My 3-Teir Build

So I decided to build a 3-teir, staircase style brew stand recently and with the help of a friend got started this weekend. We got all the bones put together (for the most part). Next comes finishing welds - still needs the kettle and burner supports - along with LPG plumbing, casters, paint prep (lots of grinding and sanding), and paint.

Anyway, thought I'd post some pics. Will post more as more is completed. Hope to brew on the thing by January... at this point it's about time to work on it as the coming holidays will be eating mass quantities of spare time.

BTW - If anyone has suggestions on paint that can withstand the heat of a banjo burner, please let me know. The friend who helped me with this has his own single teir and his "high-temp" paint burned off after the first couple uses. Obviously something more durable is needed for the type of heat coming off the bajos.

Here's the pre-cut steel. I got 96' of 1.5" thin wall square steel tubing. This, obviously, isn't new material. I got it for $0.60/ft

Click to expand...

My buddy welding on a leg to the first tier.

Click to expand...

Here's the first teir welded up. It's missing the casters. Burner will be located on the far right side there. The area to the left of the burner will be a table top (not sure what surface I'll use yet). First teir will be 22" off the ground to accommodate filling of carboys.

Click to expand...

Me doing some welding on second tier. This project is my first experience with welding. LOL

Click to expand...

Here's the second tier completed.

Click to expand...

Here's the third tier completed.

Click to expand...

So I designed that third tier to be removable so it could store smaller. It'll be secured with pins in either location and the kettles will all store side-by-side on top. Doesn't save a ton of space, but it saves a little bit anyway.

Click to expand...

More pics to come as project moves along!

So here's where we're at so far. Still a lot of grinding & sanding to do to clean the things up and get ready for paint.



I also decided I need to weld a couple vertical support bars on that first tier... that's a 66" span without any support in the middle and will be a lot of weight when kettles are full. So that'll happen in the next few weeks. I also need to weld in a cross-support on the second tier next to the burner so that when I take the 3rd tier off I can set a kettle there (i.e. all 3 kettles will store side by side).

After the grinding & sanding will be adding the afore mentioned supports as well as welding burner and gas line brackets. Then it's time to paint. Very exciting!!

Looks like a great start. This is exactly the kind of stand I am hoping for one day. Looking forward to seeing your progress. Any details you can post would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Not sure what details you're looking for... happy to share though. Let me know if you have any specific questions. Here's some generals:

Each burner "section" is 22"x22"x22" so total length and height is 66". I'm using 25gallon megapots so that's the reason for those measurements. They're 20" in diameter and 20" tall.

We cut the steel using a chop saw with a metal cutting blade and welded using a basic 110 Mig.

I'll take some more pics today as over the weekend the kettle supports were all welded in. At this point we have some touch-up welding to do (we're not great welders so there's some welds we want to go back over), and some final grinding and then sanding the entire thing. Might do that this weekend and will post more pics at that time.

Paint will go on next month (hopefully), and the 3 burners in early January. I have one burner already and might put that in sooner rather than later, but at the very least, I hope to brew on the completed rig before the end of January.

I'm sure it's even a little overbuilt but hey, welding practice. You could also make the center tier the highest and just put hinges on the top tier right where it sits in the compact position.

i wasn't paying attention to the post dates bobby so don't know how long ago you mentioned your paint... still holding up good? i was going to use your 2 + 2 coats of exhaust paint method.

Yeah, my paint is holding up well. The key is to not use a low temp primer. You have to go with header paint on bare metal or it will flake off due to failure of the base layer.

Why are you going from your single tier with pumps to a 3 tier?

i'm not. this is my first stand. haven't ever had a single tier.

Those are great details...thanks.
How did you square everything up? Did you use dado cuts on your corners?
For someone who hasn't welded do you think it was fairly simple or would you recommend hiring a pro?

Everything squared using a square... plus we measured twice and cut once. The golden rule when you cut anything eh?! lol.

I'm guessing you mean a miter not a dado... which is used to cut grooves in wood. Yes, we used a miter saw to cut the corners and the kettle supports (not yet pictured).

Welding (with a mig) is fairly simple in process, and kind of difficult in practice. Meaning, you can weld without any experience... it'll just be ugly. I speak from experience here. Many of our welds were quite ugly. since we're grinding them down though to make a completely smooth surface at the weld point, we weren't really concerned with pretty welds though. Our main concern was getting good joint penetration so the weld was strong.

That said, my buddy at least had some minimal welding experience. If you have none, and don't know anyone with any experience at all... I'd suggest hiring a pro.

2nd post updated with current progress.