This brewery was designed and constructed in only two weeks. Many a night were Mike and I up till 1 am working on this thing. We had set a deadline of May 7 to be ready. We wanted to brew the first batch on National Homebrew Day. There have been a few slight changes since the first brew, and more are expected as the system gets used more.

System Components:

Tanks:

Once the locations had been determined, we had to come up with a design to be able to tilt the tanks, as a tank with 100+ lbs of wet grain would be impossible to lift off the platform. I had seen a few peoples systems online who pivoted the tanks in the center, which caused to be easy to pivot when loaded, but they had to lock the tank pivot somehow,  because they could be easily tipped even if you didn't want to. Mike came up with a great design. (did I mention he is one crafty dude?) He put the pivots near the bottom, and offset them toward the front of the tanks, so they would not tip unless you grabbed the top lip of the tank, and pulled it towards you. I was a little skeptical at first, but I gotta say, that it works perfectly.  See a  pics  of the pivot system here, here and here.

Turns out the tanks have double bottoms, so we had to cut out the lower bottom on the BK so we could achieve a boil. The MT still  has both of it's bottoms. The airspace between them acts as insulation for the bottom of the MT. 

Passivation was originally overlooked, but I have come to the realization that it is an important part of construction and maintenance of a Stainless brewery. If  you are not privy to passivation as I once was, do a quick Google search and you will learn everything you need to know.

Brewing Platform:

The platform is constructed of 2" square steel. The lower piece that fits into the truck's receiving hitch is 1/4" thick, and the top platform is is 1/8" thick. the platform is supported at each corner by telescoping adjustable legs to keep it stable when loaded. The legs fold away when not in use. The top of the platform is at the same elevation of the tailgate when it is lowered.

See the platform here.

Hot Liquor Tank:

The HLT is simply a 15.5 gal sankey keg,  outfitted with a copper coil inside the tank, which connects to various fittings and valve outside the tank. This allows the HLT to also act as a "heater" for the wort to recirculate through and heat the mash. The tank can be heated by a propane burner, or the integral spa heater element and hot water heater thermostat can be plugged into a 110v power source. The HLT is insulated to minimize heat loss. See the HLT here.