Custom partial-mash system. How am I doing?

[vinnythering]

So I created a custom and somewhat cost-effective partial mash system. I'm wondering if what I did is common or if it was my best option. First off, I brew outside on a turkey fryer with a ~7 gal pot. I bought a 2 gal cooler and outfitted it with brass fittings and a colander cut and hammered to form a domed false bottom. I also made a sparge system using an oak plank with a hole drilled in the center fitted with a wort aerator hose attachment. This system allows for ~6 lbs of grain to be mashed. I've used it twice and I'm still developing ways to make it better. So far I've made a coffee stout w/ cacao nibs and vanilla beans (all bottled up and is tasting amazing, save for a bit of a tinge from the roasted grains), and I just brewed an IPA yesterday with fantastic results (if I actually retain anything in this overactive fermenter, I will be transferring to a secondary and adding a big hop blend in a few days). Of course I have other plans for my equipment, and eventually plan to progress into an all-grain system, but I feel like this affords me a great opportunity to learn how to customize my beers.


2 gallon mash tun


Sparge


Mashing


Boil station


Some of my brews and my IPA hop blend

I had other pictures but I don't know what happened to them. This is basically my setup. Questions? Comments? Suggestions?

[spiderwrangler]

One concern, despite your ingenuity is that running hot sparge water through your autosiphon may shorten it's lifespan. I recall a few people saying they noticed cracking in their autosiphons that they attributed to running hot PBW through it.

What I would recommend is scrapping the fly sparge and going to batch sparging. Fly is overrated and overused. It is potentially more efficient, which is why it's used in big breweries, but it is also easier to do incorrectly, resulting in lower inefficiencies. If you haven't had any problems, I wouldn't worry about it too much, just my $0.02.

Otherwise, it looks like you've got a pretty sweet set up! All it will take for you to move to all grain is either a larger cooler (which you can repurpose your bulkhead hardware for, but would need a new screen or stainless braid).

[vinnythering]

Haha I realized the issue with my autosiphon pretty quickly. It is already ruined. Oh well, live, screw up, learn, rinse, repeat. I've already scrapped the whole idea with having the fly sparge. I'm just going to continue mashing about 6 pounds of grain at a time and batch sparge like you said. Then I'll fill in the rest during the boil with extract. The only real reason I built this setup is because I'm a cheap bastard and everything I got was either free, on sale, or cheap to begin with. Instead of spending 250 dollars on a full setup, I spent only around 50 for the cooler and attached hardware. Everything else was just re-purposed. I was just worried that I did something wrong or if there are any glaring mistakes I missed. Thanks for your input! I wish someone would have told me about the heat screwing up my autosiphon earlier!

[spiderwrangler]

IF you keep an eye out, you might be able to find good deals on larger coolers that would let you step up to all grain. Since you have the bulkhead fittings, the hardware to build it out for a 10 gal mashtun you could probably do for less than $20, plus the cooler.