Suggestions for new equipment?

[bathman]

Hello,

I was looking to upgrade from my starter kit to a higher grade brewing set up for 5 gallon brewing and make the jump to all grain brewing. Does anyone have any suggestions based on their experiences where to buy a new brewing kit to upgrade from the starter kit? Any suggestions/links would be greatly appreciated.
-Rob

 

[brewkinger]

OK, couple of assumptions here..
1) You have a kettle?

Depending on the size of aforementioned kettle, you have many options. The simplest and cheapest option being a nylon paint strainer bag and you can do:
1) Partial boil / BIAB (5 gal kettle or smaller)
2) Full boil / BIAB (8 gal or bigger kettle)

Hope this gets you started.

 

[Foosier]

The reality is you are going to need to piece your system together most likely unless you have a lot of cash to spend for a turn key stand and pots. Before you do that though, you should figure out how you want to move forward. Check out the BIAB threads and the all grain stickies to see different set ups. BIAB allows you to all grain brew without as much equipment to start. You basically need three items: A big pot, a burner and a bag. You can get all that for less than 200 for sure. If you go the more conventional mash in a cooler route, you will need more equipment: Still need a pot, large cooler, means of lautering (bag, braid and valve, manifold, false bottom, etc), burner, maybe an HLT depending on how you go forward, etc... From there you can go nuts with fully plumbed systems which are only limited by your imagination.

If you are not sure how committed you are and budget is an issue, BIAB is a great way to start.Plus anything you buy, can be used later in more upgraded set ups. Howver, most find BIAB to be a very good system.

Just my $0.02

 

[brewkinger]

If you have 8 gal kettle (preferably 10 or bigger) AND full blown AG is your intent, then you will want:

5gal (preferably 10gal) or bigger cooler to use as mash tun (plenty of DIY videos on here and YouTube to help with this)
Immersion chiller or plate chiller (I made my IC for about $36 using 50' of 3/8" copper tubing on sale from Home Depot, a pipe bender that I had and I wrapped it around a corny keg that I also had)

I may be forgetting something, all the assorted do-dads that you will eventually acquire (want, need, etc... )

 

[benny_g]

I'm in the same boat as Rob. I have basic starter kit but want to start doing AG brewing. I just got a 10 gal kettle with false bottom as a gift. Should I use this as the brew kettle or the mash tun? I can't afford to upgrade much more right now (Christmas is expensive!)

 

[brewkinger]

Again, the BIAB option is cheapest
The false bottom could be used in a cooler mash tun eventually

 

[Foosier]

Benny, if you have a pot with false bottom, you could use ity as a mash tun, but you would then need a boil kettle. Basically what this means is you would use your pot for your boil. You could either get a cooler for a mash tun, or try BIAB which allows you to mash and boil in one vessel.

 

[bathman]

Do you need to sparge with BIAB?

 

[ram5ey]

You do not need to sparge with BIAB. Just pull the bag out and let it drain into the kettle. Some brewers will dunk sparge and whatnot, but I get my 70-75% efficiency without it.

 

[dobe12]

It's not 100% necessary, but I've been BIAB'ing for about 2 years now and have tried several methods. Sparge, no sparge, full volume mash, and I've gotten the best efficiency and results from a normal mash and batch sparge. I can hit 75-85% eff with the sparge. Without I'm in the 65-75% range.

 

[gkeusch]

I never got into BIAB but slowly transitioned to all grain. My giant step forward came when I finally got a 4 1/2 gallon pot to use as a dedicated hot liquor tank, able to heat four gallons of water to 180 degrees in less than 45 minutes. (I can do this through a combination of electric element below the pot and an immersion heater working at the same time but able to turn either off and keep the other on.) This satisfies my need for heating a volume of strike water for the mash and then heating another volume to use as sparge water. I fly sparge and with this tank it is as easy as can be.

Just the way it worked for me.

 

[opiate82]

When I made the jump to all-grain I went with the Home Depot 10-gal cooler build that you see posted everywhere for my mash tun. I already had an 8 gallon kettle and a 5 gallon kettle. I've been able to make what my friends call "commercial quality brews" out of that system.

 

[Mirilis]

IMO, the best piece of equipment you should invest in after starting is a temperature controller.

If i could start over that would be the first thing i buy.. you can make all kinds of wort but you really want to focus on 2 things.. yeast health, and fermentation temps.

IMO as long as your sanitary which is really #1, then temp control is the way to go.. it makes the difference between a good beer and an excellent one.