This chest freezer is my unsung hero. It is at least 30 years old, rusted to fuck, dented, unloved, cleaned once a year with a hose. Despite all that it continues to work without a hitch. Giving me perfect fermentation chambers and even stored milk while my wife was pumping with our two kids. I bought this guy for 50 dollars 5 years ago and it has never let me down. What item is your unsung hero of brewing. I don’t want want to see your 500 dollar fermenters. They have done what was asked for a price. Let’s see your underdogs!
Re-circ pump: Bought it from Amazon almost 8 years ago for under 30 bucks and have used it constantly to recirculate from chiller back to kettle. It's tiny (quarter for size) and cost less than cheapest Chugger accessory. Have worn out and replaced the silicone hoses but pump has never faltered. Maybe not the intent of your tread but in close second is my mop: Found it by a dumpster many years ago and it's never let me down. Honorable mention goes to an under-counter fridge that was rescued from dump run and used as ferm chamber for ages. After many great beers the rust environment I live in broke its spirit. Although still maintaining temp, it was consigned to the FEMA waste pick-up after hurricane Irma . . . no pics, only memories.
You don't recall that from your Water book? Use some water to clean it out. Maybe @PortLargo will lend you his mop? Cheers!
Well. I don't have any particular old and rusty trusty brewing components, per say, but Jamil Zainasheff @jzainasheff is my personal homebrewing unsung hero. Christ I've learned so much from him. He helped take my beer from, meh to AWESOME! Between his podcasts and books, I've learned so much from him over the last 15 years of my homebrewing journey. Invaluable.
Indoor brewing triumph: 48 QT fermentation chamber for a 2.5G batch size ... Who among us doesn't have enough space ... in an otherwise neglected corner ... to homebrew a case of beer?
My first chest freezer had been left in the house I bought in 2004 for two generations of home owners (it dated back to the 1980s). When I moved in 2014, it went with me, and died soon thereafter. One of these days I'll get some help to haul it out of my basement. Meanwhile, it still insulates, and I can bring a beer down to the higher end of lager temperature ranger with 20 lbs of ice.
I suppose mine would be milk crates. I use them to store bags of specialty malts, DME, smaller pieces of equipment, and miscellaneous other brewing stuff (whirlfloc, candi syrup, cleaner/sanitizer, etc.). Since they're stackable, all that stuff only takes up about a square foot of basement floor.
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B002SVNEWA/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Digital scale. No one mentioned this when I got into beer making. Though I've had to replace it once and the company's stopped answering the phone or responding to emails (so how do I use the fucking warranty?!) -- still, I constantly use this thing.
@VikeMan My Brewing game is much stronger with Brewcipher Excellent work helps me every time Cheers all
Really and truly, I have a lot of the original equipment I started with over 10 years ago. I've built up a bit, but am still using my original bucket fermentor, bottling bucket, and all the stuff I made myself (MLT, immersion cooler, pre-chiller, etc). So maybe my unsung hero is myself for actually treating all of my stuff with respect. Bought other shit to fill out the set-up, but I still rock the originals. Take care of your tools and they'll take care of you! Don't underestimate what an extra couple of minutes of care can do for your pocketbook.
It's a simple thing, but my unsung heroes are two empty case boxes with paperboard dividers that are water-stained and curled caused by getting wet from the bottles after sanitizing them. I do my sanitizing in the basement but bottling is done in the kitchen. These boxes have saved me from dropping some bottles and making multiple trips to carry them manually up the steps. No photo here; I think you get the picture.
