Next upgrade?

[KurtB]

I think the best gains for the new brewer is getting to all grain (as long as they have the time and space). The equipment needed is minimal and it lowers the cost of your beer and opens up a world of new items to play with (grains).

A 10 to 15 gallon pot with a ball valve and a 10 gallon cooler with a ball valve and stainless steel braid are all you need.

*sigh*
[snipped for space]

And it's just silly and plain tiring to see this stuff. Not every extract brewer wants nor desires to go to AG, just like not every bottler dreams of kegging, or every homebrewer dreams of going pro.

Oy vey...

As much as I agree with you Revvy, the OP did mention going all grain in another 3-4 batches, so at least the second half of DonMagee's post was not completely out of line. It was as least as helpful as the "Go with BIAB" reply #1.

I still believe that getting good, solid fermentation temp control in place comes way ahead of making that leap.

This is exactly where I would spend the money, as I feel it would be the most useful right away and long term.

Yes, the OP will need a larger pot when they finally go all grain or even full boil extract, but that may be another 3-4 batches like he said, or it may be a number of batches down the road. Regardless of when/if they go all grain, they will still get the benefit of fermentation temperature control while continuing to make batches with extract.

After temp control, I would probably go with the simple equipment to make yeast starters, just because it is inexpensive and helps to make better beer. You can make a starter with a jar/bottle sitting on the kitchen counter and swirling it every so often. It doesn't work as well as a stir plate, but it is usually better than simply pitching a single vial/smack pack. Stir plates are fairly easy to DIY as well.

 

[rklinck]

*sigh*

You know All grain isn't the be all and end all of brewing. Plenty of crappy beer is made all grain, just like plenty of award winning beers have been made with extract. Most of us in this hobby are grown up enough to realize that one method is no better or worse than the other. It's not whether it's all grainor extract that makes good beer, it's being a good brewer.

And it's just silly and plain tiring to see this stuff. Not every extract brewer wants nor desires to go to AG, just like not every bottler dreams of kegging, or every homebrewer dreams of going pro.

Oy vey...

You are right that AG is not the end all be all of brewing, but it does have benefits that extract does not. You have to mash grains to get to the point that you can adjust the fermentability of your wort. I tend to like highly attenuated beers, and extract just does not give you the ability to control the process to this level. Are there great extract brews? Of course! Are there really bad all grain brews? Certainly! But learning to brew with grain gives a brewer the ability to control so many more variables (and to make so many other adjustments to the grain bill) that it is a valuable skill to have.

 

[TheBS19]

Hey all, definitely coming to realize that temp control could be an issue for myself - I have a pretty stable spot where I ferment (bathroom tub in finished basement hat has baseboard heating and thermostat temp control) but its not manipulate-able.

I see a lot of talk of using chest freezers as fermentation chambers - I'm not all that handy, but my question is how are you able to manipulate temperatures there other than "cold"? My experience is most don't have digital temperature control nor would I think most have the ability to keep something at, say, a consistent 66 degrees - isn't the idea of those to provide refirgeration and/or freezing temperatures?

I'd love to be educated on this as I'd definitely make an investment in something thats going to give me that consistency!

Thanks!!

 

[rklinck]

Hey all, definitely coming to realize that temp control could be an issue for myself - I have a pretty stable spot where I ferment (bathroom tub in finished basement hat has baseboard heating and thermostat temp control) but its not manipulate-able.

I see a lot of talk of using chest freezers as fermentation chambers - I'm not all that handy, but my question is how are you able to manipulate temperatures there other than "cold"? My experience is most don't have digital temperature control nor would I think most have the ability to keep something at, say, a consistent 66 degrees - isn't the idea of those to provide refirgeration and/or freezing temperatures?

I'd love to be educated on this as I'd definitely make an investment in something thats going to give me that consistency!

Thanks!!

If you are not handy, you buy a Johnson Controller from any online brew store. You plug that into the wall and then plug the freezer into the controller (like a power strip). The controller has a thermometer probe that goes into the freezer, and it shuts off power to the freezer when it reaches a proper temperature.

 

[the_trout]

You are right that AG is not the end all be all of brewing, but it does have benefits that extract does not. You have to mash grains to get to the point that you can adjust the fermentability of your wort. I tend to like highly attenuated beers, and extract just does not give you the ability to control the process to this level. Are there great extract brews? Of course! Are there really bad all grain brews? Certainly! But learning to brew with grain gives a brewer the ability to control so many more variables (and to make so many other adjustments to the grain bill) that it is a valuable skill to have.

You are right that extract is not the end all be all of brewing, but it does have benefits that AG does not. You don't have to mash grains to get to the point that you can adjust the fermentability of your wort. I tend not to like highly attenuated beers, and extract just does not require me to control the process to this level. Are there great extract brews? Of course! Are there really bad all grain brews? Certainly! But learning to brew with grain requires a brewer to control so many more variables (and to make so many other adjustments to the grain bill) that it is a pointless skill to have.

