Brutus Ten ????

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Well I finally got my stand welded, I just need SWMBO to let me go get it. I made a CAD model and drawing of my entire product, and yesterday I was changing colors around to see what I wanted to paint it. I decided Gloss Black would look pretty nice. (even better if i get the time to polish the kegs). So my question is what kind of paint/primer did you guys use? I figure ill have to scrub the entire stand with something to remove the oils on the metal, then prime it and then put a High temp resistant paint. Im just not sure what kind would be best for the application.
 
i did a quick paint job with high temp flat black grill paint.

which reminds me that I need another coat. I basically just did it for rust prevention becasue I really didnt want to cover up those beautiful welds
 
korndog said:
I assume he is talking about 1/4" o.d. refer tubing which is hand bendable.

Good idea on the extra stability. I haven't had an issue yet, but then mine hasn't been transported to an event yet either. I had a leak in on of my welded joints too. JB Weld fixed the pinhole with no issue.
Click to expand...

Korndog, yes I was referring to the hand bendable tubing. My burners are the ring type and will be mounted to the frame. The tubing should be flexible enough for rolling it around the garage.
 
Mirilis said:
So my question is what kind of paint/primer did you guys use? I figure ill have to scrub the entire stand with something to remove the oils on the metal, then prime it and then put a High temp resistant paint. Im just not sure what kind would be best for the application.
Click to expand...

Have that sucker powdercoated!
 
SWMBO Surprised me with my wedding present. She had my stand welded for me.

100_1351.jpg


100_1350.jpg
 
Ok, now i have a super important question. My fiance just scored 2 free new asco valves 8210G34. Is there anyway I can make them work? This would be a lot cost savings for me. The problem is I believe these are normally open, and the PSI for Fuel Gas is like 125.. does that mean it needs to be under 125 wich would rock (since alli want is like .5) or does it need to be over 125 wich would probably be an instant deal breaker.
 
Mirilis said:
Theres not a way to rewire it to make it work?
Click to expand...

First. Those valves are 0-125. they are fine. I think you CAN use normally open valves. I think you just have to set your Love for cooling instead of heat.

If you have the 2008+ Love switches, I think you can just wire to the NC terminal instead of NO and be good to go. You will have continuity when the controller is powered, which will close the valves. You would just program for heat like normal.

One way or another, you will be able to make them work. You just might have to turn your gas off before you power down the controller.
 
korndog said:
First. Those valves are 0-125. they are fine. I think you CAN use normally open valves. I think you just have to set your Love for cooling instead of heat.

If you have the 2008+ Love switches, I think you can just wire to the NC terminal instead of NO and be good to go. You will have continuity when the controller is powered, which will close the valves. You would just program for heat like normal.

One way or another, you will be able to make them work. You just might have to turn your gas off before you power down the controller.
Click to expand...

2008+ meaning built this year right? not a new model or anything? I may be able to contact Love Controls and ask them the best way to make it work with my situation and see what they say. Id hate to just sit here and stare at those valves.. If i have to I may be able to find someoen to buy the and buy the STC valves. I think i can get 2 of those for $88 Shipped
 
Mirilis said:
2008+ meaning built this year right? not a new model or anything? I may be able to contact Love Controls and ask them the best way to make it work with my situation and see what they say. Id hate to just sit here and stare at those valves.. If i have to I may be able to find someoen to buy the and buy the STC valves. I think i can get 2 of those for $88 Shipped
Click to expand...

Do your Love switches have NO and NC terminals? They probably do. You'll be fine if you want to save the dough, but like I said; you will have to turn your gas on after you energize the coils and off prior to shutdown. NC valve would be better, but definitely not necessary.
 
I havnt purchased my Love Controls yet. So I will just make sure that they have those ports. As for how to work it I was thinking of putting the ball valve above the asco like Chimone did and what I will do is open the pilot valve and light it, then turn on love controler and valve. At that point it should energize and close, then I can open the ball valve ahead of it and should be good to go correct?
 
If you are willing to spend a little time looking, you can get the Normally Closed rebuild parts to change you asco's from NO to NC. Make sure to get AC plunger parts if you are using an AC coil.
 
A normally closed solenoid valve is preferred from a safety point of view because if you lose power for any reason, you will shut off the gas. If you forget to close the tank valve when you are done brewing, and you unplug your rig, guess where all your propane will go...

