My Single Tier Strut Brewstand

Just wanted to start this thread as a way to document what I was doing not only for the forum but for me so in 2 years I can go back and look how much it might have changed.

First off I need to say that I shamelessly took? Borrowed? Used? Copied? Ah anyhow, I saw this thread: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/solid-strut-single-tier-build-400624/ posted by lpdjshaw. I was traveling for work and thought "man I want a single tier, how can I get one" so I took to the DIY section here and now I have a single tier....Well almost, it's not done and I have not brewed anything on it.

In short the main reason I was attracted to lpdjshaw's design was that I had the same burners he did/used so I was able to use them in the same fashion.

I am just quite done yet, but here are some pics of my progress.

Some More

And More..

More..

More Pics

Sorry for any duplicates, my iphone named the images all dumb and the trick or treators keep knocking on my door distracting me! LOL

The wood on the bottom is in my garage now, with a nice coat of polyurethane on it to seal it from all the spills I plan on having!

Hey Dave nice stand, very simple. What was the total cost and where did you get the burners?

Turkeyleg said:

Hey Dave nice stand, very simple. What was the total cost and where did you get the burners?

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Thanks! I bought this from amazon http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0006VORDY/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

It is great for crawfish boils etc.. I figured when I do need to cook like that why not just use my brew stand, after all it's only like once a year I use it!

Anyhow I chopped it up and what you saw are the results. I have a chugger pump ready to install once my stain dries!

I love the Uni-strut design. I will be building a new brew stand very soon and will be using the same idea. As for the burners.. I read that they are only 30,000 Btu, compared to the bayou banjo which puts out close to 150,000. Do you think that this is going to affect your brew time? I like the design and simple implantation of the burners but the btu's are the only thing that's holding me back.

Either way - Happy brewing!

BigTuna said:

I love the Uni-strut design. I will be building a new brew stand very soon and will be using the same idea. As for the burners.. I read that they are only 30,000 Btu, compared to the bayou banjo which puts out close to 150,000. Do you think that this is going to affect your brew time? I like the design and simple implantation of the burners but the btu's are the only thing that's holding me back.

Either way - Happy brewing!

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Uni-Strut rocks!

As for the burners, I would not just go out and buy this stove. I happened to have it and made it work. If you look close you will see that I swapped out the original burners for Banjo BG12's. Lots of people here use them. I have lit them but still have not performed a Dry "wet" run of the system yet.

I also have read on here in multiple places that the 30K BTU's might extend your boil times a little however they use way less gas then the 60K BTU's. For me my brew day is just that a "brew day". and because I step heat my water it really does not make much of a difference.

I go from ~75 Degree water (in Florida our water is always warm) to ~166 for my strike water, then while I mash I can re-heat up more water for my sparge. once I do my first runnings I turn the boil kettle up to full blast ( a trick I learned from Bobby) No since in wasting that time.

Now that I think about it I don't see any issues with the 30K BTU's LOL I have just convinced my self... But I did swap them out for the BG12's anyhow!!!!

Agreed! I am most likely going to get the BG14's and i'll need to purchase or make the wind shields. I ordered the strut last Thursday and I'm still waiting for it to arrive. Hopefully it comes tonight or tomorrow because I plan on building this weekend since i'll have the help of my cousin.

I'm thinking about going with a adjustable High pressure regulator and putting valves before all 3 burners. I'm not that educated about propane or the fittings so I hope this works. I Eventually hope to get a 100lb tank.

BigTuna said:

Agreed! I am most likely going to get the BG14's and i'll need to purchase or make the wind shields. I ordered the strut last Thursday and I'm still waiting for it to arrive. Hopefully it comes tonight or tomorrow because I plan on building this weekend since i'll have the help of my cousin. I'm thinking about going with a adjustable High pressure regulator and putting valves before all 3 burners. I'm not that educated about propane or the fittings so I hope this works. I Eventually hope to get a 100lb tank.

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The one thing I will say is good luck getting it done in one weekend! I thought "I already brew with a three tier system , besides the stand what else do I need"?

Lol well I still am not ready to brew on it! Although I have been slowly buying the items I need, I didn't know I needed them until I got to the next stage! Oh well it will be worth it in the end. I feel like I now have a home brewery instead of a few turkey fryers and some wooden tables!

