Where do i go next?

[avibayer]

I think its time to enlist the help of my fellow brewers. I am new to Home brewing, and have done two extract kits (mild brown, IPA), followed by AG batches:

"American Amber" from palmer's book, which turned out way darker. Unfortunately i drank most of the batch before it matured enough.

A stout recipe i found from stagstout, golden dragon kit from NB, and a recipe i recently made up, which seems like it will be a very pale IPA.

I just ordered the grains and hops for stone IX anniversary ale, and will brew that in a week or so, when it all arrives.

What next? I loved building my MLT, and would be very into a new DIY, but i am sadly a 25 year old who had to move back in with his folks for a little while, and dont want to have or build anything i can not easily take with me. Maybe kegging is the next step? and just wait till i have my own place to build a sexy tower to pour them from? or should i try a son of fermentation so i can branch out to lagers?

what is a home brewer to do?

 

[chode720]

My house has very limited storage space and my SWMBO would shoot me if I did any huge projects. So, what I did is convert a mini fridge to a fermentation chamber. It only holds 1 fermenter at a time, but its plenty for what i need.

Also, i found a cheap fridge on craigslist, painted it, and stuck it in my garage with some faucets through the door. Cheap (somewhat), easy projects, and you still get to builld for your brew!

 

[avibayer]

i ferment in buckets at the moment. would a converted mini fridge hold a 6 gallon bucket?

 

[sethful]

A few options that should be cheap/easy/not too space consuming:

"son of a fermenation chiller" would be an easy make.
stir plate.
immersion chiller
bottle tree

those are just some off the top of my head... let us know what you decide on moving toward

 

[avibayer]

have made a stir plate, and love the crap out of it. bottle tree for sure. good one. son of fermentation would be nice, but i dont want to keep filling the thing with ice. as for the immersion chiller my friend has one we share, but i have recently found that it doesnt quite fit my new pot, so that is a good idea too. thanks sethful.

chode720, i dont have room for a fridge.

 

[chode720]

Ok, sorry to hear you dont have room for the fridge. I'll post pics of my fermentation chamber when I get home. It holds 1 6 gallon bucket, perfectly! I had to take the door off and extend it with plywood, but it works perfect!

Any type of fermentation chamber at this point may be your best bet. Temp control really helps the quality of your beer

 

[avibayer]

yeah, i would love to see the pics. right now i have my fermenters sitting under my kitchen table, and the house is kept at 68 pretty consistently.