I've now made a few partial mash batches that I'm pretty proud of (Probably not award winners but still good beer) and I keep seeing/hearing that one of the biggest steps in taking good beer and making it great beer is to really manage the temperature of the fermentation process. So, time to do that! I just scooped up the Inkbird heating mat and temperature controller deal from here (Thanks Inkbird!) and was going to start hunting for a mini fridge to use for cooling. This will be set up in my garage. Here in East TN, my garage is ~40-50F in the winter and easily 70-80F in the summer, so I need to be able to heat and cool. I don't think I'll ever do more than 5 gallon brews as my fiance and I don't drink enough to justify more than that. I'm currently doing 1-2 gallon brews. Any fridge suggestions? Things I should/should want out of the fridge?
I'm also thinking about getting a Tilt while I am at it. I know it may not be 100% accurate with FG due to Krausen buildup but I really like the idea of being able to watch the gravity curve to know when fermentation is done. Then I can take a FG reading with my hydrometer when I'm prepping to bottle. I'm guessing that a Tilt Bridge would be a recommended accessory since all of this will be in a garage and I won't get any data points unless I have a device near by to get the bluetooth signal. Anything else I should consider with that?
Any other things or pieces of related gear I should consider while I am at it? I'm lucky that my Fiance is all on board with this endeavor as she pushed me down this hill. So, it's not like I'm having to talk her into things but it is preferred if I'm getting all the things I need at once rather than trickling in and having yet another conversation about what I need for beer this week!
I'm also thinking about getting a Tilt while I am at it. I know it may not be 100% accurate with FG due to Krausen buildup but I really like the idea of being able to watch the gravity curve to know when fermentation is done. Then I can take a FG reading with my hydrometer when I'm prepping to bottle. I'm guessing that a Tilt Bridge would be a recommended accessory since all of this will be in a garage and I won't get any data points unless I have a device near by to get the bluetooth signal. Anything else I should consider with that?
Any other things or pieces of related gear I should consider while I am at it? I'm lucky that my Fiance is all on board with this endeavor as she pushed me down this hill. So, it's not like I'm having to talk her into things but it is preferred if I'm getting all the things I need at once rather than trickling in and having yet another conversation about what I need for beer this week!