Another stand is born

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krazydave

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Well, sorta.
After months of talking about it, designing, making wiring diagrams, etc. I'm finally getting underway at actually building my single tier. Picked up my steel yesterday and got to welding today. All in all, I'd say it was a fairly productive day of welding, which is rare considering I have a 2yr old who usually occupies me enough to not get any building done.

I have threads already for the stand design here
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/stand-thoughts-379315/

And for the control panel here
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f235/help-me-scrutinize-my-control-panel-wiring-diagram-348487/

I still haven't fully decided if I'm going to mount my control panel on an arm like that yet or figure out some way of folding\telescoping it. But anyway, here's the current progress. I'll try to keep it updated as I progress more.

Stand1.jpg

Stand2.jpg


And what the current sketchup looks like, for those not wanting to visit the other threads.

Stand71.png

Stand72.png
 
Looking good. Kudos for taking the time to polish that keg. I lost interest halfway through mine.
 
Looking good. Kudos for taking the time to polish that keg. I lost interest halfway through mine.


Tell me about it... it was about 6-7 hours worth of polishing. I think if I decide to polish the others, I wont be going for mirror shine again. Halfway doesn't look too bad after all.
 
krazydave said:
Tell me about it... it was about 6-7 hours worth of polishing. I think if I decide to polish the others, I wont be going for mirror shine again. Halfway doesn't look too bad after all.

Yah I got as far as the first grinder pad on mine then tried just a little bit of the buffer then lost interest. I noticed a slight difference but not enough to make want to do any more of it
 
Tell me about it... it was about 6-7 hours worth of polishing. I think if I decide to polish the others, I wont be going for mirror shine again. Halfway doesn't look too bad after all.

I was happy last night with just a 3M flap disc on my salvaged stainless tubing. For my kegs I'm going use the disc first then a coarse grit pad, tapping it on the edge in a short down stroke. This leaves a small crescent, that when overlapped by the others resembles fish scales (fish/aquaculture biologist here). I did half of one keg to see and it looks well enough.

I have been debating in my head if I want a short stand like yours or a tall stand to store the kegs underneath. You have dimensions? I like the comfort-look of a shorter stand and storing kegs on top wouldn't be all that bad. Plus, a tall stand looks awfully wobbly when I think about having 300+ lbs of hot stuff up there.

Thanks,

MT
 
The stand itself without the wheels is 1' tall, 1'6" deep and 4'6" wide.
I did it short because I already had two Blichmann burners, so it only made sense to just buy a third and design the stand around those.

I also went with 1.5" 11ga. (or 1/8") wall tubing. I think the 2" tubing that you regularly see people making stands out of is severely overkill. I've already filled all three kegs to the rim on this and then jumped on top of it to test it's strength. I weight about 210lbs and it didn't even flex one bit!

I'm currently also trying to figure out how I'm going to mount my pilots and thermocouples to the burners. That's one thing that is a bit of a challenge on these Blichmann's!
 
Thanks. I am using 2" stainless tubing, but only because it was free....just some work cutting and grinding a bunch of stuff off it.

That's pretty close to the measurements I mocked up with cardboard cutouts (probably pretty close to standard dimensions now, with all the single tiers out there).

MT
 
BeardedIdiot said:
So you just drilled into the underside of the burner? Any issues with gas/air leaking around the screw?

Drilled tapped and pipe doped. I can't imagine it leaking enough to do anything even if it did leak.
 
Got a lot accomplished today considering I had my 2yr old daughter in the garage with me all day.

I ended up just going with my original plan for mounting the control panel. Got all of the plumbing and conduit loosely fitted. Welded on some bits of super-strut to hold everything in place.
I need to mount my pumps next and then tear it all down to paint it.

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I need to mount my pumps next and then tear it all down to paint it.

The stand is looking nice! Do you have any pics of the inside of the panel? I have to figure out a pump control panel. I'm not doing any other automation but pump on/off (at least for now, we all know how homebrew projects never finish).

What are your plans for the pumps mounts? I've never looked at how people run the wires. Could you take pics of that when you get to that point?

