Your upgrade that you now could not live without

So far for me it's been:

1- Counterflow wort chiller (homemade, so its extra cool!)
2- Beersmith software (I'm notoriously bad about organizing recipes, brewday notes, etc.--it makes t easy peazy)

 

I don't want to go without my fermentation chamber. I bought a chest freezer and added a temperature controller. I love being able to put a carboy in it, strap the probe on, set the temp and walk away. No swamp cooler no fiddling with it. Just set it and forget it.
Oh and the beer tastes way better with strict temp controls.

 

Plate chiller. Close transfer system. Fermentation temp control. HERMS was also very nice.

 

One word.
Kegs.

 

Another vote for fermentation chamber. A cheap small chest freezer and a dual-stage temp controller. It was a gateway into lagers for me and it helps me avoid the marital strife from regularly clearing out the garage fridge for cold crashing

 

Fermentation chamber...

chugger pump...has made transferring to stations so much easier.

 

+1000

Can't believe I forgot kegs!

The thought of bottling 5gal of beer is the main reason I only brewed 1-2 batches a year (at best) for about 10-15 years...

Since I converted to kegs last winter, I've brewed ~15x and enjoyed each session

 

It's a tough choice between the ferm chamber I built and the kegerator. My beer is definitely better because of the temp control, but I enjoy brewing more now that I keg everything.

 

1.Temp control fermentation
2. Chugger pumps
3. Kegging/kegerator
4. On a much more expensive scale, my electrical HERMS.

 

Temperature controlled conical without question. Would happily spend the money on this bad boy again.

Besides the ability to dial in fermentation temperatures, cleaning and sanitation are a breeze, transferring to the keg is painless, and it looks bad ass

 

I simultaneously have my first lager ...lagering in my chest freezer with a temp controller AND the first Ale wrapping up fermentation in my home-made fermentation chamber. No hauling carboys upstairs and downstairs to keep things rolling, complete fermentation, no muss, no fuss.

But the thing that makes me downright happy every time I use it is my home-made 1/2" SS tubing wort chiller. Every, single time.

 

Fermenter spigots and kegs

 

Converted a chest freezer in June of 2015, kegging is incredible.

Also my wife bought me a stir plate a year ago and finally started making yeast starters...incredible difference.

 

Here are the 3 upgrades I've made over the past couple years that made the biggest difference:

1.) temperature controlled fermentation chamber (deep freeze with Johnson controls thermostat).

2.) Switching from Brewer's friend software to @VikeMan 's Brew Cypher software. This really helped me dial in my recipes to consistently hit my numbers. Thanks again vikeman.

3.) switching from bottle conditioning to kegging. Huge time saver which also really helped improve my hoppy beers (I would guess this is due to not needing to bottle condition for several weeks at 70 degrees.

 

I was going to say my pump, except I don't use it anymore, I feel like I can never get it clean enough and gravity is free.
I was going to say my spiedel fermenter, but my vintners harvest is easier to clean, use and store.
Two things I can't live without are my scale and fermentation chamber. Without an accurate scale you're boned, and the fermentation chamber makes accurate fermentation temperatures a snap.

 

Fermentation freezer so I can maintain temps. I am bare bones elsewhere in my process as is (plastic buckets, no pumps, homemade wort chiller, etc...). Not much upgrade elsewhere but holding my fermentation temps!

 

This was a good idea for a thread!

Cheers

 

Vintners harvest? I couldn't find such a thing with the Google. I currently use a Spiedel, and it is nice, but I curious about a fermenter that potentially beats it. Cheers!

 

For me the purchase of an immersion wort chiller has been a huge time saver.