Best "Bang for buck" brew equipment

[Craw3773]

I see a lot of threads on here saying that certain equipment will make your brew so much better, but from a realistic standpoint, most people don't have $5,000 to drop on a hobby at once.

So here's the debate: Assume you are given a homebrew kit (fermenter, airlock, bottle, hydrometer)

What would you buy with your next $100? $500? $1000?

Any equipment is open. All grain, kegging, etc

 

[Foosier]

1st 100.00 would be for a burner.
Next 500.00 would be for a BIAB all grain set up. (I am biased and would go BIAB because it keeps costs down.) I'd also spend some money on fermentation temp control, yeast starter gear and a basic kegging rig. (It can be done for 500.00)

The next 1000.00? I'll tell you when I get there...

 

[bbrim]

First $100, equipment to make starters and the tools necessary to rig up some cheap temperature controls. Next $500, all grain set-up including; burner, brew pot, gravity feed stand, HLT and MLT (this can be done for under $500 easily if it is all DIY). Next $1000, wow, Keg system (~$300), RIMS system (I made mine for around $250), fermentation fridge. I'm just missing a fermentation fridge but I can't get one in my current house, the wife lets me take up a lot of space but that is over the line.

 

[pricelessbrewing]

If I were to start over it would be like this.
Buckets, free from bakeries.
Buy some airlocks for lhbs
Buy hydrometer
Buy stainless steel sterile siphon, unbreakable
Or autosiphon
Get a wing capper
Spend 10$ for some wood, make a long box to assist in stabilizing bottles. 1x8 bottles.

Should easily come under 50$
Build a simple immersion chiller 50-70. Depending on prices
Buy a freezer off Craig's list, the bigger the better. Hook up stc1000.
Shouls put you at 100-150 total depending on local prices.
Craig's list a propane burner/turkey fryer. 50$ ish
Biab bag, or 4x Ikea voile curtains 6$.
Get a large glass bottle for starters, or use a growler. 10$ and slowly build a stir plate.
Complete equipment for under 250$

 

[jperry]

With $100, A temperature controller for fermentation, and a stir plate for starters.

With $500, I'd buy a big kettle, some bulk grains/hops, a mash tun, and a mill.

With $1000, I'd get a Keezer setup, and a 20# CO2 tank.

 

[kaconga]

Temperature control will be the biggest improvement that most homebrewers can make. Even if that is just a swamp cooler and ice bottles. A stir plate helps you make better use of your starters and the proper amount of yeast is something to shoot for whenever you make a beer. Everything that I want to upgrade for improved beer quality is yeast focused. Convenience upgrades are where I get wishy washy. Would it be more convenient to keg? Sure, but I can wait.

 

[jtratcliff]

Depends on your goals and preferred set up.

1) DIY bottling bucket setup
- free bucket from your favorite source: restaurant, bakery. Soap store
- spigot $2-4
- PVC elbow and nipple for dip tube. ~$1
- bottling wand $4
- auto siphon $8
2) more fermenters... Free buckets or better bottle style PET carboys
3) StarSan sanitizer
4) vinator bottle sanitizer thingy
5) BIAB setup
- 10 gal aluminum kettle ( I got a $25 tamale steamer)
- Wilserbrewer custom made bag to fit kettle.
6) DIY stir plate for making starters so you can easily re-use harvested yeast (old computer fan, old cell phone wall wart, old hard drive magnets)
7) diy temp control of some sort... Fridge, freezer, homemade chamber... With $17 STC01000 controller flashed with alphaomega's firmaware for farenheit and scheduled temp profiles

 

[jafo28]

Controlling fermentation temp. would be first on my list.

 

[hunter_le five]

Whatever you can do to control your fermentation temps would be my #1 priority/upgrade.

All-grain is great, but it won't improve your beers any if your ferments are too warm. Same goes with fancy kettles, fermenters, etc. I love kegging as well and can't recommend it enough to people... but ferm temp control is far more important.

 

[Matterpro]

+1 for temp control during fermentation. Without temp control you can't repeat your processes, you can't control the flavors the yeast impart (or don't). Once I added this to my system my beers went from OK to crowd-pleasers.

