My Three Tier Build Project

Here's the pics...





Long story short, got it off craigslist for $50. It's 8 ga 2" tube steel, weighs about 200#, and it's about 53" tall, 60" long, and 22" wide. Each tier is 20" long and about 20" higher than the one below it. Plan on painting, plumbing gas for two burners, adding wheels, and I'm sure many other things.

Here she is after about 3-4 coats of semigloss black Rustoleum High Temp Ultra (I may have a few more coats to go)




I'd like to pull off the expanded steel and have it done in engine enamel...Bright yellow is my current vote...


Waiting for the back wheels to arrive from Harbor Freight, then will conduct an experiment to see if it is safe to mount wheels on the front...I'm worried they will melt. The lower tier is only 10" high, I'm worried that my burner will be too close to the rubber and melt it. So we'll see. While I'm waiting I may plumb the gas, depending on my budget and motivation level...

I like it. Cant wait to see it finished.

Got the temporary, use-it-before-I-plumb-the-gas-line burner mount on today, and may break it in tomorrow with a single burner just for a fun run. Can't wait to pop this one's cherry

Looking good. Can't wait to see it done.

Sexy, terapin. Me likey!

Keep us posted, with plenty of pics of the build.

Terapin, what was that thing originally? (So I know what to search for). Looks really awesome.

TerapinChef said:

Waiting for the back wheels to arrive from Harbor Freight, then will conduct an experiment to see if it is safe to mount wheels on the front...I'm worried they will melt. The lower tier is only 10" high, I'm worried that my burner will be too close to the rubber and melt it. So we'll see. While I'm waiting I may plumb the gas, depending on my budget and motivation level...

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You shouldn't have an issue with your wheels. I have a three tier system and my wheels are as close or closer than your and have no issues with heat. I don't have the expanded metal like yours but I can't believe that would reflect too much heat.

Great googly-moogly, that thing looks awesome! Let us know how the trial run goes. +1 for finding out what it's original purpose was.

It was made as a brewstand by a guy who worked with a welding company that made shipping racks for large auto parts (hence the 2" tube steel)....I'm glad about the wheels, it's too heavy to move Here's what I'm doing today....








May be having an issue with the expanded steel getting too hot, here's a shot after heating the strike water...



Will keep you updated on amount of drop during the boil....

I love the gratuitous use of the Grilled meat.

Smoking some salmon for my dad, he just came back from up north. It was a pretty river fish, but it's going to be even prettier after I taste it

Oh yeah, I'm making a Marris Otter/Tettnager SmASh by the way...

Here's an update on the SmASh and Salmon Brew Day!

Here's the expanded steel after heating up the sparge water, a bit more of a drop...


The boil, with a new technique from Brew Strong, leaving the chiller in for the whole boil.


And finally, the salmon is almost done....

And at the end of a 75 minute boil, it's still standing. I'll update the expanded steel pic as soon as I've got it done cooling and racked out of the keg so I can move it...

All done...



The paint (and rust) burned off the small area where the burner was firing...



There was definately some sag but I don't see it getting too much worse...but I'm no metallurgist.

Did you clean the stand before painting it? That rust may or may not cause problems.... mostly may.

Boerderij Kabouter said:

Did you clean the stand before painting it? That rust may or may not cause problems.... mostly may.

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Oh yeah I cleaned it up real good. Mostly down to bare metal everywhere. I didn't spend too much time on the expanded steel grates as I wasn't sure if the paint would hold up to direct flame (it didn't) and I didn't want to spend the time to paint all the little nooks and crannies for nothing...also

I'd like to pull off the expanded steel and have it done in engine enamel...Bright yellow is my current vote...

Click to expand...

It looks awesome. That was one lucky find!

That's right, after much ado and nervous planning on my part...my brewstand finally has wheels!





Here you can kind of see how I went about mounting it...I only had access to the interior of the tube steel for two of the three holes that I needed, so I had to go all the way through the tube for one of them...The one in the far back was a huge pain as it was just out of finger reach and I didn't have a lot of range with the open ended wrench.

