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!
- 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!