So whats the next step?

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Eamster

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Hey guys! I was needing some advice. Currently I have a simple setup to do extract brew. I am wanting to make the next step to advance my setup. Eventually I would like to go to all grain. The problem is that I only have limited funds I can allocate to my hobby. So what should I get next. Items for yeast starters? Wort chiller? Cooler Mash tun? Larger Kettle? Kegging items? Grain mill? I have considered them all but don't know which direction would be the best. I have about 150 to spend currently.

Items I own:
Bucket fermenter, better bottle 5g, bottling bucket, 5gallon and 7.5 gallon kettle, auto siphon, bottling wand, turkey fryer.
 
Fermentation is what makes beer, so that's where I'd invest. Stirplate, O2 stone, temp controller and a used deep freeze. You could do all that for $150 and your beer will be better, plus you can now do lagers.
 
I'm in the same position as you. I got a wort chiller a while back and I love it. Cools the wort in 5 minutes or less and it's Way easier than ice bathe Got mine for $40 at the LHBS ready to go.
 
In order:
Large kettle and propane burner (can't really do one without the other).
Chiller
Stir plate, flask, sir bar
Fermentation temp control

I figure you could start out doing BIAB and use 1 kettle for all.
Then as funds become available:
Mash tun
Refractometer
Oxygen wand
Kegging equipment
 
I would get a wort chiller. It looks like you have most everything for all-grain minus the mash tun. For 150 you could get everything you need to make both items and just go all-grain. :cross:
 
Having jumped into all-grain a bit quickly myself, there are some things I now regret not doing first, or at least not doing as wholly as I would now have wanted to.

My recommendation is to get the wort chiller out of the way first; it is pretty much a basic sanitation tool, and can be applied to whole-wort extract boils just as well as to all-grain. There's not much point in doing the rest if you can't get the wort cooled quickly enough to avoid significant risk of contamination.

The next step I would recommend is to improve your yeast pitching and culturing, which means a stir plate, at least two stir bars, and a set of at least three flasks in increasing sizes (e.g., 500mL, 1000mL, 2000mL). Fortunately, the stir plate is the only expensive part there, and even then you should be able to get a used one fairly cheap, or even make one yourself.
If you can improve your yeast pitch rate, and learn to handle your yeast correctly, you'll get at least as much of an improvement in your beer as you would going from extract to AG.

Next should be temperature control of the fermenting wort. This too will give you a significant improvement even with extract beers, and if done right will let you ferment lagers year-round. Even something as simple as a swamp cooler will improve your temperature control, though the best solution is a dedicated refrigerator (or a chest freezer with a modified thermostat) if you have room and money for one.

Finally, I would get an oxy wand or some other means of aerating the wort before pitching it. Proper aeration is as important as proper pitch rate for getting your fermentation started cleanly.

Only after getting these out of the way, and you have tested each of these at least once with an extract beer, would I move on to all-grain. Perfect as much of your technique and equipment as you can with extract brewing first, then worry about mashes and sparging later.
 
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Thanks for all the suggestions. I believe I will go for the wort chiller next. Looks like an easy enough build and not to expensive. Thanks again!
 
Having jumped into all-grain a bit quickly myself, there are some things I now regret not doing first, or at least not doing as wholly as I would now have wanted to.

My recommendation is to get the wort chiller out of the way first; it is pretty much a basic sanitation tool, and can be applied to whole-wort extract boils just as well as to all-grain. There's not much point in doing the rest if you can't get the wort cooled quickly enough to avoid significant risk of contamination.

The next step I would recommend is to improve your yeast pitching and culturing, which means a stir plate, at least two stir bars, and a set of at least three flasks in increasing sizes (e.g., 500mL, 1000mL, 2000mL). Fortunately, the stir plate is the only expensive part there, and even then you should be able to get a used one fairly cheap, or even make one yourself.build one yourself
If you can improve your yeast pitch rate, and learn to handle your yeast correctly, you'll get at least as much of an improvement in your beer as you would going from extract to AG.

Next should be temperature control of the fermenting wort. This too will give you a significant improvement even with extract beers, and if done right will let you ferment lagers year-round. Even something as simple as a swamp cooler will improve your temperature control, though the best solution is a dedicated refrigerator (or a chest freezer with a modified thermostat) if you have room and money for one.

Finally, I would get an oxy wand or some other means of aerating the wort before pitching it. Proper aeration is as important as proper pitch rate for getting your fermentation started cleanly.

