Simplest brewing setup for highest quality brew?

[cowdust]

Hey all,

Pretty new to the site, been lurking for a while. I'm just wondering if I were to invest in a home brew kit, and I only want to have one kit (no upgrades in the future), what would you suggest I purchase?

Things I don't want/need (unless you can make a case for why it would brew a better tasting beer):

-Stainless Steel Conical fermentor
-Electric anything (no pumps/heating coils, etc)
-Brewing over a 10 gallon batch (I imagine I'd need something like a 13+ gallon kettle if I were to have like 70% brewhouse efficiency, feel free to chime in!)

Things I do want to be able to do:

-Brew (at some point after years of turmoil learning the finer points of brewing) extremely high quality beer (would like to enter competitions at some point).
-Not be angry if I break something (i.e: nothing fragile)
-To spend no more than $300-400 for everything I need on brew day

Thanks for looking, and I will enjoy hearing what is suggested!

Best,
Wes

 

[Revvy]

It's not the gear that make "High quality" beers (whatever you think that means) it's the brewer using the freshest ingredients, paying attention to sanitiziation, proper pitch rates, and temp control.

You can brew great beer with anything...as you can brew crappy beer with anything, depending on YOU the brewer.

My setup is simple.

I've medalled with beers brewed on this basic setup or even just on my stove top. Plenty of folks have brewed some of my recipes on here.

You don't need bling....

 

[Ryush806]

Are you wanting to do all-grain or just extract?

 

[IffyG]

Spend your money on temp control... controlling the temp of your fermentation is far and away the best investment in this hobby.

 

[Jpnaeve]

spend your money on temp control... Controlling the temp of your fermentation is far and away the best investment in this hobby.

+1

 

[cmybeer]

If you want to do extract brewing on the stove top this is an easy purchase. Get a basic brew kettle around 4 gallons and a fermentor and you are ready to go. As others have suggested I think you should also have a way to maintain fermentation temp to get the best out of your brews so a chest freezer and temperature control are necessary. Other than that you need some bottles, caps, a capper and your done.

A add on to that would be a yeast starter kit because one of the easiest ways to make what could be a great beer only turn out average to slightly off is to underpitch the amount of yeast needed. One package is often not enough.

If you want all grain brewing you got a bit more. I think the way to do it would be to start extract with the intention of jumping to all grain. Start doing extract full boils in a 7-8 gallon pot on a propane burner outside and chilling it with a wort chiller. Chest freezer and temp control obviously still apply. Then when you are ready to jump all you need is a mash tun and some more tubing. I'd recommend just the simple cooler mashtun. It's easy and cost effective.

 

[cowdust]

It's not the gear that make "High quality" beers (whatever you think that means) it's the brewer using the freshest ingredients, paying attention to sanitiziation, proper pitch rates, and temp control.

You can brew great beer with anything...as you can brew crappy beer with anything, depending on YOU the brewer.

My setup is simple.

I've medalled with beers brewed on this basic setup or even just on my stove top. Plenty of folks have brewed some of my recipes on here.

You don't need bling....

You inadvertently hit the head of the nail! I'm simply looking for guidance, so that when my brewing skills increase, the quality of the equipment doesn't hold the quality of the beer back.

It looks like I've got some good suggestions as well from other people, what would you all suggest for controlling the temp? I was planning on using the copper tube with cold water trick to cool down the boil as fast as possible.

I'm planning on doing all grain brews, primarily IPA's and pales.

 

[flyingfinbar]

If you're looking at all grain, check out BIAB. I make excellent beers with a 15 gallon pot, an outdoor turkey frier, a voile sack, and an ale pail...that's it!

 

[Calder]

Go check out the basic 'starter' kits you can find on-line, and come back here with questions as to what else you need to get. A starter kit is probably the cheapest way to get a collection of some of the basic items you need.

You will never get everything you want in one go. No-one can tell you everything you need. Probably most of us do it differently and use different items we have come to find useful. Over time you will try new things, and then buy additional stuff.

I would assume you would want to start with steeping grains and extract in a pot on the stove. A 5 gallon pot is a good size. The most I can get to a decent boil on my stove is 4 gallons of wort.

