top three equipment upgrades?

[Bobby_M]

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

The only use I'd have for a bottling wand is if I wanted to enchant one of my kegs ;-)

 

[Pabst Blue Robot]

1. Wort chiller
2. LP burner setup
3. Fermenting fridge for temp control

 

[Yuri_Rage]

Wort chiller
BIG brew kettle/keggle
Better Bottles with spigots

 

[BarleyWater]

Wort Chiller
Better Bottle
Fermentation Cooler

 

[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.

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

I went ahead and decided to cut to the end and give what these folks said were the best upgrades.. Here there are in order of importance(i.e. do #1 first)
(the start talking about it at about 1hour and 17 minutes)

and these are the top 5 upgrades to make better beer.. (not sure about #2)
Here we go..
1. Full Wort Boil (Big Brew Kettle)
2. Kegging
3. Fermentation Temp Control
4. This thingy.. http://morebeer.com/product.html?product_id=16797
5. Brew Rack (for All Grain)


Others discussed in no particular order:
Wort Chiller
Oxygenation
Yeast Starters
Water Filtration
Pumps and Disconnects
Testing Instruments

 

[98EXL]

I went ahead and decided to cut to the end and give what these folks said were the best upgrades.. Here there are in order of importance(i.e. do #1 first)
(the start talking about it at about 1hour and 17 minutes)

and these are the top 5 upgrades to make better beer.. (not sure about #2)
Here we go..
1. Full Wort Boil (Big Brew Kettle)
2. Kegging
3. Fermentation Temp Control
4. This thingy.. http://morebeer.com/product.html?product_id=16797
5. Brew Rack (for All Grain)


Others discussed in no particular order:
Wort Chiller
Oxygenation
Yeast Starters
Water Filtration
Pumps and Disconnects
Testing Instruments

link no worky in item 4

 

[FlyGuy]

Here are my suggestions:

1. Jet bottle washer
2. Bottling bucket (plastic pail with spigot and bottling wand attached)
3. Oxygenation or aeration system

I also like the idea of an autosiphon. However, if you already have the tubing, for $2 you can convert it so that it is a sanitary siphon. See here.

 

[mizzoueng]

1. Large Turkey Fryer, fan burner, not a jet burner (even heat distribution on fan types)
2. 7.5-15.5 Brew kettle (keggle)
3. Either an immersion chiller or a counterflow chiller
4. Carboys, as many sizes and varities as you can get
5. 25 gallon trash can, use for bottle cleaning and sanitizing


A few things you should pick up on the way whenever you have some free cash:

2-3 Large plastic brew spoons
Floating thermometer
A spare hydrometer
Autosiphon
10-15 feet of spare poly tubing
Vacuum sealer and bags
Large Bag of caps (if bottling)
Six pack carriers
Bottles (call your local pub)
Aerating Wand (looks like a big cork screw)
Lots of those "stick-on" temperature gauges (for carboys and buckets)
1-2 brew belts (warming belt for carboys and buckets)
extra airlocks (those buggers are hard to clean)
airlock brush
carboy brush (or 2)
bottle brush
Stoppers for carboys (6's, 7's, and 7.5's), drilled

And finally a beer fridge to store all of your wonderful homebrew and a nice opener so you can drink it

 

[the_bird]

I would have to agree with what seems to be the consensus, being able to do full wort boils (and then chill the wort). Even if you don't want to go that full route, any equipment to get you towards doing partial mashes (a small converted cooler, for example) will have a noticable impact both on the quality of the product and will allow you a MUCH greater degree of flexibility in the brews that you make.

Once you're no longer a n00b, one bigger acquisition that can have a VERY pronounced impact on the beer is something to control fermentation temperatures; one of the chiller boxes that people make, or an old fridge with a temperature controller, something like that. Being able to keep your ales fermenting in the 60°s, as well as being able to brew lagers, is going to ensure that your end product is much higher quality and help you be able to replicate your results in the future. But, that's predicated on having room for a second fridge and being able to find one cheap.

 

[waskelton4]

link no worky in item 4

Here you go..

http://morebeer.com/view_product/16797/

looks like morebeer just did a website re-do..

ws

 

[olllllo]

Being in the heat, I'll add these 3.
1)Wort Chiller
2)Ranco Temp Controller
3)Bayou Classic Banjo Kick A