Equipment Advice

[Grizwald]

Hi all,

I have a 50L AG brewing system on its way so am now looking to source the following equipment:

Malt Miller
Weighing Scales
Digital Thermometer
Refractometer

Would love any recommendations of this equipment based on your experiences? Willing to pay for quality (within reason of course!).

Also, appreciate any recommendations for grain/hop suppliers?

Thanks in advance!

[chefgage]

For grain and hop suppliers i always go to the malt miller. They have a handy recipe creator so you only buy the exact weight of ingredients you want so theres no loads of little bags of hops in the freezer scenarios.

[gobuchul]

Are you going to be large batches? If so, a spare FV and a set of bathroom scales is good for weighing large quantities of grain.

Thermapen make some very good quality thermometers.

[Wet Spaniel]

If by malt Miller you mean a malt mill (I'm not trying to be pedantic - there's a great home brew supplier called malt miller too) if you're just starting out, save the expense and buy the grain already crushed - it's readily available.

[bottles]

Refractomoter is a useful bit of kit but you will need a hydrometer more. Hydrometers will acurately give you start and finish measurements when fermenting. Refractometers give a sugar level at start then you need to use additional calculations to get the final gravity. I use the web for these calculations as alcohol changes the measurements.
I bought a second hand one and find it useful to check sugar levels during mash and end of boil.
I usually leave a hydrometer in my fermenter till I track rack off/keg.
If I broke mine I don't think I'd rush to replace it.
Andrew

[bottles]

Weighing scales? Are you wanting to weigh a lot (5kg+) or a little (5g or less).
For weighing malt I use a 5kg kitchen scale. For hops I use a fine scale (0.1g-100g). But only got this as I use it for sausage/salami making where fractions of grams matter. Hops isn't that important.
Don't over think what is required? Beer had made it self for centuries.
Andrew

[bottles]

Digital thermometer are Ok. But I'd prefer anolog as batteries go flat at the worst of times.
With brewing having back ups help on brew day.
My set up has a thermometer in the heat controller. I also have an old red dye thermometer as a back up. I did have v a digital thermometer using type ķ thermocouples that I bought for a different project altogether. This had stopped working and I still need to either replace the thermocouple (£30) or handset (£25).
Andrew

[LeeH]

Thermo pen, no flat battery issues in years. Comes with calibration cert so can me used to calibrate your STC100, kettle dial thermometer, RIMS etc.
https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre ... 2807526515

Grain mill if you are feeling flush.
http://www.millarsmills.com/barley-mills.html

Also the dogs refractometer at a cost.
https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre ... 2884931967


Bracknell scales.
https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre ... 3535497357

Malt Miller are as good as it gets for your consumables.


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[guypettigrew]

The digital refractometer looks truly wonderful.

How do you calibrate it, and how does the reading compare with a 'normal' hand held cheapie refractometer?

Guy

[LeeH]

You calibrate it with water and just plop in a sample. Simples.


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[Rhodesy]

You calibrate it with water and just plop in a sample. Simples.


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Do you use fermented wort on it also by using an excel /calculator?

[orlando]

For grain and hop suppliers i always go to the malt miller. They have a handy recipe creator so you only buy the exact weight of ingredients you want so theres no loads of little bags of hops in the freezer scenarios.

I thought hops were only sold in 100g in the recipe generator, is that not right?

[orlando]

Also the dogs refractometer at a cost.
https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre ... 2884931967

That link takes you to one for Seawater, that right?

[chefgage]

For grain and hop suppliers i always go to the malt miller. They have a handy recipe creator so you only buy the exact weight of ingredients you want so theres no loads of little bags of hops in the freezer scenarios.

I thought hops were only sold in 100g in the recipe generator, is that not right?

Whole hops yes only in 100g. Pellets can be sold in any quantity i.e. if your recipe needs 13g of fuggles pellets then thats what you can have, vaccuum sealed in a foil packet.

[orlando]

For grain and hop suppliers i always go to the malt miller. They have a handy recipe creator so you only buy the exact weight of ingredients you want so theres no loads of little bags of hops in the freezer scenarios.

I thought hops were only sold in 100g in the recipe generator, is that not right?

Whole hops yes only in 100g. Pellets can be sold in any quantity i.e. if your recipe needs 13g of fuggles pellets then thats what you can have, vaccuum sealed in a foil packet.

Agh, thanks for that, I will change my order to pellets, if they do it.