Anyone build an overhead bridge crane in their brew area?

Harbor Freight has a one ton push beam trolley for $60. http://www.harborfreight.com/1-ton-push-trolley-97392.html



Mount on i-beam on your basement ceiling

and add a this harbor freight pulley for $13 http://www.harborfreight.com/gambrel-and-pulley-hoist-99758.html



and you're good to go for under $75 plus the cost of an i-beam, which I'd try to source locally for scrap prices.

Just checking in on the progress of your build. I too am switching from a traditional 3V system to a BIABFB. Im approaching the half-century mark and just dont have the time for an 8-hour brew day.

Engine hoist would never even be a thought personally. They never roll well and would always be in the way. OP has a bad back so he doesn't want to break it down each time to put it in the corner either.

I was thinking of a gantry system this weekend with a cheap winch for use in the garage (I work on motorcycles and cars from time to time) as well as for a future 10-15 gallon BIAB system to hoist out the basket. Haven't taken it farther than daydream mode yet.

ebstauffer said:

Just checking in on the progress of your build. I too am switching from a traditional 3V system to a BIABFB. Im approaching the half-century mark and just dont have the time for an 8-hour brew day.

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8 Hours? Did I read that right?

Slight hyperbole perhaps, but from the time I start heating strike water to the time I'm done cleaning it's every bit of 6.

ebstauffer said:

Slight hyperbole perhaps, but from the time I start heating strike water to the time I'm done cleaning it's every bit of 6.

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I started with about a six hour brew day.

One of the best things I did to save time on brew day was switch from fly sparging to batch sparging. Sparging went from an hour to about fifteen minutes, with no perceptible decrease in efficiency.
45 minutes saved

I mill my grains the night before.
15 minutes saved

I use two propane burners. This way I can heat the first runnings while I'm doing my first sparge, since the second batch of sparge water is heating on the other burner. This greatly reduces the amount of time I'm heating the wort up to boiling.
At least 45 minutes saved

I use an immersion chiller. I used wider tubing and a greater length, and also stir while cooling. This greatly cut down on cooling to pitching temps.
30 minutes saved

I religiously clean as I go. I used to push all of the cleaning off until the end of the brew day.
20 minutes saved.

I'm now down to about a 3.5 hour brew day doing all grain 5 gallon batches.

My 40 gallon brew pot and SS basket are shipping this week. I have the tri clamp element adapters so this week I will be buying and wiring up the elements. That leaves the control system ( hose hound) to get. And figure out a 1 bbl fermenter solution. So I'm a couple months out before I tackle the brewing area itself and the crane.

Gotta get a pump too.

On my propane 3 vessel single tier system it was about 3 hours per 10 gallon batch. But it was extremely hands on since all temp control was done adjusting the knobs of the burners and swapping hoses from vessel to vessel. AND I had to brew 3 batches to make what I can make in one on the new system. So set it and forget it temp control, one pump, one vessel, virtually zero heavy lifting, and significantly less brew sessions to make even more beer = a lot less work for me.

I worked a day in a small 3bbl microbrewery this summer and it really was a lot like my home system just with bigger equipment. It took as much time to brew 3bbl as it did for me to brew 10 gallons. It was a cool and eye opening experience.

Akthor, So the plan is 1bbl batches and fermenting all that the same? Why not a couple 1/2bbl conicals and splitting it?that's my biggest drawback of larger than 10 gallons is drinking the same beer for a very long time.

The plan is use 3 - 45 gallon SS brewpots as fermenters. Each will go inside its own refrigerator as a fermentation chamber. Then have a couple chest freezers that can hold 3 sankeys a piece at least for kegerators. ( local appliance place sells used working fridges for $25) we love beer and have lots of friends and neighbors who love beer so we won't have any that sits around for a very long time.

30Bones said:

Akthor, So the plan is 1bbl batches and fermenting all that the same? Why not a couple 1/2bbl conicals and splitting it?that's my biggest drawback of larger than 10 gallons is drinking the same beer for a very long time.

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FoxPaw said:

Just FYI, all winch manufacturers all warn agents using their winches for vertical lifting as they are not designed for it , hence; "5. Do not use for vertical lifting.

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I will second this- do not use a winch for overhead lifting, it is not meant for vertical lifts.

the reason they don't say for vertical lifting is because they don't have a safety. Any hoisting apparatus used for vertical lifting over a certain weight must have a safety and braking mechanism so if it fails, the load doesn't fall.

No worries I didn't I got an overhead hoist.

I just got the gambrel pulley ( don't need the pulley just the gambrel - the maker of my pit and basket wanted $50 for theirs) and I got this hoist -

http://m.harborfreight.com/440-lb-electric-hoist-with-remote-control-60346.html
like I said the heaviest thing this would lift would be a full Sanke keg which I think is around 155lbs.

I used a 20% coupon so total shipped to my house was like $107.