Salvage Brewing Co. - build thread

I've been brewing for many years now, but have never come up with a good name for my "brewery". Lately I've been brainstorming a new single tier system... And I woke up at 3am last night with the answer! (my brain solves a lot of things when I sleep)

Salvage Brewing Co.
"Several men's trash, is another man's brewery."

Background: I did buy a lot of new stuff when I started out, but quickly realized that I could repurpose many things to accomplish the same ends - delicious beer! When I moved to all-grain, I snagged two 10gal powerade coolers from the university, destined for the dumpster. Next, I dug out my great uncle's (and namesake) 100 year old aluminum lobster pot from the rafters of my parent's garage. Boil kettle, mash tun, check. Cost, $15 in fittings.

This worked great for several years.... Until I stumbled on a 1/2 bbl keg, sitting on the side of a friend's parent's house for over 15 years (since a high school party I might have been at). It was upside down and the skirt was full of dirt and had grass, dandelions and maple saplings (literally 3' tall saplings) growing in it. Now it's a boil kettle.

This brings me to my best salvage piece(s) to date:


That's a custom made diffuser for an aeration system in a lake or pond. I manage lakes and ponds for a living, and these were old, clogged and useless for aerating...not to mention way way way over engineered for their intended end-use. We replaced them with normal diffusers and the home owner's said to get rid of the old ones.

Lucky for me, they used all stainless square tubing and 1/2" stainless plates and I have 3 of 6 right now...... Perfect for a single tier brew stand!

I will update this build thread as I make progress. I would really like to find one Miller and one Coors keg, to make a BMC keg trio (have the B).

MT

Looks interesting, do you have any more pics of the aerator?

HDIr0n said:

Looks interesting, do you have any more pics of the aerator?

Click to expand...

I'm going to bust all the plastic heads off today. I'll take some with a real camera instead of the phone. Whoever made them could weld. They each have a 1/2" pipe on the end that is threaded for attaching hose barbs to attach the air line to. Then the air comes out of the 2" square tubing into each diffuser disc from a smaller threaded nipple (I imagine). The discs are somehow how locked on too, and don't just screw off.

I'm pretty excited to get this project started. I hate having to get out 30 pieces of equipment and tables and bricks and grill grates to brew... Then putting it all away! My goal is one stand, with the kegs storing underneath and easily disconnected mounts for the pump and chiller (thinking hitch type pins). I want a silicone tubing holder and maybe a lp tank mount on it somewhere, too.

I have a bunch of pictures off the great brew stand pic thread. Each with a piece or two I want to incorporate.... Essentially an HBT hybrid stand.

Plus one idea I haven't seen anyone else do.... Shhhh. ;-)


MT

HDIr0n said:

Looks interesting, do you have any more pics of the aerator?

Click to expand...

Got the diffusers taken off this weekend.

This is what the inside looks like for attachment to the frame:


Air comes out of the slots underneath the washer above, from these holes below:


The bottom of the diffuser heads has an o-ring to seal out water and that tab on the left prevents the whole thing from backing off the threaded post:


After smashing the first couple off with a mallet, the rest had thawed enough that I could just back the top off the threads on the outside of the diffuser head (sort of like the band on a canning jar, just 12" in diameter).



Here is the frame, diffuser free:


Other parts that needed to come off:

Air inlet:


Loops for attaching cables so that it could be lifted out of the water:


Plates on the corners:



I got the threaded posts, and cable loops cut off. Ground the stubs/welds, and then ran over the top and sides quick with a 3M flap disc.


You can sort of see the before (bottom) and after (right hand) the flap disc in this image:



I'm going to work on a mock up/diagram today if I get a chance. I might do a quick Gimp image to help show what I'm thinking.

Any and all thoughts are welcome!

Here's a quick Gimp image of what I am thinking. I didn't take the time to put the 45° braces in each square.



Thoughts? I know it is pretty standard...

Dimensions: 55" long X 17" Deep

Each square is 17" X 17", with 2" in between each.

I have never used Sketch Up before...it took a bit of futzing, but I got it enough to make this dimensional mock up of the top:


I am tossing around the height of the stand currently. I would like for it to store the kegs underneath, but my figuring says, with casters, it would be like 36.25" high (37" for wiggle room). That would put the kegs tops during brew day at 62". This does not sounds like a comfortable working height to me (5' 10")...meaning everything would be at chin height or higher.

