Designing a new all-grain setup (I'm a 2-year extract brewer). I have 2 sanke kegs I can have converted and build my setup around. I have decent wood-working skills but no welding skills. I can probably handle working with angle-iron and I can convert a coolers into a HLT or M/LT.

I have 3 ideas I'm floating and would like some feedback.



Option A
1. Heated strike water pumped from keggle to M/LT
2. First run from M/LT into keggle
3. Heated sparge water pumped from keggle to HLT
4. Sparge water from HLT into M/LT
5. Second run from M/LT into keggle

Pro:
Stand can be wood because no elevated burners
No lifting water into HLT or M/LT

Con:
Control of temperature for heated water limited once I start pumping it around
Extra cost of a pump
Relatively complex



Option B
1. Directly heat water for mash in M/LT
2. First run from M/LT into keggle
3. Heated sparge water pumped from keggle to HLT
4. Sparge water from HLT into M/LT
5. Second run from M/LT into keggle

Pro
Exact control over mashtemps
Less complex than option A
No lifting water into HLT

Con
Uses more propane
Stand must be metal due to elevated burners
Extra cost of a pump



Option C
1. Directly heated strike water from HLT into M/LT
2. First run from M/LT into keggle
3. Directly heated sparge water HLT to M/LT
4. Second run from M/LT into keggle

Pro
Better (but not exact) control over mash temps
Less complex than option A or B
No pump required (but would help filling HLT)

Con
Uses more propane
Stand must be metal due to elevated burners
Only indirect control over mash temps
Lifting water into HLT (unless I get a pump)

Also... I'm not sure if I should be concerned about 2 tiems...

1) Adding level gauges to coolers; I'm reading that some folks have problems doing this.

2) Tracking how much water is used at various points. Example, in option A, how easy will it be for me to get the right amount of sparge water from the keggle, through the HLT, and back out of the mash? Is this something I even need to sweat over?

I use a system similar to Option C. You won't need a pump to fill the HLT just a white garden hose and step ladder. You may still want the pump for whirlpooling though. Theoretically, you would use the same of propane with any of the options, but you would have to have more tanks for option B or C.

Yes. since they are all using the same amount of water they will use the same amount of propane. With the right connections you will only need 1 tank. (with back ups of course).

My current plans (waiting on some parts) are a 2-tier system with only the HLT elevated. I'd go with your option C, but have the MLT on the same level as the BK. Then you can pump runoff into the BK and use gravity to feed from the HLT to the MLT for sparging. The only problem with that setup would be the inability to easily do a multi-step mash, since you'd have to infuse hot water to get temp raises. But that's a pretty minor thing, especially at the entry level of AG, and you could add that capability later by getting a heat exchanger to flow wort through. Check out bargainfittings.com, they've got a lot of useful hardware for things like sight gauges (which are really useful to have), dip tubes and so on.

Have you considered using a couple of pumps instead of the gravity approach?
No ladders.