To the rookies - what was your first equipment upgrade?

[BradTheGeek]

Started out with the Deluxe Homebrew Starter Kit from Northern Brewer. First thing I bought to go with it was a 22qt (5.5gal) stainless steel kettle and stirring spoon.

As far as "upgrades" go, I would have to say I haven't gotten any yet. Unless you count a hydrometer, because that didn't come with my kit. I'm thinking I'm gonna pick up one of glass carboy carriers, and I need a real burner. My wife might actually pay for that to get me off the stovetop, giving me the option to cook it outside. Thought she was going to kill me with the odors the first brew...

For the carboy, find a real milk crate. Not the flimsy walmart sruff. Works perfect.

 

[Clonefan94]

Basically, I jumped in head first right off the bat. Banjo burner, 10 gallon pot, built a wort chiller, 5 corny kegs and converted my existing single tap sankey kegerator to a 3 tap with ball lock connectors. Essentially on day one I had what I needed to do full boils. I did start out with extract/partial mash kits, so the next upgrade was when I went all-grain and built a mash tun from a cooler. The best thing I did was get my own grain mill though. I like having the control and also the cost savings of buying grain in bulk.

I will say, I'm very lucky though to have a very cool basement. Even in the summer. So brewing Ales as I do, it's pretty easy to keep my fermentation temps in the mid 60s, even during the hot summers. Controlled fermentation would still be a great upgrade I plan on doing at some point.

 

[skitamofo]

My first upgrade was a bottling bucket. After trying to siphon into bottles, I went and got one right away.

 

[hbtasdfg]

buying a hydrometer was the first upgrade.

then it broke.

then bought another

then it broke.

Bought another.

kid broke that one.

 

[gwsiegfried]

I received the super ultra mega deluxe starter kit from the brew hut (so you know what I startd with from thebrewhut.com)
The only things I've bought are a wine thief for gravity measurements, a stir spoon, and a colander to drain grains.
I was lucky because my wife bought me a kit that needed nothing, that was fathers Day 2013, I've made 7 extract batches and my first significant upgrades will come after Christmas.
1) propane burner so I can brew in garage (I've been using side burner on grill)
2) 8 or 10 gallon kettle to do full boils
3) fermentation chiller (I'll build)
4) stir plate (I'll build)
GW

 

[bigken462]

I guess for me the first thing was a 25' wort chiller from some new tubing I scored off CL for 20 bucks. Followed by some simple kitchen supplies to make life a little easier. Strainer, fluid tray, stainless spoons and stir paddles, digital temp gauge etc. My last two purchases was a vinator and water jet. Pocket change to many, but it's the best I can do with the holiday budget crunch.

Hope to take a stab at using a 15 or 30 gallon stock pot for a BIAB session outside instead of fighting with keeping a boil in the kitchen. From there, who know what the cost will be.

 

[Oaney]

I started with a Mr. Beer kit so my first upgrade was a 5 gallon starters kit that had 2 buckets, racking cane, hydrometer, carboy brush, paddle, airlock, etc... All the basics. Quickly I found I needed larger kettles, so I scoured garage sales for the largest stock pots I could find. This served me well while I was doing partial boil extract kits.

The first upgrade that wasn't absolutely necessary, and one of my favorites so far is my Vinator. It makes bottling day so much more enjoyable. Just fill it with sanitizer, a few pumps into the bottle and your good to go.

Speaking of bottling, when I bottle I like to design a custom label. I go to fedex and use their color laser printer, cut them out and fix them onto the bottle with milk. A sort of 'upgrade' is to use BottleMark.com to design custom caps that match the labels.

My latest two upgrades are less than a week old! I went out and bought a keg system so that I could force carb a beer that I'm trying to rush for a christmas party. This beer I brewed had a 3.5 gallon boil which my kitchen stove had a hard time getting to a roiling boil, so I went out in search of a turkey fryer on sale. No luck finding one on sale, but I picked one up anyways at full price. I now have a 32,000 BTU propane burner with an aluminum 7.5 gal pot. (I could have gotten a 45,000 BTU burner for $15 cheaper, but the stand looked a little flimsier. I figured 32,000 is still about 3x the heat output of my kitchen stove.) Im still doing 5 gallon batches so I'm hoping it will work.

Upgrades I am looking at getting in the near future are a wort chiller, refractometer, and the hardware to make a kegerator or keezer now that I have the keg and co2.

 

[trogdor447]

Right now I'm borring dad's brew pot for my brews, On the christmas list is a larger brew pot so I can do a 2.5g all grain batch in the kitchen. I think my next upgrade will be a propane burner for outside.

 

[Clef051]

My first upgrade was a wort chiller.