I have time to figure this out though...and that means HBT searchin' time.....

Im in the pond management business too! Dont see that too often.

Have you considered storing your kegs horizontally. It could get risky if you have a breakable sight glass or anything like that on it. You could weld a semi circle piece of stainless making a sort of rack... I havent seen it done, probably for good reason, though.

Man i bet thats some cold work youve got going on up there!

Ppeg34 said:

Im in the pond management business too! Dont see that too often.

Have you considered storing your kegs horizontally. It could get risky if you have a breakable sight glass or anything like that on it. You could weld a semi circle piece of stainless making a sort of rack... I havent seen it done, probably for good reason, though.

Man i bet thats some cold work youve got going on up there!

Click to expand...

It has been cold; 6°F the other day, but I have a kerosene torpedo heater that can melt anything within 8 feet. I usually try to keep the shop around 40-45° F with that.

I need to search for stand heights and why people settled on them. Laying them down might work, but I'd have to take the sight glasses and glass lids into account. The more I think about it, the more I'm leaning towards a lower stand height.

MT

mthompson, looks like a great start.

I designed my single tier stand to store my keggles and MLT under it on a shelf. My stand it just under 33" tall, and it will fit two keggles under it on the shelf but no MLT. I failed to account for the burner and wind shield eating up valuable space. I did save some height by not using castors, it has two wheels in front so I can move it like a wheel barrow. My wheels are used but I think Harbor freight of Northern tool sells them cheap.

One thing you can do to save some height is to use pots instead of keggles, or just trim the skirt at the top of the keggle and have someone weld handles on the sides. I may have to take my own advise and do a little trimming of the top skirt and wind shield to finally fit everything on the shelf.

Good luck and keep us posted on your progress with lots of pics. The link to my setup is at the bottom of my post if you need a visual.

mthompson, I just noticed something about the dimensions of your rig sketch. It looks like the keggle will cover the entire burner opening. This can cause your flame to be partially smothered by the exhaust gasses it creates. I find that the holes in the skirt are not enough.

I had this problem and its fixed easily by resting the keggle on some pieces of 3/8" steel round stock giving the exhaust room to escape. If its difficult to imagine just think of how a home gas stove works with the pot sitting on a cast iron grate. The round stock I used were the bent sections cut off a Bayou classic burner assembly. They are not welded to the stand I just put them under the keggles on brew day.

mserke said:

Have you thought about mounting that top that you did in sketchup so that it would rotate flat and latch onto the legs and then become unpinned and rotate back down when not in use so you can still store kegs and have a height that is usable for brewing?

Click to expand...

I think I understand what you are saying, just having a hard time visualizing it. Could you elaborate?

I'm thinking a lot about mobility too, since I currently brew at my in-laws (group brews with 3-4 people brewing different stuff) .... Eventually with this stand I want my stuff at my house, then have it mobile enough to take over there once a once or so.

purplehaze said:

mthompson, I just noticed something about the dimensions of your rig sketch. It looks like the keggle will cover the entire burner opening. This can cause your flame to be partially smothered by the exhaust gasses it creates. I find that the holes in the skirt are not enough.

Click to expand...

This became really apparent when I added an opaque keg-sized cylinder to the top of the sketch. That was the first thing that came to mind.... It just looked "smothering".

I thought about 86ing the 45° pieces and shrinking the squares a bit and adding thin upright (1") bracing to keep kegs in place... I saw someone on here do that. This would allow venting in the corners of each square.

Thoughts on that as far as enough venting?

Looks good so far!

I don't think modifying your rig is necessary and you could probably do without the 45s. I think the vertical bracing others have used is more to center the keggle over the flame and keep it from moving. You need to lift it up a bit to get that exhaust flowing.

Having the keggle cover the most of the opening actually worked in my favor when I was trying to get faster boils during winter. All I had to do was add a skirt around the keggle (At a cost of $12)which uses the hot exhaust gasses to heat the sides. The keggle is lifted by 3/8" and the skirt sits below it on the flat part of the rig top. It produces a much faster boil and uses less propane.

I don't want to pollute your thread with pics of my setup but if you want I will take a few pics tomorrow and PM them to you. This way you can visualize what I am saying and it might give you a few ideas. Again I don't think you need to modify what you have.

purplehaze said:

I don't want to pollute your thread with pics of my setup but if you want I will take a few pics tomorrow and PM them to you. This way you can visualize what I am saying and it might give you a few ideas. Again I don't think you need to modify what you have.

Click to expand...

That would be great. I would rather modify it now in the beginning than as an after thought. I have to work out the burner mounting. I think I settled on BG12s, with a cut up corny keg for a wind screen. If I cut the corny wind screen section in the vertical, it should stretch to be welded on a few sides of the octagon center... And maybe leave enough space in the front for the burner tube to fit through.

I am still tossing around ideas for the base as well. I'm leaning towards a shorter base, with a slight flare in the bottom for stability.

MT

Ok,

Had a 60°F day on Wednesday, and a snow day yesterday....so I got a bit of work done on the frames:







All shined up....


I forgot I had this smaller one too.


Cutting wheels are scary when they shatter and you hear the pieces hit 3 of 4 wall around you...this is all that was left under the nut of the grinder.



Gotta do some redesigning of the stand in SketchUp and figure out the base. But, it should be ready to weld after I finalize everything and go over the plans with the welder. I thought about trying to do it with the MillerMatic 210 MIG, but I'd spend more money on a gun, wire, and a new tank with Argon/2% CO2 than I would to have it cut and welded by a guy down the road from me.

For the top I am thinking shrinking each square by 1", and getting rid of the 45° angle pieces. This would allow the gasses to vent in each corner of the square and allow more of the keg skirt to rest on the frame. Thoughts? Otherwise I can find some ss rods to weld on top to raise the keg a bit.

I'm also brainstorming burner mounts and how I could make them adjustable. I have a bunch of 1/8 ss sheet, I was thinking of cutting rectangles to mount the burner on, welding 2 ss threaded rod pieces on each side, and cutting slots on the wind screens for the threads to fit in, then ss wingnuts on the outside. I can get all these ss fittings (up to 3/4") from the Man's Mall (aka Mill's Fleet Farm or simply Fleet - best store on Earth!). And I am on the hunt for a junk corny keg that I can salvage for wind screens, otherwise a few ss stock pots will work too. Gotta check the local thrift stores for pots.

Stay tuned....

Here's another stand rendition I made up.




I'm not sure if this will be sufficient to vent exhaust gasses or not.

Time to think I guess....

Nothing is better then free scrap material!! I built my entire brewery out of scrap material, even my 30 gallon pots....

Hmmmm...... "Salvage Brewing Co." - I like the sound of it! Some people just don't recognize fine junk when they see it!

Junkster said:

Hmmmm...... "Salvage Brewing Co." - I like the sound of it! Some people just don't recognize fine junk when they see it!

Click to expand...

Thanks. $$$ spent on brew stand thus far: $0

I had a chance to do some more work in SketchUp (I'm getting the hang of it).



Here are the stand-offs I will use for the top. I am thinking 1/2" copper because I have some.




I picked up some 3/4" copper this weekend, plucked out of the walls of my brother-in-law's house in mid-renovation status. I plan to use this to make a manifold for the LP and also as conduit for the pump controls. I think the shined-up copper and stainless will look nice next to each other and they will have very low galvanic rates (probably not an issue, but it's how my brain works). I haven't looked into the copper lp manifolds, so 3/4" may be too large. However, I see a lot of stands using the frame as a manifold....so 3/4" should not be any different.

Okay, I'm starting to get the finalized stand dimensions together. I mentioned a few times about my need for a mobile stand....as in travel across town or to brew club events, etc.

So.....here's my idea (that I haven't seen anyone do before)....and yes, that is an accurate model of my truck, hitch mount is 23" from bottom to ground.


This is how I plan to get it in the hitch:


Another view:


All packed up and ready to travel:




My only question is, do you guys think that 11 ga 2" stainless tubing will be strong enough in the above configuration to travel that way? I have another configuration in my head, but it involves getting adapters for the 2" hitch and a solid hitch to go between the truck and inside the stainless tubing.

Let me know what you guys think.

If it is properly welded, yes...you could probably drive a bus over 12ga 2" stainless. If it is just the stand and burner, it'll be no problem at all. I would however put the hitch point lower by the wheels. The way you have it right now puts the casters way down below the hitch...any steep drive or bump could send the back of it into the ground. Then you may have a problem. if the hitch point is low it'll keep the whole thing up higher and safe from scraping the ground. Also, look into how Yakima and some other bike rack companies secure hitches from wobbling by using threads inside the hitch bar and a bolt to hold it all tight. Give you a little bit of extra peace of mind.

Maybe make a pivot mount so you leave it on the ground, hook it up and then pivot it up and lock it.

That would put the wheels pointing backwards and make it easier to hook and unhook.

hot_carl said:

If it is properly welded, yes...you could probably drive a bus over 12ga 2" stainless. If it is just the stand and burner, it'll be no problem at all. I would however put the hitch point lower by the wheels. The way you have it right now puts the casters way down below the hitch...any steep drive or bump could send the back of it into the ground. Then you may have a problem. if the hitch point is low it'll keep the whole thing up higher and safe from scraping the ground. Also, look into how Yakima and some other bike rack companies secure hitches from wobbling by using threads inside the hitch bar and a bolt to hold it all tight. Give you a little bit of extra peace of mind.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the info. They way it is now, there is 12" between the casters and the ground. I had thought about just putting the hitch mount portion under the center frame. This would give me an extra 2" of clearance. I will play around with a few configurations and see what I can come up with (I'm digging SketchUp right now).

I was thinking for stability, just throwing two ratchet straps from the chain loops to the outside upper corners. This would would pull both down and in to the receiver for added peace-of-mind. I will check out the Yakima-type mounts. though.

Thanks for the info!

hot_carl said:

Also, look into how Yakima and some other bike rack companies secure hitches from wobbling by using threads inside the hitch bar and a bolt to hold it all tight. Give you a little bit of extra peace of mind.

Click to expand...

Seems like this Anti-Rattle Ring would be easy to make for less than $25!

BargainFittings said:

Maybe make a pivot mount so you leave it on the ground, hook it up and then pivot it up and lock it.

That would put the wheels pointing backwards and make it easier to hook and unhook.

Click to expand...

Wayne, I'm having difficulty visualizing your idea? Got another explanation or specific example that I can search for?

Edit: Is this what you are thinking? Except, the stand would swivel up, so wheels/bottom face away from the tailgate?


Thanks,

Second idea for mounting....




I like the idea of the swivel mount though...

I have a hitch hauler for my little family SUV... a word of advise is needed here.

If you park in a parking lot with this attached to your truck, PLEASE park FAAAAAAAR away from anywhere remotely possible for anyone else to park near you. I have had my hitch hauler backed into more times than I care to remember.
I'm glad it has all kinds of bolts projecting out of it and I hope those bolts terribly defaced the paint job on those cars! I have YET to have someone leave a note so much as saying they were sorry... A hitch hauler is one thing... I would HATE to see anyone's brew stand torn up from the idiots that are allowed to operate complex machinery on public infrastructure!

Huaco said:

I have a hitch hauler for my little family SUV... a word of advise is needed here.

If you park in a parking lot with this attached to your truck, PLEASE park FAAAAAAAR away from anywhere remotely possible for anyone else to park near you. I have had my hitch hauler backed into more times than I care to remember.
I'm glad it has all kinds of bolts projecting out of it and I hope those bolts terribly defaced the paint job on those cars! I have YET to have someone leave a note so much as saying they were sorry... A hitch hauler is one thing... I would HATE to see anyone's brew stand torn up from the idiots that are allowed to operate complex machinery on public infrastructure!

Click to expand...

Not a problem, I don't plan to park anywhere with this on there. Plus, with my truck, I have to park way in the back lot because it can't turn into the stalls very easily. I normally pull through and park in the next stall ahead, pulling straight in.

Even with my wife's CRV, I park a few stalls past the last vehicle in the row.... Because people suck.

I have been saying for years, that driver's license holders should have to retake both the written and driving tests every 5 years; every 2 after 60 years of age.


MT

mthompson said:

Seems like this Anti-Rattle Ring would be easy to make for less than $25!

Click to expand...

