Build Blog: Single Tier Brew Stand

Last night my friends and I began constructing my single tier stand. Having read a number of other people's builds on here I thought it only right to document mine as well.

First off a big thanks goes out to SouthernYankee's build as I'm using his build as the starting blocks for what I plan to do.

Secondly, I admit I'm most likely winging it 80 percent of the time and the other 20 percent I'm drinking so questions to me might not be your best bet

That said let's the pictures begin!

The metal: 1-1/2" x 1-1/2" 16g steel. Sixty feet cut into 5 foot lengths. Purchased locally from the Online Metal Store (but lucky for me they are local so no shipping costs)




Measure twice cut once?


Thanks to SouthernYankee for the design


Now we're talking


Cleaning up the edges


First Weld being laid down!


Taking shape


The workspace

Making it square


We've got vertical


Pretty colors


We're going to inlay a piece of wood for the lower shelf so we used some spare 1/2"x1/2" steel for that.


That's a wrap for the night. Hopefully get more done this weekend

Looking very nice.

Love the many pics. I want to do the same when I move out of the city and into a house. This thread will be a great resource, thanks for taking the time.

That all looks so familiar. Fun isn't it?

Looking forward to more!

I hate to see these threads. I want to go outside and kick my cinder blocks and shaky table and make a stand now.

ibbones said:

I hate to see these threads. I want to go outside and kick my cinder blocks and shaky table and make a stand now.

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Go by the steel. The rest just seems to happen after that.

How long did it take you to complete what you have pictured?

Your Welds look way better than mine

Who's the photographer in the group? Some of the best looking build pics I've seen. Keep up the good work!

schlitz and odell's IPA! a winning combo for any project!

jamest22 said:

How long did it take you to complete what you have pictured?

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After drinking some beer and eating some pizza we probably got going about 8pm and wrapped up at 11pm so three hours time.

Wire fed welding is pretty slick.

Tarheel4985 said:

Who's the photographer in the group? Some of the best looking build pics I've seen. Keep up the good work!

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Thanks. That'd be me, for the camera nerds in the group I set up an Alien Bee 800 flash unit and fired it with pocketwizards to get a bit better lighting than my garage lights.

berrywise said:

Thanks. That'd be me, for the camera nerds in the group I set up an Alien Bee 800 flash unit and fired it with pocketwizards to get a bit better lighting than my garage lights.

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That's awesome. What kind of camera are you using? If you can document the rest of your build this well, you should definitely submit them to BYO or another brew mag when you're odne. They really do look great.

Had the crew over last night to continue working on the brewstand. All was going pretty good until we blew a bearing out in the chop saw which put a halt on construction for a bit.

We got enough pieces cut to do two of the three openings and we were able to cut and fit the lower shelf. Once we get the saw up and running we should be able to finish the top and then work to install the burners and heat shields.

Hardware has arrived!






It once was a bearing


We did get enough pieces cut to do two of the three openings


Laying down more welds




Wood shelving cut to fit and installed. The butcher block kitchen countertop I think adds a nice look to it


From the bottom up


With the kegs and pump for reference

Looking good man. Really like the photos...

Im getting ready to build another stand. Sold the one I had made the thread for.
The new one is in the works. Its going to be a little different. Already drawn out on paper and the steel bought.

But in any case, yours is coming along great. Like the idea of the wood shelf for the bottom.

SouthernYankee said:

Looking good man. Really like the photos...

Im getting ready to build another stand. Sold the one I had made the thread for.
The new one is in the works. Its going to be a little different. Already drawn out on paper and the steel bought.

But in any case, yours is coming along great. Like the idea of the wood shelf for the bottom.

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I like the wood as well, I have some oak wood flooring leftover from a project, I thinkn I'm gonna do something similar with my stand.

I like the look of the wood but that ends up being a wet area for me sometimes. I guess if it is nicely sealed there wouldn't be a problem. It gives it a real nice look though.

I was planning on using some Diamond Plate Like Yankee but have found that I don't really need a shelf. It would look nicer.

any updates?

SouthernYankee said:

any updates?

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We normally would be getting together today to do some more work but are still waiting to fix the chop saw so we are skipping for the day. Hopefully this week we'll be back in business.

