top three equipment upgrades?

[coyote]

what are the top three cost efficient equipment upgrades you'd recommend to newbies?

i.e...what has made the most difference to the quality of your beer and/or made brewing day easier for you?

Thanks,

Don

 

[Beerrific]

1. Turkey fryer (easily under $40)

2. Auto-siphon (when it works; ~$10)

3. Better-bottle

 

[mountainrev]

1. Autosyphon

2. Wort chiller

3. Teenage son to help with bottling

 

[dibby33]

1. Jetwash (to clean bottles)
2. Secondary barrel (and spares to soak bottles in)
3. Bottle tree (for drying bottles)

...i am seeing a connection here - need to start kegging soon!

 

[mountainrev]

On second thought, I don't know that the teenage son is very cost efficient.

 

[Axegod]

Cheers,

* another carboy
* double-bottle washer (see review section of this forum)
* autosyphon

***but the #1 thing for me is this forum*****

 

[coyote]

great stuff!

keep them coming!

(Thanks)

 

[mot]

dream stuff
kegging setup
large pot for 10 gallon brews
therminator to chill the 10 gallon

for minor stuff that I can afford at the moment
a wort chiller
bottle tree
turkey fryer

 

[BierMuncher]

1) Turkey fryer
2) 10 gallon rubbermaid cooler (and about $10 worth of plumbing pieces.)
3) Wort Chiller

Now you've got an all grain setup. Talk about improving your beer and saving on your per-brew cost...

 

[DeathBrewer]

On second thought, I don't know that the teenage son is very cost efficient.

lol, god that's funny.

ok...

1. Autosiphon (better than sucking on the hose)
2. 3 gallon SS pot (it's a little beauty. besides, steeping and sparging grains in my 8 gallon pot was FTL)
3. Dishwasher (takes away all the work of sanitizing bottles...and i got it free with my apartment)

 

[JimC]

1. Autosiphon (better than sucking on the hose)

You know, you can start a siphon by filling the tube with water... I don't get all the auto siphon votes, but whatever floats your boat. I found them more of a pain than a help my self. Give me a racking cane and bells and whistles free tube any day.

There is no reason to be sucking on a hose to start a siphon other than ignorance.

 

[The Drizzle]

You know, you can start a siphon by filling the tube with water... I don't get all the auto siphon votes, but whatever floats your boat. I found them more of a pain than a help my self. Give me a racking cane and bells and whistles free tube any day.

There is no reason to be sucking on a hose to start a siphon other than ignorance.

I just bought a wallpaper glue tray for that very reason, you can submerge the siphon and tubing all at once. now that is a real auto siphon!

 

[Rook]

1) Carboy Caps to initiate syphons
2) Extra carboy so I can make more beer.
3) 3-Gal Mash Tun so I can do Partial Mash beer (so much better than before)

LEAST BENEFICIAL "Upgrades"
1) Bottle washing wand that screws onto a hose. I can't get hot water out of any compatible faucet, I can EASILY fit 53 bottles into my dish washer, set it on heated wash and heated dry. That sanitizes my bottles with near boiling water and it removes most lables to boot!
2) Bottle brush - see above, I rinse out my bottles after drinking so I have no need to scrub. nothing left in them.


I started off with a turkey fryer and a big brew kettle with a spigot, so I got lucky.

 

[MashStirBrew]

Still a newb myself, but:

1. Beersmith. For 20 bucks you can keep records, have a checklist, and play around with recipes(i.e boil size/hop additions) Especially when you can buy bulk malts and save $ by using a recipe rather than a "kit".
2. A good ss/brewpot
3. A library card ( lots of good books on homebrew )

On my wishlist is an old fridge and thermostat to control fermentation temps. My basement seems to have temperature mood swings, especially w/ summer creeping up.

 

[Moonpile]

Now that I'm brewing again after a 10 year hiatus, one of my brewing buddies bought an LP burner. This makes life much, much easier.

An autosiphon is a good use of ~$11.

$7 keg tub from Walmart. We have 3 of them now.

 

[98EXL]

So far as a newb, here are my favorite things:

1. Autosiphon - works great for me
2. lots of glassware... i.e. carboys
3. friends who are just as bad as collecting bottles for me - they all rock!

 

[Cheesefood]

1. Graduated 2 gallon bucket: $3 from the depot. Makes measuring water EASY.
2. Plastic 2 quart painters cup with graduated markings: $2.00
3. Home made hop-stopper: $3.00
5. Autosiphon
6. Buckets, not bottles. SO much easier to clean and carry.

