suggestions for all grain setup (pics)

Sorry, i searched the forum, possibly not using the correct search terms to find another thread involving this, but I'm pretty new to brewing, but very interested in brewing all-grain. It seems whenever I ask a question to Mr. Google he directs me here, so I decided I'd just join. After many hours of researching, I've built a stand and cooler lauter tun, but before I go dumping money into ingredients I'd appreciate any opinions on things I should possibly change before diving in.

I've included a couple pics of my stand and rubbermaid lauter tun. (forgive my welding if you look that close, I'm new to that too, but all parts of the stand support me standing on it.) And I plan on grinding all the welds smooth and painting the whole thing. Anyways, I have a pump on the way, to move water from HLT to mash tun and gravity will do the rest. Figure its easier on the pump to not have sweet wort running thru it. And the mash tun manifold is cpvc, as suggested by somewhere else. Any comments, suggestions, ideas are greatly appreciated before I get it all fired up. I got plenty of scrap iron left for additions, and plenty of cutting discs for subtractions. Thank you for your time.

Just the burner side.


The whole stand...since the pic, ive added a few more support pieces, even tho it was solid before. But a lil added insurance. The HLT will go on the left, get pumped up to the top of the mash tun, and you know the rest... Entire thing made of bed frames my old boss let me take, except the burner pieces were scrap from my current job. All free so far, besides the stainless pot...that hurt the wallet.


CPVC manifold for bottom of cooler, and sparge arm/ arms for the top. These I'm the most anxious for opinions about. There's small holes drilled in the arm to spray the top of the grain bed the whole length of the cooler, and that flow can be controlled on the output side of the pump. Do y'all think that'll work just from your experiences? Or am I better off trying batch sparging?


Again, sorry for the long post, but I've been slapping this whole thing together for weeks, and appreciate any opinions/ suggestions from you far more experienced enthusiasts.

pretty good. i think you're on the right track. just be careful of the height your pump will have to pump the water. doesn't look like that will be a problem, though

Unfortunately, until hours pick up at work, im going with a cheaper pump, so the height could be an issue. Tho I have thought the stand looked weird with the lower left shelf. Maybe I'll just put a plate on it, for the propane to sit on, and build a shelf above it, for the HLT. Then the pump wont have to pump so high, being most aren't self priming, and have to be lower than the HLT.

Another question, probably better off elsewhere, but what type of tubing is everyone using for a site glass on the outside of the BK?? Glass I imagine would be best, but dangerous, kinda. The BK is real nice, but has no notches or markings for the amount of liquid inside. Hasn't been a huge issue with extract, but all grain will be different. Site glass would definitely be handy.

Oh, just noticed the "equipment/ sanitization" section...this should have been put there...sorry forum mods...dont think i can move it, but feel free to.

Nice job, I have a custom spray bar that looks very similar to yours. The one thing I added was a flush out 1/2" port on the other end of the looped spray bar. Grain inevitably works it way to the bar and gets itself stuck in the holes. But running a few gallos of boiling water through it does the trick.

silver01ram said:

Another question, probably better off elsewhere, but what type of tubing is everyone using for a site glass on the outside of the BK?? Glass I imagine would be best, but dangerous, kinda. The BK is real nice, but has no notches or markings for the amount of liquid inside. Hasn't been a huge issue with extract, but all grain will be different. Site glass would definitely be handy.

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I'm a big fan of DIY, but I chose to buy a weldless sight glass from brewhardware.com. Bobby makes some really nice polycarbonate sight glasses and the prices are pretty reasonable. I've got them installed on two of my keggles and one of my pots (so far).

+1 on the brewhardware.com sight glass (and everything else he sells). I got my package yesterday for my new BK setup, the 5/8" diptube is enormous.

LandoLincoln said:

I'm a big fan of DIY, but I chose to buy a weldless sight glass from brewhardware.com. Bobby makes some really nice polycarbonate sight glasses and the prices are pretty reasonable. I've got them installed on two of my keggles and one of my pots (so far).

Click to expand...

Thanks for the link. I'll check 'em out. And its still kind of DIY, if u have to drill the holes in ur BK and install it Have you seen prices on kettles with valve/ therm/ site glass already installed....outrageous!