Only after getting these out of the way, and you have tested each of these at least once with an extract beer, would I move on to all-grain. Perfect as much of your technique and equipment as you can with extract brewing first, then worry about mashes and sparging later.

+1 to all of this. Glad I read through the posts, because it was exactly what I was going to comment. I also made the leap to AG after only 3 extract batches, I WAS HOOKED.

I upgraded kettle, got a free 5 gal igloo cooler, invested in stainless steel valves and a thermometer for kettle and mash tun.

Now I am getting the parts ready to build a stir plate for around $40 including fan, magnets, and project case.

Not sure I would have done it differently other than already had the stir plate. The yeast are alive and as such, they are the "variable" that makes a huge difference in the outcome of the beer. The perfect number of them to get the job done, all fine tuned and ready to attack from the instant of pitching.
 
Yeah I might go ahead and get parts for a yeast starter as well. Seems to be a pretty easy build and I have a laptop which I could harvest a hard drive magnet from and a cigar box for the box.
 
image-3758782704.jpg

Not the prettiest but she will do. Gonna test it out in a few. That's for the suggestions!
 
as for aeration, there was a great thread on home made aerators. give that a search. the simplest is a plastic T open to air in a tube delivering chilled wort into the fermenter.
 
if you are looking for stir plate, you can't go wrong with buying a stirstarter.. they are $45 for one or cheaper for 2.. i have 2 from them since i am phasing out the ones i made myself that just aren't as reliable.. i also got two 3000L flasks on ebay that are perfect for step-ups..

the bigger the pot the better.. you really can't have a htl or boil kettle too big if you are brewing all-grain.. for money the swamp cooler/heater is great as well for temp control.. i recently built a swamp heater for my imperial stout for like $30.. my basement is currently sitting at like 56 degrees but my stout has been bubbling away at 68 degrees nicely
 
Eamster,
I did the same thing as you by spending carefully and only allowing 50 a month for a budget. I found a corona for 29, I use Ale Pails for fermentors, my mash tun is a round generic 10 gallon cooler like the igloos and I am using aluminum boil kettles. The most expensive items were all the stainless and fittings I ordered from the Fitting getting store. If your carefull and shop wisely you can keep your costs way down and have a pretty nice set up in in a few months. The trick is dont get in a hurry. I found a fellow selling stir plates on Ebay much cheaper than the commercial ones, The Corona mills are30 bucks instead of 250.00, Generic igllos are 20 buck instead of 90. So just shop around and take your time. It's almost like a scavenger hunt and part of the fun for me was to see how cheap I could build a respectable system for. So it can be done pretty reasonably, annd I got the reciepts to prove that.

Wheelchair Bob
 
I second everyone when says to focus on the yeast. Definitely invest in the stir plate. If you're only planning on brewing ales for now, a swamp cooler will be fine.

Also, if you have the money, I would recommend also upgrading to a propane burner, 10 gallon kettle, and wort chiller as well. Upgrading to full boils and improving the conditions for your yeast shouldn't be too overwhelming in terms of simultaneous adjustments to your process. Getting used to working with larger volumes (figuring out your boil off rate, especially) will make the transition to all-grain brewing smoother.
 
I'll just assume we're discussing going to all grain here, even though in the OP that's not particularly clear.
What you may want to do and what someone else (me, for instance) may want to do can be very different.
I can state a few things from experience:

1. A 7.5 gallon brew kettle is perfectly fine to do full 6.5 gallon all-grain boils. A few drops of Fermcap-S, available from homebrew suppliers, will absolutely kill any boilover.

2. No ordinary kitchen stove (we have a propane cooktop) is going to handle AG boils. An inexpensive turkey fryer burner works fine. I use the Bayou Classic SP-10.

3. In making the move to AG, you are really going to want (really, really) a good thermometer (I recommend the Thermapen) and a refractometer.

But. There are a whole lot of situational variables, which may apply to others, but which you may not need.

I have no need of temperature control equipment (our basement stays in the low '60s year-round) and have no interest in lagers, so all that keezer-controller stuff is irrelevant to me. For someone living in other circumstances, it may be indispensable.

We have a well that puts out 55F water, so a simple immersion chiller works fine. You may live in an area where the tap puts out 75F cold water, so another person's chilling equipment may have to be more elaborate.

I have never found a need to make yeast starters. I don't really care what anyone else does, they can make two-liter starters to their heart's content, I don't need to, and I don't. Someone else may find themselves in a position where it's expedient to do starters. So- start away.

And so it goes- be sure that what you're told applies to YOUR situation.
 
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