Another Brutus in the making

This is a great build Ron, I am thinking of modeling my stand design on yours mainly because I like how the burners are in there and the support. Any more pics?

Thanks, I'm pretty happy with the way it is turning out. I can't take credit for the design, it is a copy of a couple that I've seen built here. They put most of the ideas into it. I just copied. Anyway I've made a little progress.

Time to mount my 2 pumps and Therminator.

Any advice from anyone that has already been here? Is there a "best" place to mount them?

Yea Ron the idea thief !

Looks great buddy.

Pat

Ron, you welding ho, you!

I'm having some... issues in building my own frame, and was wondering if I could ask a favor - any chance you could post dimensions/cut list for this build? And take a photo or four underneath that hood so I can scope out your plumbing!!

Post #24 in this thread has the cut list. It is from Nickstek's build. I left out a couple of the pieces, but the overall dimensions are the same. I think it will hold up to the weight.

There really is not much more to see on the plumbing than what you see. I used 3/8" Aluminum Tubing from the gas valves to a screw valve for burner control, then more 3/8" to the burner. I have yet to run the pilot tubing but it will pretty much follow the 3/8 to the burner. What you can not see is simply ran on the bottom side of the console.

Happy to take a picture if wanted. LMK.


Oh, I also made a small manifold for the gas valves. With three valves they take up a lot of space so I made the manifold to condense things as much as I could. I bolted it to the frame for removal if necessary. Would have rather welded it in but not enough room to spin the valves to tighten or remove. Could have used unions, but I don't like them. Personal issue.

Cheers Ron, apparently paying attention isn't my strongest point. Since my rig isn't going to be automated, I need my valves easily accessible for controlling the flame, and with the big ol' banjo burners, the standard brutus plans won't work - looks like you and Nick got it covered, tho! (Although those honeywells are damned expensive!) A photo of that manifold would be great - any way I can make it as clean as possible would be a help. I actually wondered about finding an old propane grill, and stripping the hardware out of that (minus the regulator) to control my flow, but methinks that'd be absolutely fraught with issues.

Also, since you're building out of non-stainless, how are you going to finish it?

Awesome work, I can't wait til I have the space to build one of these.

Very nice.

how did you make the burner wind shield/mounts? did you buy steel tube that size or did you roll it and weld it? what the inside diameter of those also?

sorry for all the questions

No problem.

I started with 12 inch tube, cut about 2 inches out and squeezed it together with big hose clamps. Then welded back together. Ending up with the correct inside diameter. I don't recall exact size seems like 11 1/4 inch. I can measure tomorrow AM if needed.

edit:

Measure 11 inch ID.

RonRock said:

No problem.

I started with 12 inch tube, cut about 2 inches out and squeezed it together with big hose clamps. Then welded back together. Ending up with the correct inside diameter. I don't recall exact size seems like 11 1/4 inch. I can measure tomorrow AM if needed.

Click to expand...

Wasn't that damned expensive??

trailblazer said:

how did you make the burner wind shield/mounts? did you buy steel tube that size or did you roll it and weld it? what the inside diameter of those also?

sorry for all the questions

Click to expand...

Trailblazer you can also make them out of flat sheet and roll them on a slip roller that is how I made mine.

Pat

I think I payed 40.00 for the tube and sectioned and welded it myself. Seems reasonable to me. I would have had to pay for sheet stock anyway.

My first intention was to use my slip roller but 1/8" was pretty heavy. I wanted something thick enough that I could easily weld on and add to the strength it would give to the frame. For support under the kettle's.

Overkill? Probably, that's the way I roll. :rockin:

Looking good! Subscribed.

Thanks. Made some headway today. Finally figured out the best configuration for my burners. At least for now! I need to get this thing buttoned up and give it a run to see what will need tweaked.

Sorry no pics, nothing new to see at this point.

Ron,

Are the burners you are using low or high pressure? How are you planning on mounting the standing pilot to the burners? I read that you are using the two stage regulator. I know that if you take your system specs into a propane dealer, they will get you into the right dual stage regulator.

Your build looks great. Keep us posted.

Thanks gbrewing, I have followed your work on the BCS site and took a look at your site. Can you tell me what size batch's you do? Any idea how long from sparge to boil?

With my Low Pressure Hurricanes as currently configured I get a 3 degree per minute rise. Seems OK, just need some comparisons. Hate to waste a lot of time and gas with the wrong burner.

I have the Honeywell 8610 Intermittent Pilot setup with spark igniter's on all three burners. To be controlled by BCS-460.

Ahh yes... Now I recognize the name! Another BCS'er.. I think your burners will work great!

I just wanted to make sure you weren't going to repeat my mistake at any point by trying to run the 0-30 psi adjustable regulator with the pictured gas valves.

