Birthday coming; what equipment should I get?

[bastardbrew]

Hey hop-heads

So my birthday is coming up soon and I am notoriously difficult to shop for. Need some ideas for new brewing equipment.

I am an all-grain brewer with the following gear:
—Several Glass carboys and a brewing bucket
—2L Erlenmeyer Flask for starters
—Two 7.5gal aluminum kettles
—Turkey burner; works great
—Immersion Chiller; works fine
—10gal mash-lauter tun with sturdy, steel mash screen
—Kegerator; holds all 3 of my cornies
—Extra fridge for lagering 1, 5gal carboy. No thermostat, bad seal, frosts up/drips water from expansion coils.
—Books by Papazian: Complete Joy and Companion

So should I ask for a bigger/better brew kettle for step mashes? Refractometer? Thermostat? New Books? Tell me something I don't know I want!

Thanks all!
~Stephen J. Bastard

 

[medusa1066]

Grain Mill?

 

[bastardbrew]

I should have thought of that

And our first post may be the winner. Any other suggestions?

If grain mill, recommendations for setup?

 

[PantherCity]

A stir plate to go with your flask. $42.00
http://www.stirstarters.com

A mill is also really nice, it allows you to buy bulk grain and really saves money.

 

[PantherCity]

And "Brewing Better Beer" By Gordon Strong, I am loving this book.

 

[stevo155]

My first thought was a grain mill too.

How do you control fermentation temps? Depending on how much they want to spend, a temperature controller may be nice. Then find a chest freezer cheap on Craigslist.

 

[bastardbrew]

I have a thermometer in my fridge so I can monitor the temp. On the lowest setting, it keeps steady at about 50º +/- 2º. For ales, I use the old swamp cooler method by putting my carboy in a shallow rubbermaid container with cold water, a wet towel, the occasional ice block, and a fan blowing on it. This seems to work very well even for Kolsch yeasts, which I have held at 62º in my basement.

For the stir plate: how much does it help? How does constant stirring compare to the occasional manual agitation? I'm guessing aeration is a factor in the latter, huh...

 

[marcycaulkins]

besides the grain mill... extra cornies, or that big giant brew pot so you can do those 10 gallon batches you know you want to do... oh and you will want the plate chiller to cool those 10 gallon batches, and you will want to decide if you want to do a gravity feed system (and need a spigot on your brew pot) or will you need a pump and... oh wait, I think I was describing MY wish list

 

[frod1963]

And "Brewing Better Beer" By Gordon Strong, I am loving this book.

+10. Darn good book.