What types of homebrew equipment have people made from components rather than buying? I've seen posts on DIY wort chillers and plastic conical fermenters. What other Do-It-Yourself homebrew projects has anyone undertaken? I'm thinking of making a homemade wort chiller. The cost of components is much cheaper than buying a new one and it doesn't seem that hard. Any advice from those who have gone before me?

I've built a wort chiller and a mash-tun (from a rectangular cooler). As far as the wort chiller goes, I made an immersion chiller from copper tubing, a compression fitting, and a female hose connection. I used 25 ft and wish I'd used more, it still takes around 25-30 minutes to cool from boiling to pitching.

The mash-tun was just a simple three-prong manifold inside a cooler with a ball valve on the outside. Worked great for the last couple years.

On Tuesday I am building a brew tree with three burners, a brewpot with a false bottom for mashing, and some high-temp tubing for moving everything around. Pumps may be added at a later date...

My advice when building brewing equipment is don't over think it. Keep everything simple and functional.

I made my own wort chiller by press fitting garden hose attachments to 25 ft of copper tubing as well. It works great for me. I am able to chill my boiling wort to about 80 degrees F. in about 15 minutes. I do this by using the chiller and also submerging the brew pot in a cold bath. Additionally, I gently move around the wort chiller tubing in the wort as well as stir the bath. This speeds up the cool down of the wort, increasing the cold-break.

After the quick-chill, I then let the wort sit in the covered brewpot for another half hour to allow the trub and hop leaves to better settle out. Then I transfer to the fermentation vessel with a siphon hose and pitch yeast, leaving behind the trub and hop leaves. Because I am using a siphon hose, it is necessary to vigorously shake the fermentation vessel with the yeast in order to oxygenate the wort.

I made my own wort cooler with 1/2" copper tubing and by rolling it around one of my corny kegs. The soldered upswing to each coil and to in the other end.

I only used 10' since I am making a circulation pump setup. I'll emerse pot in ice/salt water tub, suck 32 degree water into 1" pump through cooler and back out into tub.

Just with sink cold water on Wed. I cooled from 170-65 in about 15 minutes.

Wow. i never thought of building a stir plate myself. Any more details on that, Wild?

I've made two mash tuns and a stir plate so far.

I have a pic of my plate here:
http://www.deadyeast.com/phpBB2/viewtop ... stir+plate

They're pretty easy to make, Curlyfat. Here's the instructions I think I used:
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/homemad ... ips-64365/

If you make one, be sure to buy a good stir bar for it. I was using a slug of metal, but the magnetized stir bar is far and away the better thing.

Probably should have started a new thread, but...

If you make a starter, normally you pour off the "wort" and just pitch the yeast sediment.

If you use a stir plate, what's the process? Since all the yeast would be mixed in...do you pitch the whole sha-bang, or stop the stir for a few hours and then pour off the wort? I'd like to start using starters more since I'd like to have some successful lagers.