I brew 5 or 10 gallon batches depending on what I am brewing. I usually brew the darks in 5 gallon batches and tend to brew 10 gallons of summer wheats, hef's, and "session" lawn mower beers during summer.

I have yet to time from sparge to boil but will be glad to let you know. Perhaps if I get some extra time tomorrow I will run a test and see what happens. I'm curious as well.

Great looking brutus. Looking forward to reading about how great it works!

Here is a comparison I did with the low pressure jet to the high pressure Banjo with video. http://www.gbrewing.com/2010/02/06/jet-burner-versus-banjo-burner/

It shows some side by side comparisons.

Thanks, Nice video. Now I'll have to do a test with 6 1/2 gallons and see how things compare. I did all of my tests with either 14gal or 12 1/2 gal. I would think the extra volume would make a difference. But my guess is that my low pressure hurricane will come close to your jet burner. Either way I'll be trying it out before I make any more drastic changes. I still have a lot of work to do, and I haven't even began to figure out how to set up the BCS.

Good to see you on HBT. Appreciate the help.

Ron

Making headway. Had a little trouble getting it to fire last night. Messed around until I had to restore my BCS. I think that the BCS had some programing issues after I messed with it too much. Hopefully I can reconnect it and fire the burners tomorrow.

That's a lot-a wires

Looks great though.

Looking good Ron!

Figured, I'd bump this and ask Ron to post pictures of his final product in action?

I wish I could. Unfortunately it looks the same as it does in the picture above. I had RF interference between the BCS and the Honeywell igniters. I spent a lot of time diagnosing that, and then it was summer. I was unable to work on the brewery during summer. But it is getting to be winter again and I can get back to work on inside projects.

Ron,
I am currently building the same set up with the BCS and Spark Ignitors. Have you found a solution to the interferance yet? I plan on putting the ignition modules in a separate box below the stand, about 4 feet of so away from my controller on the side of the stand. Not sure if it will help that they aren't mounted in the same box or not. Your situation has me a little bit worried that I shouldn't be using the honeywells! Let me know if you found a solution!
Thanks

I have a couple options figured out. I have found that distance between the BCS and the Honeywell's makes things work. So I think you are on the right track by separating them and mounting in separate boxes. That is probably the way I'll end up.

I have gotten some good help from a couple guys here at HBT and one other solution suggested is to build a shielding enclosure for my BCS and make sure no RF can get to it. I have bought some feed through capacitors that will allow the wiring to pass through the enclosure and shield the RF.

One thing to keep in mind is the length of your ignition cable. I'm not sure how long the cable can be from the Honeywell to the spark igniter. It seems like there is a maximum but I don't recall right now. There could also be some RF coming from the cables during ignition, not sure on that though.

One other way would be to leave the BCS off of the stand altogether. Leave it somewhere else. Maybe a shelf with a Router or even the computer. And run cables to jacks on the stand. That would be easiest. And I figure there will be a drop cord to the stand for power, as well as a garden hose. So the extra line may not be too much inconvenience, just another part of the system. I'm not really crazy about that way, but it would be easy.

When you get things up and running you will know if you are having trouble. I spent many hours trying to narrow this down. My BCS would seem to function fine at times and then others would be completely uncontrollable. The webpage would "look" OK but I had no control. I went so far as to return the BCS and it checked out OK.

I would be happy to help anyway I can. This is a very frustrating situation to deal with, since everything looks OK. You can't see RF interference. And AFAIK I was the first to deal with it with the BCS.

I fired it up yesterday and all seem ok so far

I am jealous of your build!

I am also jealous that it appears that you have a legit car lift in your garage.

Ron,

Awesome build, I'm building something similar, with banjo high pressure burners, and I was wondering if you did something to convert them to low pressure, b/c I thought you couldn't use the honeywell valve with a high pressure system.

Also what did you find out for the pressure regulator. I got a 0-30psi regulator, but it sounds like that won't work.

Anyway good luck with the build!
-donnie

Hey Donnie,

I used LPG orifices and drilled them to get the BTU's that I wanted for each burner. Yes the Honeywell's do run on low pressure. 11" Water Column is what they need. I used a set of regulators like used on a house. One at the tank, and one at the brewery. There is also a single regulator that does both stages, typically used on RV's I think. I started with one of those, but the one I bought did not put out the BTU's I wanted. I had the others so I switched and just left it that way.

Your 0-30psi will put out way too much pressure, I would not even try it with the Honeywell's it will blow out diaphragms.

There are charts that tell what size to drill the orifices to get the desired BTU's. And if you need I can dig through and find out where I ordered the orifices. Just let me know.

Good luck, and enjoy the build.

some pic update to my project

more pics

Looking Good, nice and shiny.

sub'd