For the sake of brew discussion and debate, what have you found to be the most valuable equipment or technique upgrade and what is the least? Or most underrated vs overrated?
Assume that we all start with good sanitation and ingredients.
My personal choices on the most valuable side are #1 fermentor temp control (I use a 14 cf freezer with a heat pad and Ranco 1100) #2 yeast starters
Least valuable is oxygenation. I considered a stone, valve, and bottle once but have had great cheap success with simple, low tech, splash airing. I dump between two buckets until the foam is about to over flow then pitch away. Always have action within six hours. I’ve also seen some YouTube comparisons that show little diff from O2 on the homebrew scale.
What other underrated overrated things have you experienced?
Most 1. Temp measurement/control - thermometers and thermostats
2. Dennybrew - I fly sparged for a long time and never hit the level of consistency I wanted until I switched to batch sparging. Got it now.
My thermapen is probably my most used and valuable tools. I’m really loving my March pump as well.
As far as least useful, off the top of my head I’d have to say the crappy little 5L mini-keg system I got before I decided to pull the trigger on the big boy kegs.
Most:
Fermentation temp control
Fermentation temp control
Fermentation temp control
Fermentation temp control
Stir Plate(s) for starters
4L and 6L flasks for starters
O2 stone & little red tanks
Martin’s Bru’n Water spreadsheet
RIMS mash (note: This does not make better beer, it does help with consistency)
Least:
Sooo many things
Lagering in those 6L Tap-a-Draft bottles
Chilling to pitch temps in the kettle (Now I just chill to ground water temps and stick 'em in the temp control freezer 'til they get to pitch temps)
I’ve recently started doing the final chilling in the freezer as well, and I really like the technique.
I’ve thought about putting my yeast in the fridge as well, but I’m worried that because the carboy has a huge thermal mass as compared to the starter, that at some point my starter would get much colder than the carboy every time the freezer kicked on. I figured this would particularly be the case when I first put the carboy in the freezer because the freezer is running all-out until the wort gets down to temp.
I pull my wort down to below 70 with the chiller, then drain to a bucket and crash overnight at 45. This is when I crash my yeast starter. Next day I rack the wort off cold break, decant and pitch the yeast and set my temp for fermentation. Works well for me.
Definitely agree that temperature controller on fermentation is the most important piece of equipment. Although I guess without a heat source I’d have to do only no-boil beers and have no way to heat the mash to appropriate temperatures, so maybe the stove or turkey fryer are most important.
I’m not sure what’s least important. Maybe my erlynmeyer flask for starters. It does the trick for starters but I could use any number of other vessels. I only have an electric stove so no direct heating in the flask for me. A few months ago I would have said my party pig is my least useful piece of equipment but I’ve actually gotten a lot of use out of it by repurposing it. So much so that I bought a second one on ebay.
For me the most important process improvement was patience. The only time I’m even in the same room as my fermenters between pitching and bottling is if I’m adding dry hops. Otherwise I just let the yeast do their thing and come back in 2-3 weeks to claim my booty.
As far as equipment goes the most valuable piece for me was my grain mill. Prior to that my efficiency was all over the place from high 60’s to low 80’s depending on who milled my grain. Not I’m pretty much solidly in the 84-86% range.
The second most useful piece of new equipment is actually a silicone oven mitt. I BIAB, and this lets me squeeze the snot out of my bag (without burning my hands) to get most of the wort out of the grains. In conjunction with my grain mill this has really helped me hit a steady efficiency, because I can get both a consistent crush and a consistent squeeze.
Least valuable for me has been whirlfloc/irish moss. I stopped using it about a dozen batches ago and haven’t noticed any difference in my finished beer by the time I’m ready to start drinking it.
I totally agree with temp control, that took my beer from drinkable to very good.
But I use airlocks or blowoffs to keep fruit flies out of my fermenters. Loosely covering them with foil results in very buggy beer.
A Drill–Just makes my day easier for milling grain, and for aerating the wort.
Grain Mill
Refrigerator–Have a place to store hops makes my kitchen refrigerator much more useful :).
A Large Plastic Box–Cheap and useful for fermentation temp control. In my current house I can get the temp down into the low 50’s, and made some very good lagers this Winter.
Vacuum Sealer–Extends the life of my hops for a very long time. So, no worries about buying in bulk.
Least Useful:
Hydrometer–I still use it for every brew, but I have my process down pretty well at this point, and am never surprised. So, I think I could very well stop using it, and know what the numbers are for my brews.
Not too much else I find to be of little use. I’m not very fancy in my brewery, so pretty much everything has a good use.
I think the most useful equipment upgrades I’ve made are fermentation temperature control and getting my own mill. from a technique standpoint, conditioning the grain has probably been the most useful for me in getting my efficiency up.
Least valuable: That little float thermometer that came with my kit. Don’t think I have used that thing in a couple years. Any and all of my bottling stuff. After I started kegging I told myself… oh I will still bottle sometimes… nope…