I've built a home brew system for brewing beer.. It's controlled by a Raspberry Pi that allows me to read temperature sensors in the vessels, and to turn on elements, a pump and open/close motorised valves..

I've designed it so that the vessels are on top of each other, to save space and to allow it to gravity feed.. The HLT (Hot Liquor Tank) is on top with a 2kW element for heating the water.. The HLT feeds into the Mash Tun and then lauters into the Boil Kettle at the bottom where there is another 2kW heater.. A 12 volt pump on the bottom of the Boil Kettle pumps the hot wort (after the boil) through the heat exchanger to cool it before and into a fermentation vessel.