What’s your best homebrew upgrade under $100?

[capt_yo55arian]

I gotta go with swapping out bargain basement Amazon taps with NukaTaps. Didn’t realize how much better the pours would be.

 

[matt_m]

Grainfather subscription.

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

the blichmann autosparge, this thing made my brewing day so much easier for my herms system

 

[sibelman]

The Blichmann Thrumometer™ gets me a fermenter full of ready-to-pitch wort. 'course I also need my chiller (>$100)

 

[McMullan]

An ATC800 temp controller with a heat cable and old fridge. Well under $100, even in today's money. The ATC and heat cable are still going. In fact, the ATC has outlived and just replaced its inkbird 308 replacement, which suddenly became erratic and dysfunctional for some unknown reason.

 

[madscientist451]

A used corny keg w/spunding valve for fermenting IPAs. Cut about 1.5 inches off the dip tube and scale back the recipe to 4.5 gallons.

 

[hottpeper13]

A three hole stainless bar sink with side boards.

 

[Beermeister32]

$75 used mini fridge on Craigslist to use as a fermentation chamber.

 

[GoodTruble]

Fermzilla 30L all-rounder - wonderfully versatile fermenter.

 

[Beermeister32]

suddenly became erratic and dysfunctional for some unknown reason.

As a side note, I also had one of my refrigerator controllers go south on me this year.

I believe this digital age we are in creates hundreds of opportunities for line voltage spikes to knock out semiconductors. On our computers most folks use line suppressors like APC backup battery units.

All our other sensitive digital circuitry goes commando around the place without good line conditioning. Dryers, coffee makers TV’s, everything holds a mini computer these days, waiting for the next voltage spike or brown-out to come knocking.

 

[JohnDBrewer]

Used freezer for fermentation temp control.

 

[beerfactory]

$75 used mini fridge on Craigslist to use as a fermentation chamber.

That's exactly what I paid for my sub compact fridge

 

[crazyjake19]

When I was a new brewer it was a immersion chiller instead of a ice water bath in the sink. More recently my best upgrade was an Apera PH60 meter over the cheapo $10 Amazon meter I'd been using for a few years.

 

[thefigure5]

As a side note, I also had one of my refrigerator controllers go south on me this year.

I believe this digital age we are in creates hundreds of opportunities for line voltage spikes to knock out semiconductors. On our computers most folks use line suppressors like APC backup battery units.

All our other sensitive digital circuitry goes commando around the place without good line conditioning. Dryers, coffee makers TV’s, everything holds a mini computer these days, waiting for the next voltage spike or brown-out to come knocking.

In Inkbird's case, pretty sure it's a quality issue.

 

[seatazzz]

Has to be my wilserbrewer grand slam package. The very day after it arrived I did my first BIAB batch, went so smooth and fast. The price cannot be beat, the bag will last me a long time, and I just love it.

 

[TkmLinus]

One of my best upgrades for cheap was 5 gallon paint strainer bags. I boil for 5 minutes to sanitize. I use these to strain the wort after chilling before putting into the fermenter to strain out hops and trub. I'll place one inside the keg when filling from the fermenter to catch any hops or other additions I don't want in the keg.

 

[MaxStout]

STC-1000 and used freezer for a ferm chamber. Better temp control and no more monitoring ice in a swamp cooler.

 

[agentbud]

A three hole stainless bar sink with side boards.

Been in the market for one of these for a while. Where in the heck did you get one for <$100?

 

[Scottyward]

Floating dip tube for a corny. Once I tried one, had to equip all kegs with this.

 

[Broken Crow]

About $6 for a pair of 3/4"x1/2"/3/4" PEX fittings...bored the 1/2" side out with a 3/8" drill, uncurled my immersion chiller, went outside and grabbed a garden hose and cut the ends off and made my first counterflow chiller. Tap water here is 58°, so I got one-pass to pitching temp with the water tap open only a third of the way. Ugly, but awesome.

 

[Dr_Jeff]

a used chugger pump for $75

 

[bracconiere]

i liked my change from 1/4" ID tubing, to 3/16"....? stainless steel picnic taps was nice....

hmmm, sweater drying racks were a big improvement over the food dehydrator.

free used dryer, HUGE improvement!

oh wait, the speed locking Harbor frieght drill to motorize my mill! that was a good one!

i mean usually most of my 'upgrades' are under $100? otherwise it's a few year long decision !

 

[capt_yo55arian]

I might have to amend my NukaTap choice for best upgrade under $100. Although those are amazing, I did find a fridge for free on Offer Up for fermentation. Cooling w/ ice bath was a tremendous pain and I'm happy to never return to that.

 

[Velnerj]

I bought a n inkbird quick read thermometer which made my brew day and resultant beer a lot better. I was using a, meat thermometer before and not only was it slow to take readings I'm fairly certain it was off. I often finished far below expected finishing gravity which lead me to believe that my mash temps were lower than what I was reading on the thermometer. Once I upgraded this phenomenon stopped.

 

[Scout]

A ten gallon boil pot and propane burner. It was a lot better than doing partial volume boils and adding water after.

Or maybe it was adding an electric element to the pot because for some reason the propane couldn't get it hot enough with the lid off.

 

[hout17]

My 48 qt Coleman cooler mash tun with bulkhead when I switched from extract to all grain a couple years ago. Everything cost around ~$50.

 

[bracconiere]

My 48 qt Coleman cooler mash tun with bulkhead when I switched from extract to all grain a couple years ago. Everything cost around ~$50.

wait i notice, do you have a new tag line? what kind of screen do you use in that MT? now that i think about it, moving from a crappy dome flase bottom to a SS washing machine supply filter was huge, but eventialy it got compacted. now i use a bazooka!

 

[hout17]

wait i notice, do you have a new tag line? what kind of screen do you use in that MT? now that i think about it, moving from a crappy dome flase bottom to a SS washing machine supply filter was huge, but eventialy it got compacted. now i use a bazooka!

I use bazooka. Also yes I do have a new tag line lol.

 

[bracconiere]

I use bazooka. Also yes I do have a new tag line lol.

View attachment 766362

bazooka for the win!

how do you sparge and ever consider maybe a shorter bazooka so it reaches the entire length?

 

[hout17]

bazooka for the win!

how do you sparge and ever consider maybe a shorter bazooka so it reaches the entire length?

Shorter I think you meant longer? That's a 12" bazooka tube and I'm not sure you can get a longer one and I've heard that doesn't make a lot of difference especially with my method. I employ the batch sparge method heat my water up on the stove in a 7 gallon kettle and add to the tun.