light weight tier system

Dark_Ale · 10-20-2007, 10:37 PM

I was wondering if any one had any ideas on a light weight tier system, well I will just throw this out and if you wanna give your 2cents great! I have not brewed anything in several months. It just got hard on my back picking up kettles full of beer and dealing with icebath's etc....So I made a promise to myself not to brew until I got the equipment that would make it easier. So piece by piece, I have finally got everything I need. imersion chillers, counterflow chillers, Kegs for kettles etc. I need to build something thats easy to transport. I know by design most homebrew stuff is heavy to some extent but I need to build something I can load in the truck and go brew at the brew shop, or sometimes for the club we do demo's to promote and get people excited about brewing. I just need to be able to gravity drain my water to mash tunn then from the mash to the kettle nothing complicated, without breaking my back. I've got access to welding machines and have some ideas but was thinking that some of you may have a better idea or seen some pretty nifty designs.
Thanks

**kladue** · 10-21-2007, 12:30 AM

You might be interested in the brewing stand that is constructed with pipe as the central support and has burner and shelve assemblies that slide over the central support. Inner pipe is 1-1/2" SCH10 pipe and the attachments are 2" SCH80 pipe which is a close fit over the 1-1/2" pipe. All that was needed to lock the assemblies in place was 2 - 1/4" bolts in the 2" pipe tightend finger tight to keep platforms from moving. Here is a view from the back side of the brewing system http://picasaweb.google.com/kevin.ladue/OldBrewingSystem/photo#5123578535569159058

Dark_Ale · 10-21-2007, 12:48 AM

That looks pretty cool, Looks like I could build it to come apart really easy , and assemble it pretty quickly. Thanks for the pic. I watched a guy brew earlier this summer he had two 50' immersion chillers, one in a bucket of ice then one in the kettle, once he got the wort cool enough where you could hold your hand on the kettle, he then disconnected the water from the immersion chiller in the wort and ran the cold water from the ice bucket immersion chiller to a counter flow chiller using a wort wizard to pull a vaccuum on the carboy thus sucking the beer from the kettle. It was pretty cool, anyway finished brew out of the counterflow was 60~65F. I want to be able to mount my counterflow so its not falling over and make it all simple to use.
Thanks

**kladue** · 10-21-2007, 04:57 AM

Mount the counterflow chiller on the underside of the platform that holds the mashtun, it is usally wasted space. The system in the picture was made to disassemble and hang on the garage wall when not in use. With this setup you can mix the components and elevations when you assemble it, adding burners, HLT, and additional mashtuns as needed. With a round pipe you are not limited to 90 degree increments of rotation around center support and can setup parallel mash and boil kettles.

**Lil' Sparky** · 10-21-2007, 07:54 PM

DesertBrew built a 3-tier stand out of aluminum. I bet it's pretty lightweight.

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/aluminum-3-tier-19828/index3.html

**pedalbiker** · 10-26-2007, 10:30 PM

You may want to concider a single tier stand not as much lifting. Maybe think about a mash tun that will tilt to empty.

D*Bo · 10-27-2007, 04:11 AM

I've seen a trailer brewing setup that used pumps.
Everything on the same level, no lifting.
Tilting mash tun to empty.

D*Bo · 11-02-2007, 12:41 PM

What about wheels and a trailer hitch on top of a tier setup?
You''d have to get it inspected by a statie, but after that you are alll set.

ScubaSteve · 11-02-2007, 03:47 PM

+1 on a single tier. If you've got back problems, a 2/3 tier is still gonna require you lifting things above your head. Pumps may be expensive, but they are totally worth it and open up a lot of possibilites.