All grain brewing

How large is your boil kettle? If it's big enough, you could do BIAB. The only additional investment needed would be a bag.

 

The only extra room you need is for a mash tun. I would use a rectangular 72 qt cooler or smaller. Easier to store than water cooler, you can sit on it, you can put your stuff in it and no dead space in the bottom

 

His idea is better

 

A mash tun seconds as a cooler. You should have one of those anyway. No extra space taken up.

Brew in a Bag is a very good way to get into all grain with little overhead and no extra space.

After brew day, and everything is dry, it would be easy to stack brew gear inside of your cooler. Or, you could probably fit a few milk crates of beer bottles in there.

 

One consideration is that you do not have to brew a 5 gallon batch. Maybe it would be an easier transition for your first all grain batch to brew a smaller size batch (e.g., 3 gallons). You can mash the grains in your brew kettle and then place that brew kettle in your oven set to 150 degrees F. Use a grain bag to contain your grains.

Cheers!

 

You don't need a hot liquor tank. Just a mash tun.

If you BIAB, you don't need a mash tun.

 

If you ever get a larger kettle then you can use your smaller one for heating sparge water, so don't sell it at a garage sale.

 

Also, there's the 1 gallon all-grain route. But, I understand if that's much less interesting.