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mikelikesit2000

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I have been brewing for about 3 years. I love the hobby, and the results of the hard work that I have put in to it. Almost a year ago I decided to build a single-tier system. I wanted it to be a bit different then the rest though. I have taken a few photo's during the progress, I will try to post them here,

We (my 7 year old son and I) started with some 2"x2" square tube and started building the stand. Oh yeah, I am a welder by trade so this is the easy part for me.
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I welded it, Ollie cleaned it.
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We made it a bit on the large side so that in the future we could upgrade to larger vessels. This shows size compared to 1/2 bbl kegs.
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This is the 99% finished stand, With burners. Notice the grating at the bottom. I was able to repurpose this out of a mechanical room in a military base that was built in the 1940's. Pretty cool I think!
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nice build!!! Are your burners adjustable?

Do you want to build a 2 tier for me? That looks a lot better than the wood I am planning on using.
 
What did you paint or coat it with and how much did that cost? I have a similar stand but it needs paint or a protective coating.
 
nice build!!! Are your burners adjustable?

Do you want to build a 2 tier for me? That looks a lot better than the wood I am planning on using.

Yes the burners are mounted to a rail that will adjust about 4".And yes, I will build you whatever you want if the $ is right.
 
What did you paint or coat it with and how much did that cost? I have a similar stand but it needs paint or a protective coating.

I cleaned it really good with denatured alcohol, Heated it up with a torch to get the moisture out of the metal, then rattle canned it with a rust inhibiting primer. I has been painted. future pic will show.
 
How many cans did it take for the rust inhibitor, and do you plan on having a high temp paint near the burners or places where the keggles will contact the frame?
 
That is actually the front. That will eventually contain all of the pumps, plumbing, and electronics....I hope.

If you're thinking of mounting typical centrifugal "beer pumps" above the level of the fluids in your kettles, I think you might be creating a major headache for yourself...

Cheers!
 
How many cans did it take for the rust inhibitor, and do you plan on having a high temp paint near the burners or places where the keggles will contact the frame?

It took a couple cans. I plan to make some SS sheet metal shields to protect the hot areas.
 
If you're thinking of mounting typical centrifugal "beer pumps" above the level of the fluids in your kettles, I think you might be creating a major headache for yourself...

Cheers!

The pumps will mount about 5" below the liquid level. Far enough to start a siphon, and will only need to pump liquid up about a foot and a half.:mug:
 
While I was planning out the stand, I kept my eyes open for kegs to convert. The first 3 I found on craigslist.

First I laid out a circle, and cut the tops out.
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Then I planned out how many ports I would need, and where I would need them, and started drilling holes.
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I used a hole saw to drill the holes just a bit smaller then the OD of the 1/2" couplings, and then used an abrasive stone to make the holes just the right size. You want the couplings to fit just perfect, not to sloppy, ro welding them will be a pain.
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I test fit each coupling, then welded them up. I used Solaflux on the inside for the welding. I did not want to purge the entire keg with Argon, too expensive.
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I planned on using an immersion chiller to cool the wort, but did not want to have to take it out, put it in, connect hoses, too much work. So I ordered a 50' roll of SS 1/2" tubing, rolled it around a vessel (pain in the rear) and installed it in the Boil Kettle.
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Nice job on the kegs. A friend down the street welded mine.
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Welded kegs
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Finished product
 
As you can see I only have one done so far. It took about 4 hours with Gator grit and polishing compound. I'll get to the other two eventually.
 
I test fit each coupling, then welded them up. I used Solaflux on the inside for the welding. I did not want to purge the entire keg with Argon, too expensive.
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Subscribed.. Very nice build.

Be careful with that converted kettle shown in the picture at left. I noticed your fittings are directly above the "vent hole". That heat that comes out of the hole is extreme when your burner is running. It can melt the rubber handle on a ball valve.

I also used Solarflux for my stainless fittings. What tricks did you have to clean the excess solar flux off the keg after the weld? Is there a trick to that?
 
Subscribed.. Very nice build.

Be careful with that converted kettle shown in the picture at left. I noticed your fittings are directly above the "vent hole". That heat that comes out of the hole is extreme when your burner is running. It can melt the rubber handle on a ball valve.

