Equipment upgrade!!!!

[carliezdad]

I have been approved a minor equipment upgrade by my wife.

**For the record I understand how pathetic that sounds but it’s reality**

I am currently using a 5 gal aluminum pot with a “True Brew” kit consisting of a fermenting bucket, bottling bucket, auto siphon, hydrometer, and other typical accessories. I am also using the kitchen stove (electric) to brew.

My goal is to eventually get into all grain brewing and will want to DIY as much of the kit as possible. So what would y’all recommend for this first upgrade and why? I only ask for why so I can weigh the responses for cost/feasibility for life in base housing in Alaska where we still have lots of snow on the ground.
Thanks in advance for your advice!
Cheers!

 

[Shaneoco1981]

It kinda depends on how much you have been approved for. If you are talking less then $50, then I would go with an out door propane burner. If you are talking $150, I might consider a bigger SS pot or a mash tun.

 

[o4_srt]

A DIY mlt can cost as little as $50, and will allow you to dive head first into all grain.

I completely understand the budget, I'm limited to $10 a week for hobbies (beer), which allows me 2 3 gallon batches a month. It works out well though, as I only Brew on Saturday's she works, which is usually twice a month.

I would recommend a wort chiller, but I'm assuming you'll have plenty of cold water/ice/snow to cool your wort in Alaska.

I'm also assuming the idea of brewing outside via propane burner would be miserable most of the time in Alaska.


Military?

 

[BryceL]

What size batches are you doing? One of my first upgrades would be to a bigger kettle (8 gallon min). Of course if you did that you would also need a stand alone burner if you wanted to do full boils. A bigger kettle would allow you to do partial mash while you accumulate the equipment needed for all grain.

 

[JohnTheBrewist]

If you can squeeze about $100 I'd go for one of the turkey frier combos with pot and propane burner like this. Be sure to get one that has a pot that is at least 30 qts. The bigger the better. This will allow you to do full boils, which will be necessary, when you make the eventual switch to all grain. If you still had some money after that, I'd suggest making your own immersion chiller. With a full boil you'll need a way to cool it quickly. This setup will also allow you to make all grain batches with the BIAB method.

You can invest in a cooler MLT later if you want to, but its not absolutely necessary.

 

[eastoak]

if you bought a 8 or 10 gallon kettle and a grain bag you'd be all set for BIAB all grain brewing. your wife would be like...huh?

 

[Slurm]

I'll second (Third? fourth?) the bigger pot idea -its currently at the top of my list. After that you may be looking for a more powerful burner, like the aforementioned turkey fryer..

 

[carliezdad]

Thanks!
I should have mentioned a few more facts. I am military living in base housing so size matters when it comes to brew day. We do have very cold ground water so I believe that a counterflow chiller (planning on building one) will work just fine. I am cleared for $360 which would go a long way without shipping I checked morebeer and shipping two carboys with stoppers and airlocks would cost me a minimum of $100! I don't want to spend my entire budget shipping.
The pot I currently have is from a turkey fryer set up I have had for years. No burner though as I have lost it over the past few moves.
I do like the idea of a burner and bigger pot to move toward my goal of all gran!
Thanks for the tips!

 

[JKalpowsky]

Wow, wish I had that budget for upgrades....

were it me, since you brought up carboys, pick up these instead:

amazon carboy

$28.07/ea shipped... not the fastest shipping, but I mean, at that price, can't beat it. My first one came last week, and my second got shipped out fast, I'm expecting it Tuesday, only a week after ordering it. My first one will hold 6.5 gallons, I measured it before i brewed and IPA and used it for the primary fermentation it's presently in.

beyond that, I'd pick up a Turkey fryer setup, and build an igloo water cooler MLT and pick up random odds and ends, and a few ingredient kits

 

[Golddiggie]

If you're good/decent with tools, get a 30-40 quart pot (either aluminum or SS), 1/2" ball valve, and convert the pot into a kettle. If you have a 10+ gallon cooler, you can get another valve assembly (also 1/2") and convert it into a mash tun (you have options for the manifold). The mash tun conversion could be as little as $25 or up to about $75. Kettle conversion cost will depend more on the pot. Aluminum post can be drilled with a simple hole saw. SS pots need a step bit to do the job. Hole saws range from 1/3 to 1/5 the cost of a step bit. Next get a propane burner. I got mine (KAB4) for ~$80 from Rebel Brewer. Amazon has them for the same rate. You might be able to locate one in a local store for close to the same rate. I would get the 10" diameter burner like the KAB4 uses (same as used in the Blichmann burners)...

Once you have all that, you might have enough left over to get a grain mill. If not, then see if you can find a decent chest freezer (used or scratch and dent sale) along with a temperature controller and make a fermentation chamber.

If you're happy with the pot and such right now, then get/build the fermentation chamber, a stir plate, and O2 infusion setup. Then get the rest of the items a little at a time...