The place on a fuel system where normally open solenoids are best is for vent valves. In a formal Burner Management System, you use two NC fuel shutoff valves and a NO vent valve teed off between the two. This way you can be as certain as possible that you aren't supplying gas to your unlit burner.

All that blathering aside, as long as your Love controller can handle it (consult the manual), it will work fine. Our Brutus Ten (in design right now) will be operated off a PLC, which will give us almost infinite flexibility (at the price of ridiculous complexity--gotta love overkill!) and can use either NC or NO valves.
 
woohoo

this is hilarious. My welder was just over here picking up a keg when we got to talking. Aparently my Brutus was built with 2x2x1/4 Haha I thought I had 1/8" this whole time but its a quarter inch instead. I thought it was pretty damn heavy
 
Chimone said:
woohoo

this is hilarious. My welder was just over here picking up a keg when we got to talking. Aparently my Brutus was built with 2x2x1/4 Haha I thought I had 1/8" this whole time but its a quarter inch instead. I thought it was pretty damn heavy
Click to expand...

Wow! That sucker must weigh a ton.
 
Chimone said:
woohoo

this is hilarious. My welder was just over here picking up a keg when we got to talking. Aparently my Brutus was built with 2x2x1/4 Haha I thought I had 1/8" this whole time but its a quarter inch instead. I thought it was pretty damn heavy
Click to expand...

LOL That thing must be heavy.. hope you got some extra heavy duty casters
 
After comparing 1/8" & 1/16" at a metal supplyer here I ended up deciding on using 2x2x1/16"... I'm probably going to add a couple of vertical braces on the back side just to make myself feel better about it. :)

I felt that doing 1/8" was going to make for one heavy stand.

dWiGhT
 
dWiGhT-TX said:
After comparing 1/8" & 1/16" at a metal supplyer here I ended up deciding on using 2x2x1/16"... I'm probably going to add a couple of vertical braces on the back side just to make myself feel better about it. :)

I felt that doing 1/8" was going to make for one heavy stand.

dWiGhT
Click to expand...

I did mine with 1.5 x 1.5 x 1/16th and I used the supports that the brutus calls for. We had 2 guys on it that total at 500 pounds and it didn't flex at all. I would say you really wouldn't need extra supports. You will have to be more careful about the tubing wanting to twist with the heat from welding. I've brewed on it twice now and it is fine.
 
Look at McMaster Carr... they are brass and they are cheap!
 
apesQUOT/ the cheE=Displaced MassHole;740739]Hey does anyone have a good supplier for the quick disconnects on the brutus, still trying to find the right ones for cheap.[/QUOTE]

Depends what you are looking for, really. If you want stainless steel, then B3 has the cheapest by far. I went that route, but they are still relatively expensive. Yes, Mcmaster has some reasonably priced brass ones. You want the high flow nipple. I love my QD's. They make the whole process come together elegantly. I also have two garden hose adapters fitted with a brass set for cleaning, chilling, etc.
 
Hello:

I'm in the process of planning a Brutus 10 build.
I'm trying to decide on going with the 60 qt. Megapots, but don't know if they will fit on the structure using Lonnie's plans.
Can anybody chime in on what they're using and whether Megapots will work?
I've also found a 60 qt. ss kettle on Amazon that 17 3/4" dia. for a great price, but I think it's too big?
Thanks in advance for any info. provided.
Great thread and forum by the way :)

~Rob
 
rsorbo said:
Hello:

I'm in the process of planning a Brutus 10 build.
I'm trying to decide on going with the 60 qt. Megapots, but don't know if they will fit on the structure using Lonnie's plans.
Can anybody chime in on what they're using and whether Megapots will work?
I've also found a 60 qt. ss kettle on Amazon that 17 3/4" dia. for a great price, but I think it's too big?
Thanks in advance for any info. provided.
Great thread and forum by the way :)

~Rob
Click to expand...

The beauty of the brutus is that you can do what ever you want with it. If you need the frame to be a different size to compensate for different diameter kettles, well the function will still work the same. Bring your pot to the welder and tell him to make the frame fit.
 
rsorbo said:
Hello:

I'm in the process of planning a Brutus 10 build.
I'm trying to decide on going with the 60 qt. Megapots, but don't know if they will fit on the structure using Lonnie's plans.
Can anybody chime in on what they're using and whether Megapots will work?
I've also found a 60 qt. ss kettle on Amazon that 17 3/4" dia. for a great price, but I think it's too big?
Thanks in advance for any info. provided.
Great thread and forum by the way :)

~Rob
Click to expand...

