My cheap three tier

I decided that I wanted to build myself a simple three tier stand but I didn't want to spend a bunch of cash. I've got a couple of work benches in my garage and I thought I could build it out of one of the mobile ones.

Here's the before shot:



I decided to make it in such a way that I could easily change it back into a work bench. Here is my progress:



Now I just need to figure out how I want to mount my HLT and add a couple valves and sightglasses to my kettles. I'm thinking about using a Closetmaid Max Load shelf kit bolted to the side of the bench. Each one of those shelves can support 400 lbs. If that's the route I take it will end up something like this:




With those supports/brackets I'll be in to this build for about $40.

Man thats slick.

off topic, my brother went to College of Idaho, and sweet tattoo.

Have you fired it up yet? I'm a little worried about the heat building up where that burner is. May be fine. Looks good though.

2ndstage said:

Have you fired it up yet? I'm a little worried about the heat building up where that burner is. May be fine. Looks good though.

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Very nice but I am kind of thinking the same thing about heat building up around the kettle. It could be a good thing in some ways in that the kettle will be surrounded by hot air and should come to boil very quickly as long as the materials around it are heat proof!

Keep us updated!

DakotaPrerunner said:

Man thats slick.

off topic, my brother went to College of Idaho, and sweet tattoo.

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Thanks... I'm itching for another tattoo pretty bad. I've pretty much got the design worked out, just gotta get the extra money for it. The artist we like isn't cheap...

Have you fired it up yet? I'm a little worried about the heat building up where that burner is. May be fine. Looks good though.

Click to expand...

Very nice but I am kind of thinking the same thing about heat building up around the kettle. It could be a good thing in some ways in that the kettle will be surrounded by hot air and should come to boil very quickly as long as the materials around it are heat proof!

Click to expand...

I've still got to run a boil test. The heat build up was a concern of mine too. Everything on there is steel except for the pieces of plywood that the MLT is on right now. I may change that depending on how the test goes. I can also remove the back panel but I hope to be able to keep it. We'll see...

Hopefully all goes well. If the tests are good I hope to be brewing next weekend!

I like it alot!

I assume you have enough height from the bottom of the kettle to drain into a fermenter?

kpr121 said:

I like it alot!

I assume you have enough height from the bottom of the kettle to drain into a fermenter?

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Yup. My tallest 6.5 gal carboy is 22" tall and the bottom of the kettle is 23.5" from the ground.

And, two bolts turns it back in to a work bench...

Looks great!

Added the valves, sightglasses and thermometer to the HLT and the BK. Attached the shelves on the side for the HLT/burner and the LP tank. Removed the back panel behind the boil kettle and drilled vent holes in the side panel to help with the heat build up issue. Works great!! The way it's built there are three sheets of steel between the BK burner and the storage drawers. They act like heat shields and the temp inside the drawers hardley changes over an hour of boil time.

No more using pitchers to transfer strike/sparge water, no more racking canes or lifting/pouring to transfer to my carboy, etc.. :rockin:

Watch for the heat buildup around the regulator hose connnection to the burner melting the hose.

boo boo said:

Watch for the heat buildup around the regulator hose connnection to the burner melting the hose.

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That connection sticks out to the exterior of the stand. With my own worries about heat build-up I took temp readings all over that area and didn't come up with any issues after a full hour+ of boiling. Taking the back panel off and adding holes to the side panel eliminated all heat problems...

If you had the HLT mounted on the other side above the BK and ran plumbing for the burner from the 1 LP tank that would save some space.

jetmac said:

If you had the HLT mounted on the other side above the BK and ran plumbing for the burner from the 1 LP tank that would save some space.

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Hmmmm... I hadn't thought about that. I guess I had one way to do it stuck in my head and didn't really think about another way. This has been working great so far in this configuration but I may have to try that out.

Thanks!