RogerP wrote:I found the tank connector, do you still need it?
Sorry Roger, I should have updated you - I don't need it any more. I needed some other bits from BES so I bought a couple of tank connectors and drilled them out myself. Hope you didn't waste ages hunting for it.
(Though, in case anyone else finds this post and is thinking of doing the same: be warned that the tank connectors they currently have don't have a "small ridge" like many sources suggest - they change width half-way, so you have to drill out several centimeters rather than a couple of millimetres. I guess there's been a change of design. It's still doable, just not quite as easy. Main difficulty was that the drill bit is prone to stick, so you need something pretty solid to hold onto the tank connector to stop it spinning.)
Anyway, thanks to all the advice on here and other places, my mash-tun is now built and operational. I did a partial-mash a few weeks ago. Efficiency on the low side, I suspect that's my fault, rather than the mash tun's.
Buoyed by my success I then went on to build a boiler. Had a few problems with one of the elements leaking (very slowly). Maybe due to sloppy hole-drilling. But I think I've got that sorted - I ordered some silicone sheet off of ebay and fashioned a second gasket, seems to have made it watertight. So, I'm now ready to do my first all-grain this weekend.
For my next trick, I'm got a temperature sensor from Mr Lard and an Arduino and I'm going to try to build a thermostat/temperature controller for the boiler.
Thanks again for the help, folks.
To brew beer from scratch, you must first create the universe.