What to upgrade next?

[brauscjm]

I've been all grain brewing for a little under a year and have a good enough set up, standard 10-gal cooler, decent burner, corona style mill, cheapish 7.5 gal aluminum pot, I batch sparge and do ice baths to cool my wort, which I have 24 hour access to a huge ice machine.

This December I will be paying off a huge credit card that i've been working down for over a year and will have a little extra play money, and I will also be getting about $400 extra bonus. I'm curious what y'all think the next improvement should be. I'm fine with the ice baths, and think someday I'll build my own recirculating cooling system so i dont think im going to go with a submersion chiller. Is fly sparging the next best thing, better mill, get an awesome kettle?

 

[brauscjm]

almost forgot, I dont have room for a kegging system yet because of the small house im in now. That would without a doubt be my next purchase but its out of the question for now, if by chance I have a new house come december, keg system it will be

 

[eadavis80]

Even though you have free 24/7 access to ice, I still might say wort chiller, but since it won't save you any money, I can see why you haven't gone that route yet. How has the aluminum pot been for you? I've read conflicting reports on SS vs. aluminum. I just got an 8-gallon Tall Boy SS kettle from N. Brewer and I'm happy with it. It was my first kettle that allowed me to do full boils. Obviously, you can do full boils with your current setup, but SS might be an upgrade over aluminum. A small upgrade might be an oxygenation kit and O2 tank - that would only be $60 with the tank available at Home Depot, but you probably already have something like that. Congrats on killing that credit card and the forthcoming bonus! Cheers!

 

[muels]

I would start with stuff that makes the beer better, not flashy but effective.
Refractometer
pH meter
Then maybe misc stuff;
15gal pot for 10gallon batches
New tubing and siphon (replace it every once in a while)
Make a list of stuff you want and decide what you need to make the best beer possible.

On a side note... If you think you may move into a bigger house at some point soon save your cash for a kegging setup (after you buy the refractometer and pH meter of course).




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[govner1]

+1 on paying off the debt. I'd out at least half of that bonus in the bank as a rainy day fund and keep putting money in it that you were using to pay down the CC.
As for brewing goodies: build/buy a small ferm chamber if you don't have one ($150 or less). Good temp control is a primary way to improve your beer. Along the same lines, a good chiller (CFC) to chill as quickly as possible. Again you can make your own. Last, how about a pump for moving hot liquids & aiding in chilling & recirc? Used March pumps go for $75-100.


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[charliehorse]

In order, the things that I would upgrade would be:
wort chiller - you can get a plate chiller on eBay for about $80 that works very well
grain mill - I would suggest the Monster Mill 2, with a hopper and base. After the first time using it, you'll wonder what you were thinking by using the Corona
Boil Kettle - like many things in life, bigger is better. Adding a valve in the kettle will save you a lot of trouble cooling your wort

Things that I would add immediately:
Refractometer - it's much easier and you don't waste as much precious beer as you do with a hydrometer. If you don't pay attention to gravity readings than don't bother with it but you can pick one up off eBay for about $20

 

[Pilgarlic]

The answer to the question is, always: Look hard at your results and ask yourself "what is it about my beer that I really most need or want to improve?" Then determine how a little money spent might help you do that.

 

[MindenMan]

Adding the little pieces is cool, but temperature control is paramount. You may have had the most technically perfect brewing day, with a nod to a fantastic beer coming soon, and during fermentation your wort got too hot, the yeast went out of control, and now, your great day brewing has just gone out the window. I learned this lesson more than once. Having access to ice 24/7 is great, but how can you use the ice and be practical?
I do have to ask though, how have you been controlling fermentation temperatures so far?

 

[muels]

I didn't mention fermentation control because I assumed if he couldn't get a fridge/freezer for kegging due to small house syndrome he couldn't fit a fermentation chamber. That being said, a swamp cooler with some frozen water bottles is about 10 bucks.


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[acidrain]

Refractometer
Water report
Stir plate and flask
Oxygen wand kit
Fermentation temperature control

 

[brauscjm]

Ferm. Chamber would be high on the list since right now. It just ferments at room.temp. usually not a problem except for last winter. I might just set most aside so when we do get a house I can splurge on a keg set up. Been thinking all day and I'm.thinking maybe a better/ more accurate thermometer and a refractometer would be a solid purchase. I've seen 20 different kinds of refractometers, is there a specific one for brewing or are they all calibrated to be able to measure wort gravity

 

[charliehorse]

As long as it's got a sugar scale (Brix) and a gravity in the range expected for brewing beer you should be fine. You don't want to get the kind designed for salt water aquariums (although, it would work) since they only have a gravity scale and they generally don't go high enough (if memory serves, the SG for a salt water tank is in the 1.020 -1.025 range).

 

[muels]

Sounds like you have a plan... Thermometer and refractometer. Do a quick search on the forums and you will find a quality one. There also some cheap options for ferm chambers (also found in the search). You will be happy putting the money off to the side for a keg setup though. Good luck!


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[brauscjm]

Told the wife the plan...got a look. As long as I keep her stocked in English browns I'm sure she'll be ok. Now let's go shopping


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[Flipadelphia]

Ferm chamber should be your #1 purchase. You will see a noticeable increase in the quality of your beer once you move from fermenting in ambient air, which is not recommended.