A Rundown of My Brewery - Part 1

Making the move to all grain can be a bit overwhelming for those used to brewing in the kitchen with extract kits.  With a little patience and willingness to use Craigslist (I suggest meeting in a very public place like at a police station), you can gather the equipment needed to get in to all grain brewing.  Here's a breakdown of the equipment I use to home brew:

 

1. My mash tun is a rectangular Igloo cooler with a brass ball valve installed where the drain spigot was originally located (the spigot is removed and the ball valve is installed through the opening in the cooler wall).  Some people have concerns about brass fittings leeching lead into the wort when the two come into contact.  John Palmer, in his book How to Brew, states that some brewers, "A solution of two parts white vinegar to one part hydrogen peroxide (common 3% solution) will remove tarnish and surface lead from brass parts when they are soaked for 5 minutes or less at room temperature. The brass will turn a buttery yellow color as it is cleaned. If the solution starts to turn green and the brass darkens, then the parts have been soaking too long and the copper in the brass is beginning to dissolve, exposing more lead. The solution has become contaminated and the part should be re-cleaned in a fresh solution."  I cannot recall the volume capacity of my cooler but I feel certain that I could mash enough grains for a 10 gallon batch with no problems.  I built a CPVC manifold and cut multiple slits halfway through its underside through which the wort can drain into the boil pot while leaving almost all of the grain behind.  There are numerous build threads online that can help you build a mash tun that fits your needs whether it be with a rectangular or round cooler, using copper or CPVC to build the manifold or simply using a stainless steel braid to filter your wort. 
2. My boil pot is a converted AB 15.5 gallon keg with a stainless steel ball valve attached. Be mindful when sourcing a keg that it is illegal to simply buy a keg without making sure that it has been decommissioned by the actual owner.  My keg had a 1/4 inch hole drilled in the bottom when I bought it so I know for fact that AB decommissioned it prior to my purchasing it.  This type of brew pot is known as a "Keggle".  Here's a great step by step breakdown of how to build a keggle.  I recently added a sight glass from Brewhardware.com that made a big difference during my last brew day by allowing me to make sure that I ended up with enough wort prior to starting the boil. Some people go all out and polish their keggle to a mirror finish but as you can see, I view my boil pot in a very utilitarian light.
3. Once you've boiled the wort, it is highly suggested that you cool the liquid as quickly as
   possible for several reasons.  The most important reason for cooling the wort as quickly as possible is to minimize the time between boiling the wort and getting it into an airtight container.  Once the heat source has been shut off, the clock is ticking and every minute that passes provides an opportunity for infection to set in.  I use a crudely made  copper immersion chiller made out of roughly 30-35 feet of 1/2 ID copper with an inlet and outlet.  An immersion chiller acts as a heat exchanger by passing cold water from a faucet or outdoor spigot through the coils which picks up heat from the wort and carries out the other end.  IC's can be made more efficient when tap water warms in the summer by using a submersible pump to recirculate ice water through the coils.  My immersion chiller can be seen in the lower right side of the picture next to the white bucket.