Wood Single tier brew stand

Well i got a good start today on my first day of vacation. No Christmas shopping done but i got the base of my new brew stand built.







If all goes well tomorrow I will install the metal bars for the kegs to sit on and put some wheels on it, also maybe add some wood to fill in the bottom. I built it large enough to hold my keggle and HLT. I will be adding some hinges on the right side and adding a board that will raise up and hold my mashtun(did this just as a space saver for when not brewing). Hopefully i will be able to test it out this weekend to see if i will need to add any metal flashing to protect the wood. From my measurements there is a good 7 inches between kegs and wood on all sides. Once i get my pump for Christmas i will mount it and start on the RIMS system. But hopefully as soon as i get my pump i will start brewing on it. let me know what you think or if you have any suggestions. Thought i would post here since i have gotten so many good ideas from here. Hopefully I will get a membership here for Chirstmas, this website has without a doubt taught me almost everything i know about brewing.

Nick

Nice work, keep it going.

did not get much of all done today except cutting the metal bars to hold the kegs. My sister and brother-in-law came into town so we spent the day sampling my beers (porter, ESB, Apfelwein).

Can you post plans for this? Im thinking of building a 2 tier and I think this would be a great base.

hey did you ever finish? I am thinking of doing the same

I sort of finished. I have it up and running. It works great none of the wood gets hot. I have a control box with a pump attached to it, picture below shown without pump head attached. I had planned on following the RIMS for Dummies thread to build a rims system but put that on hold for now. I was nervous about the wood getting hot and burning so i made it where there is at least 6 inches of space between kettle and wood and have had no problems yet.




Here is a picture of the stand packed away. Of course there is a lot more stuff piled on it now that i am actually using it. Its nice because it holds my MLT and a big cooler i use for ice if i need it and both propane tanks. As for now when i brew i sit the tanks behind the stand, but i am looking to hard plumb my gas. MLT table folds done for storage.



And the control box front. It now has labels. Toggle switches from left to right. Pump / Outlet 2 / Outlet 1 / Master.



Inside Control box shot



Back of Control Box

how long did it take you to set up the tool box control panel?

well it took one night to do it, but about three weeks of reading and trying to figure out how to do it. I had no clue about wiring anything up. But once it hit me how the electricity would flow through it it was simple. Just remember to GROUND everything.

I am working on designing my own brew stand out of wood (as I can't afford steel!).

How's this set up treating you?

wood is great, no charring of the wood. I couldn't be happier. Just make sure there is decent buffer of room between the kettles or kegs and the wood and you will be fine.

Just as I'm getting ready to start planning my own wooden rig and I've got all this apprehension because I don't want to set the neighbourhood on fire...this thread pops up. Setup looks great! What are you using as cross beams? Is that angle iron? Are you brewing full 10 gallon batches and if so, how do the crossbeams stand up to the weight and heat? Last question, dimension in inches from the side of your keggle to the wooden framework?

Thanks tons!!

The cross beams actually came from a telecom rack used to hold really heavy rectifiers. I was planning on using angle iron but i came across the rack at work and cut it down. I haven't done any 10 gallon batches yet, but my next batch i make will be my first 10 gallon batch. of BM's centennial blonde, that stuff is great. But even for 5 gallon batches i fill my HLT up to 12 gallon point so i have left over hot water to flush my lines, pump, and CFC. I haven't seen even the slightest flex. I can't say enough about how happy i am with the wood frame.

As for the space between the Keg and wood frame, I went with 6 inches because like you i was concerned about the wood getting too hot. I probably could have gone down to 4 inches as the wood doesn't get hot at all.

Interesting thread. For the others considering a wooden frame, heat was an issue for me. I have my keggles mounted on angle iron, but with the flame kicked up, the bars would get so hot on the wood frame where they attached I had some major charring. Even with the addition of wind/heat guards (stainless steel).



So I had to remove that piece and I took a page from Scubasteve's build and used Durock cement board in its' place.

I have made some other minor adjustments to the stand, and it works great. Hope this helps some.

interesting, looks like you are using alot bigger burners than me. That might be the cause of the charring. The cross beams i have do not even get hot to the touch after a 90 minute boil where the metal meets the wood.