Show me your WOOD! (structure that is) No electric, No pump

Hey y'all! Currently drinking my 3rd extract brew to extinction and every batch keeps getting better. Going to make the step up to all grain, but, I am going to do it right.

I am going to be building, within the next 4 months, a wood 3 tier gravity fed all grain system. Don't want to spend the money on the pump if gravity can do the work, propane easier with burners than going all electric for me right now, and I know my way around wood, not steel.

Show me some of your systems that are wood based so I can get some ideas, I will be uploading and sharing progress after I decide, which hopefully will result in a Lowes/H.D. run this weekend.

By the way, currently in the process of getting 2 kegs for free and converting to keggles. Figure I would use one for a MLT and one for Boil Kettle with a converted Cooler for the MLT until I can aquire another free Keg.

Thanks yinz guys!

I'm building mine this week, will post up pics when ready.

I just about finished mine this weekend. I'll take some pics and post them up.

Just recently added the pump to this one, but it isn't necessary. I just use it for recirculation / whirlpooling during the cooling process. One of the good things about wood is that it is easy to modify / add on to whenever you would like to.

dmbeck2 said:

Just recently added the pump to this one, but it isn't necessary. I just use it for recirculation / whirlpooling during the cooling process. One of the good things about wood is that it is easy to modify / add on to whenever you would like to.

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This looks really nice. I've always thought about building something like this, but I wasn't sure how concerned I should be about the propane burners being that close to the wood. I don't think the wood underneath the burners is a problem, but what about the wood structure to the right of your boil kettle's burner? Is it far enough away that the heat that reaches the wood is minimal?

I'm in the middle of building a keezer right now (I'll start a build thread when I'm done, or mostly done), but when that's finished I'm going to put serious thought into building something like this.

Here's my 2-tier. I used some aluminum sheets to insulate the wood from the burners, but it ended up being redundant since the aluminum doesn't even get warm.

I have some spare Hardibacker lying around that i'm going to use to fireproof mine... don't want to burn down the garage!

dmbeck2 said:

Just recently added the pump to this one, but it isn't necessary. I just use it for recirculation / whirlpooling during the cooling process. One of the good things about wood is that it is easy to modify / add on to whenever you would like to.

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This looks sweet! Great job! This is kind of what I am thinking currently, I like the wood idea because of it would be easy to modify down the line, opposed to welding. No extra $ for a pump right now, but do plan on purchasing one down the line.

Mine is in the following thread:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/my-brew-sculpture-227322/

Brewed a batch this weekend and it worked perfectly!

I will be finishing it with some stain and other things to "pimp" out my brew stand. But this thread will show you a lot of pictures of the build.

This one is all wood, but probably not what you were looking for!

Shooter said:

This one is all wood, but probably not what you were looking for!

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That's a sweet setup!!!

kellynm said:

That's a sweet setup!!!

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...and it folds up for easy storage!

notrealdan said:

This looks really nice. I've always thought about building something like this, but I wasn't sure how concerned I should be about the propane burners being that close to the wood. I don't think the wood underneath the burners is a problem, but what about the wood structure to the right of your boil kettle's burner? Is it far enough away that the heat that reaches the wood is minimal?

I'm in the middle of building a keezer right now (I'll start a build thread when I'm done, or mostly done), but when that's finished I'm going to put serious thought into building something like this.

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As long as you keep some space between the wood and flame then you shouldn't have any problem. The 2x4's on each side below the burner can get pretty hot, but not to the point where they are going to catch on fire or anything. The wood to the right of the boil kettle doesn't get very hot at all. One thing I did do when I built this was purchase a fire extinguisher just in case, but I've brewed about 15 batches on this stand and I don't anticipate having to use it. I also roll the stand outside to brew most of the time. Good luck!

Some more here:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/show-me-your-wood-brew-sculpture-rig-73794/

I have one in my sig.....

Here is mine, before I added my water line and a few other things.

^Nice!

I just ordered the parts to convert the three Sankes I got over the weekend. So, once I find a place to put it, we're building a wooden three tier.

Keep em coming, guys!

Not really a brewing structure but I built 2 wood carts for my electric BIAB setups. After a some years of brewing and tweaking my brewing systems I decided that an easy to clean all-in-one electric BIAB system was the way to go for me. I have two because even though I typically brew 10 gallon batches I like to brew 5 gallon batches when trying out a new recipe and since I routinely experiment with new recipes they see about the same use. So a 10 gallon SS Brew Tech BME kettle and a 20 gallon custom Spike brewing kettle. Love them both.

Well, here is mine. Just recently built a RIMS but was designed to work without that.

Shooter said:

This one is all wood, but probably not what you were looking for!

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This is awesome! And hopefully not patented because I am definitely going to take it and run!

ProblemChild said:

View attachment 590431 Well, here is mine. Just recently built a RIMS but was designed to work without that.

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what's that big cylinder looking thing in the middle? kinda looks like some 1" SS pipe with a water heater element inside??? something to maintain mash temps or up the temps for a mashout?

odie said:

what's that big cylinder looking thing in the middle? kinda looks like some 1" SS pipe with a water heater element inside??? something to maintain mash temps or up the temps for a mashout?

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It is a RIMS made from 2" SS pipe fittings. Black box next to it is the PID. Currently has a 1650W SS water heater element in it. Does a great job getting mash water up to temp and doing temperature mashes. I get close to 3 degrees a minute with 4 gallons in the mash. Can go from 122°F protein rest to 148°F sacc rest in just shy of 10 min. Bumping to mash out from the is about the same. Thinking about running a 220V line over to it and really letting it scream.

Built mine over the weekend. watch this video to see how I built it.