The megapots are not a good design for the Brutus because they are short and large in diameter. The 15 gallon kettle is 19" in diameter. The Brutus has a 16-16 1/2" span allowing a gap between pots that you will find necessary for lid management on some pots. The structure is designed to fit the Italian kettles of 14 gallons perfectly, but you can certainly modify for others.
 
Chimone said:
The beauty of the brutus is that you can do what ever you want with it. If you need the frame to be a different size to compensate for different diameter kettles, well the function will still work the same. Bring your pot to the welder and tell him to make the frame fit.
Click to expand...

Oh yes, I was figuring that too. I want to go stainless and making changes to accommodate bigger kettles just adds to the cost. :(
Thanks for your reply!
 
korndog said:
The megapots are not a good design for the Brutus because they are short and large in diameter. The 15 gallon kettle is 19" in diameter. The Brutus has a 16-16 1/2" span allowing a gap between pots that you will find necessary for lid management on some pots. The structure is designed to fit the Italian kettles of 14 gallons perfectly, but you can certainly modify for others.
Click to expand...

Thanks Korndog for your input.
I like the look of the Italian kettles (tall and slender).
They cost more from NB and I don't know if there's a better deal anywhere on them. The Amazon 60 qt. stockpots are 16" tall and 17 3/4 wide, so not as bad.
I figure if I add 2" to the length and width on the frame in should accommodate them. Not as nice as the Blichmann's on your rig, but going stainless is the only big plurge I can do on this brew project. :)
I still can't believe SWMBO didn't veto this when she saw me reading about Brutus 10 in BYO. :)
The one area of the Brutus I haven't seen good pics of are the lids with the copper returns. Can anybody point me to pics?
Thanks!

Rob
 
rsorbo said:
Thanks Korndog for your input.
I like the look of the Italian kettles (tall and slender).
They cost more from NB and I don't know if there's a better deal anywhere on them. The Amazon 60 qt. stockpots are 16" tall and 17 3/4 wide, so not as bad.
I figure if I add 2" to the length and width on the frame in should accommodate them. Not as nice as the Blichmann's on your rig, but going stainless is the only big plurge I can do on this brew project. :)
I still can't believe SWMBO didn't veto this when she saw me reading about Brutus 10 in BYO. :)
The one area of the Brutus I haven't seen good pics of are the lids with the copper returns. Can anybody point me to pics?
Thanks!

Rob
Click to expand...

Sounds like the Amazon kettles would work fine it that case.

The returns Lonny uses are curved pieces of copper tubing with a compression fitting into an elbow. I'll try to find a picture. There are several alternatives to this setup, but the basic concept of having them built into the lids is excellent. You can get a 1/2" st. elbow, a 3/4 X 1/2 bushing, and 3/4 copper water flex from hardware store. Here is a picture of that setup in stainless.

I found the picture of Lonnie's lid but I cannot upload it. PM me your email address and I can email it to you.

IMG_01111.jpg
 
korndog said:
The megapots are not a good design for the Brutus because they are short and large in diameter. The 15 gallon kettle is 19" in diameter. The Brutus has a 16-16 1/2" span allowing a gap between pots that you will find necessary for lid management on some pots. The structure is designed to fit the Italian kettles of 14 gallons perfectly, but you can certainly modify for others.
Click to expand...


Here is a quick sketch of my dimensions, this is different than Brutus but will work well for Italian/Euro Kettles in 14 gallon :

SavantDimensions.jpg
 
BrotherhoodBrew said:
Crap I don't have a name! I've been calling it the Brutus 10-DL but that is not catchy enough but works for now. There are a few minor things to finish but I've brewed on it twice so far and it has worked well.

A few small teaser shots and you can see the rest of them on my flickr page.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/brotherhoodbrew/sets/72157605889391749/
Click to expand...

Damn nice looking Bro. Did you polish that stainless yourself or did you buy it brushed?

Her's the name I chose. I still have to do a better decal job though.

IMG_0138.jpg
 
BrotherhoodBrew said:
Bought it brushed. Saved me a lot of time.
Click to expand...

Yeah, the place I bought my steel had 1/16" brushed finish, but I didn't know any better at the time, so I got the 1/8" mill finish. Definitely would go that route if I had another chance.

I really love my rig though. One design improvement that I would consider for new builders is routing the burner controls to the front somehow. I am thinking about using loglighter valves and a long key to have better control without burning my ear off.
 

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