My Weldless Build Using Strut

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I'm talking about the actual black pipe gas distribution manifold. I'm going to have a 3 banjo burner setup, similar to herc1354's, and I'm debating building it myself, or going to a local propane shop and having them build it. I'm just a bit leery about fooling around with propane. If someone in PDX had experience with a shop, I was going to drop by and talk about my setup with them and see what their cost would be to build a manifold for me.

However, the more I'm reading through the forums, thought, I may just suck it up, go to Lowes, and build my own... it seems that if you use a bunch of gas tape on all of the threads and crank it down, and leak check it, it is pretty safe.
 
pdxkale said:
I'm talking about the actual black pipe gas distribution manifold. I'm going to have a 3 banjo burner setup, similar to herc1354's, and I'm debating building it myself, or going to a local propane shop and having them build it. I'm just a bit leery about fooling around with propane. If someone in PDX had experience with a shop, I was going to drop by and talk about my setup with them and see what their cost would be to build a manifold for me.

However, the more I'm reading through the forums, thought, I may just suck it up, go to Lowes, and build my own... it seems that if you use a bunch of gas tape on all of the threads and crank it down, and leak check it, it is pretty safe.

I recently tapped into my gas line to add gas for our stove. I had a neighbor in the know who helped but it was very easy. Measure very carefully because when you get your pipe at Home Depot or whatever they will cut the lengths for you and thread them. Then it's just screwing everything together and using pipe dope for propane. Last thing is to run gas through it while painting the seams with soapy water, any leaks will show with bubbles right away. This is really very easy.
 
I'm talking about the actual black pipe gas distribution manifold. I'm going to have a 3 banjo burner setup, similar to herc1354's, and I'm debating building it myself, or going to a local propane shop and having them build it. I'm just a bit leery about fooling around with propane. If someone in PDX had experience with a shop, I was going to drop by and talk about my setup with them and see what their cost would be to build a manifold for me.

However, the more I'm reading through the forums, thought, I may just suck it up, go to Lowes, and build my own... it seems that if you use a bunch of gas tape on all of the threads and crank it down, and leak check it, it is pretty safe.

I went to the local Home Depot Store and bought various lengths of Black Pipe with appropriate elbows, Tees, and nipples. It was real easy to put together. The main thing that you will want to do is make sure that you have a pipe dope that is appropriate for propane and natural gas.

This is what Blichmann Engineering recommends for a manifold for the Top Tier Stand. I figured that if this is all they do, why wouldn't it work for me. Seems to be just fine.

Mark
 
I'm talking about the actual black pipe gas distribution manifold. I'm going to have a 3 banjo burner setup, similar to herc1354's, and I'm debating building it myself, or going to a local propane shop and having them build it. I'm just a bit leery about fooling around with propane. If someone in PDX had experience with a shop, I was going to drop by and talk about my setup with them and see what their cost would be to build a manifold for me.

However, the more I'm reading through the forums, thought, I may just suck it up, go to Lowes, and build my own... it seems that if you use a bunch of gas tape on all of the threads and crank it down, and leak check it, it is pretty safe.

FWIW, if you have the ability to undertake (and accomplish) one of these builds even though its really no more than REALLY heavy duty eretcor sets, there is no reason you can't build your own gas delivery manifold system. Simple. Just be cautious and you'll be fine. Especially once you understand what could happen...
 
hyperboarder said:
+1, 110 lbs of fittings to my door in Idaho in 3 business days.

Quick thread hijack....

Hey hyperboarder. I see you're in Meridian. I'm in Nampa... Are you a member of the Snake River Brewers or anything?

We now return you to your regularly scheduled thread...
 
Quick thread hijack....

Hey hyperboarder. I see you're in Meridian. I'm in Nampa... Are you a member of the Snake River Brewers or anything?

We now return you to your regularly scheduled thread...

Not yet but I just moved here, so I imagine I may be soon. You?

Finished the stand as far as I can tonight, waiting on casters and control panel hardware. Just shy of 60' of strut in this thing, it's a hoss. I will admit, I jumped on it to see how much it flexed (not much). Then I turned it on end, climbed up, and surveyed the neighborhood from my perch :D.