This is the overhead of how the mounting plate sits on the frame...



After a short test run around the driveway and backyard, my only real wish is that my stand was wider. I have a kind of narrow center of gravity on a tall, heavy metal thing...kind of like driving a school bus only with no suspension system...but I'm not planning on driving it around the neighborhood while I'm brewing on it, so I'm sure it will be fine. Here she is, finally put away in the shed.

As a bit of perspective...

I hate you.

talleymonster said:

I hate you.

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...What he said.. x2 :cross:

talleymonster said:

I hate you.

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The grass is always greener, young jedi...

True dat.

I guess I can't complain. Craigslist has been very, very good to me.

I can still be jealous, cant I?

I like those tires and rims you used, what size are they on the sidewall specs, maximum pressure, load rating and price of each tire and wheel? Great looking stand. Heck you even have a shed to store it, i'm crammed to the max on any storage space unless I remove the wifes stuff in the basement, that ain't going to happen
she told me.

We are in the process of building something like this.
We have a nice set up in our garage we use.
Craigslist is the way to go with starting something like this, you can find a ton of stuff on there for cheap or even FREE.

Thanks for the support guys. As far as the tire is concerned,

EdWort said:

Harbor Freight is your friend.

Harbor Freight Tools - Quality Tools at the Lowest Prices

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I think you need to include a burner on the top tier for your HLT.. other than that, great job.

TerapinChef said:

...my only real wish is that my stand was wider. I have a kind of narrow center of gravity on a tall, heavy metal thing...kind of like driving a school bus only with no suspension system...but I'm not planning on driving it around the neighborhood while I'm brewing on it, so I'm sure it will be fine.

Click to expand...

You could always go overkill and weld on some outriggers.:rockin:

talleymonster said:

You could always go overkill and weld on some outriggers.:rockin:

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If i'm going to get crazy it's getting a motor first, then outriggers. I can just picture it now: Me sitting on the middle tier, puttering down the street in it...

with a tap connected to it for when ur not brewing you can just drink and drive ur illegal vehicle....maybe in ur backyard

Getting officially broken in tomorrow with the 999 Barleywine. I hope those front wheels hold up under a 120 minute boil...

I was going to suggest outriggers and then I read Tallys suggestion of it. You could use 2x4 or 2x3 metal tubing, then bolt the tubing to the frame using the holes you drilled for the casters. Mount the tubing in the flat position which would enable you to use all the mounting holes for the casters.

TerapinChef said:

Getting officially broken in tomorrow with the 999 Barleywine. I hope those front wheels hold up under a 120 minute boil...

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Should not be a problem. I have the same wheels on my rig and it's all good (have had it a year)

My big concern was that the heat from my lower burner would be too close to the wheels, causing them to heat up and melt. I haven't had a problem with it so far, they get warm but nowhere near melting. Unfortunately, I need to lower my burner about three inches or so because I am getting incomplete combustion, so I hope that this doesn't cause any problems.

Get yourself some sheet metal and make a shelf under the burner to act as a heat shield.

Burner officially lowered...I was thinking about the whole heat shield thing, and I seem to remember my uncle telling me when he installed his wood burning stove that there is something like a fireproof drywall? Would it be effective/economical to mount a piece of this on top of the bottom of the stand to protect my tires? They were getting a bit hot originally, and now that I moved the burner down about four inches I'm worried about firing them up...

If you find another, I'll drive out and pick it up from you.

TerapinChef said:

Burner officially lowered...I was thinking about the whole heat shield thing, and I seem to remember my uncle telling me when he installed his wood burning stove that there is something like a fireproof drywall? Would it be effective/economical to mount a piece of this on top of the bottom of the stand to protect my tires? They were getting a bit hot originally, and now that I moved the burner down about four inches I'm worried about firing them up...

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There is fireproof drywall, but it will smell real bad as it is not meant to be cooked

I would just use some sheet metal because it is super cheap and will look better. You could even paint it with high temp engine paint to match your stand. I would use self tapping screws to attach it and you are all set.

Looks great!