$100 Brew Money- Which would you get?

[menschmaschine]

Looking for some opinions here. If you had $100 of belated birthday money to spend on brewing equipment, which would you get?:

1. 4 Corny Kegs (currently have 4 and need to stock up on brew for upcoming birth of first child)

2. Upgrade 25 ft immersion chiller to 50 ft (brewing 10+ gallon batches using 25 ft IC. It gets to 80°F in about 30 minutes and to pitching temps in about an hour give or take (ale/lager)... wouldn't mind reducing this time. Shorter brew days are soon to be important.)

3. 2 Perlick faucets and accessories for keezer build. (currently using picnic taps with unconverted chest freezer)

Thanks.

 

[chefmike]

I have a one year old... go for the cornies. And maybe play with no-chill brewing for awhile. It has taken me a little bit to get back on schedule after my daughters birth. The 8 kegs will let you pile it away when you have time.

And no chill might change your brew day!

 

[wildwest450]

I would definitely go with the IC. It's not the sexy pick, but an hour is to long to get down to pitching temps. I use my 50 footer for single and double batches, and it works great for both. About 20 minutes to pitching ale temps.

 

[Cpt_Kirks]

The cornies and a little submersible pump from Harbor Freight. Pump ice water from a bucket into your current IC.

 

[menschmaschine]

Thanks for the input. I already use a submersible pump to get my lagers into the 40s°F. I don't know about that no-chill brewing... sounds like crazy-talk to me.

Coppertubingsales.com has 50ft role of 1/2" OD for $34.60. Perhaps I can make one and still have enough left over for 2 cornies... a best-of-both-worlds solution. The perlicks will have to wait.

 

[Mutilated1]

get some nice faucets that you'll enjoy everyday

 

[IrregularPulse]

I say Cornies. I Have 4 already and am learning 4 more is a necessity. I stepped up to 10G brew days since having my son due to fewer brew days. Well 2 batch and theres all my cornies.

 

[samc]

"need to stock up on brew for upcoming birth of first child" -

that's just silly, by the time the kid is old enough to drink that beer will be skunky!

But seriously folks I would go for a chiller, seeing as how the no chill method turns you off. I am going to try that in the near future as the chilling ranks almost as low with me as cleaning out the mash tun.

Good luck with the newborn - you will look back on the first few years with happiness when they get to be over 6 or so.

 

[TommyBoy]

Cornies. Fill up that pipeline of beer.

 

[Edcculus]

Cornies. Since I started kegging, I've learned you can never have too many.

 

[brian_g]

I don't have any of that neat equipment, but if I were in your place, I'd get the kegs. My logic is this. If your doing 10 gal batches, two batches will fill up your all your kegs. That's only two kind of beer. It seems that beer storage would be better then the time saved from the chiller. You can do other things while you wait for the wort to cool, so it's not like your gaining a lot of "real" extra time.

 

[Brewmasters Warehouse]

I would go with the 4 cornies. From personal experience when my daughter was born (15 months old now) brew time was very hard to come by. When it did saving 20 minutes off the brew day was not that big of a deal, as it is to get a block of time to begin with. The cornies will at least keep you in beer while your production is down.

Now that my daughter is a little older I find more days that I can brew, so my equipment additions have to do with lowering the amount of time it takes to brew so I can fit a brew in when I would not have been able to fit a brew in the past. When they are newborn brewing is basically a yes or no answer. Now it seems I can brew if I can finish by X time.

 

[AnOldUR]

The IC and if you can still get two cornies, it's that much better. But always go for improving the quality of your beer first.

 

[menschmaschine]

Lot's of varied and great opinions here. I'm half set on making the 50 ft IC and getting 2 cornies, but Brewmaster's Warehouse is pretty convincing.

 

[Homercidal]

Go for the IC. Cornies are nice and all, but doesn't that kid have a mother? Surely she can manage to keep that thing alive for 6 hours while you brew!

 

[conpewter]

Cornies are nice because if you ever get out of the hobby they will hold their value very well.

I've never had a 50' chiller so I'm not sure how much more efficient that is than a 25' and stirring a lot. You could get the cornies and maybe have enough left over to turn your 25' chiller into a counterflow chiller. Though you may want to use the money to get a pump and the counterflow chiller.

 

[Liquidicem]

Slightly more but go for a pump and use your current IC with a whirlpool system.

 

[Evan!]

Liquidicem beat me to it. My march pump and whirlpool IC system upgrade was one of the single best things I ever done did. Yeah, it's more than your gift certificate, but it's so freakin' worth it. Much more so than just getting a bigger/longer IC...you'll see just a little bit of gain from that, but adding a recirculating whirlpool system to it will kick ass...I got my chill times for 10 gallons down to 13 minutes for boiling to 66f.

 

[Baja_Brewer]

Cornies +100293

Its always great to have more!

 

[Arkador]

Lot's of varied and great opinions here. I'm half set on making the 50 ft IC and getting 2 cornies, but Brewmaster's Warehouse is pretty convincing.

that's what I was thinking
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/worth-trouble-make-own-immersion-wort-chiller-124024/

check Craigslist, and find 2 cornies for $25 each and avoid paying shipping.

If you are short on time, do an extract batch (I can whip those out in about 2 horus) or make some Aphlwein (10 minutes)

 

[Boerderij_Kabouter]

If you don't have a pump I would get a march. The whirlpool really speeds things up.

If you have one already, I would go with the 50' and two cornys.

 

[IrregularPulse]

If you don't have a pump I would get a march. The whirlpool really speeds things up.

If you have one already, I would go with the 50' and two cornys.

This is one of my top listers

 

[humann_brewing]

If you don't have a pump I would get a march. The whirlpool really speeds things up.

If you have one already, I would go with the 50' and two cornys.

Check: this is one of the things I need to figure out soon along with water prep with the Chloride/sulfate balance and such.

 

[Boerderij_Kabouter]

Or I would go with a transfer pump to make siphoning a thing of the past:

Self-Priming Diaphragm Pump for Beer Transfers | MoreBeer

That would be sweet.

 

[menschmaschine]

You guys are gettin' all crazy with this. You're acting like this money is burning a hole in your pocket!

I will now consider this "March" pump you speak of...even though my birthday was in April (bad joke). It might be a good pre-emptive purchase to my inevitable switch from 3 tier to 1 or 2 tier.

But the cornies are still tempting. Maybe I should get them first and save the other stuff for Christmas. I'm just anticipating not being able to brew for a couple months after the stork drops off my daughter. So, stocking up might be a smooth maneuver, Hoover.

 

[eschatz]

I'd get 4-5 more kegs. That's me. I get thirsty.

 

[Tonedef131]

you can never have too many kegs.

 

[GuateBrewer]

Self-Priming Diaphragm Pump for Beer Transfers | MoreBeer

For those brewers that perhaps cannot lift a carboy or have issues with siphoning this is a great solution.

Gotta love that copy - what issues can you have with siphoning - I guess brewers on the moon or other low gravity environments might encounter reduced flow but....

 

[conpewter]

- I guess brewers on the moon or other low gravity environments might encounter reduced flow but....

Could also be prostate trouble, you may want to get checked out

 

[boogyman]

go for the faucets. the other upgrades are just nice to have.. going from picnic faucets to actual faucets is a must.