I wish I had a tig welder for my stainless scrap build so I could make headway like this. All I can do is prep work, waiting on all the parts to come together so I can take it all to the weld shop.

Cheers on the progress,

MT
 
Thanks!

I have pics of the control panel and a full wiring diagram in the thread linked above in my first post. As for mounting I'm just planning on drilling and tapping some holes. Hopefully I'll be able to get them mounted today.

I won't be wiring though until its painted and I can start permanently securing all of the conduit. Right now it's all just pushed together without glue.

I'll definitely update the thread as I make more progress.
 
Thanks!

I have pics of the control panel and a full wiring diagram in the thread linked above in my first post. As for mounting I'm just planning on drilling and tapping some holes. Hopefully I'll be able to get them mounted today.

I won't be wiring though until its painted and I can start permanently securing all of the conduit. Right now it's all just pushed together without glue.

I'll definitely update the thread as I make more progress.

I see. I was thinking of a quick release setup for pumps and chiller for easy of cleaning. Something like a hitch pin on the top or bottom of a plate to mount the pumps on. I could definitely weld some threaded posts for the pumps, using wing nuts to secure them on. Not sure yet for the plate chiller. Put the wing nuts sound easier now.

I plan on traveling a bit with my stand, so it has to be fairly easy for me to disassemble the components for safe travels.

I'm off the check out your other thread on the panel.

Looking for to updates,

MT
 
Morebeer sells something that may work well for what you're trying. And it's in Stainless also to match your stand.
http://morebeer.com/view_product/17322//Pump_Mounting_Bracket_-_Stainless

As for my chiller, I use a CFC at the moment. I will probably incorporate a plate chiller on the stand at some point because it certainly looks a lot cleaner. However, I'm still enjoying the fact that my CFC will never clog up with pellet hops. I do agree though, if and when I do add a plate chiller to the stand, I'll want an easy way to pull it off whenever I want to.
 
Got a lot done the past couple of nights also. Got the stand plumbed and fully wired, including putting in panel connectors for my RTD probes. Finished buttoning up the control panel (still need to put labels on it though). Got one burner plumbed and test fired. All that's left really is to plumb and mount the last two burners and label the control panel and I'll be ready for a test brew.

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Got her all done except for the control panel labels and strapping down my pump cords.

Looks like I'll be finishing the last bits up on Saturday and with any luck brewing the following weekend.

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sorry to interject here, but this is so awesome it makes my heart hurt. i'm still using gravity and (considerable) brawn to move liquids around, but i truly envy the joy it must bring you to construct this from scratch. thanks for the ideas. keep calm and brew on.
 
drderelict said:
sorry to interject here, but this is so awesome it makes my heart hurt. i'm still using gravity and (considerable) brawn to move liquids around, but i truly envy the joy it must bring you to construct this from scratch. thanks for the ideas. keep calm and brew on.


Please do interject! My whole reason for posting this here is to give back to this forum as its given me most of the ideas I have for brewing equipment.

It was actually my last brew of walking water up a 10' ladder to pour into my HLT which was about 14' up that made me decide that I'm done with that and I need to start really putting effort into my stand design and build. It's been months now though and I'm dying to get the supply chain going again!
 
Nice work man ...this should make your brew day much easier .

...course you realize that you owe it to yourself to polish the other 2 kegs, right ?
;)
 
SleepyCreekBrews said:
Nice work man ...this should make your brew day much easier .

...course you realize that you owe it to yourself to polish the other 2 kegs, right ?
;)

I'm sure I'll half polish them at some point. I don't think I have it in me to go for mirror finish again though!
 
Hit a bit of a snag today that's sucked up the majority of a day off from work.
One of my PID's has something internally wrong with it!
And hours of troubleshooting wiring have me at the point where I'm certain the PID is faulty. Basically the relay for my burner clicks but doesn't engage all of the time. When it does engage, I can tap the PID and it will shut off. Just spent an hour on the phone with Auber also to basically be told that I'm wiring it wrong. Hah!
Explain why swapping the two PID's just swaps the problem to where the bad one is.

...so, since Auber was no help, it's $50 for a new one or ship that one in and wait three to four weeks for "repair assesment". Not exchange, like you would think that they would do.

