If you had $200...

[S.F.B.]

...what equipment would be on the top of your get list?

My wife threw me a surprise bithday party on Saturday. Among the gifts from friends were a couple 2 or 3 gift certificates from my LHBS. I plan to go this week and use them and got to wondering. "What to get"? My original thought is start putting together an all grain set up.

What would you do with $200 at the home brew shop?

[fuji6100]

kegging supplies! ! ! !

[wortchillergoal]

At this point in time I would probably replace a few minor things like bottling tubes, thermometers and such. The rest would go for ingredients and I would brew like crazy.

[jsmurphy]

Either a kegging set-up or a chest freezer and external thermostat set-up.

Decisions, decisions...:D

[Jughead]

Large brew pot, turkey cooker, another faucet and shank, some glassware.

[OldHooky]

I was at a brewstore the other day, and they had a plastic conical fermenter for $225.00. I think that's my next purchase.

[fuji6100]

I was at a brewstore the other day, and they had a plastic conical fermenter for $225.00. I think that's my next purchase.

what size? if it is for 6.5 gallon, that's a little steep.

I paid $169.99 for mine, plus about $12 shipping. I forget where but if you search around you will easily find them cheaper than that.

[OldHooky]

I think it was for doing 10 gallon batches. I'll look again next time. I like how easy they make it to harvest yeast.

[b3s]

if you're not setup for kegging, i'd do that...if you are, well, i'd probably get more kegs ;)

otherwise i'd probably get the stuff necessary to do a RIMS mashing system (if you do all-grain) or some kind of conical fermenter (i'm not crazy about the plastic ones, but i'd probably go that route anyway).

heh, or, well, that is about 20 carboys! you could almost brew everyday with 20 carboys!

[S.F.B.]

Well, I am set up for kegging and I have 7 kegs. I don't need any more carboys. I think mash equipment is the wat for me to go.

Tell me a little about this RIMS mash set up.

[b3s]

http://www.geocities.com/pensansbrewery/rims_mash_tun.html

http://musician.dyndns.org/rims.html

[Fast_Eddy]

I'd go with a good pump.

[YamahaXS]

an external thermostat
some extra kegs
some growlers
some extra regulators for independent pressurization of kegs
a draft tower or pull handle.

[b3s]

heh, yamaha brings up a good point...i'd probably invest in a bunch of ez-cap bottles and ez-cap growlers.

man, that is a tough choice! i'd also consider more glassware...beer just seems to taste better out of the appropriate glass.

[Pappy]

It won't cost much to switch over to all-grain. Do a web search using the words "mash tuns" and stuff like that. You'll find all kinds of cheap ways to go all-grain (most stuff bought at the hardware store and not the homebrew store).

Now, take what's left of the 200 bucks and get all the kegging equipment you can for that much. You ought to be able to get everything but the fridge. Once you have all the stuff, tell your wife you now need more money for a fridge. How can she say no?

[OldHooky]

Tractor supply has the Gott drink coolers. I picked a 10 gallon one up for 37.50. Buy that and a Phil's phalse bottom and a couple of fittings, and you're ready to try all grain. The 5 gallon one was about $10 less.