 

[waskelton4]

If you are a fan/listener of "The Brewing Network" you may have already seen this but..

they have two broadcasts that talk about this subject.. sorta.

one is the frugal brewing show.
http://www.thebrewingnetwork.com/archive/search.php?story=frugal&dosearch=yes

the other is on equipment upgrades..
http://www.thebrewingnetwork.com/archive/search.php?dosearch=yes&story=upgrade

sometimes they get a little crazy but the information is really great..
especially from the Jamil Show.

check it out too.

ws

 

[CBBaron]

1) Auto-siphon
2&3) Turkey Fryer and Wort chiller
Wort chillers really are not needed for <3gal boils but 5gal boils make cooling without a chiller a PITA. So I say they have to go together.
1) won't improve your brew but doe make life easier.
2,3) can improve your brew and make life easier. Plus it makes the wife happier as she doesn't have to smell the boiling wort. I love the smell but she hates it.

Once you have those 3 you can add a cooler and braid for an AG setup which makes the brew day considerably longer but can make better beer for less.
Craig

 

[DeathBrewer]

You know, you can start a siphon by filling the tube with water... I don't get all the auto siphon votes, but whatever floats your boat. I found them more of a pain than a help my self. Give me a racking cane and bells and whistles free tube any day.

There is no reason to be sucking on a hose to start a siphon other than ignorance.

when i first started brewing, my friends all told me i was stupid for getting a siphon. they all sucked on the hose. they've all since apologized.

using a siphon is easier, contaminant(sp?) free and is much more convenient. the auto siphon works great. i don't like to add water to my beer once it's been fermented, which is the only time i use the siphon.

 

[Bobby_M]

The autosiphon is awesome, but mostly because it's the easiest way to sanitize and clean the inside of your racking tubing since you can PUMP with it.

 

[Bobby_M]

You know, you can start a siphon by filling the tube with water... I don't get all the auto siphon votes, but whatever floats your boat. I found them more of a pain than a help my self. Give me a racking cane and bells and whistles free tube any day.

There is no reason to be sucking on a hose to start a siphon other than ignorance.

This method of filling with water still requires you to put your finger over the end of the tube. Now the water and your hand could be contiminated. Then you have to catch the water in a separate container, wait for beer, pinch the tube, move to your receiving vessel. The autosiphon takes away all this contamination potential as long as you rinse/sanitize it in the first place. Pumping the inner cane one time is easier than all the water tricks. Honestly, if someone screws up the process, siphoning is going to be the least of their problems.

 

[the_bird]

I'll still take the carboy caps for siphoning

 

[JimC]

This method of filling with water still requires you to put your finger over the end of the tube. Now the water and your hand could be contiminated. Then you have to catch the water in a separate container, wait for beer, pinch the tube, move to your receiving vessel. The autosiphon takes away all this contamination potential as long as you rinse/sanitize it in the first place. Pumping the inner cane one time is easier than all the water tricks. Honestly, if someone screws up the process, siphoning is going to be the least of their problems.

Use sanitizer instead of water and ether tubing clamp, stop cock or 'bent hose' method. No reason to be unsanitary. I know an autosiphon isn't expensive, just isn't needed.

 

[Got Trub?]

Most would agree the first step up for beginning brewers to improve quality is the ability to boil the full batch. Therefore my recommendations would be:

1) Kettle big enough to do a full wort boil - SS or Al
2) Propane burner to heat #1 (because doing this on the stove is a PITA)
3) Immersion cooler to cool #1 (because waiting for 5g to cool is also a PITA)

 

[coyote]

very much appreciate all the replies!

so, a full wort boil means a lot of difference for extract brewing?

my water supply is quite limited...no way I could leave the faucet open for 30 minutes straight for a immersion cooler to work.

gotta think this through.

 

[Got Trub?]

very much appreciate all the replies!

so, a full wort boil means a lot of difference for extract brewing?

my water supply is quite limited...no way I could leave the faucet open for 30 minutes straight for a immersion cooler to work.

gotta think this through.

Yes a full wort boil will affect extract brews. It will help significantly with your hop utilization and ability to make hoppy beers. It will also reduce the amount of kettle caramelization that occurs with boiling concentrated wort. This is not much of an issue if you are brewing dark, complex beers but very important if you want to make lighter beers, especially lagers.

In terms of the wort cooler I collect all the water that goes through it and use it in my garden

 

[98EXL]

wort chiller and turkey fryer are my next DIY and purchases on my list...I'm excited. I want to do a full 5 gallon boil and chill it quickly

 

[Sir Humpsalot]

1. BOTTLING WAND (can't believe nobody's said that yet! For about $2 there is NO excuse to not have one)

2. Larger diameter racking cane for siphoning (Cuts the time to drain a carboy from 30 minutes down to 10. Why did I ever fiddle with little-diameter tubing?

3. Software (I use brewsmith, but others are good too). It really frees you up to get creative...

 

[david_42]

1. The Very Big Grain Bag, big enough for mini-mashes & better steeping.
2. Cooler for mashing, even before adding a spigot.
3. Bulk buys of hops.
[I've kegged & done full boils on a turkey burner from the beginning]

Worst: German 5L mini-keg system. Got it for portability, but it never worked right. Oddly enough, none of the online stores carry THAT system anymore.