desiderata

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How many of you are brewing good AG beer without the investment in a brewstand? I'm thinking of going into all-grain, but I don't know if I want to purchase one, or if I'll even have room for one.

Is it viable?
What methods do you use?
How safe is it? (I'm thinking of lifting the wort, pouring, etc.)
How efficient is it/time consuming?

All I have so far are two orange Rubbermaid 5 ga. coolers to convert. I'd still need to get a burner and larger brew pot, among other accoutrements. I just need to know if there are others out there who do fine brewing AG without a 3-tier brewstand. Thanks.

McCall St. Brewer

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Brewstands are nice, but with your setup they are far from mandatory. I have a tall (bar height) kitchen table and I have the same setup with two 5 gal. orange coolers. The sparge tank goes on the table, the mash tun goes on a heavy duty cardboard box that's the right height and the brew pot goes on the floor. Meanwhile, two stockpots are on the stove to heat water as needed for temp adjustments.

Works fine so far. If I lived in a state where it was nice all the time, or, even if I had an attached garage, I suppose I would set up some kind of a stand and get an extra burner of some type to heat sparge water.

If you just want a stand, there are zillions of ways to make them, but I think the cheapest, easiest stands I have seen are made by using heavy duty metal shelving units.

It's far from a necessity, though.

dcarter

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Hi desiderata,

My entire setup consists of a 48 qt cooler converted with CPVC manifold and a turkey fryer burner/pot combo from Lowes that costs about 80 bucks. I just set my lauter tun up on my patio table and sparge into my brew kettle on the ground. You don't "need" a three teir stand from what I can see but it would be a nice addition if you find that you will be doing this for a while.

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desiderata

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Thanks for the replies.

So, the heated sparge water going into the kettle doesn't damage the floor/patio?

and then, I'm guessing you have to lift up the kettle full of wort to put on the stove/burner? I'd have to be really trusting of the kettle's handles

dcarter

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The sparge water should only be around 170 degrees it shouldnt hurt anything. If you are concerned you could always use a wet towel underneath it though. On the second part you definately need to trust your handles but most pots of this size are made to handle the weight.

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djamwolfe

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I use a 7 gal kettle, a turkey fryer burner and a 5 gal igloo water cooler with a SS braid. I havnt had any issues with safety as the coolers are easy to lift when full, you just have to be careful your back. Ive done at least 10 AGs with no stand and have no intentions of doing one any time soon.

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No brewstand here. No need, its a luxury. I haven't had any problems due to lack of brewstand.

Only equipment I bought to upgrade from extract to AG was a cooler and some copper tubing for the manifold.

david_42

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I have a turkey fryer and a set of shelving. I'm converting a spare microwave cart, so I can work outside if I like. I've seen good AG done on folding card tables.

I have a large pitcher I use to move wort & water around most of the time. Sometimes, I'll use the other burner and the pump, but not generally.

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Bernie Brewer

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My brewstand build is stalled at the moment due to other projects, so I'm still using my old ghetto-rigged system in my garage: My sparge oges on top of my pop-up camper, and I put my picnic table next to that and set my mash on the table, and my keggle goes on the grround under the table.

>shrugs<
It works.............

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Dude

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I think every single one of us started without a "real" brewstand. You aren't a better brewer automatically because of it.

The ONLY reason I wanted a brewstand was for safety. I was tired of lifting 100 lbs. of scalding hot fluid over my head--and that is why I made something permanent. I almost like tinkering with projects as much as I like brewing, so really that is the only reason I've spent so much time and effort on my rig.

Back when I was using the plastic shelves and picnic table for tiers, it was still fun as ever.

Safety was #1 priority for me, YMMV!

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