The Best thing you've made/purchased

[ThreeSheetsBrewing]

I was bottling some beer this morning, looked over at the little carboy cleaner I made working away and thought "That's one of the best things I've ever made." It took the chore of scrubbing out carboys with a brush(something I hated and made me avoid bottling) and trivialized it.

I'm wondering what little gadgets folks have made/purchased that have made them think "That's one of the best things I've ever made."

 

[IrregularPulse]

Favorite purchase was the paint stirrer for my drill for doughing in.

Favorite made would have to be the keezer.

 

[neut2004]

My kludgy hop bag holder that I made from a metal coat hanger. Has kept my wort nearly free of hop material. It's so cheap and ghetto, but I wouldn't brew without it.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

Favorite bought: Brewery and chiller station.
Favorite made: BierKasten

 

[bjohnson29]

A good digital, instant read thermometer.

 

[Duckfoot]

Made : Ferment-er-ator
Bought : refractometer or my Thermapen

 

[JonM]

I took a homer bucket lid and cut a notch out of it to serve as a spout. Makes pouring grain from a 5-gal bucket into a 5-gal mash tun a breeze.

I cut out 3 circles of 3/4 inch foam and put them in a heat resistant crock-pot liner. Then I set that on top of the mash and it holds the temp beautifully.

A milk crate serves as a perfect drying rack for the bottling bucket, mash tun, etc. and also does a great job of elevating the bottling bucket off the counter a little but.

 

[bluemoose]

This thread is useless without pictures!

 

[howabouttheiris]

Best thing I ever did was convert from bottles to kegs and from 5 to 10 gallon batch sized brewpot/fermentors.

I enjoy brewing for the social aspects of a brew day.

By moving to kegs, I reduce the sanitizing effort and the "bottling day" can be done with a beer in 1 hand.

By moving to 10 g, I always have a brewpal willing to share setup/cleanup, half the cost, and half the rewards.

 

[cheezydemon3]

Buckets.

Easy to clean.

 

[solbes]

1) Kegs

2) DIY wort chiller with copper tubing

 

[JJL]

autosiphon has saved me more headaches than any other single piece of equipment

 

[solbes]

I still don't have an autosiphon, I rock it old school. Maybe it's time!

 

[Skarekrough]

I fell in love with brewing around 2000 or so when I was given a "Brew Your Own" kit as a Christmas gift. I made a few batches but after awhile I got tired of bottling.

A year or so later I got into it again only to walk away because I hated the bottling.

This went on a few more times until last year when I was thinking of getting back into it but dreaded the idea of bottling. A friend of mine had a kegerator but I hated the idea of dropping that sort of coin and only having, at most, two kegs.

I think it was withing 48 hours of discovering what a keezer was and how to make one that I had a chest freezer in the back of my car and was headed home with it.

In one year I think I've made more beer than all other times I'd brewed, combined. I've made the switch to AG, learned a ton about beer in general and gotten quite good. This past Spring I overheard my Father say to a close friend of his "Ya gotta try some of my kids beer. It'll put anything you can get off the shelf to shame!" My Father's more of a wine guy but knew good beer when he had it so it was a trip to hear him say that.

So yeah...the keezer. It got me back into it and has kept me in it!

 

[hiphopopotamus]

Made: Garden hose CFC - Thanks Bobby_M.

Bought: I guess my Brew Kettle. I'm not in love with it. I've made most of my good stuff. If I had a pump, I'd say that for sure Man I wish I had a pump.