Show us your sculpture or brew rig

allclene said:

Yes. The control unit and software are already set up for the valves all I have to do is install them when I get enough money for them. I got a PLC I am selling so I can get the valves if anyone interested?

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I bought solenoid valves from dudadiesel.com. Jut remember to mount them horizontal with the solenoid on top. Vertically mounted solenoids will leak a little. I'm considering switching to ball valves, but they are about 3-10 times as much depending on the brand, type, size, etc.

ccrum said:

I bought solenoid valves from dudadiesel.com. Jut remember to mount them horizontal with the solenoid on top. Vertically mounted solenoids will leak a little. I'm considering switching to ball valves, but they are about 3-10 times as much depending on the brand, type, size, etc.

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I am looking at some ball valves on ebay right now that look promising that someone else pointed me to. You are right they ain't cheap.

brett1341 said:

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what are the outriggers for?

slakwhere said:

what are the outriggers for?

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My guess is steps

edmanster said:

My guess is steps

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can you tell i'm a single tier guy? that never even occurred to me

And how about more info on that pump Brett1341!

Got the pump from a buddy, don't know much about it.

shelving brew stand. very simple, but converting from a stovetop brewer to keggle/burner guy... so i went inexpensive, but got the shelving from a web restaurant supply vendor, it's beefy, i'm 225lbs and each shelf holds me without concern.

the keggle is a 1/4 keg with a diptube, bazooka screen, and SS ball valve. burner is a bayou classic sq14.

it's gonna get used saturday afternoon.

Here it is in all it's glory. Beer in progress today, bell's 2 hearted attempt.

This is tmy current no-sparge setup. It consists of a 15Gal kettle, a 10Gal mash tun (bottom cut out with stainless false bottom), two pumps, two 10Gal coolers for HLT (if I sparge), ice tank for chilling, immersion chiller, 40-plate chiller and a shop crane for lifting.

First photo is mash config - the 10gal kettle sits inside 15gal kettle
Second photo is boil config
Third is chilling config using the cooler filled with three bags of ice and water

I constantly recirculate the wort during mash. The return is via a camlock in the lid and I use a mash recirculating return from Bobby M. My second batch was Ed Wort's Pale Ale and my OG hit the bulls eye.

ongoing project!! as i think most are!

this page is full win so far!

grumpybrewingco said:

ongoing project!! as i think most are!

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Oh come on! I've been done at least three times already!

BTW, Great setup, simple & bullet-proof. My control panel will look very similar as soon as I finish my brew setup (again)!

RIGHT....Im changing to electric but otherwise done! well, for now!
i guess thats the great thing about this hobby!

Here's my simple and compact setup. It's a perfect counter size and is a little over 17 inches wide.

Skidsmint said:

Here's my simple and compact setup. It's a perfect counter size and is a little over 17 inches wide.

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What do you boil in?

I have a 10 gallon kettle, I just don't have a picture of it.

Skidsmint, I like the compactness of the whole mash setup. The custom length hoses are nice and neat. That has 5 star wife approval factor all over it.

It's funny that you mention wife approval because after 3 years of brewing my wife has never showed any interest. After building this, she now wants to brew her own Irish Blonde this weekend so how could I say no

EineProsit said:

Here it is in all it's glory. Beer in progress today, bell's 2 hearted attempt.

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Hey! You copied my stand!

Except in the Winter; I use a rolling toolbox to hold the MT and keep the garage door closed.

Skidsmint said:

Here's my simple and compact setup. It's a perfect counter size and is a little over 17 inches wide.

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I have been thinking about a similar design, thanks for the inspiration.

It looks like the temp probe is before the heating element in the flow of wort. Is this correct? Why did you design it this way? From what Iv been able to make the temp is more often taken on the output side if the RIMS tube.

Skidsmint said:

Here's my simple and compact setup. It's a perfect counter size and is a little over 17 inches wide.

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Nice and simple, I like it. Have you noticed any issues from air getting trapped at the top in the T above the exit? It may cause a dry fire issue for that inch or so where the element isn't submerged.

BroStefan said:

I have been thinking about a similar design, thanks for the inspiration.

It looks like the temp probe is before the heating element in the flow of wort. Is this correct? Why did you design it this way? From what Iv been able to make the temp is more often taken on the output side if the RIMS tube.

