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Finally done....or is it....probably not!
IMG_2569.JPG
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2e4dgtt.jpg

The frame is all 2x2 aluminum.
Still have to mount the plate chiller yet and put the control panel together. The control panel is made of all aluminum diamond plate.
 
It has been months since I started. I added a bunch of things, since the original wet test drive reared several design flaw monsters I went back and welded steel tops and reinforced burner cages/supports. I added a water filter that I had laying around. I am ready to brew. Let me know what you guys think. Thanks to all that have helped me with this project.
Front View
Lid additions to all keggles. MLT loc line for sparge arm through top for heat retention while mashing
New top plates with heat shield to protect heat exchanger wires. The wires are wrapped in silicone hose in the tube
new sparge arm I made to replace original design
Control panel. QD for temp sensor on left side
40 plate heat exchanger. O2 setup with SS QD for easy removal of unit from heat exchanger

New mash paddle I made out of maple
Top view of burner plates. Below the 10" I had to make some reinforcements out of 1/2" x 2 flat stock. On my first test runm the flame was lapping up the keg. I added the 1/8" steel plates with 10" circles plasma cut out of them and fired it up...the steel was melting and I about cried. I added the supports between the original burner cage and the 1/8" steel and welded them up...fired it up and no more melting.

Two 6' sections of silicone 1/2" hose eah with a female SS QD are all I require for fluid transfer. Everything is SS or copper...no brass anywhere except for the two flared end caps. It took me a few months of seperate purchases but I managed to get rid of all brass.

This thing should give me years of trouble free service.
 
2e4dgtt.jpg

The frame is all 2x2 aluminum.
Still have to mount the plate chiller yet and put the control panel together. The control panel is made of all aluminum diamond plate.

Aluminum frame with propane burners looks like a meltdown about to happen, I hope i'm wrong. Your stand is screaming "Go full electric" plus
add a BCS 460 controller. It sure looks sharp.
 
Aluminum frame with propane burners looks like a meltdown about to happen, I hope i'm wrong. Your stand is screaming "Go full electric" plus
add a BCS 460 controller. It sure looks sharp.
Thanks for the compliments. The burners are actually for NG which burns a little cooler but not much. I have some stainless sheet stock the I may end up making someheat shield with if need be. I may end up also plugging a few nozzles on the burners as well.
 
Very nice stand......very hard to weld aluminum.

I think the other guy might be right in regards to the melting or atlest distorting of the framework from the concentrated heat for an hour. I used 1/8" steel plate with 10" holes plasma cut out of the center. It took 15 minutes of direct firing to melt the steel and make it sag 2 inches. The propane burners (55k btu) were not even on high!

Good Luck
 
Sourmash I dont think you will have any problem with the aluminum but when one end gets hot the whole thing will be hot. Some heat sheilds would be a good addition.

Pat
 
Aluminum frame with propane burners looks like a meltdown about to happen, I hope i'm wrong. Your stand is screaming "Go full electric" plus
add a BCS 460 controller. It sure looks sharp.

After a quick search it looks like aluminum melts at 2200

Carbon Steel 2600-2800
Stainless 2750

NG burns at 3000
Propane at 3600

Both these numbers assume no heat loss. So you can figure that it will be much less at contact with your stand.

Here are some good links. Your stand should be fine

http://www.derose.net/steve/resources/engtables/flametemp.html
http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/melting-temperature-metals-d_860.html

By the way. That stand looks sweet.
 
Sourmash I dont think you will have any problem with the aluminum but when one end gets hot the whole thing will be hot. Some heat sheilds would be a good addition.

Pat[/QUOTE

+1 You beat me to it. The heat speads for sure. I don't think you will have to worry. Your not running your burners at max the whole time anyway.
 
Sourmash I dont think you will have any problem with the aluminum but when one end gets hot the whole thing will be hot. Some heat sheilds would be a good addition.

Pat

Thanks to all on the input! I did do some research prior to building the frame on the melting point and what NG burns at so on..... Obviously with the great heat transfer of aluminum, the frame will become hot throughout while in use thus I will have to make a separate channel for my wiring. The cast iron burners have some tapped holes I could use with some stand offs to secure some heat shields. Unfortunately the picture does not do the stand justice. I probably got over 10 hours of polishing the frame alone.
 
After a quick search it looks like aluminum melts at 2200

Carbon Steel 2600-2800
Stainless 2750

NG burns at 3000
Propane at 3600

Both these numbers assume no heat loss. So you can figure that it will be much less at contact with your stand.

