Anybody ever . . .

[yashicamat]

. . . thought about locating the HLT upstairs somewhere, e.g., the bathroom? Some proper connectors and reinforced pipe, a ball valve at the HLT and a ball valve at the bottom where it enters the brew room (or transient brew room in my case; the kitchen). Would need the reinforced pipe and twin ball valves to control the increased pressure from the head of water, but it would give a supply of hot liquor at the top level of the room, effectively removing the need for the top tier?

[yashicamat]

I was thinking more along the lines of a pipe out of a window above into the one below or something perhaps, rather than a "hard wired" solution. I already have a 3 tier setup which functions myself, but I think I might struggle if my FV or mashtun got any taller . . .

[CJBrew]

Why are you considering going to those lengths ? You can make up a 3 tier brewery using a kitchen work top, beer crate/chair/work mate and the floor and you have everything right in front of you for checking temperatures, opperating valves and noting levels etc.

Yep. But essentially you need a four-tier setup, because at some point the beer has to escape the boiler into a FV.

Most of the vessels I am using are approximately 40 or 50cm tall. That's HLT, MT, KT and FV. So the top of your HLT is bound to be at least 160cm if not 2m up. That means you really do need a temperature probe and sight-tube...

I am building a wooden HLT stand that will go on my worktop and raise the tank/boiler up by 50cm or so. The MT could be on the worktop, but will probably be on the WorkMate, probably with a bit of extra height added (somehow- i'll have to jury-rig something), with the boiler sitting on the floor. The boiler is an old Burco Washboiler and the output is at about 50cm height, it's just high enough to fit a FV bucket underneath it. (Only just.)