Transition from Wine to Beer Equipment?

[100LL]

So i have been making wine kits at home for a few years. Even made 120 bottles for my wedding a few years back

Anyway i have the usual equipment for wine: 7.9 gallon primary buckets, 6.5 gallon glass carboys etc.

I've been told that it's better to have 5 gallon carboys for the fermentation of beer kits so that's on the list, as well as either an immersion or plate chiller and kettles for the boil.

Any tips on what i should get to complete a good beer setup?

 

[BeerFst]

Your bucket and carboy are fine as is. I wouldn't downsize to a 5gallon bucket (assuming you are making 5 gallon batches), it gives no room for the krausen (aka yeast/foam) to expand. I do my primary in a similar bucket.

you may want a 5 gallon carboy for secondary "fermentation" to reduce headspace and in turn oxygen (I'm pretty sure this is the same for wine though).

I dont secondary personally, just dry hop in primary. if i were aging on fruit, i would consider a secondary though.

 

[McKnuckle]

[Edit: BeerFst and I clearly agree, as our posts overlapped]

I did the same - I made wine for several years before getting into beer.

I'd keep your 6.5 glass carboys, and don't bother with smaller ones for now. If you brew a "standard" 5 gallon batch, you will need the headspace for fermentation - and 6.5 is perfect. With beer, unlike wine, the primary/secondary mandate is bypassed. Most brewers keep beer in the primary for the duration until packaging, which as you know, is much much shorter than wine (thank god!). The obsession to top up headspace that we find in winemaking simply doesn't apply to beer.

You have a lot of other stuff to buy - like kettles and burners and chillers - so save your fermenter money for other things.

 

[Yooper]

I also made wine before I ever attempted beer. I've only been brewing beer for 10 or 15 years (and only about 9 seriously) but I've been making wine for 25+ years.

I use the same equipment generally, except I almost never use a 6 gallon carboy for wine.

A large pot for the boil, and a burner or stove that can bring that much wort to a boil as well as a way to chill the wort is really all that will be needed besides bottle caps and a capper.

 

[100LL]

Thanks for the replies! I'm used to primary 6.5 wine and 5 gal secondary, which i didn't have and just used an inert gas to displace. I don't think ill give up making wine, but i can sure see adding beer to my list of things to make, its just too much fun!

Right now I'm soaking up the info here ( like building a temp. controlled fermenting cabinet) and looking forward to going forward!