all grain equipment options - advice requested

Ready to make the switch from extract to all grain.
any suggestions for a complete kit?

Midwest has the kewler kits as well as stainless kits
Homebrewstuff has a 15gal 2 cooler setup

I wouldn't mess with a 'kit'. I'd go buy the coolers or whatever you want to use for a kettle and make it, unless you're looking at dropping $500+ on a blichman system or something.

honestly all you need is a 5-10 gallon cooler, a few parts to make a valve on the bottom that's connected to a stainless braid or a false bottom if you want to be fancy about it.

you' need a BIG pot...I'd get 9gallons as the bare bones minimum for boiling 5 gallon batches....a keggle if you do 10 gal batches. And a burner to heat that kettle.

Otherwise the only other things you need is something to act as hot liquid tank because your boil kettle is occupied when the HLT is in use. your old kettle might work if its 5-6 gallons, or a second 5 gal cooler.

and a wort chiller.

all the kits or pre-built cooler MLT's are going to be 25% more expensive than a saturday afternoon DIY project

I just recently made the switch to all-grain and the only thing different I needed was my mash tun.

I had an old 48qt igloo chest cooler in the basement so i just bought the parts to make a stainless braid and connected it to a ball valve (the lid was hollow so I also bought a can of spray foam to insulate it better). Total cost was less than $25.

I already had a 30qt turkey fryer I had been using for extract batches so that worked fine for all grain and I used so spare stock pots I had lying around to heat my strike and sparge water.

I also already had a wort chiller.

Brewed my first all-grain batch yesterday and everything went as smooth as could be without havig to invest in a bunch of fancy (see expensive) equipment.

Good luck

Yeah, I wouldn't go investing a ton of money at first. Until recently I didn't have a separate HLT. I just used my BK to heat the strike/sparge water. I use a converted cooler for a mash tun. I leave enough room at the top of the cooler so I can add around 1 gallon of 200 degree water at the end of the mash which acts as a mash-out. I would, then drain the wort into a bucket, batch sparge, and empty the wort back into the kettle for the boil. Works great. With a good crush and dropping the ph of my tap water a touch I've been averaging 90% eff for some time now doing this.

You can spend whatever you want on all grain, there are guys that do it with a couple big pots and a bag, and others who are automated with pumps and all. The difference in beer quality is probably pretty negligible. Most of us are somewhere in the middle I think. My system is two converted kegs and a 10 gallon cooler with false bottom, the only peice I bought was the tun, the rest I made myself. My advice would be to get a propane burner. I know there are guys who all grain on the stove, but I cant imagine doin so personally

I converted two kegs, one for my boil kettle and one for my hlt, my tun is a 10 gallon igloo with false bottom, and is the only peice I didn't make myself, it came from midwest and works beautifully. One thing I would advise to go ahead and spend the money on is thermometers. I have blichmann brewmometers mounted via weldless bulkhead fittings and they ROCK!! Totally worth the money. The other thing is a good propane burner. I have heard of guys all graining on the kitchen stove but can't imagine doing so myself

Sorry about the repetition I didn't think that first one posted, internet connection is acting dumb

if you want the cheapest route to go all grain... but a 40qt pot... then stop by a fabric store and pick up a yard fo Voile fabric. have it sewn into a bag that is just big enough to hold the kettle. heat all the water you'll need in the BK. add bag once at strike temp..then add grain.. it's called Brew in a bag and its not only cheap.. but works great. I can produce award winning beers (recently took 1st in the 2011 Peach State Brew off with my BIAB Irish Red Ale). the material cost me $6.00... you can get a 40Qt brew pot for as little as 35$.. all you need then is a burner..