 

[Shaneoco1981]

With 360, I would definitely go for a bigger kettle, at least a 10 gallon pot, and a outdoor propane burner. I would then go get a few carboys with blow off tubes. And build your own counter flow chiller. You should still have a few bucks left over. Then buy a weldless valve with a 5/16 barb and a screen. That will definitely get you well on your way to going AG soon. The only big thing you will need is a mash tun.

 

[Golddiggie]

With 360, I would definitely go for a bigger kettle, at least a 10 gallon pot, and a outdoor propane burner. I would then go get a few carboys with blow off tubes. And build your own counter flow chiller. You should still have a few bucks left over. Then buy a weldless valve with a 5/16 barb and a screen. That will definitely get you well on your way to going AG soon. The only big thing you will need is a mash tun.

5/16" valve?? WTF?? Go with 1/2" or go home. :rockin: get ~5' of 1/2" ID silicon tubing and you're set for using all the valves in your hardware until you get pumps. Then, just get more tubing. 1/2" is a standard size on pumps and other things, so look forward, don't just look for cheap..

As for the CFC... Building an IC from 3/8" OD copper is really easy and you don't need to worry one lick about cleaning out the inside of it. Hose it down when done, to make sure these no crap on it, then place it into the kettle 5-15 minutes before the boil is over. It's sterilized by that, and 100% safe to use. You can cool 5 gallons of hot wort to <65F in about 12-15 minutes with a 20' IC (18' in the wort). A 50' 3/8" OD IC will cool it down in half that. In AK, the water should be cold enough year round to do a damned good job with the IC.

For which chiller the OP should get, it's 100% a personal choice. Ask a dozen brewers which one they use, and love, and you'll have people referencing all of them. For 5-10 gallon batches they're almost all the same. But if you want one that you don't need to worry about cleaning the inside of (CFC and plate chillers) then you'll want either an IC or to use the 'no chill' method. Right now, the IC does a damned good job for me. Living in the north eastern US means the ground water is cold enough year round to do a damned fine job of cooling the wort.

Also, you can do away with needing a screen in the boil kettle simply by using either hop bags, or just the 1/2" ball valve. It has enough flow that hop pellet trub won't plug it up... I use hop bags in my batches, which means I get very little trub going into the primary. I also use pellet hops in the boil. I have dry hopped with whole hops, which I left loose in the carboy...

 

[carliezdad]

With 360, I would definitely go for a bigger kettle, at least a 10 gallon pot, and a outdoor propane burner. I would then go get a few carboys with blow off tubes. And build your own counter flow chiller. You should still have a few bucks left over. Then buy a weldless valve with a 5/16 barb and a screen. That will definitely get you well on your way to going AG soon. The only big thing you will need is a mash tun.

That is exactly the plan... I was leaning in that direction and all the advice given has helped me concrete the decision!
Thanks to you all for your advice!!!!!
Cheers!

 

[JohnTheBrewist]

If it were me I'd skip the glass carboys and just use buckets. No worries about glass breaking in a move or around chlidren. And, you can stack them to save space when not in use. I used buckets for more than 10 years without any problems. Best of all their cheap!

I agree with Golddiggie about valve size. Go with 1/2" if you do this.

 

[Shaneoco1981]

The reason I went with 5/16" is that it fits over a 3/8" flex copper and you don't need to change sizes at all... It's nice... Also, carliezdad, I built an in line thermometer... Very easy... I went from 3/8's flex copper (a 1" long piece) to a 1/2 by 1/4 reducing coupling to a foot long piece of 1/2 in copper to another 1/2 by 1/4 reducer to another 1" long piece of 3/8 flex copper. On the 1/2 in copper, I stuck one of those stick on thermometer's on it. It works great and has me easily able to adjust flow of water or wort.

 

[joeybeer]

For the price of a ten gallon pot, another option is to get your hands on a cheap keg and pimp it with bargainfittings.com - I've got a 15.5gallon stainless keggle, with TIG welded 1/2 barb,thermometer, and sight glass for under $120 !!!

 

[mikeysab]

360 is a nice budget. sq14 from amazon for 50, waresdirect has decent sized aluminum pots for under a hundo.(I got an 80 qt with lid and shipping for around a hundred bucks iirc) Build yourself a 3/8" x 50' IC for around 60, and build yourself a MLT for another 60, maybe 80. (less if you wanna go BIAB). Get yourself some fermenting buckets for 40 or so. That leaves you money for ingredients, or a decent thermometer, or an extra pot to heat up water on your stove, or something else you can think you'll need. Better yet, come in under budget and your wife will be impressed with how frugal you're being and give you leeway in the future

 

[carliezdad]

I like where your heads at! I'm gonna make a go at comming in under budget and see what that will do for future endevors. I also figure if I can make it under budget then I can use any extra for ingredients and I'll have a good pipeline of brew on the way!
Thanks!