I also used Solarflux for my stainless fittings. What tricks did you have to clean the excess solar flux off the keg after the weld? Is there a trick to that?

I just use a SS fine bristle wire wheel on a straight grinder.
 
I ordered 2 SS Chugger pumps. When I received them I made 2 mounting plates, and welded them to the stand, and installed the pumps.
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Started working on the plumbing of the vessels. My goal is to be able to pump liquid from any vessel to any vessel, with either pump. This will eliminate any issues on brew day if a pump should fail.
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Looks great. Nice use of child labor. What size stainless tubing are you using? Also, are you planning to CIP?
 
Looks great. Nice use of child labor. What size stainless tubing are you using? Also, are you planning to CIP?

All of the liquid side tubing is 1/2". I am thinking about designing a tippy-dump setup for the MT. If I do it I will use a cam lock setup for easy disconnect.
 
I'm hoping they will be fine. I did rotate the heads 180 so that they will not trap air. Is there a concern that that you wish to share?

Of the two possible horizontal orientations, you actually rotated the heads into a position where they will trap air. Which is why the pumps were shipped with the opposite head orientation.

Other than that, the least problematic orientation is actually vertical, with the outlet above the inlet.

There are no end of threads that will lead you to the same conclusion...

Cheers!
 
Just wondering if you can post any details of the welding you did on the fittings. I'm also a welder and I'm planning on doing the same thing to a couple kegs I have sitting around. Glad to see someone using Solar-Flux. I looked into it a couple years ago and found it's not rated for food-grade welding. With that said, I'm sure with a good weld and proper cleaning it should be fine (and like you said, a lot cheaper and easier than purging).
 
Ollie is always there to lend a hand.

:eek: First look I thought your son was holding an oxy tourch! Now that would be some bad-ass 7 year old (although even now he looks like he's probably a better welder than I am):D
 
Very Nice ! ! Makes me want to reinvest a few hundred into mine.. What compression fitting manufacture did you use?
 
Just wondering if you can post any details of the welding you did on the fittings. I'm also a welder and I'm planning on doing the same thing to a couple kegs I have sitting around. Glad to see someone using Solar-Flux. I looked into it a couple years ago and found it's not rated for food-grade welding. With that said, I'm sure with a good weld and proper cleaning it should be fine (and like you said, a lot cheaper and easier than purging).

Basically you want to start with clean metal. You also want a tight joint. Because the kegs are relativity thin and the couplings are much thicker you are going to want to focus the arc mostly on the coupling, sweeping over to the keg (over the filler wire, I used 3/32" 316L) fast enough to see the weld puddle "wash" on to the keg. This is where heat is your friend. To many people try to turn there tig machine down too low (55-65 amps) with the thought that this will prevent them from blowing a hole in the thinner material. But what actually happens is because the amperage is low they need to move slower in order to get the filler metal to melt, the base metal starts soaking up all of that heat, and then "bam" a hole opens up. It is better to turn the amperage up and move a lot faster. I weld mine in quarters to distribute the heat around.

As far as the solar flux is concerned, First mix it with Denatured Alcohol, It work better this way. Because the product (wort) is being boiled I am not to concerned with the "not food grade" issue. If I were going to weld on a fermenter or piping that the wort would contact post boil, I would purge with argon.
 
Of the two possible horizontal orientations, you actually rotated the heads into a position where they will trap air. Which is why the pumps were shipped with the opposite head orientation.




Cheers!

I rotated them back to there shipped position after the photos were taken. I was going to mount them a different way so I had rotated the heads to see if it would work, but I didn't like it, so I mounted them as the photos show and rotated the heads back.

I appreciate your concerns. I have always believed that several sets of eyes on a project is better then one.
 
Like you have done I used the Solar flux when tig welding parts onto kegs, did you back weld the inside of the couplings and buff it smooth?, or just the outside.
 
This is where I am at as of right now. I ran out of fittings. I am starting to think about how I will do the LP gas manifold. I am going to use Asco valves to control the burners. I have 3 Asco valves that I salvaged, only problem is one is not working.
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