$150 burning a hole in my pocket

[Peruvian802]

I have a few gift cards I'm looking to spend. I figure I should look at my set-up as the missus won't even know if I get something new or upgrade.

I use two 40 qt aluminum kettles with weldless ball valves, a coleman picnic cooler with a water supply screen as a false bottom, and have 2 BIAB bags for when I don't want to brew with three vessels. I use a double bayou classic burner. I just built a cheap sparge arm out of pvc that fits the cooler, and use a 25' copper IC for cooling. I have a small wood paddle and a stainless long handled spoon. I even have a cheap mini pump for moving hot water from my HLT to my MLT.

I currently use 4 glass carboys as fermenters that I'm pleased with. I keep them in milk crates for moving around safely.

I keg my beer and built a 3 tap fridge/kegerator. I have plenty of kegs, swing top bottles, growlers, etc. I buy my grains and hops in bulk and am doing well there.

I don't have room for another freezer/fermentation chamber but would like to have more control over ferm. temperatures. I usually need to keep my carboys cool in the summer, but winter temps in my basement are fine.

What would you buy if you was me????

 

[Psylocide]

Maybe one of these?

http://www.morebeer.com/products/co...Gz0tM1eNnP_AQi8cWZODQx8O6kMbC8YyZJBoClrDw_wcB

 

[Indian_villager]

Do you have a mill?

 

[Peruvian802]

Do you have a mill?

I should have mentioned that. I have a cereal killer.

 

[firerat]

No room for a minifridge huh?

Yeah I second that beer jacket bag thingy Psylocide mentioned then.

 

[cannman]

How about a whirlpool chiller? http://www.morebeer.com/products/im...M0xpeuICnRO17sMlwXPINrfboEQoT_wZCDBoCUJ3w_wcB

 

[Bellybuster]

Speidel fermenter

 

[JosephN]

Personally I would buy a water filtration system first, they are about $40 with filter online.

Also I would also look into getting a FermWrap $30 for your ferm chamber, only if you need to add heat. If you nee better control you could build one of these, something I made for myself the other day. View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1439841254.744287.jpg

You can also buy 50' of 3/8" copper to make a wort chiller, just be careful not to break or kink the copper.

 

[cannman]

Personally I would buy a water filtration system first, they are about $40 with filter online.

Also I would also look into getting a FermWrap $30 for your ferm chamber, only if you need to add heat. If you nee better control you could build one of these, something I made for myself the other day. View attachment 297111

You can also buy 50' of 3/8" copper to make a wort chiller, just be careful not to break or kink the copper.

So you have your STC firing 2 plugs, so that you can fire up two carboys?

 

[acidrain]

CF chiller... direct transfer to FV in about 10 minutes. Add direct inject oxygen and a thermometer when you can.

 

[55x11]

CF chiller... direct transfer to FV in about 10 minutes. Add direct inject oxygen and a thermometer when you can.

stirplates/large Erlenmeyer flasks
Food Sealer (for storing hops etc.)
larger kettle (so you can scale up to 10G batches)
Oxygen stone for aeration
Thermapen
thermowell carboy stopper

 

[JosephN]

So you have your STC firing 2 plugs, so that you can fire up two carboys?

I'm an electrician so I hope that I make this easy to understand. No, the outlets in the back, against the wall, are split and are controlled by the relay. The outlets on the front side are both what we call "constant hot", so I can plug in a fan, laptop, multiple fans, or whatever. I do have this cooling my ferm chamber and I can fit 2-6.5 gallon carboys, but there is only one temp control, as you may already know. My company has worked on several breweries here in Nashville, tn and I've been able to wire up their fermentation temp system. Theirs is on a larger scale and use a chiller to pump cold water around the fermentation chamber. They use one controller per fermentation chamber, use like we should do, but when you have two that need to be at the same temp then I think its okay to stick them together.

