Ive come to the point in my brewing where I feel I am at a crossroads. I would really like to make my brew day easier and shorter if possible. More importantly, I would also like to take my quality and consistancy up a few knotches.
So here is my question…
Is it best to put more focus into buying better equipment and having a better system overall?
or… To put less effort and worry into it, and just learn how to fully optimize the system that you currently have? Given the system you are using already does all the basics to a certain extent (mash, lauter, boil, cooling, fermenting, packaging).
It’s good you are asking these questions. Often an “upgrade” in equipment has a cascading effect of more “upgrades” in order for the first improvement to work properly.
I actually started getting rid of equipment and slimming down which actually made my process easier and faster. So I would say choose your approach wisely and try to streamline your experience to optimize what you have. A change in technique sometimes can make a huge difference too. One for me was doing my bittering charge at 45 minutes instead of 60. That’s fifteen minutes right there.
The Major might have a say about this but he has been warning about posting non-grain topics in the All Grain section. This probably would have been better placed in the Equipment or even General sections.
Ive come to the point in my brewing where I feel I am at a crossroads. I would really like to make my brew day easier and shorter if possible. More importantly, I would also like to take my quality and consistancy up a few knotches.
So here is my question…
Is it best to put more focus into buying better equipment and having a better system overall?
or… To put less effort and worry into it, and just learn how to fully optimize the system that you currently have? Given the system you are using already does all the basics to a certain extent (mash, lauter, boil, cooling, fermenting, packaging).
If your goal is to produce consistent beer than I would try and stick with the system you already have. Mike McDole once mentioned that he only changed his system once a year after NHC and it took him a few batches to get the system change dialed in.
I can tell you from experience that you can never stop upgrading. A few months ago I mentioned to a co-worker that I had bought everything I could ever buy. That was a silly statement for me to make.
I guess it really is a little bit of both. There are certain upgrades that could probably make things better, and there are certain things that would only make things easier…
Its probably just a matter of whether something is worth the cost and time needed for an upgrade.
Plus for consistency’s sake, its probably good to not keep changing things because then I’ll never really learn how to optimize what I have.
Regarding upgrades, be sure the upgrade is meeting a need that you have identified. Don’t make a system upgrade because it “looks cool” or because “someone else has it”. I hear guys in my club say things like this periodically and it always makes me wonder…
Denny has a pretty basic rig. It is simple and makes it easy for him to dial in on the ultimate goal - consistent, good beer. Stripping away the bells and whistles can really help put the focus on the real star of the show.
Not sure about your brewery, but before I would think of upgrading your brewhouse I would suggest upgrading your fermentation control capabilities. By this I mean fermentation space and temperature control. If you are getting consistently great results on your system and it takes a little while longer, I say it is a fair trade-off.
Unless you go to a system where you basically just press “Start”, it won’t matter. Buying new equipment just means a new system to learn. Learn what you have now because how else do you know what to buy? Identify the pinch points in what you have now so you can think about reducing them but you can’t know what they are until you’ve learned every variable you have in your system today.
I’m working on moving to 15 gal batches and I want to keep my system as similar to what I do now as I can just so I don’t have to learn a new system. I batch sparge, I just want to scale everything I own up by 100% and keep doing what I’m doing cause it’s working fine for me.
You have two goals, so there are really two answers. Smart equipment upgrades are a good way to make the brew day shorter or easier. Think about your process and what steps take time or cause you headaches, then find equipment to make that better.
But as far as making better, more consistent beer, well that is different. Upgrades are rarely needed for better beer, though some items such as better measuring equipment might make better beer easier. Temperature control and yeast management are probably the best upgrades you can make for better beer and these have little to do with the one’s brew system.
+1 ^^^^
FWIW I have two upgrades I’m considering with my system. 1) a more efficient burner to cut time off the brew day and 2) a pump so I don’t have to lift my sparge water to its home on my top tier.
About a year into my brewing, I went ape s**t with buying upgrades because I could. I couldn’t produce a consistent product, I spent too much money and I barely use the ‘upgrades’ that I thought were going to be useful.
That being said, I’ve concentrated the past two years on using the same simple brewing system and producing consistent results. Two things I did add that had either a great effect on my beer quality or produced time savings was fermentation temperature control (two wine coolers with Rancos) and a bottling tree with a Vinator. The wine coolers allowed me to dial in my fermentation - a must for great beer, obvi - and the bottle tree/Vinator cut 45 minutes off my bottling time. BUT, my brewing system is still exactly the same.
The most valuable upgrades were my two chest-freezers, a digital Ranco and a Johnson analog controller. I would implore anyone without the elusive “year-round cool spot” (does it really exist?) that can do ales and lagers perfectly to make these their first major capital outlay. Not a bigger kettle, large burner, pump or brew sculpture. Not a kegging system. Controlling your fermentation temps will be the single most important thing one can do to improve and achieve consistency in the finished product. Without ferm control everything else goes out the window.
Euge, I’m considering getting an outdoor burner and big enough kettle to do full boils and eventually allgrain (read: turkey fryer kit) and some sort of wort chiller before I get a fermentation chamber. But you’re giving me pause, because I do want tight fermentation temp control. Suggestions on what to prioritize?
all grain is wonderful but regardless of AG or extract or minimash, temp control is the best thing you can do for your beer. I am always right on the edge of saying that temp control is MORE important than sanitation. I say this because with lax sanitation you might well still end up with great beer but with poor temp control you really can’t. 78* ferm temp will ALWAYS negatively impact your beer while poor sanitation might or might not cause a problem. Plus, if you get a hot estery beer I always feel a bit like I should struggle through it but if it gets infected and turns nasty it’s easier to dump.
Here here - all in favor of fermentation equipment upgrades! A lot of people get trapped in the bigger MLT, BK mindset. The fermentation side of the house is where the magic happens.
If I could do it all over, I would go with a bayou classic burner, a 15 gallon pot and an igloo cooler. You can produce stellar wort with these things. I would buy Blichmann conicals and upright fridges with temp controllers for them. Put my money heavy on the fermentation end - for sure!
I’ve given the argument before in this forum that a consistent process is more important than fancy equipment.
That being said - as you learn your process and its deficiencies, there is nothing wrong with making improvements as you grow as a home brewer. The easiest way to keep consistency while improving your equipment is to make one small change at a time and regain your confidence and consistency before making another. This is my only option
IMO - the best place to start making improvements is with fermentation control. Nail down your fermentation temperature, oxygenation, and pitching rates before messing with the brewhouse.
i have an outdoor burner and a nice 10g kettle with sight glass which were both great upgrades. best upgrade i made was a chest freezer and tcd(finally got them in may). improved things right off the bat. the last upgrade i made was a rectangular cooler for batch sparging. i started ag with biab and liked it just fine. i was brewing more often and refining recipes for the first time. and the 3g batches allowed a bit more variety for me. i am doing the same thing now with the cooler and batch sparging. i bought a 70qt cooler for whatever future brewing i may do. but for the time being, i’m still very happy making 3 and 5 gallon batches. and i think i’m maybe two more brews away from having the system dialed in completely.
