Equipment upgrade time!

[undergroundbrewer]

Hey everyone,

I'm jumping back into the hobby with both feet after having a crazy 18 months (thank you never-ending home renovation projects). By some miracle, the SO has granted me permission to spend some $$$ on new homebrew goods, so I plan to take full advantage of her offer...

I just placed an order for a 10g G2 Blichmann kettle, as I am planning to piece together a BrewEasy setup over the next year. This is a change from my 20g Megapot, which I plan to keep for larger brews (I pretty much always do 5g though). I already own a Hellfire burner, and I figure there are a few other pieces I can acquire before I have to really decide on going electric or gas (current home would need a panel upgrade to accommodate the electric upgrade).

For reference, my current setup includes two igloo coolers for my mash / HLT. I use a chugger pump and camlock fittings across all equipment. I have a pretty hefty immersion chiller w/whirlpool arm that works great, but uses a ton of water since ground temps in Southern Cal rarely get chilly outside of the winter months. I use Spiedel fermenters and an empty kegerator for a ferm chamber w/inkbird controller to control temps.

Here's my thinking (figuring I've got $300-$400 left to spend):
- Blichmann Therminator w/backflush + Thrumometer ($244 shipped)
- Riptide pump ($199)
- Premium in-line oxygenation kit ($114)
- Spike Flex+ fermenter ($375)
- ????????????????????

Any suggestions / comments on anything listed here worth going for (or avoiding)? I can also just save the cash but... where's the fun in that? I'm very fortunate to have this opportunity as it comes around about once every stateside Olympics, but I look at these equipment choices as very important and want some new stuff to play with

 

[kh54s10]

You don't have enough funds, but to go electric you don't need to update your wiring. I bought the Unibrau and it does fine on 2 circuits of 110 volts. Of your list: none of those items would be on mine. For your system I would ditch one of the Igloo coolers and get a second propane burner for you HLT.

 

[undergroundbrewer]

Hey there @kh54s10 thanks for the suggestion. What would be on your list?

Only mentioned the electric bit b/c my electrician noted a fairly strained capacity on the existing panel, and to go 240v would be a bit pricey. He could be wrong but he's been great for us and seems to know his stuff extensively (other electricians I know have agreed with his other work).

 

[Dland]

Sounds like the panel upgrade would be good for your overall infrastructure, not just brewing. It is probably worth the investment in that case, lots of people take grid power for granted until it fails. Strained capacity can lead to failure or fire unless you and everyone in house pays attention to load management.

For brewing, 240V is definatley worth it, unless you are brewing little batches and like waiting around for water to get to temp. Nothing wrong with brewing with gas in the mean time, but if you switch to 240V electric and a good controller, you will appreciate the improvements.

As for your list, you will like the riptide, it is a superior pump. I have a different line oxygenator (SS brewtech), and I like it, but was not a huge upgrade from a $30 wand, but properly used, is a little more sanitary.

I have a dudadiesel brand plate cooler, it looks to be higher surface area than the Blichman, and to do it again, I would have gotten one with even more plates/area, as I think it would be more efficient in time and water.

Since you already have an immersion chiller, you can drop the temp some with that, in BK, do a hop step, and then run though plate cooler to fermentor, this is what I do and it saves time, water, and opens hopping options.

 

[Moose_MI]

Congrats! I’ve been using my gas 20G BrewEasy for 4 years now and love it. It’s probably a little late but I see awesome used BrewEasy systems come up for sale with some frequency. I actually bought my system used for about 1/3 of the cost of new and it’s been great.

 

[kh54s10]

Hey there @kh54s10 thanks for the suggestion. What would be on your list?

Only mentioned the electric bit b/c my electrician noted a fairly strained capacity on the existing panel, and to go 240v would be a bit pricey. He could be wrong but he's been great for us and seems to know his stuff extensively (other electricians I know have agreed with his other work).

My list is empty for now. I have everything I need for the foreseeable future. As I said I have the Unibrau 110v system so I have no need for any electrical upgrades. You do have to plug into 2 separate circuits though or it will draw too much power and (hopefully) trip the breaker if plugged into one circuit.

