New equipment opinions

[Sully11]

I'm looking to buy some new equipment and I keep going back and forth about where to upgrade. I've been debating in a few areas:

Bottling/Kegging: I only have one keg and a freezer, but nothing connected yet and no C02 cylinder and an unfinished basement (for now).

Cooling: I have a standard copper immersion chiller, but have been looking at the Terminator

Grain: Joe has been doing all of my milling, but the Barley Crusher would give me some flexibility with recipes.

Boiling: I'm using an electric stove right now. It takes quite a while to get the boil going and the hot break almost always causes a boil over.

Where would you upgrade? (Due to $$ constraints I can only go with one area at a time).

[bf514921]

Moving to a full 5 gallon if you can or fermentation temp control would be my suggestion if it fits in your plans

[whitedj]

That is a tough one. All good options, but would probably put terminator near bottom as it would require a pump to use and clean.

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[czubak]

I would invest in a good burner. I used a turkey fryer burner for 6+ years. It did the trick ok. There are better burners out there, but these are cheap! Extract or all grain? Assuming 5 gallon batches a burner like this should do you well for years.

Never used a plate chiller, but I am not sold on them just yet. Mainly from a "can't see how clean it is" There is no question they work very well

I have a cereal killer mill I am probably going to be selling to upgrade to a better mill that has better tolerances. I don't think Joe actually charges to crush grain, or I never paid attention to my tab if he did. This is the area I am focusing on learning more about. Gap size, what to look for in a good crush, etc. It has big effects on efficiency I am reading.

I'd continue to bottle. it's a pain, but has it's perks once you have some variety. Kegging has it's downsides, mainly is initial cost, space and a dedicated appliance (which can also double as a fermentation chamber.)

Unless it's cheap (like a cooler mash tun or my fryer, both of with I donated to another brewer) I try to spend the money once and have a piece for years of use. I failed on the grain mill as I am not impressed with the quality. It doesn't seem to hold a great gap on the rollers

[DrPaulsen]

If you're looking for an easier brew day, invest in a bigger boil kettle (or just buy some Fermcap-S to avoid boil-overs). If you're looking to make better beer, invest in fermentation temp control. Addressing fermentation temp, yeast pitching rate, and aeration levels are typically the shortest levers to pull for dramatically better beer.

[Sully11]

I think I may look into some temp control and a quality burner. My ales have been fermenting at room temp and a little consistency would be a good thing. What is a good brew jacket?

[Matt F]

Get a turkey fryer kit with at least a 7.5 gallon stainless kettle. Sam's use to sell them seasonally for pretty cheap. I used one for a long time. Easy to upgrade with a ball valve as money allows.

I also second fermentation temp control. With a basement and a keg bucket with water you can have some hands on temp control. A used fridge with a temp controller is much better.

Therminator would be at the bottom of my list. More than the first two option combined. I have used one and they are nice but I really prefer my immersion chiller. If you move to a pump some day it is easy to make it a whirlpool chiller which I still really like for chilling.

[Sully11]

I decided to go with a Blichman burner. I'm looking forward to it not taking 20 minutes to get my 7.5 gallon kettle to boiling. And the heating will be much more even. I'd like to get a bigger kettle soon, one that will allow me to make bigger batches.