My wife, Lori, and I built our own brewing system last summer. It builds on the system and techniques that we have learned - which was a 10G rubbermaid cooler mash tun, 7.5G kettle, and batch sparging. Previously, we were constantly lifting buckets, kettles, and mash tuns full of liquid several times during a brew session. Everyone loves a new gadget, but we also wanted our brewing to remain hands-on as much as possible while removing grunt work.
So looking to use the techniques we were used to, not wanting to buy a pump, and wanting to be able to get it out under my garage door left us with one option - build a '2.5 tier' brew system. The mash tun sits on a winch operated lift so that all liquid movement is done by gravity. I believe its the first of its kind. I've seen kettles and hot liquor tanks that raise, but not mash tuns (I didn't to an exhaustive search though).
![](https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-tMqfSVxnJA4/TsR0AfoGGaI/AAAAAAAAAxk/Tozt8V9jcj8/s720/DSC_0090%252520%2525289%252529.JPG)
There are many more pictures of the build and first brew here, with captions explaining how it works.
https://picasaweb.google.com/Jimmy.Kroon/BrewensteinABrewingMonsterEnjoy!