equipment upgrade: what should I buy next?

Ok, I'm probably opening myself up for all kinds of opinions, conflicting or otherwise, but I felt this would be a good place to ask.

quick background/explanation of where I am, as a brewer;I still consider myself pretty much a new guy. I've been brewing for less than 2 years and my equipment is still pretty basic. Until about 6 months ago, everything I did was extract kits, but the last few beers I've made are all-grain 3 gallon BIAB and I've been really pleased with the results.

My gear/equipment is pretty simple. I got a starter kit in the beginning with all that you would expect from a basic starter kit (fermenter, bottling bucket, capper, tubes, bottling wand, hydrometer, etc.) and a 5 gallon stock pot. Since then my only upgrades so far have been to glass carboys (one 5 gallon and one 3 gallon), stir plate and flask for yeast starters, an immersion chiller, and an aerator... plus small stuff, mash paddle, mix-stir, brushes, etc.

I've been trying to add stuff little by little but we're also a single-income family... so my upgrades are pretty much limited to Christmases, Birthdays, and possibly (fingers crossed) father's day. So I need to weigh things out when it comes time to upgrade/add on and decide where I'm going to get the most bang for my buck.

so maybe that wasn't as short of an explanation as I'd expected but, at any rate, I'm going to be able to do a little upgrading in the fairly near future and I need to decide what to get.

First and foremost, I plan to get a refractometer. I like doing smaller batches. so sometimes it's hard to get a reading with a hydrometer and I don't really feel like wasting half a beer in a cylinder, any time I want to take a reading.

Beyond that, I am mostly considering 1 of 2 things; either to start picking up a few of the supplies I'd need to start kegging my beer (it's time consuming and a pain to bottle) or a 8-10 gallon brew kettle with a thermometer so that I can do 5 gallon BIAB batches, if I would choose to, and be able to monitor my temps a little better.

Which would be the better investment, at this stage? kegging or a good kettle? ...maybe you all have a better suggestion, that I haven't even thought of? any and all suggestions are welcome. Depending on what kind of feedback I get, I'm sure I'll probably have more questions, too.

Thanks!

You mention nothing about fermentation temperature control so if you currently have nothing to do that I would highly recommend that first and foremost. Second would be the ability to make starters. Yeast make beer and proper control and use of yeast will greatly improve your product more than anything else you mentioned

Fermentation temp control can be done with pretty inexpensive/no cost methods. I put a blanket/sleeping bag on my carboys if it gets too cold and use a wet cloth with water bath if they get hot. May not be exact, but you can avoid extremes with some planning and monitoring.

If you are set on kegging vs. bigger kettle, as someone who made both changes in the last year or so, I'd recommend the kettle. The kettle will be considerably cheaper than kegging equipment. You will be able to use it for years. If you get a decent one, they are nearly indestructible. And go for the the 10, not the 8. Really.

While bottling can be a pain, I don't think kegging necessarily improves the quality of your brew. With some method improvements (dishwasher for cleaning, dishwasher door as your bottling surface, etc.), you can make things easier with equipment you probably already own.

You can still make good beer in bottles - so kegs wouldn't change the quality. What you're really weighing here (kegging or larger kettle) is convenience over quantity. I personally would recommend kettle instead of kegging. While I love my kegging setup as much as anything else in my brewery, I still wouldn't be able to make a full keg of beer without a large enough kettle

It's probably less expensive too!

I'd go for the kettle. And a 10 gal one at that. I just upped my equipment to be able to brew larger all grain batches. I decided that before I needed the ability to keg. I needed the ability to brew larger quality batches of beer.

Agreed, I would do a kettle for full volume 5gal batches or fermentation control. I built mine with a $50 wine chiller from craigslist, a $10 lightbulb paint can heater, and a $25 stc-1000 controller build.

Cheers!

well I wasn't completely sold on one vs. the other. they just happened to be the two "bigger ticket" items that I was looking at. That being said, a fermentation chamber is definitely on my wish list, as well. Duboman, I already have a stir plate and flask for starters, so I do those when I brew. For fermentation temps, though, right now, I rely on ambient temperatures in different places of my house, but I watch them pretty closely. It's been working ok but it limits me to certain times of the year. for instance, I'm pretty much shut down until the fall, as even our basement is in the mid 60s, now. It also means that I'm confined to doing lagers in the winter so I can use a chilly garage for my lagering. A fermentation chamber would not only help provide a consistent temp, but it would also extend my "brewing season" to the whole year.

