$100 Brew Money- Which would you get?

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menschmaschine

menschmaschine

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

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.
 
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.
 
"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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.:)
 
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!
 
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 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.
 
menschmaschine said:
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.:)
Click to expand...

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)
 
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.;)
 
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....
 
go for the faucets. the other upgrades are just nice to have.. going from picnic faucets to actual faucets is a must.
 
I started with three cornies. Then I went to five. Now I have eight. If I can find a decent deal on an entire pallet of 25 I am going to be on that like white on rice.

You got a system. Use it to fill up every Cornie you can find. Christmas is right around the corner.
 
well out of nesesity I'd say get a plate chiller off of ebay. Thats way to long to cool wort and you will wonder how you ever used that intercooler after you get one.
 
brewjunky said:
well out of nesesity I'd say get a plate chiller off of ebay. Thats way to long to cool wort and you will wonder how you ever used that intercooler after you get one.
Click to expand...

This is of course debatable since plenty of people make great beer with the no-chill method taking more then 24 hours to chill wort.
 
I wouldn't want this to get into the positives/negatives of various chill methods, but I do prefer a good cold break and I prefer very little of that cold break to get into my fermenter. To each their own, but the technical literature I read indicates that is ideal. Plus every other batch of mine is 90+% pilsener malt for lagers, so DMS formation is a concern and the risk reduced with a fast chill. I'm on a well, so water temperature and usage is of little concern to me. So, this is why I like ICs.
 
One of the most handy things I have is an ebay special refractometer..I would get one of those and some cornies...
 
Poindexter said:
I started with three cornies. Then I went to five. Now I have eight. If I can find a decent deal on an entire pallet of 25 I am going to be on that like white on rice.

You got a system. Use it to fill up every Cornie you can find. Christmas is right around the corner.
I would go for corny's as they are getting tight, other items can be purchased anytime. Get the hard to get items now. A BCS-460 controller would be nice.

For $80 or until they run out of them by the end of June,
THE CHI COMPANY in northern California had 4 packs of cleaned and pressure
shipped corny's for $80 a 4 pack. You can buy 1,2,3,4,8,12 you name it. They are shipping 4 packs in one box and only corny's with solid rubber ends attached no loose rubber ends or dented corny's. CHI only sells clean dent free, nicks or scratched corny's not bashed up junk, Matt has high standards on his used kegs. Seals are old unless you spend more for replacement seal kits or buy your own from another supply source.
Shipping for me is $13 as I live in California.
I just ordered another 4 pack yesterday so I have 24 Corny's plus one Coke "pin-lock" odd ball that will become a Pepsi corny by trade or other means, $$$ added trade? Matt told me he has the last 3-400 Pespi corny's coming in as he purchased all of the Pepsi filling lines across the country. This will be the very last of them thru CHI I was told yesterday. I've been dealing with Matt for a couple years, my voice alone and he has my city and address. A straight person and company to deal with. So far 20 for 20 used corny's in great shape, tomorrow i'll receive the same great quality kegs again I can bet on it from the past dealings with Matt. I had one broken relief valve once and a complete lid was sent to me. Very honorable person.
No 15.5 or 7.75 kegs in stock. Ten's of thousands of corny's and kegs are shipped out of the country at the Port Of Oakland 5 miles from me. These become main food and water containers in China and the Far East. LHBS will name their prices in the future when they are all gone.
I have no direct profit or intrest in CHI just passing off the savings and dealings with them. They also have brewing equipment as well regulators on sale now also.
Type in thechicompany. Add the three w's and the dot com. Tell Matt your from the HBT by Carl's reply. he'll treat you well with the highest respect besides a great straight answer person.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
chefmike said:
so what are you gonna do? 2 cornies and the tubing?
Click to expand...

Still haven't decided, but with the recent CHI deal, I might spring for the 4 cornies if the shipping across the country isn't ridiculous. If the shipping is stupid, then I might do 2 cornies and the tubing.

Getting 4 cornies has nothing to do with cornies "running out" though. I recall a thread on here a year or so ago about CHI (I think) getting a "last batch" of cornies and how they were all gonna be gone in a few months in the whole country. Then several months later, same story... "just got 800 cornies in and this is really it... they're all gone after this." Maybe I'm mistaken and I don't feel like searching for the thread, but I recall something to that effect.
 
menschmaschine said:
Still haven't decided, but with the recent CHI deal, I might spring for the 4 cornies if the shipping across the country isn't ridiculous. If the shipping is stupid, then I might do 2 cornies and the tubing.

Getting 4 cornies has nothing to do with cornies "running out" though. I recall a thread on here a year or so ago about CHI (I think) getting a "last batch" of cornies and how they were all gonna be gone in a few months in the whole country. Then several months later, same story... "just got 800 cornies in and this is really it... they're all gone after this." Maybe I'm mistaken and I don't feel like searching for the thread, but I recall something to that effect.
Click to expand...

As of last thursday when I ordered another 4-pack Matt at CHI told me he had a small supply now on sale until the end of the month with another small shipment being the last batch coming in like I posted above. many have gone over seas as well Oz purchased a couple hundred in one order. LHBS purchase in volume also knowing they can make a easy profit whe the supply has run dry. Matt is waiting for the last 2-300 corny's from the last Pepsi plant they are taking apart to come in. Shipping may be a deal killer vs my 105 app mile UPS trip, damn missed out on saturday's delivery so monday they should be delivered. They keep coming in small batches until CHI has finished up taking apart all the Pepsi lines they purchased. I was told they took apart the last line not that long ago and will ship and clean the corny's in the near future from their location in northern Calif. The pisser is if someone purchases a large volume of them then they can be gone. In the past I had a order tag in my 4-pack shipped with a large order slip to a winery in Southern Calif. as they found out shipping wine to their customers in corny's was saving them money vs other containers and they were in the process of purchasing another large order.
Best to call Matt in the mornings, put up with many busy signals as you will get thru. His phone recorder was filled and could not take any more calls, email is also good as Matt checks them daily. I recall it was 36 pounds shipping with a $13 or $17 shipping bill for me.
Nothing beats having clean corny's with solid rubber ends no rejects torn off or big dented up corny's. Used yes not all bashed up from CHI like left overs. I was the one many months ago that mentioned a shipment of 800 corny's to CHI coming in, I passed off what Matt told me as many went over seas to the far east, NZ and Oz that purchased a bunch to handle the Pacific islands areas. Call me greedy as CHI is close to me, high quality as well the low price for shipping hence why 24 in my collection. I don't want to run out of them in the future as syrup in the box is useless for future bier storage.
 

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