Here are some good links. Your stand should be fine

http://www.derose.net/steve/resources/engtables/flametemp.html
http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/melting-temperature-metals-d_860.html

By the way. That stand looks sweet.

Without starting any pissing war most aluminum alloys decline rapidly if exposed to elevated temperatures although some retain significant strength to 500*F. Aluminum melts at 1,220*F not"2,200*F", deep red color steel your at 1,300*F. If aluminum is exposed to elevated temperatures it weakens due to mainly the coarsening of the the fine precipitutates on which the alloy depends on their strength. With the reply of the steel plate melting which is way above the deep red of 1,300*F and the 1,220*F of aluminum is the reason why I replied in ther first place. A metal frame insert to hold your keggles or pots exposed directly in the flame that is bolted to the aluminum frame plus a heat shield protecting the aluminum from any flames pushed to the side by wind or the burner cranked up high.
If the automotive world could get pistons to operate at these higher elevated conditions with a melting temp of 2,200*F we would have super clean and higher efficiency running internal combustion engines, the limiting factor would be the ignition temps of the gasoline by thes elevated temps. This in the ignition range of app 875*F causing preignition detonation and self distruction of the engines.
Try www.steelforge.com as a example, click on aluminum then click on "Learn More".
 
Without starting any pissing war most aluminum alloys decline rapidly if exposed to elevated temperatures although some retain significant strength to 500*F. Aluminum melts at 1,220*F not"2,200*F", deep red color steel your at 1,300*F. If aluminum is exposed to elevated temperatures it weakens due to mainly the coarsening of the the fine precipitutates on which the alloy depends on their strength. With the reply of the steel plate melting which is way above the deep red of 1,300*F and the 1,220*F of aluminum is the reason why I replied in ther first place. A metal frame insert to hold your keggles or pots exposed directly in the flame that is bolted to the aluminum frame plus a heat shield protecting the aluminum from any flames pushed to the side by wind or the burner cranked up high.
If the automotive world could get pistons to operate at these higher elevated conditions with a melting temp of 2,200*F we would have super clean and higher efficiency running internal combustion engines, the limiting factor would be the ignition temps of the gasoline by thes elevated temps. This in the ignition range of app 875*F causing preignition detonation and self distruction of the engines.
Try www.steelforge.com as a example, click on aluminum then click on "Learn More".

NO......... no pissing contest implied I am sure.

I hit the wrong key. Too many 2's I meant to put a 1. All I am saying is you would need a closed environment of direct heat for those burners to melt the stand. With open air and regulated use. His stand will be fine.
 




Here's my All Electric Herms...Using 3 Blichmann's 20G/15G/15G, 2 5500w element's, one in HLT, the other in the BK. A custom controller made by Brewmation, 1/2" Cam & Groove disconnects, 50' 1/2" stainless tube for the HEX, 2 march pump's, one to recirculate the mash, the other to recirculate the HLT continuously. The stand works but is temporary, until a figure something else out. Just brewed the first 12g of Oatmeal Stout last week, went pretty smoothly. It heats and boils as fast as any burner I have used.
 
If the automotive world could get pistons to operate at these higher elevated conditions with a melting temp of 2,200*F we would have super clean and higher efficiency running internal combustion engines, the limiting factor would be the ignition temps of the gasoline by thes elevated temps. This in the ignition range of app 875*F causing preignition detonation and self distruction of the engines.
Try www.steelforge.com as a example, click on aluminum then click on "Learn More".

You would have a lot more NOx formed.
 
You would have a lot more NOx formed.

Bless BMW for not adding that EGR crap to their mighty inline 6 engines without any Nox problems plus made smog legal clean HP. True higher combustion temps will increase Nox. I do not care as about everything I own is in the 50's and 60's no smog checks. With the BMEP held at 182 pounds and a tight quench ceramic topped buckets I have HP, TQ as well great dyno numbers with mpg. Cleaner exhaust than original, Nox slightly elevated. I can live with it. Back to the OP me bad. Engine building nut at this end.
 