I should correct myself. I'm just putting together the stand this weekend. I don't have my keggles or anything else haha. I'm trying to get some 1/2 BBL Sankes but they are proving difficult to acquire. I'm going to go with one pump, cam and groove, digital temp gauages, Herms coil with MT return tube and sight glasses. I'm pretty much getting all of this from brewhardware.com since they have a lot of nice stuff.

Your system and mine sound very similar, I have two 1/2 Sanke's that I use for my HLT and BK. I actually have a 3rd 1/2 Sanke ready to become my MLT but I am not ready to spend the money on that and retire my 10Gal. Rubbermaid cooler just yet.

brewhardware.com rocks I have bought all my fitting etc. from Bobby, no offense to the other vendors on here it was just that I wanted to have all the same type (brand) of camlocks, elbows etc. I honestly don't know if Bobbys are all the same or if there are any difference but whatever.

About the only negative thing I can say about brewhardware.com is they do not offer FINANCING! LOL J/K well kinda haha

Here is a list of what I have ordered from Bobby just for this adventure of going to a single tier. This does not include sight glass/thermos and other items from past orders.


AMLOCK FITTING
Item# Cam F , Select Type: Cam F ... $4.15 USD 5 $20.75 USD
CAMLOCK FITTING
Item# Cam BL Kit , Select Type: Cam BL Kit ... $11.00 USD 1 $11.00 USD
Weldless Bulkhead
, Select Type: Option 3. Smooth ELbarb $14.00 USD 1 $14.00 USD
3-piece Ball Valve
Item# 3PBV $18.00 USD 1 $18.00 USD
Replacement Compression Ferrules / Rings
, Material: Nylon , Tubing Size: 5/8 $1.25 USD 2 $2.50 USD
Weldless Bulkhead with Tube Compression
, Size: For 5/8" Tubing , Compression Sleeve: Nylon Sleeve $26.00 USD 1 $26.00 USD
mashtube / loc-line kit
Item# mashtube , Options: Plastic Only $19.00 USD 1 $19.00 USD
Total w/ Shipping $123.25 USD
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
3-piece Ball Valve
Item# 3PBV $18.00 USD 1 $18.00 USD
1/2" NPT to Large OD Tube Compression Fitting
Item# 1/2F5/8T , Select Sizes: 1/2" FEMALE NPT to 5/8" OD tube , Which Ferrule Type?: Nylon/Delrin Ring $17.00 USD 1 $17.00 USD
mashtube / loc-line kit
Item# mashtube , Options: Weldless Kit with Cam A $25.00 USD 1 $25.00 USD
Total w/ Shipping $67.00 USD
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CAMLOCK FITTING
Item# Cam F , Select Type: Cam F ... $4.15 USD 1 $4.15 USD
CAMLOCK FITTING
Item# Cam BIG C , Select Type: Cam Big C ... $8.00 USD 2 $16.00 USD
CAMLOCK FITTING
Item# Cam BL Kit , Select Type: Cam BL Kit ... $11.00 USD 2 $22.00 USD
CAMLOCK FITTING
Item# Cam A , Select Type: Cam A ... $4.15 USD 2 $8.30 USD
SS Hose Clamp
Item# Large Single , Options: Large Clamp -Single... $1.85 USD 4 $7.40 USD
1/2" ID Silicone Tubing by the foot
Item# SiliconeFT $2.39 USD 10 $23.90 USD
Total w/ Shipping $93.75 USD
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CAMLOCK FITTING
Item# Cam A , Select Type: Cam A ... $4.15 USD 1 $4.15 USD
3-piece Ball Valve
Item# 3PBV $18.00 USD 2 $36.00 USD
Variable Length Weldless Bulkhead
, Choose Type: VB2 Standard w/ 2 Locknuts $15.00 USD 1 $15.00 USD
Total w/ Shipping $64.15 USD

Total of Order #1 $123.25 USD
Total of Order #2 $67.00 USD
Total of Order #3 $93.75 USD
Total of Order #4 $64.15 USD
Total of all Orders $348.15 USD

Here is my stand as she sits now waiting on the next order from Bobby. BTW, my big order from Bobby is not in that photo and neither are some of the other items.

