Which single tier rig would you go with???

I have been given the "green light" from the wife to design THE rig for me. I don't want to just go out and buy a rig from the LHBS but I want to build the last one I will ever need.
Here is the issue, after all the research and sifting through the pros and cons of each system I have come to only a few things I MUST have.
1: single tier
2: built in plate chiller
3: all grain 10Gal size
4: I'll be making the stand from metal

Here is the stumper, I dont know if I want to do an electric rig/natural gas (I live on base so I would get those for free for some time now) or stay with Propane as I've been working with it for the last 3 years or so.
**HERE IS THE REAL QUESTION** IF YOU WERE TO BUILD YOUR LAST RIG WHAT WOULD IT BE? Please feel free to throw a link in that you've seen of someone else's rig... all I know is that I'm dying to spend this money on my life long hobby and not have to tweak it any more and do it right the first time (yeah right, not tweak it anymore... that will never happen, I know!)

Thank you for your thoughts!

I'm very happy with my current setup, I haven't had to buy any gear in a couple years. I did swap out my old plate chiller for a quality IC, which was one of the better decisions I've made. I'm also a huge fan of using natural gas instead of propane, so nice!

Rad wife, have fun!

Well, if it were me, I would go electric. If I couldn't go electric then it would be natural gas. Propane would be the last resort. I brew with it fine today, but being all electric would be ideal for me. In fact, I am moving that way today. Propane runs out and while I haven't had that happen yet, I have had to make a dash to the market to get refills on brew day when I was unsure of my propane supply.

I have a plate chiller that I have never used. I bought it on a weird whim thinking I would use it over summer and ended up using my pump from my Marks Keg Washer to push chilling further over summer using that in an ice bath. I have no issue with a plate chiller, just that I don't need it after all. Personally, I think I'd stick with a great IC.

Because this will be your last rig, give a lot of consideration for where it will be for the rest of its life. Then, if you were to upgrade, could the rig handle it? You said 10 gallon all grain, does that mean 10 gallon vessels? I would build for at least 15 gallon. Leave room.

Will you build a HERMs or RIMs system? Will you have room if you do? What about a digital control panel? These are add ons for sure but consider where the extra items will go and consider spacing between vessels.

Finally, pumps. You absolutely need pumps with a single tier.

Seeing as the weather is 36 degrees Fahrenheit and raining in Boise this morning, I would say electric and indoor brewing are a must IMHO. Seriously look at indoor electric if at all possible now, or in the future.

I'm an electric guy. I would build more-or-less the rig I have which is a single tier, electric fired boil kettle with two pumps and a plate chiller. Any plate chiller with mounting studs can be mounted to your stand, that's the easy part. I recommend the Duda Diesel B3-23A 20 plate or larger.

Right now, my mash tun is an insulated keggle with false bottom, but I plan to add a Blichmann RIMS rocket to make it a RIMS fired mash. I can't wait to be able to do that. I'm not sure when I'll get to it though.

"Brulosopher": Funny you posted to my cry for help; it was your posting probably a year maybe 2 years ago about going Natural Gas that brought that idea up with the wife (couldn't find your original post so thank you for including it, you have no idea how much you helped LOL)
"Hello": I'd be doing 10Gal batches but I'd be keeping my sanke kettles (upgrading them though). I am still deciding on HERMS/RIMS, I have as much time as I want to decide. I was hoping this post would help me decide on one direction or another.
"wilserbrewer": I actually moved from there about 3 months ago so I'm in sunny Cali now however, I always brew in the garage with lots of room, thanks for the thought though.
"testingapril": I found Duda Diesel on Ebay, do you know anywhere else I can compare prices? I like their options and their warranty (can't go wrong with lifetime). Also, do you have a link to some pics of what your using?

Thanks a bunch to all the people that have put their 2 cents in, keep it coming!

Building a stand AND going electric could be pricey. I'd build the stand to use what you currently have kettle wise, with either NG or propane burners. You can always use the same stand in the future for electric. As far as HERMS/RIMS, personally I'd go with a direct fire RIMS system. I personally like being able to knock out 2-3 10 gal batches in one shot. A 2 batch brew day is only an hr or hr/half longer than a single brew day. But I couldn't do that with a HERMS.

I'd go electric and save money by building a nice wooden stand instead of metal. I have an electric rig and I'm very happy with it.

so the thing to take into account here, are you part of a brew club that hosts "brew days"? You wire up an electric system for 220, and that could be next to impossible to do somewhere else. Same thing with NG burners. Just something to think about.

LandoLincoln said:

I'd go electric and save money by building a nice wooden stand instead of metal. I have an electric rig and I'm very happy with it.

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I agree! My stand is a combination of wood and metal. It's an old workbench frame modified with bed frame and some pressure treated lumber. :cross:

I know I've got less than $50 bucks into it, mostly for paint.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f253/my-single-tier-lpg-erims-build-319391/
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f170/my-new-50a-brewery-412257/
I've built a few brew stands, my last two were propane with e-rims and a plate chiller and then all electric herms with a chillzilla counter flow chiller. If I were to do it again I would go with all electric e-rims with a chillzilla counter flow chiller.
Also I'm currently building a e-biab with 25 gallon kettle. Steel stand with a tile top. One pump and a counter flow chiller.

My homebrew club is very social and does monthly brewouts that rotate between member's homes. While electric would be nice if I were brewing at home all the time, at least half if not more of my brew sessions are road trips so electric is not practical.

My current stand is the third generation in less than three years. I stared with a two tier steel stand that quickly morphed into a single tier stand that worked well until I can into possession of a bunch of extruded aluminum. I built a single tier, RIMS stand from that.

I built mine to, hopefully, last for a while. It is electric and wood, so that may not interest you but it uses an integrated PC that works incredibly well, even with my warm groundwater.

My Build

Thank you everyone for your posts! Its given me lots to think about and gave me more things to decide on.

wilserbrewer said:

Seeing as the weather is 36 degrees Fahrenheit and raining in Boise this morning, I would say electric and indoor brewing are a must IMHO. Seriously look at indoor electric if at all possible now, or in the future.

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Agreed. If you are in or will be in a place with winter go electric!

I definitely concur with the "go electric" advice if you're in a cold climate. It only took one brew session on my stand with freezing tubing to convince me that I'm a panzy and that the "future upgrade" electric ports on my kettle and HLT were going in to immediate use. If I'd known how big a difference it made right out the gate I could have saved quite a bit of money by skipping the gas hardware.