To each his own I say

 

[rklinck]

You are right that extract is not the end all be all of brewing, but it does have benefits that AG does not. You don't have to mash grains to get to the point that you can adjust the fermentability of your wort. I tend not to like highly attenuated beers, and extract just does not require me to control the process to this level. Are there great extract brews? Of course! Are there really bad all grain brews? Certainly! But learning to brew with grain requires a brewer to control so many more variables (and to make so many other adjustments to the grain bill) that it is a pointless skill to have.

To each his own I say

I agree wholeheartedly. I was simply responding to the knee-jerk anti-all-grain reaction that some people have. My point was simply that having the ability to brew all grain has benefits even if you decide that extract brewing is fine for most purposes.

EDIT -- It's kind of like cooking. I would never try to make homemade macaroni and cheese because I like Kraft Mac N' Cheese better than anything I have made. But, there are certainly some kinds of food that I would prefer to make from scratch so that I have more control over the ingredients. I don't begrudge people who choose to buy premade versions of these foods, but I think we should not discourage people from trying to make it themselves.

 

[TheBS19]

If you are not handy, you buy a Johnson Controller from any online brew store. You plug that into the wall and then plug the freezer into the controller (like a power strip). The controller has a thermometer probe that goes into the freezer, and it shuts off power to the freezer when it reaches a proper temperature.

Thanks for the response.

If I understand this correctly, though, "reaching a proper temperature" would still require the freezer to have the capacity to be somewhat "warm", right? How does that work?

I.e., I get my wort to ~66 degrees, I transfer to my primary and now put in my "chamber" - how does the freezer keep that 66 degree environment other than just not being on and then again being a slave to room temperature (which is what I currently utilize, being lucky enough to have space in a finished basement to use).

 

[rklinck]

Thanks for the response.

If I understand this correctly, though, "reaching a proper temperature" would still require the freezer to have the capacity to be somewhat "warm", right? How does that work?

I.e., I get my wort to ~66 degrees, I transfer to my primary and now put in my "chamber" - how does the freezer keep that 66 degree environment other than just not being on and then again being a slave to room temperature (which is what I currently utilize, being lucky enough to have space in a finished basement to use).

Assuming room temperature is above 66 degrees (which I will for this post), the controller simply shuts off the power to the freezer when it gets a degree (or so) below the preset temp. It is simply overriding the temperature settings of the freezer by cutting the power intermittently to keep the freezer from cooling the wort below the temperature you set on the controller.

 

[TheBS19]

Assuming room temperature is above 66 degrees (which I will for this post), the controller simply shuts off the power to the freezer when it gets a degree (or so) below the preset temp. It is simply overriding the temperature settings of the freezer by cutting the power intermittently to keep the freezer from cooling the wort below the temperature you set on the controller.

In other words, the optimal process here is setting up your "chamber" (freezer) in a temperature controlled room of ~70 degrees and after chilling the wort to your fermentation temperature and sealing the primary, placing it in the "freezer" (which is really just a room temperature sealed chamber, not really a "freezer" persay) and using the controller to ensure the chamber stays at a consistent temperature.

I guess my question is what happens if the chamber, for whatever reason, drops below the desired temperature on the controller? There's no "warming" mechanism is there?

 

[the_trout]

I like your cooking analogy. That Kraft Mac & Cheese is the ****!

 

[rklinck]

I guess my question is what happens if the chamber, for whatever reason, drops below the desired temperature on the controller? There's no "warming" mechanism is there?

Well, that would only happen in one of two circumstances: the room temperature is below your desired temp for an extended period of time or the controller malfunctions and fails to turn off the freezer. We will ignore the second situation because in that case you are just screwed. If your room temperature is likely to be too low, you would need to install a heating mechanism. I think people will just put lights (seriously) into the freezer using another controller because these will produce enough heat to warm the chamber if necessary. I tend to think this would only be necessary if the chamber is in a garage or outdoor space in the winter. There is not too much harm if your fermenting chamber ends up a couple of degrees too cool.

 

[TheBS19]

Well, that would only happen in one of two circumstances: the room temperature is below your desired temp for an extended period of time or the controller malfunctions and fails to turn off the freezer. We will ignore the second situation because in that case you are just screwed. If your room temperature is likely to be too low, you would need to install a heating mechanism. I think people will just put lights (seriously) into the freezer using another controller because these will produce enough heat to warm the chamber if necessary. I tend to think this would only be necessary if the chamber is in a garage or outdoor space in the winter. There is not too much harm if your fermenting chamber ends up a couple of degrees too cool.

Yeah, like I said, I have a dedicated space in a finished basement so I can be pretty certain that won't be an issue.

