Stupid question: AG Brew stand made of wood?

Hey everybody,

Finding somebody who can economically make me a metal brew stand is going to prove more challenging than I might want to tolerate and seeing as I'm pretty handy with wood, I was wondering how stupid it would be to make the basic framing of the brew stand with wood and frame the gas burners into it with that "erector set" style angle irons you can buy at Home Despot.

I'd be sure to keep the wood a decent distance from the burners, but before I start planning this I was wondering if it's a realistic idea or a comepletely stupid one.

Be honest! lol

Nick

Lol. Lots of people have used wood or wood components. I plan on doing it myself. Take a stroll through the brew sculpture thread and see what people have done.

Yep wood is a definite option. As long as its sealed and you keep in mind the burner placement it will work out great

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/show-me-your-wood-brew-sculpture-rig-73794/

I plan on making up a nice single tier out of wood this winter.

OK, nice, thanks for the links.

Now, what if I wanted to make one where the burners are integral to the system? Similar to a Brutus 10 or Brew Magic? Of course I would build steel frames to support the pots and house the burners, but these would then be set into a wood frame....still not a stupid idea or am I verging on retarded now?

Like the one in the last page of the link I posted? It should work just fine. Just put some flashing or sheet metal to try and deflect some of the heat away from the wood surface.

You can have 4 lengths of threaded rod in a square pattern under each burner hole. Attach the burner to a square made of metal that has holes that fit over the threaded rod. You can then have nuts that adjust the height of the burner frames as required.

I used a wooden brew stand for years, until I replaced my pot with a larger 15 gal. pot. I found that the heat from the burner mostly went up and the wood didn't get all that warm.

After a couple of years of use, I guess the wood had dried out more, and it started to scorch.

CanadianQuaffer said:

OK, nice, thanks for the links.

Now, what if I wanted to make one where the burners are integral to the system? Similar to a Brutus 10 or Brew Magic? Of course I would build steel frames to support the pots and house the burners, but these would then be set into a wood frame....still not a stupid idea or am I verging on retarded now?

Click to expand...

I used some angle iron from lowes, with holes drilled in the middle. Mounted up a couple of Banjo 14 burners (10" burners) with heat shields. I left ~10" on all sides of the burner. Works great, I get my keg red hot before I worry about the wood.

I would look at the Wood Sculpture thread. That is where I got my design from and am very happy with it.

The top burner on mine (above) is a Banjo Burner screwed to hollow iron square stock I bought at the hardware store.

I also later did the same on the bottom to replace the Turkey Cooker style stand.

Here is my setup:
I bought cull 2x4's and used plywood, some shelf brackets and angle iron that I already had to suspend the HLT burner. I painted with BBQ hi heat paint. Painted the wood with hi-gloss paint that was clearance for $5. I had to buy four 2x4's for the tallest tier. I originally had the burner suspended between the 2x4's but it burned them on the first brew.

I have since turned it around so the boil kettle is near the sink for cooling.

I'm going to be building a wooden brew stand this weekend using heavy plywood and some bookshelving frames. I notice that every vertical brewstand I see staggers the vessels. Is there any reason NOT to put things vertically (one right on top of the other) given that I'll have my burner on the ground (and not steaming up my wooden brew stand)?

Any advice appreciated!

W