You can do this for cheap, too. I've gotten a chest freezer and a fridge off Craigslist for $25 each, both worked fine. Just took a few weeks of scouring. Then add the $20 STC-1000 temp control unit (I rewire the unit inline as the new thermostat, takes 20 minutes) and bam, you have a reliable temp control system for under $50.

 

[beernutz]

Ditto the fermentation temperature control recommendation which you can implement by buying a used chest freezer and building a temp controller, perhaps using an STC-1000. I have two Johnson controls controllers but built an STC-based controller for under $30 just to see how it was done and it works great. I bought an almost new small chest freezer for $60 off craigslist, built a simple collar for about $20, and bought a cheap wireless indoor/outdoor thermometer for $12 and a computer fan for $5 for a total of less than $130 for a nice setup.

Then I'd go for a mash tun for all grain, perhaps the cube or igloo cooler with a bazooka or slotted pipe. By doing as much DIY as you can and even buying a used cooler that setup can be made for around $50. My first all-grain setup was a cheap pot with an easymasher ($20 at the time) screen/spigot installed which I insulated by covering with an old down jacket and used on my kitchen stove. It worked remarkable well, allowing easy step mashing, and was dirt cheap.

Also some type of homemade wort chiller like a coil of copper can be fashioned for under $50.

Finally, I enjoy brewing infinitely more kegging than I did when I bottled so a couple of used corney kegs, tank and regulator and cobra tap would be next up. If you don't have a place to cool the keg you can find a cheap mini-fridge, build a keezer, or do like I did for a long time and use a one tap jockey box that I made.

Those things can be done relatively cheaply by combining DIY projects with buying used equipment so keep an eye on craigslist and other places where such items are sold.

 

[kh54s10]

In order not necessarily $ increments.

fermentation temperature control. I made a chamber with a Johnson A419 controller, Mini fridge, Plywood and 2x4's, rigid insulation and some hinges. Had most of the stuff except fridge and insulation.

Stirplate and flask

Reusing yeast. I make 4 vials to freeze every time I use a new yeast. I have 13 frozen yeasts and 3 dry yeasts on hand. Dry is great when you do not make a starter in time.

Burner(s)

Corona style grain mill. About $25 - $40.

All grain system of your choice.

Buying bulk grains and hops. And storage for both. (FoodSaver for the hops, sealed buckets and bins for grain.) Group buy is the least expensive way to go.

In between: misc items to make things easier. I have plumbed a sink in my brew porch and a charcoal filter and line to my HLT (3 tier all gravity system) so I don't have to move any hot water.

Next up a separate fermentation chamber for lagers.

 

[Beernik]

I'd start with the BK. Decide what size batches you want to brew for the next 5 years and get a BK that holds 100% more volume than that. All the other equipment you need revolves around what size batches you are brewing.

You can waste a lot of money if you increase the size of your BK in small increments.

I was lucky having a cellar with fairly good fermentation temperatures for most of the year. So temperature control wasn't something I added to my setup for 7 years.

A burner so you can move from indoors to outdoors and from partial boils to full boils is a nice addition. If you can, get someone to buy you a turkey fryer for your birthday or Christmas. I did.

A 50' IC is really easy to build for about $50.

A used freezer can be bought for about $60 and a STC-1000 controller can be built for about $30.

If you have an old computer, you can build a stir plate for almost free. I only had to buy the stir bar. A 2L flask for starters is about $30.

Only worry about converting to BIAB or build a mash tun when you feel like it. Maybe get comfortable doing a BIAB partial mash before jumping all the way into all grain brewing.

My next two improvements are: 1) a grain mill so I can buy bulk grain at half the price per pound and 2) transitioning from 5 gallon all grain batches with a cooler MLT and BK to a keggle I can BIAB 8 to 10 gallon batches in.

 

[LordUlrich]

The progression of improvements I recommended:
Full boil (burner, pot with valve, etc)
Wort chiller
Fermentation temp control
Stir plate
All grain equipment

 

[royal1911]

I would have to start with converting a fridge into a kegerator. I hate having to deal with bottles and recently got rid of all of mine. At one time I had 13 cases in the garage. Plus factoring in the time to clean, delabel, and sanitize 5 cases for a 10 gallon batch it think kegging is the way to go.

After that I would say a simple 3 tier all grain system with keggles and an igloo cube mash tun.