Did you drill through the strut to secure the gas lines? What did you use to do the drilling?

musikguru6 said:

Did you drill through the strut to secure the gas lines? What did you use to do the drilling?

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I bought some eye bolts that were just a little smaller then the 1/2 iron pipe, put them in my vise and opened them up just enough so the would slip over the pipe. Then I assembled all the fittings with the eye bolts over the pipe there on the center and finally took my vise and somewhat compressed the eye bolt down on the pipe, this is not needed I just wanted to keep it from being to wobbly. Finally I just measured out where I needed the holes fir the eye bolts and just drilled them with a simple metal drill bit. Your not working with stainless so it was pretty easy, I only drilled through the outside of the strut and bolted them down between the channel. I did have to cut about 1/2" off of the bolt section to allow me to tighten it down all the way. It holds very strong and secure.

I just wanted to add some new photos to my thread here, some might be redundant but I am making progress!!

A few more...

Last one for now!

Do you have any more photos of how you secured the pumps to the stand?

I can take one for you, I am at work now so it will be this evening or tomorrow.

Thanks!

Another question for ya - how did you secure the casters to the stand?

I'm also very interested in where you got the casters/mounts from. My stand is also uni-strut but I haven't found affordable caster mounting options that are easy to install. If you could provide a link and/or more pics that would rock.

andrhamm said:

I'm also very interested in where you got the casters/mounts from. My stand is also uni-strut but I haven't found affordable caster mounting options that are easy to install. If you could provide a link and/or more pics that would rock.

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I got the casters from here: http://amzn.to/1b9I4t0

Just bought some M12-1.50 nuts from HomeDepot.com (didn't have any in store) to secure them to the stand. Hoping that will work, because the strut nuts I got for the stand don't work with these.

Oh, and securing to the stand with some of the angle brackets.

These are what I used to secure them to my stand: https://strutchannelfittings.3dcartstores.com/THK-147-ANGLE-BKT--3-HOLES_p_34.html

I obviously flipped them so that the angle went over and around the bottom of the strut, leaving the single hole dead center. I was able to put the casters stud into that hole and bolt it down. It's very solid and not coming lose!

Nice job boss. I am looking to do pretty much exactly what you did with the gas. At the risk of asking a dumb question here, for each side of the Y (manifold I suppose some fancy pants would cal this), you have the large shut off valve and also a needle valve? Is that so that you can get more precision with the needle valve?

dolpheye said:

Nice job boss. I am looking to do pretty much exactly what you did with the gas. At the risk of asking a dumb question here, for each side of the Y (manifold I suppose some fancy pants would cal this), you have the large shut off valve and also a needle valve? Is that so that you can get more precision with the needle valve?

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Thanks! Yes I have both a needle and the ball valve. My thoughts going into the project were that I could use the needle valve to fine tune my flame and the ball valve would be for easy "fast" shutoff if I started to overshoot my temps. I originally wanted to only used the ball valve but I had read where some people where getting orange flames when using the ball valve to adjust the flame intensity. This is not the case with my burners if I had to do it over again I would NOT buy the needle valves. I actually just leave them wide open and use the ball valves to adjust the flame as it works just the same and is actually a little easier to adjust. Since I already had them installed etc. I elected to just leave them in place.

I know a previous poster inquired about how you secured the pump to the stand. I'm about halfway through my build (similar to yours), and am also wondering how you secured it. Could you possibly take a pic of that?

Also another question - How did you get a bolt into the middle slot of that caster bracket? I also picked up some casters with a 4" bolt coming out of it, and it blocks me securing anything through that hole.

Fighthouse said:

Also another question - How did you get a bolt into the middle slot of that caster bracket? I also picked up some casters with a 4" bolt coming out of it, and it blocks me securing anything through that hole.

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Sorry, I missed this. That bolt was part of the bracket that mounts to the wheel, I bought it with that on there. I bought the casters with a threaded stud.

I just want to thank you again for your inspiration and design. I completed my build, you may notice a few similarities

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/my-new-single-tier-strut-brew-rig-445540/

-Kevin

BigTuna said:

I just want to thank you again for your inspiration and design. I completed my build, you may notice a few similarities



https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/my-new-single-tier-strut-brew-rig-445540/



-Kevin

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No problem!! I got lots if my ideas from others here so it all works out fir everyone!


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