Equipment Purchase Advice

[Bramstoker17]

So, I just had a birthday and got money from my brothers/sisters/parents for brewing stuff. All in all its in the neighborhood of $200. I'm debating using that money to buy a chest freezer, then my own money for the temp controller to make a ferm chamber. Up until this point I've just done a swamp cooler in the basement, which is a bit of a pain in the ass. The basement ambient air is usually between 65 and 68 degrees. With the fall/winter season approaching here around Chicago, the temps down there may drop a bit more even. This option would give me peace of mind about ferm temps, and I can do lagers now. The con here would be having to use more of my own money, which is a little scarce as of late.

The other option is to buy a better brew kettle. I'm looking at an 8 gallon tall boy from northern brewer with is about 90 bucks I believe. I'm currently using a 5 gallon kettle and doing partial mashes on my stove top using BIAB with a sparge to get about 4.5 gal in the kettle with a 2 gallon top up in the bucket. I try to use as much grain as I can so I can minimize the use of extract, and I tend to push my mashes right up to the lip of the pot which can be a bit scary when I stir. With the 8 gallon kettle I could do most batches all grain and do full vol boils. My stove has a power burner on it that gets 4.5 gal boiling without issue, so I'm hoping it could handle around 6.5 to 7 gal. This then leaves me with about another $100 or so to spend on ingredients. The Pro here is more all grain and being able to use less extract on big beers, plus getting ingredients for a batch or two. The con is still having to worry about whether my beer is fermenting too warm.

So in my shoes, would people get the freezer and front the extra $70 for the controller, enabling me to do lagers and not worry about swamp coolering my ales? Or should I get a better kettle and have some money for a couple batches? I suppose this is a good problem to have!

 

[BigFloyd]

You can do the freezer/controller for much cheaper than $200.

Get a used fridge or freezer from Craigslist. Avg cost --- around $75. Buy an STC-1000 controller on Amazon ($18-20) and use it to make an outlet box into which you plug the fridge/freezer.

You should have enough left over to cover most of the brew kettle cost. I'd suggest going 10 gallon, preferably with a 1/2" stainless ball valve installed. 8 gallon is a bit too small for a full batch boil w/o risking frequent boil-overs.

 

[Polboy]

+1 on STC-1000, its dual stage so it gives you best control over fermentation temp for great price. So i would make fermentation chamber for cheap (you can do it for around ~$100) and buy a keggle for another 100

 

[Bramstoker17]

Hmmmm I had looked on Craigslist and didn't see anything too good around my area. I had looked at the Johnson temp controller on Northernbrewer.com, is the STC-1000 better? As for the pot, I watch the thing on my stove like a hawk until the hotbreak is done, and usually only boil off a gallon, so I'd be shooting for a 6.5 gal boil. An 8 gallon pot should do it if I'm careful. I'd be concerned with a 10 gal and getting/keeping a good boil on my stove. I'll be sticking to 5.5 gal batches so that's not an issue.

 

[brewkinger]

The STC-1000 is better IMO.
Go with the 10 gal pot (Bayou Classic on Amazon around $85)
Size of the kettle does not matter with boil, it is the volume that you are trying to boil that the stove has to heat up; Which in your case is 6.5 to 7 gallons regardless of whether or not you boil it in an 8 or 10 gallon pot. Go with the larger pot and save having to buy larger at a later point.

Ferment cooler is also of great importance. Like Floyd said....

Controlled ferment temps turns a good beer into a better beer.

 

[Bramstoker17]

The STC-1000 is better IMO.
Go with the 10 gal pot (Bayou Classic on Amazon around $85)
Size of the kettle does not matter with boil, it is the volume that you are trying to boil that the stove has to heat up; Which in your case is 6.5 to 7 gallons regardless of whether or not you boil it in an 8 or 10 gallon pot. Go with the larger pot and save having to buy larger at a later point.

Ferment cooler is also of great importance. Like Floyd said....

Controlled ferment temps turns a good beer into a better beer.

For some reason, I thought more headspace in the kettle meant that I'd loose more heat from the boil. If I had a powerful propane burner that certainly wouldn't be an issue, but On the stove maybe. That also might be completely wrong too, I just thought I had read that, but who knows

 

[MuddyCreek]

See... what you're going to do is buy a smaller kettle then in a couple years at most you're going to find yourself wishing you had a bigger kettle. It's the nature of our sickness. You are ultimately going to hold off on your cravings longer if you get the larger kettle.

I think the plan outlined above is a great one. Fermenting chamber porn AND new brewpot all for free (gift money) or pretty darn close.

That's what we call an epic-win!

 

[brewkinger]

For some reason, I thought more headspace in the kettle meant that I'd loose more heat from the boil. If I had a powerful propane burner that certainly wouldn't be an issue, but On the stove maybe. That also might be completely wrong too, I just thought I had read that, but who knows

I actually mis-spoke.
The ratio of the width to height of the kettle DOES make a difference in the boil capabilities based on the fact that NB claims to have the "perfect" ratio in their new kettles.

The scientific approach to this is sound, but it has more to do with surface area of the stove burner with regards to the surface area of the kettle bottom (gas stoves not applicable)
ie) if you put a 12inch base kettle on a 6 inch electric burner, the amount of contact (for conduction purposes) is poor and it will not heat effectively.

But I think that the diffeence in surface area of the bottom of a 8gal kettle and 10gal kettle would not be that great to prevent a good heating.
Like you said though, get a burner with some of that $$ and you will have no problems at all.
IMHO, brewing outside is where it is AT!!!

:rockin:

 

[CGVT]

Hmmmm I had looked on Craigslist and didn't see anything too good around my area. I had looked at the Johnson temp controller on Northernbrewer.com, is the STC-1000 better? As for the pot, I watch the thing on my stove like a hawk until the hotbreak is done, and usually only boil off a gallon, so I'd be shooting for a 6.5 gal boil. An 8 gallon pot should do it if I'm careful. I'd be concerned with a 10 gal and getting/keeping a good boil on my stove. I'll be sticking to 5.5 gal batches so that's not an issue.

You don't need anything "good" just something that works. Be patient and something will show up, maybe for free.

BTW, a fridge is easier to use as a ferm chamber because you don't have to lift 5+ gallons of beer as high

I have a digital and an analogue Johnson controller as well as an STC-1000. If I had know how easy it was to build the stc-1000(lots of build threads on this board) I'd never have bought the Johnson controllers. The STC-1000 is the way to go, IMO.

You can get a 40qt aluminum winware pot from Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001CHKL68/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

for under $50. It is a very solid capable pot.

Shop around a be patient. There are lots of options for $200

 

[BigFloyd]

Here are the STC-1000 build links if that will help. If you can wire a wall socket, you can build one of these easy.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f170/stc-1000-setup-beginners-433985/#post5538096

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/ebay-fish-tank-controller-build-using-wal-mart-parts-261506/


https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/ebay-aquarium-temp-controller-build-163849/



http://brewstands.com/fermentation-heater.html

 

[Bramstoker17]

Thanks a lot for the advice everyone! I'll do some looking around online and maybe I can stretch this money further than I thought!