The great stainless single tier begins!

Just subscribed, in the process of a very similar build. Good luck!

can I get a *Bump* on updated progress photos....

nice looking brewstand and SS gear.

-=Jason=-

F'n incredible build! I can't wait to see it done.

ISU, hard plumbing is a pain, it can be done but it took a ton of planning and fab work.. And money.lol but some steer away from your dream rig if that is what you want. If sleep on it some more

All,

I wish I had more progress to report. Between moving to a new house and the birth of my first child, I've had little time to brew much less work on the new system. Once I purchase a few more ferrules and SS tubing for the HERMS coil, I will send the kegs and valves out to get welded. The stand still needs polishing and platforms will be fabricated to support the brew vessels. We originally designed this to be a propane setup, so now I plan to install removable sheet metal platforms in place of the burner mounts and support grates we designed. This way the rig could still be converted to propane should I ever decide to do so in the future.

Congrats on the baby- mine is about to turn 1. It's a beautiful thing and time flys.

Can't wait to see the completed stand. Very impressive.

Don't ya hate it when these geniuses start something an never finish it ?

My dad recently went and purchased a MIG welder, TIG welder, and plasma cutter. It looks like we will be able to weld up all of the keggles ourselves in my dad's shop. I expect we will practice on scrap until we're confident enough to tackle the keggles themselves. My brother is a pretty skilled welder already, but I am definitely not. Very soon I will purchase the last few tri clamp ferrules and other fittings needed to complete the fabrication of the kettles.

There's really no rush to complete this project, as I don't have a place to put the rig yet. The house we moved into last May has a completely unfinished basement. We aren't going to start the basement finishing project until 2015 or 2016. Over the next year or so, I will be working on the design for the basement build. Perhaps I will get the keggles completed sooner than that in order to use them with my existing outdoor propane setup.

So, it has been almost a year since I last updated this thread. As is often the case, life has gotten in the way of completing this build. I recently acquired some additional parts and have more on the way. I purchased some 1/2"ID x 5/8" OD polycarbonate tube which I'll insert into compression fittings to use for sight glasses for the BK and HLT. I also purchased two of the Hot Pod Tri-clover element enclosures from Bobby_M at brewhardware.com. I also ordered some additional 1/2" Tri-Clover ferrules from JME Sanitary.

I started sourcing parts on Ebay/Amazon/Grainger/Automation Direct for the E-Herms control panel, and find that it will be really tough to beat the 30A complete PID control panel kit from Ebrewsupply. Ryan's prices seem pretty competitive, even for individual components.

I am ready to start marking hole locations on the keggles. Can anyone recommend a good distance from the bottom of the keggle to locate the output ball valves? I plan to use a 1/2" stainless dip tube to the center of the HLT and MLT, and one drawing from the side of the BK.

Again, months have gone by since my last update. Things continue to progress at a slow pace. I purchased a complete 30 amp PID control panel kit from EBrewsupply and worked on the build relatively sporadically. I have the panel completely wired up and ready to troubleshoot, but need to get the keggles cut and fittings welded before I can proceed with a wet test and PID auto tune. The photos below were taken at various stages of the wiring process.View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1443113804.388549.jpgView attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1443113848.566597.jpgView attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1443113871.168059.jpgView attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1443113894.249877.jpg

Hey glad to see you guys are back at it! Nice job on the control box. I am going electric as well and am in the middle of converting/building my rig into a Kal clone with keggles. My Sabco kegs have their ball valves mounted 5 inches from the bottom of the keg skirt.

John