The original concept was for a system that would allow a different brew every week; to fine tune recipes and try new things at a fast pace.
I had proposed a 1 gallon system but I couldn't get the mash tun to retain heat well enough, see viewtopic.php?f=2&t=69667
# Mash Tun
I overcame the heat problem by shelling out on a 7.6 litre (2 USgal) igloo cooler. After a test batch I made some subtle modifications to it.
My first thought was scale, I decided to change the batch size to ensure the mash tun is always almost full thus eliminating convection cooling in the headspace; people where always asking for a bottle anyway. I can produce x16 500ml bottles of mid abv or x12 330ml bottles of high abv using this my setup; it depends on the recipe.
I changed from a stainless ball valve to a polypropylene spigot tap because I noticed the valve was conducting much needed heat away from the mash.
False Bottom: I was using brew bags in the mash tun, while this made sense for filtering and disposal of spent grains it made sparging a pain; i had to to hold the bag off the bottom to drain properly. To solve this I made a false bottom out of polypropylene sheet. For an initial attempt I didn't fancy drilling hundreds of 2 mm holes so I've drilled a few 5 mm holes and carried on using the bag for the fine filtering.
Sparging: As a makeshift sparge arm, I use a colander type thing to spread the sparge water evenly.
My mash efficiency (calculated with Beersmith) comes out just above 90% using a single infusion mash and batch sparging.
# Hot Liquor Tank
Its a simple design, a 10.5 litre stainless stock pot with a 2.4 kw kettle element and a stainless ball valve kit.
I drilled a hole in the lid for my thermometer.
I lift the tank into my sink for filling, I have used railway spec self-amalgamating tape to guard against water ingress around the plug.
# Kettle
I had a large stock pot already to which I then fitted a ball valve and bazooka screen.
I have made a simple wort chiller from a coil of 10 mm copper pipe i bought from Wickes and a garden hose off-cut.
Don't go all grain straight away like i did, get everything else right first.
Stainless is pretty but not practical for heat retention - don't be afraid of plastics, use polypropylene it won't melt of distort at the temps where talking and has a better thermal coefficient.
Scale recipes with good software such as Beersmith, this will tell you the required capacities of your equipment so you won't wast money buying the wrong kit.
Weldless valve kits etc are significantly cheaper if you buy the parts separately on eBay.