So I am definitely interested in that... and I knew there would be more questions haha... so here's the first; I have an window unit AC that we don't use and some leftover foam insulation at the house. So I could build myself one for basically the cost of a temp controller and some lumber. How would that compare to buying a cheap fridge on CL and using a temp controller?

If I build one, however, I will have some loot leftover for other goodies.

As for the kettle, my biggest frustration with the 5 gallon stock pot is that, even for a 3 gallon BIAB batch, I need to split the mash up between the 5 gallon pot and another 2 gallon pot, then combining them for the boil (again a giant pain, particularly when the temp is harder to maintain, in the smaller pot). So just to be able to avoid that would be a huge plus. HOWEVER, my wife does a lot of canning and makes a lot of homemade stocks and sauces and we have talked about upgrading to a good, 10 gallon stock pot. SO, theoretically, that would solve my problem and be an investment for both of us.

Which I guess brings me up to kegging. My biggest thing about kegging is for convenience. I really like bottle conditioned beer, personally. On my first few batches, I thought the priming sugar made an off taste in the beer but after makng a few all grain batches, I'm starting think that those flavors were from the malt extract, since I don't seem to get them in my all grain beer. So I don't really look at kegging as a way to improve my beer, so much as I look at it as a way to save time; I only need to clean and sanitize one keg instead of case or two of bottles and it's ready to drink in less than half the time of bottle conditioning. the drawback for me is the investment. Kegging systems are really expensive. Plus, I like to give some of my beer away and, for me to do that with kegs, I'd have to spend the extra money on a beer gun, then, too.

Ok... now I feel like I'm rambling. Thank you all so much for the input. You've given me a lot to think about Please feel free to comment on anything above. I welcome all input, suggestions, and opinons.

Thanks a lot!

My ferm chamber cost a whopping 74 bucks for the freezer and the STC-1000 controller. It will hold a 5 gallon pail or two kegs nicely and has a tap through the door. First get a large kettle, 10 gallons or more. Boil overs suck, and they make a huge mess ( I cook outside for just that reason), then control you temps is second, kegging would be the third item down my list. This way you can make it, ferment it and store it as time goes by. Just my thoughts...

Wheelchair Bob

Yeah if you are one or the other I would say a new kettle and speaking from experience doing 5 gal BIAB in an 8 gal pot (while doable) is a pain especially during the hot break. I would recommend at least a 10 gal pot.

But my best investment (while I love my grain mill AustinHomebrew does good recipe building and mill the grain so not really needed) was my ferm chamber. I searched craigslist and got a big freezer for $50 added a 2 stage STC-100 with a reptile heating cord for the hot side and presto I got a ferm chamber capable of holding 3 6 gal carboys, no more guessing and holds temps to .1C most the time

Thanks a lot to all of you for the help and suggestions.

I think my plan, for now, is to look into a 10 gallon stock pot that my wife and I can both use. I would love to have a kettle with a thermometer and valve at some point but for the time being, a 10 gallon pot will handle the volume to do 5 gallon BIAB mashes and full volume boils without fear of boil overs and I can upgrade later.

Plus, if it's something we'll both use, I can avoid spending my birthday loot on it

I looked at a few freezers/refrigerators on CL this morning and have a good lead on one at a good price. Assuming it's big enough to hold a 6 gallon carboy, I will probably get it. either way, I think my investment is going to go to a ferm chamber and a refractometer. if there's some cash left, I will probably look into some other goodies.

is there a make/model number for a temp control that you all would suggest? I've heard STC-100 and STC-1000 both mentioned here. I would use it mostly for cooling, but the ability to use it for heating, when necessary, might not be such a bad idea, either.

Thanks again!

I have 3 of the STC-1000 (the dual stage Celsius from ebay) only using one at the moment for my ferm chamber but have plans for the other two down the road. Havent had any problem other than having to do a quick math in my head to convert to celsius (or google it)

This thread has a lot of info on how to wire it

I cheat on the conversion. I taped a sheet on the door that has the F to C temps already converted from 0 F to 80 F. I can tell exactly what the temp is inside at a glance. My temp probe is in a duda diesel thermowell straight into the fermenting wort from the top. I can get stupid with temp management now. Back on topic though, I would definitely work toward a dedicated boil kettle that you can drain through a valve because handling the wort so much has all kinds of possible negative implications. Good luck

Wheelchair Bob