Although no-one ever feels like their rig is finished, I guess it might be time for me to post some piccies.
As a little bit of background, my aim has been to produce a rig that provides as much functionality as possible but spending as little as possible. At the moment I estimate that I have spent around $300.
Here's my gravity feed 3-tier, in this case set up for hot-cubing (which these days I tend not to do). It breaks into three pieces and, believe it or not, you can fit the entire rig into a Honda Civic.
Working from one end to the other...
My HLT is a standard conference-room boiler (20L). I got mine for free - it came from a hospital and I was told that boilers that don't have clamping lids now don't meet OH&S standards and they are valueless. Well, for them perhaps! My HLT has a thermowell, and is temp controlled by an STC-1000. It also has the crappy low-flow tap removed and replaced with a ball valve (this ~$12 upgrade I highly recommend).
Next is the mill. Its a Crankandstein 2D. I built the hopper out of laminations of ply and a watercooler bottle free from officeworks. The ply laminations are designed to all use the same width, so you simply rip a plank on the circular saw and then build up the height with appropriately trimmed pieces. It also has a flow-control slider. The whole thing inverts and lives inside the base bin.
Next is the mash tun. It's a secondhand esky with a standard copper manifold. Mine didn't come with a drain hole so I needed to drill through the wall. After talking with the boys in Gainforts, I used a device called a 'tank bulkhead' ($8). It's made from glass reinforced nylon and is perfect for the job. (Although I did grind one side flat so it would sit closer to the bottom)
My keggle is a pretty bog-standard affair. I either use a spout that is lower than the pickup tube to create a siphon flow for hot cubing, or I connect the CFC with braided hose. The keggle is heated with a 23-jet NG mongolian.
The CFC is next. It has a ball valve on the water side to allow me to regulate the temperature hitting the fermenter.
And lastly the fridge is nothing special - another STC-1000 controlling the fridge and a heater pad thrown in the bottom of it.
All of this - especially the wheelable brew frame and temp controller on the HLT - has taken the fatigue and heart-ache out of brewing. I encourage everyone that is still brewing on a stack of milkcrates and collection of rickety tables or chairs to take the next step!