 

[cannman]

I'm an electrician so I hope that I make this easy to understand. No, the outlets in the back, against the wall, are split and are controlled by the relay. The outlets on the front side are both what we call "constant hot", so I can plug in a fan, laptop, multiple fans, or whatever. I do have this cooling my ferm chamber and I can fit 2-6.5 gallon carboys, but there is only one temp control, as you may already know. My company has worked on several breweries here in Nashville, tn and I've been able to wire up their fermentation temp system. Theirs is on a larger scale and use a chiller to pump cold water around the fermentation chamber. They use one controller per fermentation chamber, use like we should do, but when you have two that need to be at the same temp then I think its okay to stick them together.

Thanks for that write up. Can you send me a link where I can buy that style of project box/ enclosure?

Sorry for the hijack!

 

[JosephN]

Thanks for that write up. Can you send me a link where I can buy that style of project box/ enclosure?

Sorry for the hijack!

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Commerci...in-x-4-in-PVC-Junction-Box-JB444-CE/205727189

Home Depot for $10.... Just as a tip. I took a "quad Receptacle cover" which gives you four places to plug thing, and I traced out with a sharpie marker the outline. I had to use a drill and a file to cut it out perfectly for the outlets to fit right in the box. Just look closely at the picture and if you have any questions I'll be more than happy to help you out.

 

[Peruvian802]

stirplates/large Erlenmeyer flasks

Food Sealer (for storing hops etc.)

larger kettle (so you can scale up to 10G batches)

Oxygen stone for aeration

Thermapen

thermowell carboy stopper

Have a DIY stir plate with a clear growler, no interest in scaling up right now, have oxy stone but don't bother using it, therma-pens are a waste of money (even gift $$), and a thermowell doesn't do me much good without better ferm temp control.

Maybe I actually have all I need. [emoji15]

 

[Natdavis777]

Sounds like a good time to get some cash for that burner, get some elements from Bobby_M, go electric, and built a controller. Probably even have some cabbage left over for something nice at the LHBS

 

[cannman]

Have a DIY stir plate with a clear growler, no interest in scaling up right now, have oxy stone but don't bother using it, therma-pens are a waste of money (even gift $$), and a thermowell doesn't do me much good without better ferm temp control.

Maybe I actually have all I need. [emoji15]

Don't bother with thermowell. If you strap/tape your probe onto the side of the carboy/fermenter, you get accurate temps equal to +\- .5 degree

 

[Venari]

Maybe I actually have all I need. [emoji15]

If you don't need anything brew related, get the SWMBO something nice!
If you prefer to spend on yourself instead, what you could do is buy enough materials to make bottling bucket diptubes (about 4), and sell 'em to me!

Or...you know....just buy a bunch of grains and stuff for yourself to stock up your consumable supplies.

 

[Peruvian802]

I decided to start with a remote probe thermometer[/urll].

I now need to figure out the best way to waterproof it so I can drop it in my mash tun to monitor temps.

 

[cannman]

I have that exact thermometer, you can drop it right in, no problem.

It's not the most accurate piece of junk, so I've switched over to a calibrated STC1000 in a central thermowell in the lid to take temps now...

 

[DarkStarNJ]

Maybe one of these?

http://www.morebeer.com/products/co...Gz0tM1eNnP_AQi8cWZODQx8O6kMbC8YyZJBoClrDw_wcB

I picked one of these up. Looked at fridge/freezers for a long time but reality set in and i just don't have anywhere to set it up.

Frozen water bottles swapped in and out was remarkably effective. did it twice a day for the first day or two then down to one for the rest of the fermentation.

worked great. Quality of the product is high. I was worried it would be a cheap piece of crap but i'm pretty impressed with it. When it's not in use i can stuff it in a bottle bucket or throw it in the back of the closet.

 

[Venari]

If you prefer to spend on yourself instead, what you could do is buy enough materials to make bottling bucket diptubes (about 4), and sell 'em to me!

Seriously, though...I don't suppose somebody could make 4 of them and send 'em to me? Given the shipping rates, I don't want to buy all the stuff and pay shipping on all of them, then potentially mess up and have to get more.

Of course, I would pay for 'em.