All Grain set-up Advice

[cummic08]

Hey all,

This has probably been done before but having a brain fart day and my head is too sore to search after the weekend. Looking for some thoughts on setting up kit for all grain without breaking the bank first go. I'm in the process of making my mash-tun and so far very happy with how it has turned out. It's dropping 5 degrees C from 72C to 67C with 25 litres over an hour and that's without fitting the insulation blanket etc. so I recon that should give me a drop of no more than 1 degree once done.

So my main question is with regard to a HLT and Boil Kettle, probably look at gravity fed first with a view of installing pumps down the road. Do I take the cheap DIY option and convert a plastic FV for both, hopefully lasting a year to a couple of years then upgrading? Or buy a Pico plastic boiler? Or is there merit in buying a SS pot (33 litres) and making/fabricating my own HLT and boil kettle. Another option if I can source one is a keggle. Also can you use the same vessel as a HLT & boil kettle or is it just a pin in the ass?

How have you converted over from kit and partial boils to all grain and what pit falls did you encounter. I would love to have 500-100 quid to splash in one go but unfortunately I cant so looking for the best approach to start all grain asap with a view to build a top quality set-up piece by piece over time.

Any help ideas or ideas.

[Vermelho]

I would recommend buying the best you can afford and if at all possible a stainless option. If you see yourself brewing into the future then I'd recommend buying the best equipment you can one at a time, at least that way you're not selling old equipment and buying other stuff again and losing money that way. Also look out for the second hand stuff on the forum, generally, members are very reasonable with their sale prices and some good stuff pops up.

My pit falls were not buying the best I could afford at the time and going for something cheaper. I now brew on a two pot system with an insulated stainless mash tun and a ss brew tech kettle. I also have a ss brewtech fermenter. All of this stuff has improved my brewing. If you're interested in a keggle I have one that I'm not using but I wouldn't recommend it for gas if that's the route you're going.

[cummic08]

Thanks for the advice, I'm going the electric route, so i have no worries about burning the brew shed down or even worse, running out of gas during a boil. Yes I might be interested in the keggle. Is it a basic 2.4kw element and open top or have you put any extra addions on it?

Thank for the advice, its really appreciated.