Another stainless Brutus-clone

Wrapping up my single-tier stainless stand. I have to finish welding the screens to the supports, pop some studs onto the front lower bar to mount a Therminator, and complete the control panels. Then I can install the Honeywell pilot valves and plumb my burners.
The panels will be pretty neat, there will be a lower panel that contains the transformer for the Honeywells, my relays, and terminal blocks for my temp sensors. I am using a dual control system in which I can plug a single cable into the lower panel that leads to another, handheld panel that houses my PID controllers and pump switches. Alternately, I can plug a cable into the same port that runs to my garage and will plug into a BCS-460 controller. I'll post some pictures and P&ID once I have them completed.
The whole stand and gas beam were TIG welded, the beam was purged and pressure tested at 150psi for 24 hours. Well above the ~1/2psi it will be run at.
I'm a little stuck on burners, I had planned on using the 6" cast iron LP burners from Agrisupply. Now I'm leaning towards the 10-tip jet burners. They will be easier to mount, and just look really cool. I'm using natural gas and currently doing 5-gallon batches. I figure I can install a flow restricting orifice to tone the flames down until I step up to 10-gallons. Thoughts?

Here are a few crappy iPhone pictures to show where it's at, some hi-res pics coming once I bring the stand home from my shop.

Using NG with the Banjo burners requires a larger orifice. (.125" to be exact)
Beautiful stand. Want to come build stands for a living?
I do have one question: what is the logic of using mesh for wind screens on your burners? They won't reduce radiant heat or keep the wind from snuffing out a flame. I would expect them to glow red during a boil.

Thanks for the compliments! I've got the orifices for the Banjo's, just not sure if I want to use them.
As for the mesh screens, it was more just because I had the material and though it would look cool. I don't really need a wind screen with the jet burners, though, they do diffuse any breeze enough that I don't have to worry about my standing pilot blowing out. Just for looks mainly.

By the way, the hoses I ordered arrived the other day and look fantastic! Do you want the non-rated set back?

Glad you like them.
I'll PM you

Stand looks really good. I just purchased my material for another stand I'm building this AM and saw that same mesh material, I think it looks cool.

OneHoppyGuy said:

[...]I do have one question: what is the logic of using mesh for wind screens on your burners? [...]

Click to expand...

Obviously, he put the "screen" in "wind screen"

I wouldn't have gone there, but it sure looks cool...

Cheers!

The 10 tip jet burners work well for me, but they're kind of driving me nuts with how loud they are. Another friend used the BG14 burners and they are near silent. I'm in the process of helping a friend build a clone of my stand and we're going to use the BG14's on that one also. I may end up switching mine to those just to make it quiet.

The standing pilots on the 10 tip burners blow out very easy. I just switched to electronic ignition on mine because of that.

JonW said:

The 10 tip jet burners work well for me, but they're kind of driving me nuts with how loud they are. Another friend used the BG14 burners and they are near silent. I'm in the process of helping a friend build a clone of my stand and we're going to use the BG14's on that one also. I may end up switching mine to those just to make it quiet.

The standing pilots on the 10 tip burners blow out very easy. I just switched to electronic ignition on mine because of that.

Click to expand...

Good to know. I put the BG14 burners in another stand I built but they were too big for this one. Right now I am using two 10-gallon and one 8-gallon kettles but I sized the stand to fit two 15 and a 20-gallon Blichmann eventually. I wanted it to perform well AND look good so the BG14's were out. I had planned on using three BG12's but they are kind of a pain to mount; plus, I was thinking about the larger batches and wanted potentially more output. That brings me to the 10-jets.
JonW, were your pilots extinguishing due to the burner or the breeze blowing them out? My 'screens' diffuse the wind enough that I could keep a match lit while blowing through the screen. I was hoping to save some money with the standing pilot but maybe I'll sell the parts I've got and go with the electronic ignition setup.

Thanks for all the comments!

Yes, it was wind blowing them out. I made an electronic ignitor system out of a 3 probe BBQ igniter. I modified it to be triggered with a DC SSR and drive it from the BCS system. It works 100% reliably.

The 10 tips work good, they are just loud as hell. See the 35 second mark in this vid: [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-exFecRiVg]"Brewcommune Homebrewer's Club" Brew Day - YouTube[/ame]

Very nice stand. One question: why recirculate your chilled wort?
What I mean is: If you can achieve pitch temperature on a single pass, why reheat your wort by reintroducing it in the the kettle?
No being critical, just food for thought.

OneHoppyGuy said:

Very nice stand. One question: why recirculate your chilled wort?
What I mean is: If you can achieve pitch temperature on a single pass, why reheat your wort by reintroducing it in the the kettle?
No being critical, just food for thought.

Click to expand...

I'm guessing your question is to me from the video above???

I recirculate back into the kettle because my ground water temp is so high that I usually can't get to pitching temp in one pass. During this time of the year, I'll be close, but normally I'm low to mid 80's in the first pass.

Whirlpooling is another reason to recirculate.

Jon, your stand looks great! I really like the integration with the BCS-462. I looked at yours quite a bit when deciding between the BCS and Brewtroller.
Thanks for posting the video. The burners are louder than I was expecting. I'm going to order a few and give them a go since they will play nicely with my stand. I can always swap out to the BG12's if need be.