 

[Veinman]

Wow $360 is a very nice upgrade budget and you should be able to go all-grain with a fairly decent set-up for that amount.
Using my own all-grain set-up as an example:
$90-40 qt Turkey Fryer and Burner
$60- cooler mash tun including all parts and cooler
$30- 6 carboys of craiglist, that's right $5 each, you could get buckets for the same price
$60- grain mill
$40- building a simple immersion chiller
$30- a second smaller pot for heating strike water

That's only $310 and is everything I can think of for a basic all-grain set-up. I'm not sure exactly what prices are like for some of these items in your area but you still have $50 to work with for high prices or odds and ends like extra hoses, airlocks a good thermometer etc.
Also check craigslist and 2nd hand sites and postings in your area, they are very hit or miss but if you find a good score you'll save a bundle.
Good luck

 

[lotusworker]

Wow, wish I had that budget for upgrades....

were it me, since you brought up carboys, pick up these instead:

Video Link: http://www.amazon.com/Paklab-Glass-Carboy-Liter-1-9-Pound/dp/B002VFXW5W/ref=sr_1_cc_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1302910109&sr=1-1-catcorr

$28.07/ea shipped... not the fastest shipping, but I mean, at that price, can't beat it. My first one came last week, and my second got shipped out fast, I'm expecting it Tuesday, only a week after ordering it. My first one will hold 6.5 gallons, I measured it before i brewed and IPA and used it for the primary fermentation it's presently in.

beyond that, I'd pick up a Turkey fryer setup, and build an igloo water cooler MLT and pick up random odds and ends, and a few ingredient kits

I second those carboys. Mine shipped pretty fast and a good deal when they are on sale because free shipping.

 

[Shaneoco1981]

For the price of a ten gallon pot, another option is to get your hands on a cheap keg and pimp it with bargainfittings.com - I've got a 15.5gallon stainless keggle, with TIG welded 1/2 barb,thermometer, and sight glass for under $120 !!!

I paid $122 for a 15 gallon stainless steal pot. You can get it done for cheaper, and Keg's are heavy as hell!

 

[carliezdad]

OK... Here's how I've got it figured after spending some time hitting all the shops in Fairbanks today.

I ordered two 6 gal carboys from Amazon for $67 with shipping included.
10 Gal aluminum pot at a Fred Meyer's for $39
Camp chef 60,000 BTU burner for $60
I will be making a immersion chiller for about $50 (I haven't priced the parts but figure it should run in this ball park)
A cooler mash tun including parts for $60
That brings me to $276 so far!

I already have a 5 gal pot for strike water and have to decide between a grain mill ($84 here cost $54 online and in the lower 48 but the shipping would make it mor3e expensive)
or ingredients for a couple of batches… Only one of the two HBS in Fairbanks has a mill that I can use in the store. That store has a huge amount of ingredients to choose from but it’s ALL kept at room temp including the hops! I’m not certain how often their supply gets rotated and which makes a bit skittish. So choices are order in already milled, buy possibly old stuff and use a larger mill in the shop, or buy the small mill for $84 and work it all here at home. For the record the small mill would put me dead on my budget of $360.
Thanks again for all the input! For the contributors I'll have a homebrew ready if you find yourselves in the North Pole area of AK!
Cheers!

 

[emjay]

Grain really ought to be stored at room temp anyways. As long as it's unmilled and kept sealed and bug-free, light base grains can last a couple years, and darker grains even longer. If it's not a big deal to ALSO go to the other store for your yeast and hops, I would do that because it sounds like (based on price) that you're looking at a corona mill, and those things are terrible. I managed to get a Barley Crusher roller mill brand new for $125 - and that's in Canada, where everything costs more than the US (although I imagine it's more in line with Alaska.) So maybe set that money aside until you get enough more to purchase a proper mill? Especially if you don't have a ton of money to blow, I personally wouldn't buy a corona mill knowing I might regret it and later want to upgrade to a roller mill, which would obviously end up costing me a lot more.

Another thing to consider would be getting an Erlenmeyer flask and building yourself a stirplate - makes it much easier to pitch proper amounts, and IMO pays for itself.

 

[chipsah]

For the contributors I'll have a homebrew ready if you find yourselves in the North Pole area of AK!
Cheers!

I was just up there last November to take the kids to see Santa. Sounds like you may want to invest in the mill if you question the quality of that supply store's ingredients. It doesn't really matter how nice your setup is if you are brewing with old stuff. That being said, I think malt keeps for quite a while. Perhaps you could save $ by getting grain there and buying hops in bulk and storing them in the freezer.

Anyway, looks like your upgrade is going well. Let me know if you are ever in Anchorage.

 

[carliezdad]

I really like your ideas of buying the grain (even if a bit older, just wasn't sure if that was an issue) at one store and hops at another. If I'm having a problem finding what I need I'll just have to pay the shipping. After all I want to brew quality beer not just brew a beer substitute.
Thanks again!
T

 

[usafbeerlover]

Go to donosborn.com or look for his videos on youtube. He has some good step by step vids/pics on how to build mash tun/wort chiller ect. Good luck

 

[carliezdad]

Thanks! I will!!!

 

[Veinman]

Hops in bulk is the way to go. check out hopsdirect.com and you can get hops for around $1oz shipped to Canada so Alaska should be about the same. I've never seen a LHBS come close to matching those prices, stored in the freezer they will last for years.