BIAB brew stand with hoist and pump

I recently sold my Brutus and decided to go BIAB for a smaller footprint and easier brewing. I like to brew in the garage, driveway or patio so being able to move it around without worrying about a pulley system in the ceiling was a must. I decided to incorporate a small 600# boat winch to lift the steamer basket from the kettle to allow it to drain and to smash all the wort from the grain. I found a Little Giant pump and 23 tip natural gas burner to use with the 82 quart Bayou Classic steamer pot. I added a grill spark ignitor to the burner so I don't have to hunt the torch all the time. No testing yet but I'm hoping it lights well. Threw the stand together this past week and I love that it only takes up 2 sqaure feet of space and is low enough to easily work with. Made a little polished switch panel/ heat shield and shelf for the counterflow chiller as well. Now it's time to brew up a batch.

That's awesome! I really like this idea!

Having the winch in the corner, do you have to worry about weight or it being tippy?

Wow, this is really fantastic! What capacity is this system?

That is one sweet looking rig you got!

DakotaRules said:

That's awesome! I really like this idea!

Having the winch in the corner, do you have to worry about weight or it being tippy?

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with the weight of the water and stand i doubt it....

Empty, sure, though it hangs over the pot so should be ok.

WAY cool!

Build of the week!!
I love this.

As long as the majority of the weight is over the center then tipping should not be a problem. Hey fortydegnorth, thanks-now I have to go spend a bunch of money trying to build something like this! LOL, seriously, that is an awsome build!

Great work! Looks awesome.

Very very nice!

Thanks for the compliments. It's really not tippy especially with weight on the stand. If you're worried about it just make the entire stand a little wider and offset the burner and pot. This would allow the hoist to be over the wheels.

By the way, the swivel below the hoist is a caster wheel assembly for a trailer tongue. I had one without the wheel so I flipped it upside down and welding the upper half of the hoist to it. The lower half is just pinned onto the tubing. Works like a charm and swivels 360 degrees to lower the basket to the floor or trash or wherever.

Awesome! I love the mobility of your system.

What's the maximum batch size you can make with this?

I've been drawing something like this for weeks! lol That looks like a 20 gallon pot... what is the pot basket combination / model if you don't mind?

Nice build... when pivoting wet grains off the center of gravity you might want some wheelie bars.... hehe

The kettle is the Bayou Classic 82 quart with steamer basket. Batch size, I guess that depends on how big the grain bill is. I usually only do 10 gallon batches so I think I'll be ok with about anything I want to brew. I could always sparge if there is a need. Low gravity beers I could possibly squeeze out a 15 gallon batch.

For anyone that cares, the Little Giant pump is absolutely amazing. I had two March 809 pumps before and they are about 3 times as loud, 10 times harder to prime and pump about half of what the Little Giant will do. I was shocked that it sucked the test water right out of the pot with hardly any noise. It primed instantly. I will only run this about 1/4 of it's potential and it's way overkill for my needs. I picked it up for the same price as a new March. Great little pump.

As far as tipping goes, you have to remember that the wet grain (smashed dry) with basket may weigh 45-50#. The stand probably weighs 35# and the pump is offset to the oposite side. The kettle will have around 12.5 gallons of water in it when the basket is lifted and swiveled so in water weight alone the stand will have 100#. I don't think 45# will tip 135# even with it swiveled off to the side. I'll probable just lower it enough to pick it up off the hook and carry it out to the compost anyway. I would'nt recommend swiveling it all the way straight out the side since that would be some leverage. Caution and common sense will be used......hopefully. I'll test it before I have boiling water tipping.

It will not tip if draining over the pot because the center of gravity between the four wheels. I'd be careful swinging it around to the side but even then with 10g of water that's a fine counter balance

Could you post some dimensions and a quick how to or just a parts list, been looking for a small stand to build and this could be perfect (though i dont have welding available so might go the weldless route, but the concept the same)

A fold-away outrigger would solve any tendency to tip.

The dimensions would really be dependent on how you wanted it. I used a 20.5 gallon kettle and made the stand to fit the kettle. I think mine is around 22" square and 20" tall plus the casters. I just took the components I had and made them fit how I wanted. The burner, chiller, pump, kettle, basket and your height would determine a lot of the dimensions. I'm pretty short at 5'8" so a lower stand makes stirring and then smashing the grain in the basket a lot easier for me.

All I got to say is Dayuum!!! That is slick. I like the hoist to lift and move stuff like a jib crane. I may steal a bunch of elements from this set up to put on mine when I get around to building it. I like the swivel idea from the trailer jack too. Definately a candidate for best build 2012. Crap, now I gotta get busy. Oh well, chores are never done, thats why they call em chores. Thanks for the great build pics.
Broke Back Bob

Go BIG or Go Home.......You went BIG!!! Awesome build.

Extremely well thought out and cool!

That is a sweet looking purpose built stand...good looking lil sumbitch...nice build!

I be you could sell them

Pretty awesome set-up, I'd buy one.

Great idea!

Looks great. I've been doing something similar for about a year but yours is much nicer. I use an engine lift from Harbor Freight to pull out the basket on my 20 gallon aluminum pot. I lined the inside of the basket with aluminum window screen and used aquarium food safe silicone to hold it in place. It works pretty well except that efficiency isn't the greatest.

I could sell these. I'd change the width to allow the boom to be over the wheels. I'll look into pricing for bare and complete turn key packages. I'd have to look into vendor status as well. I have the materials for several units now.

I'm potentially interested in one as well, but not anytime in the near future.

Nice work, man!!!

are you kidding me??? that is freaking awesome. i might as well quit now.

Also interested ....sweet work

fortydegnorth said:

I recently sold my Brutus and decided to go BIAB for a smaller footprint and easier brewing.

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Very interesting quote here...the future of homebrewing perhaps

I thought the same when I read that quote.

Anyway, I did the same with my system. I felt it was to much of a hassle to set up clean and store a traditional 3 kettle set up...

I am in love

The brutus was awesome for the "authentic" brewing style of having multiple kettles but in reality we are trying to get sugar from grain and then boil it. Let's be honest, brewing isn't that hard it's impressing the neighbors that is. lol. I like to brew, clean and then relax in the easiest manner I can. Cleaning one pot and two hoses seems really awesome at this point. I run a business, am newly married and have plenty of other projects that I like to spend time on too so brewing is a lot of fun but I don't like spending all day doing it and then cleaning it all up. I tested the BIAB method on my stove with a couple 1 gallon batches and was sold immediately. I can't wait to test the new stand out. Now I have enough room for a fermentation chamber or maybe 2 or 3 stands in the future for multiple batches at once. Nothing says happy like 30 gallons of three different beers in 4 hours. I can have 3 of these for the price of one brutus and just about the same amount of space. I should have new pics up soon of everything completed, plumbed and fired up. I'll test the tipping with this design too. I don't think it'll be a problem.

Nice concept . . Grate work
I might have to look into something like it . . when i get around to building a brew stand still working from the back porch no room for a full stand but make do and make beer

what kind of material is this made out of?

Wish I would have read this before I started my two tier build.

2" square tubing. I used round bar for the burner grate area. The lower cross supports between the legs are 1"x2" tubing. Way overkill for a little stand.