In this step we are making the vessel that will both heat and contain the mash and boil.

As I was broke from drinking to many overpriced Norwegian store bought beers, I found the cheapest parts for you and listed them below!



What you will need, in the links the parts that I bought:



1. One vessel between 30 liters and 60 liters. I used a polypropyleen fermenter bucket

2. Two 1,5 KW heater elements with rubber ring. Either new (buy here) or from an old water cooker.



UPDATE 2.8.16: These elements are for 200V to 240V ac only. If you are in the US, buy the same ones in 110V version. They were only recently released by the seller.

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Free-shipping-110V-...



3. One food grade, heat safe plastic tap with rubber rings included. (Buy here).

4. Doulble sided copper tape (buy here )

5. Strong duct tape.

6. The brew bag, this one or similar is strong and GREAT value



Some important notes on physics and tips to choose the right parts:



Check out pics 1 to 6. This is the end result. Notice in pic 5 that the heater elements are on one side close to each other. The tap is on the other side. Having the heaters close to each other creates something called heat convection. Basically one side of the barrel gets heat while the other does not. This makes the warm water want to move to the cool spots that dont have heaters and creates a natural stirring effect. If you want to better understand this process click here. But all you really need to understand is that it works helps to get an even temperature and a good flow during your mash and boil. Do this too!. Convection is part of the reason we use two heater elements. Another reason is that most of the worlds domestic wall outlets can only supply 10 amps max. By having two heaters we can use two wall outlets. 1,5 KW takes about 7 amps at 230 volts in europe (Watts divided by the volts of your country's grid - 1500/230) . You need to research for yourself what your outlets can tolerate. It is usually marked on your fuse box.The amount of kilowatts required depends on how many liters you wish to boil and how fast you want your boiler to be. The physics behind water heating are advanced but here is a cool calculator that does it all for you! Here is a link if you are into physics and wish to learn more. For 60 liters you need between 3 kw to brew comfortably in my experience. Using a heater elment that drains more power than your all outlet(s) can supply will blow a fuse / circuit breaker in your homes fuse box. This is not dangerous if you have a proper fusebox at home. If this happens, try the dryer, dish washer, washing machine outlets. They are often rated 16 amps and more.



I would also like to say a few words on the tap (see pic 7). Many tutorrials on making boilers use metal ball valve type taps (see pic 8, store link). In the plumbing section of a hardware store a metal ball valve tap will cost easily 20 dollars for a decent diameter. These often need to outfitted with seperate o rings and plumber paste and seperate connections, easily costing 25 to 30 dollars alltogether. They are bulky too. A poplypropylene tap like the one I used costs under 4 dollars and has all the rubbers included to make it waterproof. Additionnally it is super easy to screw on and off for cleaning and very compact while still having a large diameter of 22mm. Diameter is important so your tap does not get clogged with wort sedement. I strongly recommend going for a cute little polypropylene tap like mine.

Finally there is the brew bag (pic 9). To refresh your memory: the crushed grains known as "malt "go into the brew brag. The brew bag is entered into your brewery when the strike water has reached the right temperature and stays there for about an hour (depends on recipe). Then it is held above the brewery to let the remaining fluid "sparge" drain from the soaked malt. Alternatively the bag is dumped into the fermenter bucket for a few minutes and what leaks from it is then transfered to your brewing tun (we will refer to the mash tun / boiler as "the brewery" from now on as it is all the same vessel in our brew process). The brew bag is supposed to have a lot of grains, Think 5 to 10 kg. So it needs to be STRONG. Obviously it also needs to be poreus. I therefore recommend nylon bags. These are strong and really cheap, They are also super easy to wash and I believe you could even throw them in the dishwasher (but I havent tried). Make sure to get a bag with a diameter BIGGER than your brerery's diameter.