1000425_10101043423113703_1838103523_n.jpg
 
Then I turned it on end, climbed up, and surveyed the neighborhood from my perch :D.

HAHAH.. yeah I decided to use mine as a gravity tower until I can source more parts for the single tier setup. Also considered using it as a Motorcycle build table... that thing is hefty!
 
Yeah, mine is quite stout :). Got the casters today, can't decide if it's too tall or not:

1045079_10101047064910513_606872075_n.jpg


For reference that's a Penrose kettle (~17.5 gallons).
 
I have chosen a design and now am at the hardest point.
Deciphering all the parts i need :p

I have sketched my plan out and need (5) 10' foot lengths of strut, which is very easy for me to get.
It is the adapter brackets that I must now search out. I have access to local HVAC/Electrical/plumbing supply houses but they would rather me know exactly what i need and not rummage threw there bins to find the right bracket. Also there is no knowing the price till the counter looks it up.

so my question is....

Where have you all been ordering your brackets from?
 
Just caught up on some of my magazine reading yesterday... I spotted the BYO article, and I was surprised to find one that went even more in depth in the previous issue of Zymmurgy. Do we have a Zymmurgy writer lurking around these parts?
 
Yeah, unfortunately BYO limited it to 400 words so I had a real struggle even writing it in that many words. Had to cut so much out it made it seem kind of weak, but out of my control. Didn't get to read the one in Zymurgy. Kind of strange though that the Zymurgy one came out just before this one, and I knew nothing of the other one.
 
The Zymurgy one focused on building an oversized 2 tier, but didn't really go beyond building the frame. There was a brief discussion at the end (granted, I was only skimming by that point) about burners and plumbing, and possibly tying into your home's natural gas plumbing if such was available, but it didn't include much in the way of pictures of attaching burners or manifolds or such... Seemed kind of a shame, since they definitely had a lot more room available to give a more soup to nuts idea of what's involved in a build...
 
Not yet but I just moved here, so I imagine I may be soon. You?

Finished the stand as far as I can tonight, waiting on casters and control panel hardware. Just shy of 60' of strut in this thing, it's a hoss. I will admit, I jumped on it to see how much it flexed (not much). Then I turned it on end, climbed up, and surveyed the neighborhood from my perch :D.

1000425_10101043423113703_1838103523_n.jpg

Yup, we meet the 2nd Thursday of every month. For more info, our site is snakeriverbrewers.org. If for no other reason it's kinda fun to try out other homebrews after each meeting. And, if you're into sours we have a solera barrel going right now that scored 41.5 at NHC and there's a bourbon barrel project coming up soon.

Quick question on your stand... That's an interesting way that you mounted your casters. Do you suppose there is any advantage or disadvantage to doing it that way opposed to just extending your corner verticle pieces all the way down and just mounting directly to those?

There are a couple of us in the club who have built strut stands with at least one more thinking about it now after checking ours out. And now that the BYO and Zymurgy articles came out there wil probably be more.
 
Yup, we meet the 2nd Thursday of every month. For more info, our site is snakeriverbrewers.org. If for no other reason it's kinda fun to try out other homebrews after each meeting. And, if you're into sours we have a solera barrel going right now that scored 41.5 at NHC and there's a bourbon barrel project coming up soon.

Quick question on your stand... That's an interesting way that you mounted your casters. Do you suppose there is any advantage or disadvantage to doing it that way opposed to just extending your corner verticle pieces all the way down and just mounting directly to those?

There are a couple of us in the club who have built strut stands with at least one more thinking about it now after checking ours out. And now that the BYO and Zymurgy articles came out there wil probably be more.

I was going to try to make the last meeting but ended up accompanying the preggo wife to the hospital for a false alarm. Intrigued by the barrel projects for sure.

I think the casters are a tad weaker than mounting direct to the vertical sections but these stands are all pretty overbuilt so I'm not worried. I built the top and bottom sections as big rectangles to keep it simpler and put the verticals in between the two. If this ends up being too tall I'm going to mount direct to the bottom and see how it works. I need to figure out a way to mount an LCD arm as well, with the current setup I only have about 8" of extra strut so it might be nice having that extra bit from the legs.
 
