The "Barney" Brewstand

I've been following other brewstand threads on this site, and was envious of the welded stainless stands, something I can't do, as I never learned to weld.

Imaging how happy I was when I stumbled upon the Weldless Brewstand Thread here. Now this is something I'm willing to attempt!!

I've been learning how to solder stainless steel, and was also making an Bottom Drain Insulated Mash Tun, so I jumped in and made a weldless brewstand.

Since everyone seems to name their stands ("Brutus", "Wallace", "Popeye"), I decided to name mine after Homer Simpson's best friend and drinking Buddy.

Without further ado, I give you---"Barney":



Barney is 72" long x 22" wide x 31" tall. These dimensions allowed me to accommodate my two Blichmann Burners on the 24" legs. The burners have been re-jetted for natural gas.

I have a Brewer's Hardware RIMS Tube, an Auber Instruments 2352 PID setup, and four SSR -switched outlets that are controlled by the low-voltage switches mounted up front.

I haven't mounted the pumps yet, as I'm waiting for my Chugger Pumps Stainless Steel Heads.

It's still a work in progress, but I just had to show it off.

nicely done!

That looks great, wish I had room for one but I don't and it would rust where I am going to retire at. I see 2 burners, I suppose one is BK and the other is HLT? I assume the one in the middle is a MLT? I have never actually seen one and still use tables and concrete blocks and whatever is handy to set mine up. If you don't mind me asking, how much do you have in the assembled stand alone, not counting the switches, burners etc, just the stand in materials?

ron said:

That looks great, wish I had room for one but I don't and it would rust where I am going to retire at. I see 2 burners, I suppose one is BK and the other is HLT? I assume the one in the middle is a MLT? I have never actually seen one and still use tables and concrete blocks and whatever is handy to set mine up. If you don't mind me asking, how much do you have in the assembled stand alone, not counting the switches, burners etc, just the stand in materials?

Click to expand...

Correct, left is HLT, middle is my DIY bottom-drain insulated mash tun, and to the right is the boil keggle. I just got a 40-plate chiller from kegcowboy which I haven't mounted yet.

As to the cost, I haven't been keeping track , but I bought the materials from McMaster, using the materials list from ALEien's Wallace, and upped the angle irons by two each. I also had to get more nuts and bolts.

Anyway, work is progressing. Here's some new pics:





I've ordered a 90 degree 1" TC flange, to attach my Brewer's Hardware Hops / Trub Filter to the BK. And I'm eventually planning to add an Arduino with DS18B20 temp sensors to monitor the temps.

I'm going to try for a test run the Memorial day weekend. :rockin:

Did 10 Gallons of an English IPA this past weekend, worked great except for one small problem

How long is the shelf that holds the pumps?

Now that I've retired, I have some time on my hands, so I thought I'd do a little work on my "Barney" Brewstand.

I've had three pumps for a while now (one March and two Chugger pumps), but I've only really ever used two.

I came upon this slick little 3-way ball valve, and it got my mind to working.
After some thought, scrounging up hardware I had lying about, and some new stuff, I came up with this:



I can now, with the proper valve/pump setting, transfer liquid from any vessel to any other vessel and back.

The left-most pump's input is connected to my HLT, and can be directed to either my RIMS/sparge arm, the bottom drain of my mash tun, or my brew keggle.

My bottom drain mash tun can be directed to either the middle or right-most pump, which in turn can feed my RIMS/custom-made sparge (it's very similar to MoreBeer's Ultimate Sparge Arm (Thanks, Jaybird!!)), or the brew kettle.

This allows me to, among other things:

1. Clear a stuck sparge by forcing water from the hot liquor tank up through the bottom of my bottom-drain mash tun.
2. Fly sparge.
3. Clean and drain the system in place

Can't wait to give it a spin!!