What would you buy?

[CascadesBrewer]

One of the things stopping me from getting a bigger kettle is the question of where/how I would use it. Right now, I can use the 5.5 gallon on the kitchen stove and cool in the sink. I imagine I would have to get a burner to use a bigger kettle and an immersion chiller to cool it. Is that a pretty safe assumption?

FYI, my 10 gallon pot will not physically fit on my kitchen stove as it hits on the microwave mounted above. I use it on an outdoor propane burner. Just something to check if you do go that route.

 

[Tobor_8thMan]

Not trying to be a pain or disparaging any of the replies, but I still recommend learning the basics. The how, what, why, when of brewing before adding anything.

Sometimes we veterans forget the learning, questions, hurdles, etc new brewers face since we dealt with these things so long ago.

All replies are valid. However, no reason to worry about (fill in the blank) if we don't understand why bittering hops are added at 60 minutes or (for example) carapils malt is used even with an extract brewing session. Or, how/why toast crystal 10L for about 20 minutes and steep.

 

[Christophrawr]

Temp control all the way without question. If you're practices are clean and on point with the basic starting equipment the temp control will show the biggest improvement / bang for your buck.

 

[Oyarsa]

Good point, Tobor. I'm sure there are lots of things I still need to learn even with the equipment I've got...

 

[Tobor_8thMan]

I've been homebrewing since 1995, but I still learn new things all the time. It's usually one of those "Why didn't I think of that" moments.

If I read a new brewing book and get 1 pearl of wisdom then I feel the book is good for me.

 

[Soulshine2]

One of the things stopping me from getting a bigger kettle is the question of where/how I would use it. Right now, I can use the 5.5 gallon on the kitchen stove and cool in the sink. I imagine I would have to get a burner to use a bigger kettle and an immersion chiller to cool it. Is that a pretty safe assumption?

I have a big problem with taking 5.5 gallons of boiling water in hand and going anywhere with it. Sure its possible , but sure you could also just as easily and quickly drop it , trip and fall and you have 3rd degree burns from it. I'll opt to immersion chill it and keep my skin .

 

[Tobor_8thMan]

I have a big problem with taking 5.5 gallons of boiling water in hand and going anywhere with it. Sure its possible , but sure you could also just as easily and quickly drop it , trip and fall and you have 3rd degree burns from it. I'll opt to immersion chill it and keep my skin .

That's why God invented pumps.

 

[Soulshine2]

That's why God invented pumps.

God invented gravity , man invented pumps.
I have a pump,used it for one brew.
I opted for gravity instead, nothing to break.

 

[Tobor_8thMan]

Was simply a joke. I tell my marathon friends, after they ran 26 miles or 100 miles, "you do know that's why God invented cars?"

 

[Tobor_8thMan]

God invented gravity , man invented pumps.
I have a pump,used it for one brew.
I opted for gravity instead, nothing to break.

Hmm... decent pumps shouldn't break. A pump or pumps are brew house requirements. Would not imagine the Herms without a pump. Would not imagine sparging without a pump. Would not imagine running the hot wort thru the counterflow wort chiller without a pump, etc.

However, draining the primary conical simply using the lower side ball valve works very nice.

 

[Soulshine2]

Hmm... decent pumps shouldn't break. A pump or pumps are brew house requirements. Would not imagine the Herms without a pump. Would not imagine sparging without a pump. Would not imagine running the hot wort thru the counterflow wort chiller without a pump, etc.

However, draining the primary conical simply using the lower side ball valve works very nice.

well, im not a "brewhouse" i run my chiller by simple garden hose, the ground water chilled it down from boiling to under 100*F in less than 20 minutes, good enough for me. Sparge- gravity. I dont own a counterflow chiller . I still use a simple racking cane to drain my glass carboy . Gravity works fine every time. I'm one of those guys who doesnt get into the gizmos and gadgets just to show off to people how I make beer, I make good beer. Hell, I still bottle. Thats all I need to serve my people.
I'm not saying you shouldn't .I'm just not into spending more money to come to the same result.
Matter of fact, I still remember when cars didn't have computers , they got us from point A to point Z and all points between just fine. If it needed fixing , it was simple - fuel, air, electric ...didn't require $100K worth of scanners to figure it out.

 

[Tobor_8thMan]

well, im not a "brewhouse"

By "brewhouse" I meant homebrewer.

You must have great ground water temps. IMO, a genius invented the counterflow wort chiller, but now that I understand the principle, it really the same as a heat pump or A/C.

Initially I didn't trust the counterflow wort chiller. However, after a few uses I can take boiling wort to 60F within minutes. Photo follows.

I agree 100% with the car analogy. Wife has a 2018 car. Too complex and too many "press the buttons" for me.

 

[seatazzz]

I know some argue that aluminum oxide will form insulating the wort from the aluminum, and I don't know if that's really true or not. All I know is aluminum may be a dicey choice depending on what you're going for.

Seatazz, seems like your beer is ok, so this may not be an issue for you.

At this point in time my aluminum kettle is only used to catch the wort from the tun; I don't have a dedicated HLT so my keggle does double duty as HLT and BK. And I haven't gotten around to getting a port installed in the aluminum. The beers I HAVE boiled in the aluminum did turn out okay, because I was careful to passivate it thoroughly.

 

[Horseflesh]

Temperature control, all the way.

I got a fridge and built a controller—this was before Inkbird—before my first brew day.

If I couldn’t have pushbutton temp control, I probably wouldn’t brew at all.

Then, kegging. Then, a kettle or system upgrade.