I'm Ready to Build My First All-Grain System... Any Advice?

I am starting construction on my All-Grain system and so far this is my plan:

Stage 1: Gravity Fed System

The Parts:

HLT (Hot Liquor Tank)

I used the excellent tutorial here for using 10 gallon coolers for my HLT and MLT.

10 gallon Rubbermaid/Gott cooler ≈ $45
Full port ball valve parts ≈ $30
1500 Watt water heating element ≈ $10

I am planning on wiring the heating element to a 120v outlet plug with a switch to turn it on and off. I can manually monitor the temperature of the HLT and turn it on as needed. I got the idea for using a water heater element from the powers brewery system.

TOTAL ≈ $85

MLT (Mash Lauder Tun)

10 gal Rubbermaid/Gott cooler - $45
Full port ball valve parts - $30

(I already bought all these parts from Home Depot today! I will be updating with pics at some point.)

TOTAL ≈ $75

Boiling Kettle

50 quart (12.5 gal) Aluminum Stock Pot - $70 (including taxes, shipping and handling)
Full port ball valve parts - Not sure but probably around $30
Wort Chiller ≈ $50? (Building this out of copper tubing and fittings.)

TOTAL ≈ $150

Misc. Items

These are some items we will probably need to put all the pieces together. I haven't done all the research yet but so far it seems like these will all be necessary.

Hoses or copper tubing - ? (We will need food grade, high temp hoses or copper tubing to transfer water from the HLT to the MLT and wort from the MLT to the Boiling Kettle)
Sparge arm - ?
Framing Assembly - ? This is our "staircase-like" stand where HLT, MLT and Boiling Kettle will be sitting. See the image below for a possible setup.
Propane Burner - ? We can probably get away with some kinda burner meant for camping. I found a King Kooker model at Walmart for like $40. My parents actually have one that we could use. It's a double burner but it'll work just fine.
Mash Paddle ≈ $5 (We can cut this thing outta some nice wood ourselves.)



STAGE 1 TOTAL ≈ $350

I priced out similar setups for over $700 so I am pretty happy with this one. I know it's not the absolute cheapest way to go but I think it gives up lots of room for upgrading to a HERMS system in the future (Which happens to be my stage 2 plan hehe!!)

I built mine similar to what you're doing, but I "acquired" a 50L Guinness keg, so I decided to use that as my HLT. I bought a second burner to fire that one up, and I had a 1/2 barrel AB keg that I converted to a keggle. I'm not sure what I paid for everything (since I don't keep track), but I'd bet that I spent less than $500 on everything.

Here's the pic.

Very nice! That's almost exactly what I have in mind for the final product.

Originally I wanted a dual stock pot and burner system just like yours but I started looking into automating the temperature of the HLT for a future upgrade and I found the nifty heating element (heatstick) idea. Coupled with an ETC (Electric Temperature Controller) I could automatically turn the heating element on and off as needed to keep the HLT at a constant temperature. Taking that further, you can then add another ETC and a pump to the system and with a heat exchange coil inside the HLT you got yourself a HERMS system! There are ways to automatically turn burners on and off but I think it's quite a bit easier with heating elements. I don't think I will be making the upgrade to HERMS anytime soon because it is a bit pricey and I need to get some experience first. But once I can justify the $500 upgrade cost for pumps and thermostats it's going to be much easier to brew!

I got the MLT valve built today! Here is a pic of the final product. The MPT to barbed fitting didn't want to screw all the way in but I don't think that will cause me any trouble.

Mine didn't screw all the way in either. The place I've found it to leak on occasion is right at the seal on the bulkhead. Just make sure it's as tight as you can get it, and you should be good to go. What are you using on the inside? I started out with a SS braided hose. It worked for a while, but I found that I would rip it when I stir the mash, so I bought a false bottom.

I bought a SS braided hose but I haven't installed it yet. False bottoms are a little pricey and I wanted to make this on a budget. I might upgrade to a false bottom to eventually like you!

That's how I've seen every barb on every valve in this forum, I think. As long as it's tight and you've got teflon tape on there (which I see that you do), I'm sure you'll be fine!