The Zymurgy article was a reflection of a lecture from last year's AHA Conference in Seattle. Many of the same pictures. Lecture was BrewGuyver.
 
I read the Zymurgy article by BrewGyver, and within a week decided I was going for an automated brew stand. I struggled a bit with the directions, being uneducated in the fabrication of things. After scratching my head a bit, I got it built. I have just fabricated the propane gas manifold from black pipe, after some trial and error with the measurements, hard-plumbed to the stand. I decided to give three 23 jet wok burners a try 5 inches from the keggles. I had taken alot of ideas from the various DIY forums here, most notably forums on weldless builds, building detachable ss probes, the teensypi project, and the electric brewery site. I thank them and all the others that take the time and effort to share ideas, and helped to get this together. I have the teensypi built from scratch, and hope to automate in the coming months. I hope to post pictures, measurements, etc. after I do wet run this weekend.
 
Bummed. Wanted to start my Brutus 10 style strut stand today. I can't find a single place anywhere near me that rents a chop saw for cutting metal. I don't have a compound mitre saw, plenty of neighbors who do, but I am afraid of screwing them up cutting metal.

I've read a couple posts where people have used a sawzall and report good results. I am thinking of trying this, but afraid of ability to get good 90 degree cuts. Would you use a mitre box with the sawzall?

Also home depot had very limited quantity of fittings, and very $$$. Am now thinking i will oder from strutchannelfittings.com and get them to make the cuts and get the fittings there too.
 
Check out strutstands.com. It's a website I started to offer a few of the popular designs as a kit. All of the pieces will come cut to size along with all the necessary fittings, nuts, bolts and casters.
 
bd2xu said:
Bummed. Wanted to start my Brutus 10 style strut stand today. I can't find a single place anywhere near me that rents a chop saw for cutting metal. I don't have a compound mitre saw, plenty of neighbors who do, but I am afraid of screwing them up cutting metal.

I've read a couple posts where people have used a sawzall and report good results. I am thinking of trying this, but afraid of ability to get good 90 degree cuts. Would you use a mitre box with the sawzall?

Also home depot had very limited quantity of fittings, and very $$$. Am now thinking i will oder from strutchannelfittings.com and get them to make the cuts and get the fittings there too.

I just clamped a 2x4 with a square edge to the strut and used it as a guide for my sawsall. I clamped the strut to my workbench for stability because I was working alone and got good straight cuts. Just make sure you got a good metal blade and it should cut like butter
 
I've read a couple posts where people have used a sawzall and report good results. I am thinking of trying this, but afraid of ability to get good 90 degree cuts. Would you use a mitre box with the sawzall?

Don't worry too much about cutting it perfectly straight. Your connectors are what make it work. I have a few crooked cuts because of the sawzall moving a bit but it doesn't matter. Everything bolts together straight.
 
Don't worry too much about cutting it perfectly straight. Your connectors are what make it work. I have a few crooked cuts because of the sawzall moving a bit but it doesn't matter. Everything bolts together straight.

I would agree. I used an angle grinder and some cuts were slightly off but everything bolted together fine.
 
I'm thinking about jumping on this bandwagon, but I'm hoping someone can help me out with a couple things:

(1) I only have a handheld circular saw, so I don't think I have the necessary tools. Does anyone know if strutchannelfittings (or someone else) will cut strut to different sizes? Maybe a place locally in San Diego? :)

(2) Having never worked with gas lines I'm apprehensive about screwing up the manifold and blowing myself up or lighting my dog on fire ;). Anyone know a place I can buy a premade one? Maybe also in San Diego?

(3) any suggestions on burners? I previously brewed on this stand with a jet burner: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00264G584/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20. I like the strut so I can mount my pump, chiller, etc., but I don't want to lose the power we got from that jet burner (I want to say it boiled 10 gallons in about 20 minutes). I use 15 gallon kettles from morebeer and am looking at a 2 burner stand and a cooler.
 
