Best area to invest time and money to improve beer

[benkbenkbenk]

I am wanting a project to improve my brewing. What area would you say is best to invest my time and money into that would give the biggest improvement to my brewing experience / finished beer.

My current set up is very basic. I have just moved to partial mashing. I mashed in a bag in my 5 gallon kettle which I wrapped in towels to insulate, I sparged by suspending the grains over the kettle on wire rack pouring water through a colander. I can't do full volume boils, so I boil about 3 gallons using my kitchen top gas hob. I cool the wort in my kitchen sink with bags of bought ice. I have a plastic 25 litre fermenter, which I wrap in a sleeping bag in a cupboard, and use hot water bottles to raise the temp if needed (normally morning and night as my house is fairly cold!).

I am thinking of either building a temperature controlled fermentation chamber, or a mash tun, or maybe go for an electric kettle set up, or build a wort chiller, etc. etc...

Basically every project I see looks tempting, but where is my money and time best spent?

 

[nobyipa]

definitely get better results when you ferment at a constant temperature

so a fermenting fridge
tube heater and stc1000
are a must for me

:thumb:

 

[kev]

+1

Absolutely. Fermentation control is key to great beer.

K

 

[benkbenkbenk]

Great thanks, thats kind of what I was edging towards anyway, as having to change hot water bottles is a chore, and I hear that fluctuating temperatures like that can cause off flavours.

Just need to find myself a fridge to butcher!

Does anyone know if they let you take things out of the recycling centres? I don't think I need a working fridge, as its pretty cool in my house all year round, and I don't have any plans at present to make a lager.

 

[Sone]

Would agree with the above, just ordered everything I need to make a brew fridge myself, well, besides the fridge! Hoping I can get one free/cheap sharpish

 

[kev]

They generally don't but you can ask.

I got mine from gumtree. Keep an eye out. They're usually free I they don't work but that's ok as you'll be heating it.

I got a brand spanking new larder fridge for £40 as the woman didn't like it in her new home and the fridge came with the house.

K

 

[mattyhall22]

I'm looking to go to AG brewing in a few months and have been pricing up making a plastic 3 vessel system, I think I should be able to do it for under £100 for all of it. Seems like a reasonable investment

Was going to use a 25 litre FV with a single heating element for the HLT.
A 25 litre FV with holes drilled in the base to act as a simple filter inside another 25 litre FV for the mashtun. Insulated on the outside and lid.

Then a 33 Litre FV with two elements in for the boiler, ball valve taps fitted to them all.

:

 

[LeithR]

My experience with recycling centres is different to kev's, I have got a couple of fridges and both my electric boilers (32L and 36L) from this source along with bottles and various other odds and ends.

I suggest a polite enquiry to the site manager coupled with a couple of bottles of you home brew to show them what you are about - worked for me!!. I now have a regular visit to check things out not forgetting a couple of PET bottles of encouragement.

Also I notice you say you buy bagged ice, I don't know how you buy your milk but if you buy supermarket milk in the 2 or 4 litre size then they are perfect, fill them 3/4 full of water and freeze them a couple of days before your brew day, they work well in cooling the wart. That should save you a little money as well.

 

[Robbo100]

I started off with a 33 ltr HLT/Boiler, but soon realised that this significantly restricts the size of batch you can make. I ended up going for an 80 ltr tank instead, which is also much safer if things start boiling over (there is a massive head space).

I built mine using this: http://www.amazon.co.uk/WHATMORE-EDEN-D ... hatmore+80

which is food grade PP5 high temperature plasitc.

 

[graysalchemy]

I would say controlling fermentation temp :thumb:

 

[Swazi]

A few years ago when I mentioned upgrading my brewing process to improve my beer, my plan was to use a fridge as a fermentation chamber. The advice I got from a friend was that the best way to improve the enjoyment of my beer was to use the fridge for a kegerator. It was the single best piece of advice I was ever given. The main point he made when he gave me the advice was not to focus so much on improving my beer and think more about improving my enjoyment of it. I do now have a fermentation fridge and yes, my beer has got better but nothing improved my enjoyment of homebrewing quite like building and drinking from my own kegerator.

 

[Dads_Ale]

I'm looking to go to AG brewing in a few months and have been pricing up making a plastic 3 vessel system, I think I should be able to do it for under £100 for all of it. Seems like a reasonable investment

Was going to use a 25 litre FV with a single heating element for the HLT.
A 25 litre FV with holes drilled in the base to act as a simple filter inside another 25 litre FV for the mashtun. Insulated on the outside and lid.

Then a 33 Litre FV with two elements in for the boiler, ball valve taps fitted to them all.

:

The only problem you may have with the mash tun is that the FVs wedge tight and are difficult to separate after use.
This may be a cheap option
http://www.the-home-brew-shop.co.uk/aca ... sm5LaSYaM8
have not tried one myself but they reckon they are OK for mashing

 

[Maysie]

I was looking for a 2nd hand working fridge before Xmas and they seemed to be going for a fair bit of money. They were all £65+ And closer to £80 for one that looked half decent.

Fortunately I managed to bag one off of my mother-in-law for free in the end which coincided well with the arrival of my STC-1000.

Hopefully the prices will be a bit more reasonable now the Christmas frenzy has died down a bit.
The STC is a great bit of kit. Particularly for the price.

 

[benkbenkbenk]

Great stuff, well I guess I will get down the Leeds recycle centre this weekend and see if they are willing to let a fridge go for a couple of beers!

 

[morethanworts]

I was looking for a 2nd hand working fridge before Xmas and they seemed to be going for a fair bit of money. They were all £65+ And closer to £80 for one that looked half decent.

Fortunately I managed to bag one off of my mother-in-law for free in the end which coincided well with the arrival of my STC-1000.

Hopefully the prices will be a bit more reasonable now the Christmas frenzy has died down a bit.
The STC is a great bit of kit. Particularly for the price.

I had the same problem over the Summer. Let's hope Jan-May is a good period for fridge hunters.

I did get a great one for £20 locally in the end, but it took many weeks to come up and was the result of a wanted add in a local supermarket.

 

[NickW]

I posted on Facebook and two friends came through, didn't have to pay a penny ! I also got a huge American style fridge off eBay for £40 that can fit 4 cornies in :thumb:

 

[Maysie]

Just one other thing, if you are going to get an STC-1000, then nearly all of them on ebay come from china, even when they say they are UK based. So best to allow a couple of weeks for it to arrive, then you need to build the 'controller' - see other threads on here.

So you can be looking for fridges while your new gadget is on its way.....

 

[Sone]

I noticed that every supplier was registered in China (tells you when checking their feedback) I just assumed it was a UK distributer? I went for one with a CE sticker on the pictures so hopefully it does have one!

 

[nobyipa]

I noticed that every supplier was registered in China (tells you when checking their feedback) I just assumed it was a UK distributer? I went for one with a CE sticker on the pictures so hopefully it does have one!

elitech nextday delvery if using prime
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B009 ... UTF8&psc=1

:thumb: