Brewery design.

I'm thinking of the set up and logistics of my first brew session.

From what I can tell the most common solution seems to be a gravity fed 3 tier system.

Hot water tank to feed mash tun.
Mash tun.
Brew kettle.

All with gas burners underneath.

I'm wondering if I can use a 2 tier system and double the Hot water tank and brew kettle up. I aim to heat the sparge water up in the brew kettle and drain the wort into a bin ready for transfering to the brew kettle after all the sparging is complete.

Does that make sense? would it work or have I over looked something?

Should work fine as long as your bin is good for ~160F. You could also try to acquire another cooler on the cheap and use it as a HLT. Then you could heat your mash water in your kettle, mash in, then heat your sparge water in your kettle storing it in the HLT, and then runoff straight into your kettle, sparging from the second cooler. Would save you lifting a few stone.

I use a cooler for my HLT and heat the water in the kettle while the mash is working. I heat the water to 180F and then give it a stir & check the temp. just before sparging. I also use a camp stove burner under the mash tun. It has a smaller, more distributed flame than the burners normally used in brewing systems. The advantage of the flame pattern is it allows me to heat the mash without caramelizing. The short stand also allowed me to use a utility shelf to support the mash tun and HLT. If I'm in a hurry to get started, I'll preheat part of the strike water in my kettle.

Orfy, I'm using something like that now.

I heat the mash and sparge water in my brew kettle. I collect the wort in a couple of buckets and transfer that to my brew kettle once the sparge is done.

orfy, if you can, get the latest issue of Brew Your Own (***********). it's available in the UK. the Nov issue talks about building your own 3 tiered system.....