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PowellsPub said:
I'm thinking about jumping on this bandwagon, but I'm hoping someone can help me out with a couple things:

(1) I only have a handheld circular saw, so I don't think I have the necessary tools. Does anyone know if strutchannelfittings (or someone else) will cut strut to different sizes? Maybe a place locally in San Diego? :)

(2) Having never worked with gas lines I'm apprehensive about screwing up the manifold and blowing myself up or lighting my dog on fire ;). Anyone know a place I can buy a premade one? Maybe also in San Diego?

(3) any suggestions on burners? I previously brewed on this stand with a jet burner: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00264G584/ref=redir_mdp_mobile. I like the strut so I can mount my pump, chiller, etc., but I don't want to lose the power we got from that jet burner (I want to say it boiled 10 gallons in about 20 minutes). I use 15 gallon kettles from morebeer and am looking at a 2 burner stand and a cooler.

Yes strut channel fittings will custom cut but they have most of the common sizes pre cut now too.

Have you thought about making a stand that incorporates your existing one? Maybe remove the wheels from the current one and bolt it to a lower frame of strut with its own wheels. The strut extends on either side and builds up to hold your cooler etc.

And/or you could just bolt strut to that stand to make mounts for the pump etc.

I've looked at that stand a couple of times - does your boil kettle sit high enough to drain into a carboy or do you have to pump or siphon?
 
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(1) I only have a handheld circular saw, so I don't think I have the necessary tools. Does anyone know if strutchannelfittings (or someone else) will cut strut to different sizes? Maybe a place locally in San Diego? :)
i built my stand, using slotted angled steel, and cut everything with a circular handsaw + metal-cutting disk. i plan on doing the same when i make ver.2.0 using strut. throws a lot of sparks but as long as you leg or your dog stays out of the way it's very safe and easy.

i don't know if strutchannelfittings will cut for you.

(2) Having never worked with gas lines I'm apprehensive about screwing up the manifold and blowing myself up or lighting my dog on fire ;). Anyone know a place I can buy a premade one? Maybe also in San Diego?
mmmmm... roast fido...

seriously tho, it's not hard. the plumbing is made to screw together tight, add some teflon tape and/or sealing glue and you'll have a great seal.

i doubt you could buy one of these pre-made, but you might be able to hire someone to make one for you. maybe buy all the parts, find a plumber/gas line specialist that you can hire by the hour, and get them to assemble it for you?

(3) any suggestions on burners? I previously brewed on this stand with a jet burner: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00264G584/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20. I like the strut so I can mount my pump, chiller, etc., but I don't want to lose the power we got from that jet burner (I want to say it boiled 10 gallons in about 20 minutes). I use 15 gallon kettles from morebeer and am looking at a 2 burner stand and a cooler.
wow, that's a great pre-fab stand. i've never seen it before (full-screen version: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00264G584/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20).

this is the burner i'm using: http://www.agrisupply.com/high-pressure-cast-iron-burner-100000-btus/p/64494/
 
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(3) any suggestions on burners? I previously brewed on this stand with a jet burner: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00264G584/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20. I like the strut so I can mount my pump, chiller, etc., but I don't want to lose the power we got from that jet burner (I want to say it boiled 10 gallons in about 20 minutes). I use 15 gallon kettles from morebeer and am looking at a 2 burner stand and a cooler.

Whoah, that is a good price for a premade two-tier set up. How sturdy is the angle iron frame? I'm mostly wondering how it seems in the middle under the vertical part of the top section of frame.

At some point, when I have the cash and the space, I'd like to build a brew sculpture out of strut. But that one may be an intermediate step at some point.
 
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Thanks for the replies!

I'll call strut channel fittings and see about having them cut some different sizes (my kettles are a little large, so 3' isn't long enough but 4' would be too long). Anyone else used a circular saw on this stuff? Thinking I may be better off renting a chop saw or buying the precut stuff.

Anyone have an opinion on this as a premade substitute for a manifold? http://www.homebrewing.org/10-PSI-Regulator-wdual-ss-hose_p_3415.html. I don't know if 10 PSI is enough for banjo burners, or if the rest of it is well made, but it is only $38...


