As far as the brewstand goes it was made out of anodized aluminum with pre-drilled holes. I chose aluminum because it's light and extremely strong. The only problem with aluminum is it conducts heat very well and isn't resistant to heat like stainless steel. I was concerned so I added some fireproof insulation & tape, but it turns out extra heat from the burners don't affect the aluminum enough to weaken it. The aluminum is also anodized which increases corrosion resistance and wear resistance.
My former brewstand:
Inside the Boil Kettle:
Inside the Hot Liquor Tank:
Mash Tun:
It's pretty self explanatory. It's basically a double tier set up. The mash tun is placed on a small stool next to the HLT when I'm ready to mash. The double tier set up let me utilize only one march pump instead of two, with gravity doing the job of the second pump.
I fly sparge by pumping the finished wort into the boil kettle and feeding the hot sparge water into the top of the mash via gravity.
10 minutes before the wort is finished boiling I recirculate it through the pump & chiller & back into the boil kettle via a whirlpool arm to sanitize everything before running off into the fermentor.
Once the wort is finished boiling, I pump it through my counterflow chiller and into the fermentor. I aerate for 10-15 minutes with a aquarium pump & diffuser stone.
So that's my previous set up. You can see why I was spoiled as a homebrewer.
Once I get my new system running in my apartment I'll post the details. It's probably going to be similar, just without the movable brewstand & natural gas burners.
Cheers!
