Hi all,
Firstly, let me just thank everyone in this community. I've been lurking on this forum for a few months and it's been an invaluable resource in my foray into brewing thus far.
With that out of the way, I've been brewing for a few months now and am loving it so far. I've done several extract + specialty grain brews, and they've all come out quite well, so I'm ready to spend some money and upgrade my equipment. I was wondering, in your opinion, what will give me the best bang for my buck, so to speak? I'm choosing between:
A. Purchasing a mini fridge/wine cooler/fermwrap and builidng a temperature controller to maintain stable fermentation temps.
or
B. Purchasing/building a HLT/MLT/etc. to make the switch to all grain brewing.
Obviously both are long term goals, but I only have the funds to justify one or the other at the moment, and they'll cost approximately the same. As far as background information goes, I brew ales exclusvely, both Belgian and American styles, 5 gallon batches, and my brew kettle/other equipment is sufficient to accomodate all grain brewing (I'd just need the equipment for mashing/sparging).
Anyways, let me know your opinion, or if there is some other more worthy option I'm overlooking!
EDIT: I suppose I should specify that I'm looking for the upgrade that will yield the greatest increase in the quality of my beer, if that wasn't obvious.
EDIT: I should also mention that I'm very much a DIYer, so whichever option I choose, I'll be building myself, not paying too much for a commercially available option.
Thanks,
~Sirius
Firstly, let me just thank everyone in this community. I've been lurking on this forum for a few months and it's been an invaluable resource in my foray into brewing thus far.
With that out of the way, I've been brewing for a few months now and am loving it so far. I've done several extract + specialty grain brews, and they've all come out quite well, so I'm ready to spend some money and upgrade my equipment. I was wondering, in your opinion, what will give me the best bang for my buck, so to speak? I'm choosing between:
A. Purchasing a mini fridge/wine cooler/fermwrap and builidng a temperature controller to maintain stable fermentation temps.
or
B. Purchasing/building a HLT/MLT/etc. to make the switch to all grain brewing.
Obviously both are long term goals, but I only have the funds to justify one or the other at the moment, and they'll cost approximately the same. As far as background information goes, I brew ales exclusvely, both Belgian and American styles, 5 gallon batches, and my brew kettle/other equipment is sufficient to accomodate all grain brewing (I'd just need the equipment for mashing/sparging).
Anyways, let me know your opinion, or if there is some other more worthy option I'm overlooking!
EDIT: I suppose I should specify that I'm looking for the upgrade that will yield the greatest increase in the quality of my beer, if that wasn't obvious.
EDIT: I should also mention that I'm very much a DIYer, so whichever option I choose, I'll be building myself, not paying too much for a commercially available option.
Thanks,
~Sirius