I'm now $50 poorer. Thanks Auber!
 
Control panel labeled! With the exception of the PID that needs replacing, this build is complete.
I have to throw a huge thanks to Bobby_M for the work on the control panel labels. I ordered the large font at first and quickly realized that it wouldn't fit the "auto off on" above the switches. Bobby was kind enough to not only see what he could do to remake them in half the size, but also send them to me without charge. Thanks!!

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New PID installed and not having problems. Told you that it wasn't my wiring Auber!
The best part was still when the support guy told me "I actually have to go. I was supposed to leave at 5."

Having some issues with the PIDs not keeping the relay on long enough to actually get the burner fully lit though, but I believe that's just a setting and not a problem with the PID

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Looks gorgeous, congratulations! I will definitely be stealing ideas for my one-day low-profile brew stand.

A few questions:

How is the diamond plate attached?
Are the Blichmann burners bolted to the diamond plate at all, or just resting there via friction/gravity?
Do you ever feel the need for a heat shield with your keggle and Blichmann combos? (Boiling in the sight glass, melting valve handle coating, etc.?)
And just out of curiosity, L to R in the photo is BK, MLT, HLT, correct?
 
This is a beautiful stand, Nice work! Just curious, where did you source the parts for your control panel? I'm working on a stand of my own and still need to complete the designa and parts list for the control panel.
 
What kind of controllers are those? What kind of flame safe do you have on your burner system? Just curious.
 
breckenridge said:
Looks gorgeous, congratulations! I will definitely be stealing ideas for my one-day low-profile brew stand.

A few questions:

How is the diamond plate attached?
Are the Blichmann burners bolted to the diamond plate at all, or just resting there via friction/gravity?
Do you ever feel the need for a heat shield with your keggle and Blichmann combos? (Boiling in the sight glass, melting valve handle coating, etc.?)
And just out of curiosity, L to R in the photo is BK, MLT, HLT, correct?

Thanks!

The diamond plate is attached with 3/16 pop rivets, but the burners also bolt through it with self tapping stainless screws to the supporting beams underneath (answering your second question).

Heat shields haven't been necessary with the kegs. The valve handles are plenty cool enough to grab bare handed even after a full boil. Sight glasses have never boiled either. I did have a 10 gal kettle that I used on there before though and it was necessary to have shields on both the valve and sight glass.

The order that you listed from left to right is correct.
 
NWAleDad said:
This is a beautiful stand, Nice work! Just curious, where did you source the parts for your control panel? I'm working on a stand of my own and still need to complete the designa and parts list for the control panel.

Thanks!

The switches and lights all came from eBay. Controllers came from Auber instruments. Transformer came from pexsupply. And the wiring bits came from multiple sources (radio shack, Fry's electronics, OSH, Lowes). Enclosure came from a local electronics junk yard (size is 12x12x6).
 
WDT said:
What kind of controllers are those? What kind of flame safe do you have on your burner system? Just curious.

Those are Auber SYL-2362 PID controllers which are in on/off mode. I've found that PID mode doesn't work well with gas valves as it tends to not leave them on long enough for the burners to actually light.

Flame safe is handled by the Honeywell VR8200 standing pilot valves. They have a thermocouple on the pilot burner. No flame = no gas!
 
Those are Auber SYL-2362 PID controllers which are in on/off mode. I've found that PID mode doesn't work well with gas valves as it tends to not leave them on long enough for the burners to actually light.

When you say on/off mode, does this mean that the controller will open the valve based on the temp readings OR that you need to manually turn the burners on via the control panel?
 
NWAleDad said:
When you say on/off mode, does this mean that the controller will open the valve based on the temp readings OR that you need to manually turn the burners on via the control panel?

It's automatic based on temp but doesn't try to predict the temp and fire the burner for half a second to keep it there. So as it is it'll keep it within about .3-5 of where I set it.
 
It's automatic based on temp but doesn't try to predict the temp and fire the burner for half a second to keep it there. So as it is it'll keep it within about .3-5 of where I set it.

Thanks for you help KrazyDave! Enjoy the new stand and happy brewing!

:mug:
 

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