Regarding the King Kooker stand on Amazon, it is definitely a great brew stand, especially for $160. Judging from the amazon reviews, I think the only people that buy it are homebrewers :). The jet burner brings everything to a boil FAST, but it is also REALLY loud. The top tier is technically only rated for a 30 quart pot, but we regularly had 15 gallons on it without a problem. I've also seen pictures with full keggels on it. I believe the bottom tier is tall enough to drain to a carboy, but we always lifted the 15 gallon pot to the top tier so we could drain through a CFC first. I actually don't have one right now, I was previously brewing on a friend's stand until I moved and have to get my own system :(. I am still debating between buying one of those King Kooker stands or spending about twice as much on a strut stand with banjo burners.

Whoah, that is a good price for a premade two-tier set up. How sturdy is the angle iron frame? I'm mostly wondering how it seems in the middle under the vertical part of the top section of frame.

I'm not sure what you're referring to exactly, but the top section is bolted to the bottom section along the horizontal seam. I believe the rest is welded with the exception of the propane ring holder, which is useless and just sits there not mounted to anything. Just assume you move your propane tank separately and it sits on the ground. Honestly, the stand looks a lot thinner and less sturdy than these strut stands, but these are highly engineered anyway. It is definitely sturdy enough, but I wouldn't necessarily count on it lasting a decade or more like these strut stands probably will. :mug:
 
That looks similar to the gas setup on the king cooker stand. Have you tried contacting the vendor?
 
Thanks for the replies!


Anyone have an opinion on this as a premade substitute for a manifold? http://www.homebrewing.org/10-PSI-Regulator-wdual-ss-hose_p_3415.html. I don't know if 10 PSI is enough for banjo burners, or if the rest of it is well made, but it is only $38...

I have one of those on the way from amazon...hopefully it will arrive today.
My next brew is Friday
I will be using it on two Bayou Classic's square stoves with BG12 banjo burners. I will let you know how it goes. Its not the PSI that would be an problem it is the amount of gas it can deliver...different from PSI.
I rarely have both burners going full on at the same time so I doubt it will be an issue.
 
I have one of those on the way from amazon...hopefully it will arrive today.
My next brew is Friday
I will be using it on two Bayou Classic's square stoves with BG12 banjo burners. I will let you know how it goes. Its not the PSI that would be an problem it is the amount of gas it can deliver...different from PSI.
I rarely have both burners going full on at the same time so I doubt it will be an issue.

Okay, thanks! I also will only have one burner on most of the time, so I'm not too concerned about that either. I'm just hoping we get enough BTUs on a 10 PSI regulator as I hear you only get the 200,000 BTUs if you have a 30 PSI regulator.

Any consensus on the best way to mount banjo burners? I've seen the little pieces of vertical strut, hanging down, but I wasn't sure if that was the best way. It seems like we would have to have the top beams cut and spaced EXACTLY correct for it to work, right?
 
I wouldn't worry about delivering the full amt of gas to the banjo. I use on on my keggle as a boil kettle and wow, I don't even turn it up more than 25% and it heats fast. More than that and the flames come up around the sides and boil my sight glass liquid.
 
The dual set up works great.
Each hose has its own adjustment after the regulator.

IMG_20130703_212046_zps2a42cefc.jpg


I found the best burn with the valves only a quarter open.
 
Started my stand this weekend. Yesterday I cut my MLT and BK (already have a keggle for the HLT) and installed the hardware.

Today I built the strut stand

MLT.jpg


BK.jpg


FB.jpg


corner.jpg


cut sections.jpg
 
...continued. Few more pics of the stand build. I used a buddy's old 10" Ryobi saw with a metal cutoff disk, cut like butter. All in all an easy build!

Next steps are casters, burners, manifold/regulator, mount pump.

fittings.jpg


frame1.jpg


frame2.jpg


strut #1.jpg


Strut #2.jpg
 
THK-233 strut brackets are on backorder from GP-LLC until late august, anyone know of an alternative?
 
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