Thats looks like a good idea, and I think you're right about it being easier to make it for less. Here is the Yakima setup for a 2" reviever:
http://compare.ebay.com/like/281058917962?var=lv&ltyp=AllFixedPriceItemTypes&var=sbar
Honestly though, the Hitch bolts are only like $9, and if you weld a nut inside the tubing on one side you have the same setup. The hitch bolt basically pulls that side of the reciever tube tight with the hitch insert to prevent wobbles. Looking forward to seeing the final product!

I woke up this morning at 3:30am.....another dilemma solved:







I could make a narrow frame to put in the hitch first, then roll the stand over to the frame, slide it up and on (stop block and double vertical supports aid in alignment), then four 1/2" bolts with wing nuts, washers, lock washers on top.

This setup is similar to the pivot mount that Wayne mentioned. But, this way it will allow me to use it on different vehicles easily, keep a safe distance between the stand and ground, and reduce bulk on the stand when it is at home in the garage.

Thoughts?

If I were doing this, I would NOT trust wing nuts. You could use NyLock nuts and be more comfortable driving down the road without the worry about the wing nut vibrating loose. Also, no matter what you do, ALWAYS put the bolt in from the top of the connection so that gravity will help hold it in the hole in the even that you do lose a nut.
Or, another idea would be a hitch pin with a cotter pin through it.
This mounting system does look more robust though. I would go with it!

Huaco said:

If I were doing this, I would NOT trust wing nuts.

Click to expand...

I was thinking this too. I was re-reading the other posts, and I think I am going to weld in a nut on the bottom of the hitch frame portion. Then the threaded rod will go from top to bottom, with a washer and lock washer up top for security.

I plan to also ratchet strap the two pieces together on both sides and back to the chain rings.

Huaco said:

Or, another idea would be a hitch pin with a cotter pin through it.

Click to expand...

I thought about this route, but I want something that is not going to rattle around a bunch.

Huaco said:

This mounting system does look more robust though. I would go with it!

Click to expand...

Thanks, I've been thinking about it for several days...then, poof, solved while sleeping (again)! I have deliberately used this sleep-solving during grad school as well. Only then, it was mostly statistical modeling. Works every time for me.


At any rate, I'm getting closer to taking the plans to the welder....

mthompson said:

I thought about this route, but I want something that is not going to rattle around a bunch.

Click to expand...

Wonder if you could insert plastic bushings?

Huaco said:

Wonder if you could insert plastic bushings?

Click to expand...

I think it would have the same issues as the rattle at the hitch. This is solved by any number of bolt apperatus to firmly lock the pieces in place. (I learned of these because of this thread and others on HBT ). Welding the nuts on the bottom will be easy enough.

I need one of these for this project and for my deer rack thing...I hated using it because of the rattle!

Something like this for a foldable unit. Your way would probably be easier as you would need a way to hold my version to get a pin in.

Just the tubing part of the brew stand is going to be ~140 lbs. Then the added weight of the burners, gas pipe etc... the weight gets up there pretty quick. If you pivot this thing, it may get away from you easier than you think. Are you planning on having another person there to help you load/unload when you need to?

Huaco said:

Just the tubing part of the brew stand is going to be ~140 lbs. Then the added weight of the burners, gas pipe etc... the weight gets up there pretty quick. If you pivot this thing, it may get away from you easier than you think. Are you planning on having another person there to help you load/unload when you need to?

Click to expand...

I think it will be okay with the double vertical supports acting as slide rails. They have 4" of play to either side before they would fall off. If it is sketchy, I could put some guides on the of the hitch frame that would not let it slide left or right.... I will make a sketch of that tomorrow.

The tubing is relatively light compared to the 1/2" plates that were on ever corner. I bet they are 20# each!

MT

Not much progress on the stand, but I snagged 40 ft of 12/3 underwater cable. It was the tag end of a cable for a floating fountain that had been chewed on by a muskrat. I cut it back until no more water damage was found..... And voila:







I got a "new" GFI cord for my pumps and stuff! Should be thick enough for a few things to be running at the same time.

I plan to pick up a 2-pack of GE remote control outlets so that this cord and all the cables can be out the back of the stand and out of the way of foot traffic, but I can turn the pumps on/off with ease from the front.

MT