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I put the probe before the heating element because I think this would be a more accurate temp of the mash compared to temps after the heating element. If you put it after the element I think your actual mash temps would be off since the wort was just heated by the element.

Ddubduder said:

Nice and simple, I like it. Have you noticed any issues from air getting trapped at the top in the T above the exit? It may cause a dry fire issue for that inch or so where the element isn't submerged.

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I actually run my pump for a few minutes and tilt the heat tube to get any air out. After that I turn the heater on and am ready to go.

Here is my current ghetto three tier rig. Building electric system in basement currently or at least gathering parts as I can afford them. Brewing a Irish red tonight on it.

Here is my Ugly Brew Stand Junk! I wish I had seen the weldless strut build before buying the scaffold but it works. Time and money are in short supply while I finish grad school. I'm building the lower shelf out of Super Strut. I still need to mount the pump, burner, and power supply but I'm excited-I'm tired of killing my back lifting and pouring! I made the whirlpool and diptube and the spider is from Stainless Brewing.

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My scaffold is like yours.. but it has paint splashed on it.. and it's yellow. Do you think that would work as well

Nice job.. congrats.

That looks like one of those $99 scaffolds from Home Depot. I almost bought the same one to use as a brewstand. I was thinking multi-tasker and not just a brew stand.

HopSong said:

My scaffold is like yours.. but it has paint splashed on it.. and it's yellow. Do you think that would work as well

Nice job.. congrats.

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Thank you sir or ma'am (don't wanna presume!) and I think yellow with paint splashes actually works better, especially when being repurposed as ugly junk. It lends a certain je ne sais quoi...
=]

limulus said:

That looks like one of those $99 scaffolds from Home Depot. I almost bought the same one to use as a brewstand. I was thinking multi-tasker and not just a brew stand.

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That's the one and I was thinking the same thing! I used it a couple of times with my burner separate and my pump on the ground and felt like I might as well go back to using the table. I wanted a self contained unit with everything mounted so I could wheel it out and brew. I couldn't figure out how to make it work with the steps/ shelves that came with it, even if I was OK with destroying them, which I wasn't. So I made that bottom span out of strut which leaves the originals there to use as shelves during a brew day and a real scaffold on-forbid the thought-a non-brew day. It also works really well having the skinnier shelf up front so it can be removed while mashing in and then put back to give more room to lay out hops, brew sheets, beer, tools, etc.

Here's my recently finished stand on it's maiden voyage. Ran awesome for the first two batches, looking forward to many more.

phreaky said:

Here's my recently finished stand on it's maiden voyage. Ran awesome for the first two batches, looking forward to many more.

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That's cool! What'd'ya call it?

TANSTAAFB said:

That's cool! What'd'ya call it?

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I've jokingly called it the Power of Tower while building it, but haven't really come up with a name yet.

phreaky said:

I've jokingly called it the Power of Tower while building it, but haven't really come up with a name yet.

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Where did you get your extrusion and brackets?

ThatGeekGuy said:

Where did you get your extrusion and brackets?

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A buddy brought them from some job left overs. They're 1515 profile, same as 8020 or any of the others.

Skidsmint said:

Here's my simple and compact setup. It's a perfect counter size and is a little over 17 inches wide.

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I should have nearly enough leftover parts to do this. And that will work awesome for sous vide!

chuckjaxfl said:

I should have nearly enough leftover parts to do this. And that will work awesome for sous vide!

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You should build it just for the helluva it and have sous vide after brewing!

Here are some updated pics of my (mostly) finished scaffold stand in action yesterday.







I originally planned to mount the pump between the kettle and MLT but I was worried about heat and liquids so I moved it to the end. I had no priming problems but it did pump really sluggishly when filling the MLT until I flipped the power off and on. Is there a problem mounting it at that angle? I've read about removing and rotating the pump head but I didn't think you had to mount it with the base plate down. It is just arrached to a couple extra pieces of strut with two big u-bolts.



I built the lower shelf out of Super Strut and mounted the burner with a piece of flat slotted steel I bent to fit. I had the expanded metal laying around and it bolted right on.



Recirc and pumping to the kettle went perfectly!



It has come a long way from this glorified shelf!

All triclover. Still need to pipe water to the tube and shell chiller and need to pipe the gas line for the jet burners