 

[undergroundbrewer]

@Moose_MI I honestly thought about going bigger, but frankly I'm not really doing batches that large and I like being able to offer selection versus quantity (especially if a brew is a bust!). Glad to hear you like the gas version, I'm thinking worst case scenario down the road is I get a natural gas hookup and go from there. Any particular pieces of the setup that you found to be game-changers or worth upgrading now?

 

[Knightshade]

Hey there @kh54s10 thanks for the suggestion. What would be on your list?

Only mentioned the electric bit b/c my electrician noted a fairly strained capacity on the existing panel, and to go 240v would be a bit pricey. He could be wrong but he's been great for us and seems to know his stuff extensively (other electricians I know have agreed with his other work).

Frame of reference..I paid $450 to have mine put into an existing panel, also SoCal.

 

[Snark_Wolf_Brewing]

You don't have enough funds, but to go electric you don't need to update your wiring. I bought the Unibrau and it does fine on 2 circuits of 110 volts. Of your list: none of those items would be on mine. For your system I would ditch one of the Igloo coolers and get a second propane burner for you HLT.

Another budget friendly option for electric is the Brewer's Edge Mash & Boil at $299. I have one myself and it does fine on one standard GFCI outlet.

 

[apache_brew]

Sounds like you have a bunch of decent hotside equipment. Most of my equipment is DIY and I’m a full believer in full volume biab style mashing.

That 20 gallon pot is plenty big for 5 or even 10 gallon BIAB. Maybe grab a new large bag with straps from Kegland? I think morebeer sells them now. Around $20.

For chilling, have you thought about a counterflow tube in hose chiller? Much easier to clean then a plate chiller. I use my old 25’ copper immersion chiller in series with a counterflow chiller to get down to lager pitching temps. Get some stainless compression fitting adapters for the copper tube and camlocks and run hot wort through the inside of it while you have the immersion chiller submerged in ice water. You could use one of those mashtun coolers to hold ice for the immersion chiller like I described.

Do you have natural gas service? Having a dedicated fuel line that never runs out is

Grain mill?

Do you have a fermentation fridge/freezer with temp control?

Welding oxygen tank?

I’d say money spent on yeast health and cold side control is gonna give you your best bang for your buck beer quality wise.

 

[Moose_MI]

@Moose_MI I honestly thought about going bigger, but frankly I'm not really doing batches that large and I like being able to offer selection versus quantity (especially if a brew is a bust!). Glad to hear you like the gas version, I'm thinking worst case scenario down the road is I get a natural gas hookup and go from there. Any particular pieces of the setup that you found to be game-changers or worth upgrading now?

I didn’t mean to suggest you should go larger. Get the size that works for what you want to produce. The only thing I ”upgraded“ was I added a whirlpool port to my BK.
My favorite thing about the BE is that It’s a 1/2bbl brewery that takes up about 2x2 sq ft in my garage

 

[undergroundbrewer]

@apache_brew I do have a fridge with controller, actually it’s a kegerator I got second hand that tends to leak. On that note, I like the idea of kegging, after 10+ years of brewing I still haven’t gotten there (no idea why...). Perhaps that’s a way to go? I do have a cereal killer grain mill as well. Very entry level beyond a corona mill but it works when needed. I think the 02 tank idea is a good one, considering I’m seemingly always at Home Depot spending money on 02 tanks with questionable fills. No idea what that even runs but surely reasonable in price? Finally I do have natural gas service, I would just need to have it T’d off to my brewing section in the garage. Seems cheaper than adding the electric for now (probably moving into a bigger home in a couple years to accommodate future brew assistants)

@Moose_MI I got the whirlpool add on and I’m excited to give it a whirl!

I noticed no one said a thing about brew bucket, the spike plus, or any other fermenter in that price space?

 

[apache_brew]

I like the idea of kegging, after 10+ years of brewing I still haven’t gotten there (no idea why...). Perhaps that’s a way to go?

Kegging is the way to go!

As for the oxygen tank, you’re probably looking at finding a small cylinder in the $50-$100 range plus the CGA-540 medical gas regulator in the $25-$50 range (check ebay)