Here is my rig. Essentially a two-tier, single burner system with 1 pump. I do batch sparges so don't need anything fancy. I just finished it, brewed a cream ale and it works well. I am already considering upgrading by adding a second burner and getting another pot to use for my MLT, since I always seem to miss my mash temps by a few degrees (right now my basement is a constant 55 F!). The stand itself is just 2 x 4's and OSB plywood with several coats of Killz. SWMBO thinks I should paint flames on the supports, prolly will eventually! The wood under the burner got a little toasty, so I used a 12" ceramic tile elevated by a couple of blocks of wood for a heat shield; the wood supports and HLT platform to the right of the burner don't even get warm.
BrewStand2b.jpg
 
Here's my rig. I do 5 gal batches and batch sparge so this works out well for me. I use the smaller kettle to heat sparge water then set it aside so I can catch the runnings right in the boil kettle. I've used it for several batches now and it works very well for me. It has casters you just can't see them very well in this pic.

rig11.jpg
 
Here is mine. I have been building it for about 2 months now and it is finally finished. I was going to add a March 809 but after using it there is no real need to spend the money, it flows very nice from level to level. Here are some pics from yesterdays brew day, I brewed a Cream ale and a Blonde back to back.
100_1182.jpg

100_1184.jpg

100_1183.jpg
 
Here is mine. I have been building it for about 2 months now and it is finally finished. I was going to add a March 809 but after using it there is no real need to spend the money, it flows very nice from level to level. Here are some pics from yesterdays brew day, I brewed a Cream ale and a Blonde back to back.

Congrats on the build man, looks real good.
I have one question though. Can somoone tell me what this is (see picture)?
temp.jpg


I have seen this on several rigs and have never seen it before the last couple of months. I would do a search, but I have no idea what you call this (catch-22).

TIA
 
Can somoone tell me what this is (see picture)?
temp.jpg


I have seen this on several rigs and have never seen it before the last couple of months. I would do a search, but I have no idea what you call this (catch-22).

TIA

It's a hop addition bag. It holds a fine mesh hop bag open so you can toss in hops and other additions during the boil without having to pull the bag out, open it, close it up and throw it back in.
 
3dog
That's a hop strainer thing, The plastic part is a PVC coupler, and some all thread to secure it to the kettle. There is a nylon paint strainer bag attached to the coupler. Think of it as a giant tea bag.
 
Every single one on here is AWESOME! You know why.... Because they are all used to make outstanding beer!!!!:mug:

3dog,
Here is a better picture of my hop sock.

100_1168.jpg

100_1165.jpg


I use it whenever I add anything to the boil, hops, spices, whatever. It works great especially when brewing beers with lots of additions at different times, like an IPA. THe parts cost me about $8 at the orange box and it took about 15 to assemble, I am not sure what the long skinny hop bag costs, I got it when I bought some guys stuff off Craigslist. Every brewer needs one!
 
Every single one on here is AWESOME! You know why.... Because they are all used to make outstanding beer!!!!:mug:

3dog,
Here is a better picture of my hop sock.

I use it whenever I add anything to the boil, hops, spices, whatever. It works great especially when brewing beers with lots of additions at different times, like an IPA. THe parts cost me about $8 at the orange box and it took about 15 to assemble, I am not sure what the long skinny hop bag costs, I got it when I bought some guys stuff off Craigslist. Every brewer needs one!

Sweet! I thought that might be what it was, but I didn't want to assume. You still get good hop utilization and don't have as big a mess to clean up? Sounds better than my Zymeco (sp) stainless mesh on the outlet port. Good idea, might have to build me one of those!
 
Sweet! I thought that might be what it was, but I didn't want to assume. You still get good hop utilization and don't have as big a mess to clean up? Sounds better than my Zymeco (sp) stainless mesh on the outlet port. Good idea, might have to build me one of those!

I built and used one for the first time this last Saturday and my primary thought was why didn't I do this sooner?
 
the Lil' Sparky Hop Sock is one of the best things I've ever added to my set-up. IPA brews are now easy instead of a PIA. Can't imagine brewing w/o it.
Yeah, I like it, too. But in all honesty it wasn't my idea. Someone else on here came up with it, and somehow I got the credit.
 
Every single one on here is AWESOME! You know why.... Because they are all used to make outstanding beer!!!!:mug:

3dog,
Here is a better picture of my hop sock.

100_1168.jpg

100_1165.jpg


I use it whenever I add anything to the boil, hops, spices, whatever. It works great especially when brewing beers with lots of additions at different times, like an IPA. THe parts cost me about $8 at the orange box and it took about 15 to assemble, I am not sure what the long skinny hop bag costs, I got it when I bought some guys stuff off Craigslist. Every brewer needs one!


Anybody have any leads on what and where the nylon bag comes from? Links would be great.
 

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