Later, you may or may not move on to full boils on a propane burner. At that time you would want to get an 8 gallon pot (which is way too big for stove-top brewing).

 

[Yooper]

It looks like I've got some good suggestions as well from other people, what would you all suggest for controlling the temp? I was planning on using the copper tube with cold water trick to cool down the boil as fast as possible.

I'm planning on doing all grain brews, primarily IPA's and pales.

Controlling fermentation temperatures is the big temperature control. That means keeping the fermentation temperature for ales between 62-68 degrees. It really depends on your climate, because in my cool climate, I don't need much at all to do that while in the south other brewers need fridges with temperature controllers.

Here's my quick and easy fermentation cooler:

Simply surrounding the fermenter with a water bath and changing out frozen water bottles once in a while keeps my beer at 64 degrees (or at least 10 degrees cooler than ambient).

Controlling the fermentation temperature is probably the single best thing you can do to make the best beer, whether you're doing extract, partial mash, or all grain. That doesn't change at all.

 

[stevehardt]

I agree wholeheartedly with Calder, but consider purchasing an 8 gallon pot right away. In my limited experience, being able to do full boils results in better beer...

 

[cowdust]

Thanks for all the replies guys.

It seems that I should refine my question a bit, even though it's basically been answered already...

I wanted to know what the most simple brew set up was, that would still (brewer skill dependent) allow a competition level (highly refined) beer. It seems that my purchase will be based around a 15-gallon pot, and at some point (after I start impressing myself with my beers) I'll invest in the HERMS and temp control stuff. I'll be doing all-grain brews.

Until I see need for plate chillers and thermal controls for the wort, I'll be using a thermometer and the copper coils to chill the beer as fast as possible.

Thanks again!

 

[grimstuff]

I'm very glad I invested in a wort chiller early on. With full boils, I couldn't imagine doing ice baths and carting around 5 gallons of hot fluid. So in my limited experience, I'd say definitely get a wort chiller. I also started with full boils right off the bat, because I knew it wouldn't be long before I'd want to ramp up, and I didn't want to waste money on a small pot. So I got an 8 gallon SS pot. That right there is around $100. And I didn't want to boil an 8 gallon pot on the stove (mainly because I have a 2-year old in the house and am paranoid about safety), so I got an outdoor burner and propane tank. Fermenter buckets, airlocks, hose, cooler mash tun with fittings, second pot for runnings, etc... it all adds up quick. I don't see how you're going to do all grain only spending $300. Counting up everything I needed to start diong all grain batches the way I wanted, I get the following:

8 gallon SS pot - $100
20 gallon aluminum pot - $70 (used)
10 gallon home depot cooler - $40
cooler fittings - $30
SS wort chiller - $50 (can make your own out of copper for less)
Bayou Classic 90,000 btu outdoor burner - $50
15 gallon propane tank, filled - $45
fermenter buckets and better bottle carboys - $15-25 each (can get 5.5 gallon "food-safe" HDPE buckets from Big Box store with lid and grommet for ~$8-10)
10' silicone hose - $20
incidentals (airlocks, paddles, siphon, tubing, hydrometer, digital thermometer) - $80

I'm currently looking for a used freezer to use for temperature control (expected $50-150), which is the gaping hole in my process now. Will need a good temp controller, which will run around $50.

Everything without the freezer setup has cost me at least $500. Probably more like $600-700, because when getting setup for all-grain I kept forgetting about this and that and having to re-order.

So in conclusion I'd say a big decision is whether you will do:

Extract or All-grain
Partial or Full-boils

Partial boil extract is probably the most common minimal equipment method I've seen on here. Because you can use a regular stock pot on the stove, ice baths, etc. I'd say there's a commitment threshold at full-boils, because at that point the viability of doing it on the stove is in question, at least for 5 gallons, and you definitely need a big pot, and SS is the standard, so....

Like any hobby, it's a slippery slope. But I'm at a point now where I only want one more thing (that's what I tell myself - lol), and that's the freezer for temp control.

Oh, and don't forget cost of ingredients.