New kit on a budget

[crunchysaviour]

This is the "tank coupler": http://www.screwfix.com/search.do;jsess ... button.y=0 - Lewis is right: it's brass.

It does not come with any washers. I used plastic washers from Wickes (see table). With a plastic boiler I don't think this will be a problem.

Edit: There's about a 25mm long section that needs to be bored out by a millimetre or so, and I thought that would be a pain, though possible, to do with a file.

[mr_jolly]

Thanks for all your help. I'm now in the process of building the tun and boiler (so far so good).

The hardest part, so far, has been getting rid of the smell of garlic from the container! (24 hours of soaking with a bleach solution seems to have almost removed the smell completely now).

I'll post some pics when the kit's finished and up and running.

[chrb]

avoid the PP plastic for boilers, use HDPE instead (Which I think is what you settled for anyway)

I disagree. Polypropylene has a higher melting point (around 150°C) than HDPE (110°C) and stays more rigid at high temperatures. The standard 33l plastic boilers are made from it.

True, although rigidity depends on thickness as well. I've used a thin polypropylene bucket before as a boiler and it lost a little of it's rigidity during the boil but was otherwise fine. AFAIK, standard plastic kettles are made from polyproylene (mine is).