So its basically just a defense for warming month fermentation where sunlight into rooms could warm room temperature faster than AC units/fans cool it AND a defense for the yeast/fermentation warming up the wort above its initial temperature and bringing it too high when there is no stabilizing mechanism present?


Thanks again!

 

[rklinck]

Yeah, like I said, I have a dedicated space in a finished basement so I can be pretty certain that won't be an issue.

So its basically just a defense for warming month fermentation where sunlight into rooms could warm room temperature faster than AC units/fans cool it AND a defense for the yeast/fermentation warming up the wort above its initial temperature and bringing it too high when there is no stabilizing mechanism present?


Thanks again!

You are correct. It will also allow you to brew lagers long term because you will have the ability to ferment at 50 degrees.

 

[Marc77]

I too am only a few brews in and my next project is temp control. I got the stc-1000 off of ebay for $16.50 and that included shipping. People have figured this out and they're getting more expensive.

If you're banned to the garage as I have been you might need a heating source depending on your climate. There are plenty of helpful threads around here and I'm simply going to get a tiny little heater that's $10 to $15 bucks. I'll end up using 2 inches of rigid insulation covered by plywood and then spray foam the insides to make sure there aren't any leaks. Then put a fan inside the fridge and run the wire out (sealed that hole too) and using a heating pad from a reptile store. They're fairly cheap. For me this will cover the 10 to 20 degree difference I need.

The other thing will be a good burner. I'm going to go with the Blichmann since at some point I'll be upgrading to 10 gallon batches and at that point I'll start kegging. I too am having to do things on the cheap.

Oh someone pointed out aeration of your beer. There's a great "how to" on here that shows how to aerate your beer simply using the venturi effect. I've seen several ideas on here that are cheap and easy. The simplest one I've seen is taking two hose clamps and putting them about a foot apart. Then use a hot piece of metal to burn a hole in the foot long section that's got clamps on either side. At that point work a hose into the hole. When you're running your beer out of your racking cane put the hose on it. As the wort flows into your carboy the hose in the middle will pull oxygen into the flow of your wort oxygenating it.

No point in buying expensive toys when you can do it cheap and easy. Cause I'm allllll about cheap and easy.

 

[mosquitocontrol]

My easy aeration solution:
Power drill and a paint mixer. Also works wonders to mix the mash and prevent dough balls. And use to stir the brew (on low) while the wort chiller is going.

In my opinion there's plenty of other things you can upgrade before aeration equipment. But others have different priorities.

 

[berger]

noob here. Does the paint mixer work ok? I know this will not work as well as an o2 tank. How long do you use the paint mixer in the cooled wort?

 

[BigFloyd]

Think of the STC-1000 as a fancy electronic switch that is wired into a standard household outlet that's all mounted in a "project box" of some sort. It senses the temperature with a probe (I tape mine to the bucket and cover with some bubble wrap) and powers on just one of the two outlets as needed. The freezer is plugged into the "cold" outlet. I have a DIY fermenter heater (light bulb socket in a paint can) plugged into the "warm" socket and placed inside the freezer.

I have my tolerance set at +/- 5*C. Let's say I set the target temp at 18*C (64.4*F). If the temp gets up to 18.5*C, the outlet for the freezer activates. Once the sensor says it's back down to 18*C, it turns that outlet off. It works the same way for the heater outlet if it gets down to 17.5*C.

It's a beautiful thing.

No point in buying expensive toys when you can do it cheap and easy. Cause I'm allllll about cheap and easy.

Right on brother.

 

[chickypad]

I guess my question is what happens if the chamber, for whatever reason, drops below the desired temperature on the controller? There's no "warming" mechanism is there?

I'm in a pretty mild climate so even with the chamber in the garage over 90% of the time I only need the cooling. When I do need the heating I use this hooked up to a dual controller. It works well for 1 or 2 buckets or carboys (I snake it between if I have 2). The reptile warming pads are similar, or as was also mentioned some use lights.

 

[Scuba_Stan]

I'm here in Los Angeles, and my biggest problem is always my beer room is too warm to ferment in, so I have to use a Chest freezer to keep a constant temperature.

But its interesting to see no one mentioned using an aquarium heater to keep your fermentation warm. I usually only have to use this method for Janurary and Feburary. But I have 35 Gallon storage bin with its sides reinforced. I fill it to about 3/4 full with water for 1 fermentation bucket or 1/2 full for 2. I then have a 100 watt aquarium heater and a small fountain (40gph) pump inside. The pump helps circulate the the water so its a more even temperature all around the bucket. My temp controller is set to the desired temp and thats all there is to it. I like this method better because the extra thermal mass buffers temperature changes.

This will also work for keeping beer cool by sticking the entire tub/fermentor in the fridge or chest freezer. The extra thermal mass acts as a nice buffer. The problem is fitting the tub in the freezer.