Wanting to upgrade/expand..help?

[bam]

Hi to all you guys much more experienced than myself. I have my first extract brew in the fermenter and have evidently caught the bug. I want to expand get a pipeline going but not sure how much or how quickly to advance. What are some constructive tips on equipment and such to start gathering? Thanks!!

 

[Pezman1]

I would get a 5 gallon carboy for a secondary. That way you can have a batch in primary and a batch in secondary so you can keep one on deck every 2-3 weeks. I you chose not to use a secondary, then get another primary fermentor.
Having a nice, large stainless kettle with a laminated bottom helps on the brewing side. Mine is 5.5 gallons, heavy gauge stainless with an aluminum-clad base. $70.00 at Wal-Mart. I can do fairly large boils this way, but my electric stove would be maxed out with anything larger.

An immersion chiller is a must have for around 50-60 bucks. Also, some 22 oz bottles speed up bottling as does a bottling bucket.

Buy star-san and PBW in a larger size to save $s. Buy bottle caps in different colors to keep your stock easily identifiable. Buy a Vinator to sanitize with. Try some Whirlfloc tablets. Have a nice beer thief if your primary is a carboy. I bought and LOVE the fermtech unit.

Buy some large opaque bins to store botttles in. Keeps out the sun and prevents a mess if by chance you make a bottle-bomb instead of a brewskie.
buy some smaller bins to kep all your stuff clean and organized.



You didn't mention what you already have, so I am just kinda going over things I have purchased that sped things up as well as made them easier.

Pez.

EDIT" buy an igloo IceCube brand cooler for each fermentor to use as a water bath. Living in Alabama, you will have to keep ferm temps under control. All the brewing specific stuff is available at Midwest, Northern Brewer, and most other places.

 

[bam]

Pez - Thanks so much for the info!! Right now I have a kit from homebrewers outpost. A 6.5 gallon fermenter, 6.5 gallon bottling bucket, siphon, tubing, bottle filler wand, no-rinse sanitizer, caps and two-lever capper, hydrometer and test tube..some other small necessary items I can't call off the top of my head right now. I'm looking at adding a secondary and/or extra primary fermenter, some more bottles, as well as upgrading or creating space in the house for housing all my equipment - it's all in a spare bedroom closet right now. I have a 5 gallon stainless steel stockpot for brewing right now. but I think I might upgrade that to a little larger one later on. I know eventually I would like to get into AG brewing but for now I wanna take some smaller steps and learn more about the recipes and gravities and all the charateristics of different beers as they brew and ferment.

Thanks again for the info/advice! Will definitely be doing some more research with it

 

[Pezman1]

Sounds like you are on the right track. Now the thing to do is to make several simple kits in a row to fine tune you skills. Many folks run into problems by getting too complicated too quickly.
Cheers! Pez.

 

[bam]

Thanks! I definitely don't wanna get ahead of myself. I jus wanna do a few extract batches and slowly build up and add more and then start doing the harder things.