What to buy....

[sok454]

For xmas I got a 200 gift card to a brew shop. I already have a couple of fermenters, plenty of cleaner/sanitizer, yeaster starter kit. What I'm missing are a wort chiller, a burner, and tools to move to AG. If you had 200 what would you buy?

 

[Arneba28]

I would get 2 burners and a chiller.

 

[sok454]

Only burners they sell are Blichman...which I would like to have... but do't have the cash to spend 300+ on just burners.

 

[rklinck]

Wort chiller would be my first priority. Could you swing a wort chiller and 1 burner? You can go all grain with one burner (BIAB or using a cooler set up).

 

[sok454]

Yeah I could do that. The transition to AG I figured wouldn't happen overnight.
Would you buy the Blichman burner?
I'm kicking myself as a guy that sold me his stuff a few months ago had a blichman burner but at the time I hadn't brewed anything so I didn't know what I wanted.... I am sure I coulda gotten it for 100 w the extensions and 2 propane tanks...ugh.

 

[rklinck]

You are going to want a burner of some kind before too long. It is much easier to get 6+ gallons of wort up to a boil on a propane burner than on a gas stove. I don't have a Blichman burner, so I am not the person to ask whether it is worth the money versus a different kind of burner. I bought myself a turkey fryer set up for like $60 and I use that. I am planning to build myself a brewing structure before too long, so I am holding off on buying a better burner until I figure out what my structure will look like (i.e., I may build a steel structure that has burners built into it).

On the all grain front, you can do BIAB without any additional equipment; you just need a big mesh bag that would cost less than $5 at you LHBS.

If you ultimately want to go the cooler route, they are really easy to make yourself as opposed to buying them premade. I was intimidated about it at first, but was able to convert 2 coolers to a mash tun and HLT and make my own homemade sparge arm out of copper pipe over about 2 hours one Friday night. The hardest part was actually the hour or so it took me to find the parts at Home Depot (and the two other trips I had to take to find the coolers at an ACE). If you are interested, send me a PM and I can try to find the link to the YouTube I watched that gave me the confidence (and I can send you a picture of my sparge arm).

 

[feinbera]

One burner and the chiller.

A second burner would be nice, but, with a little planning, an insulated mash tun, and the ability to heat relatively small volumes pretty quickly on your stove, you don't need the second burner.

 

[mttfrog13]

Do you already have a fridge for temp control during fermentation? I'd get one myself, but my roommates wouldn't like me running up the electricity bill just to brew beer.

 

[rklinck]

Do you already have a fridge for temp control during fermentation? I'd get one myself, but my roommates wouldn't like me running up the electricity bill just to brew beer.

Share some of the beer with your roommates, and I bet they won't mind.

 

[sok454]

I don't have a fridge that I'm allowed to use as a fermentor... that was why I want to find a good cheap or free freezer.

I'm thinking the blichman burner and the chiller might be the way to go.

 

[brewinginnc]

Burner chiller and temp control should be your next three purchases

 

[mttfrog13]

Share some of the beer with your roommates, and I bet they won't mind.

They're homebrewers as well, but not as serious about it as I am.

I don't have a fridge that I'm allowed to use as a fermentor... that was why I want to find a good cheap or free freezer.

I'm thinking the blichman burner and the chiller might be the way to go.

I would stick with 3 gallon boils on the stove and a partial mash method before I invest in a burner and wort chiller in order to do 5 gallon boils. I feel that getting better temp control first would initially make your beer better than going all grain. I feel like most extracts are really good and suitable for the base of a beer. Temp control is my biggest annoyance right with brewing besides bottling day. I would buy the fridge, thermometer, and build my own wort chiller.

Since you have a gift card, I would just use it to buy ingredients as you need them and then buy the equipment from wherever you can.

 

[cknittle]

Wort chiller and ingredients for a couple batches. Maybe a sack of grains and a couple pounds of hops in addition to the wort choller