be what you want to do first.. for example my basement keeps a constant temp most of the year so i haven't added that to my list yet..
- if you're looking for all grain you would need a bigger pot and the converted masttun and go as big as you can afford so you don't have to upgrade later..

 

[HHP]

if you move your brewing outside, the wife may be more apt to let you make some more upgrades as a thank you

- the cooler would be good for a mashtun, you can easily make a manifold from instructions on here which is what i did..
- i would go with better bottles for carboys, i have 3 and wouldn't trade them
-temp controlled fermentation is good, though depending on your situation it may not be what you want to do first.. for example my basement keeps a constant temp most of the year so i haven't added that to my list yet..
- if you're looking for all grain you would need a bigger pot and the converted masttun and go as big as you can afford so you don't have to upgrade later..

What is with everyone loving better bottles? IMO they are not better.

They are about the same price as a carboy and have a much shorter lifespan (more vulnerable to damage).

 

[kpr121]

What is with everyone loving better bottles? IMO they are not better.

They are about the same price as a carboy and have a much shorter lifespan (more vulnerable to damage).

+1. Its glass or plastic buckets for me. Why would you want the worst of both worlds (clear and plastic)? I guess they are easier to carry around than carboys, but buckets are even easier?

 

[JohnTheBrewist]

Good advice here so far. I would also say that before spending money on glass carboys, I'd buy a propane burner w/ a minimum 8 gallon pot. Next I'd work on Ferm temp control. After that, think about all grain.

Glass carboys will not make better beer but all of the suggestions above will. For relative noobs I always suggest buckets instead of carboys. You can get at least two buckets for the price of a carboy, and contrary to popular misbelief, they do last a long time.

 

[flanken]

Thanks for the advice John.

Why in your opinion is having equipment to support a full boil more impactful / important than fermentation temperature control?

 

[Runyanka]

+1. Its glass or plastic buckets for me. Why would you want the worst of both worlds (clear and plastic)? I guess they are easier to carry around than carboys, but buckets are even easier?

You can monitor fermentation through them, and if you drop it you don't need stitches. Also, they withstand me throwing random crap into my beer closet

 

[JohnTheBrewist]

Thanks for the advice John.

Why in your opinion is having equipment to support a full boil more impactful / important than fermentation temperature control?

Well actually, it might not be, depending on your own plans. I really meant to point out that those things should be ahead of buying carboys. But getting your brewing out of the kitchen and being able to do a full boil gives you much more flexibility in your process. I've been an AG brewer for most of my brewing career, and operate under the utterly false notion that everyone will eventually want to brew AG. So I always recommend getting the biggest pot you can before spending money on other things.

On the other hand, fermentation temp control will automatically improve your beer. So if you expect to continue with extract batches for a while, I'd probably do that first.

 

[deflagratio]

It's all about baby steps. You don't want to get/make something and then have it sit for months while you build the other thing it needs before it will work. Basically I look at it as Finish a project brew a batch. Start with fermentation control. This will give you control of the longest part of your beer's journey to the bottle. Brew a batch of beer to take advantage of your new toy. I'd then follow up with a burner and a larger pot together so now you can do full boils with extract or do all grain using the boil in a bag method. From there you can move to dedicated a dedicated mashtun.

 

[HHP]

It's all about baby steps. You don't want to get/make something and then have it sit for months while you build the other thing it needs before it will work. Basically I look at it as Finish a project brew a batch. Start with fermentation control. This will give you control of the longest part of your beer's journey to the bottle. Brew a batch of beer to take advantage of your new toy. I'd then follow up with a burner and a larger pot together so now you can do full boils with extract or do all grain using the boil in a bag method. From there you can move to dedicated a dedicated mashtun.

+1. Watch craigslist for a deal on that chest freezer, and get one of those temp controllers off of ebay. Then you will have a sweet toy.

So I always recommend getting the biggest pot you can

No reason to buy things twice, save up for a 15 or 20 gallon pot (or just use a keggle), you can still do five gallon batches in those big pots.

 

[63belair]

+1 to what has been posted here. Look into fermentation temperature control first. Check out the DIY section and there are all sorts of projects that require different amounts of cash, time, equipment, skill, etc. There is definitely more than one method out there to suit you. Personally I would go with a swamp cooler (cheap, easy to "build", can be used for other things when not brewing/fermenting, takes up little space) but that is just me.

Kick back, open up a ton of tabs, crack a homebrew, do some research, ask some questions, do some more research, and get crackin!

That being said, if you have a cool basement that maintains constant temperatures, looking into a turkey fryer kit wouldn't be a bad idea either.

 

[flanken]

excellent feedback guys, love it... thanks for the advice I'll let you know what I decide once I digest all the suggestions.

I like the baby steps approach HHP...

 

[flanken]

Just finished building a mother of fermentation chiller and have a small 2.5 gallon batch fermenting to test it out. So far so good!