I did order two more burners to go with the one I already have. I think we'll be mounting those on a piece 1/2" x1/2 steel that I have. Next need to source some sheet metal for the windscreens and to make a cover for the pump.

After that we're still debating the best method to attach the caster wheels I have. They are the type that have four holes for bolting but we'd rather not weld them directly because we'd like the option of being able to add some washers if we need to level the stand.

Nice work! Some of the highest quality craftsmanship and documentation I've seen!

looks nice, where did you get the quick connects from?

doctorsbro said:

looks nice, where did you get the quick connects from?

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Im just taken a guess. But maybe from here?

http://store.proflowdynamics.com/modules/store/316-Stainless-Steel_C68.cfm

SouthernYankee said:

Im just taken a guess. But maybe from here?

http://store.proflowdynamics.com/modules/store/316-Stainless-Steel_C68.cfm

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Definitely the right product but I purchased from http://bargainfittings.com
so I could place just one order and also get my silicone tubing at the same time.

I need to stop working on other projects and get some work done on the stand! I think this weekend is gonna be a gather parts weekend.

berrywise said:

Definitely the right product but I purchased from http://bargainfittings.com
so I could place just one order and also get my silicone tubing at the same time.

I need to stop working on other projects and get some work done on the stand! I think this weekend is gonna be a gather parts weekend.

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That was my second guess...LOL

Waiting with interest.

Well after a few weeks off waiting to try and get our chop saw back up and running we broke down and just use the ole circular saw to make a few more cuts and get the show back on the road.


bending the final windscreen


All three installed and lining up the burners






Fabricating the pump cover.




Calling it a night.

Next up paint, plumbing, electrical, and wheels.

Looking good! Those pics are also fantastic. What kind if camera is that?

Aren't you worried about not having any air/distance between the top of the heat shield and the kettles? I foresee some issues with not enough air for fuel mixture and exhaust gases. Also how are you going to be mounting the burners as I am going to be building a stand very soon with the same burners and plan to use a drop down bar to mount the burners to. The bar I think will be suspended with threaded rod so I can raise and lower the height. Lastly, are you cutting notches into the heat shields so you can raise the burners up into the shields?

Looks great.

ISO more pictures of this awesome build.

Excellent work so far, she's gonna be a beauty when she's done!

Good luck with the rest of the build,

John

This is completely random, but what kind of camera is being used for these pictures?! They quality of some of these shots is amazing! Some of them are worthy of being hung on a wall!

ghart999 said:

Aren't you worried about not having any air/distance between the top of the heat shield and the kettles? I foresee some issues with not enough air for fuel mixture and exhaust gases. Also how are you going to be mounting the burners as I am going to be building a stand very soon with the same burners and plan to use a drop down bar to mount the burners to. The bar I think will be suspended with threaded rod so I can raise and lower the height. Lastly, are you cutting notches into the heat shields so you can raise the burners up into the shields?

Looks great.

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As to the distance between them I just modeled if after a few other builds I've seen on here. I'm assuming that I'll get enough air flow coming from the bottom of the shield. I guess we'll find out once I fire it up!

If you look close you can see that the burners are already mounted. The burners I used have a small threaded hole in the bottom so I ran a small piece of metal bar (1/2"x1/2") all the way across right below the wind screens. I then drilled a hole in the bar for each burner and bolted them in.

Lastly I used a 3" hole saw to cut a hole in each windscreen. When I get home I can take some more pics to show this.

Caboose said:

This is completely random, but what kind of camera is being used for these pictures?! They quality of some of these shots is amazing! Some of them are worthy of being hung on a wall!

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I'm using a Canon 5d Mark II w/ a 17-35 f2.8 lens. I use a Canon 580ExII flash on the camera and have been also using the on board flash to trigger an Alien Bees 800 series strobe off camera to give the shots a bit more punch.

If that went over your head don't worry I have a photography business that I do on the side which allows me to own some nice camera gear.

A few quick pics of how the burners are mounted to the frame.


I was much to quick to cut the holes in the windscreens w/o thinking it through fully. Having the burners go straight to the back doesn't leave any room for the gas to connect so it will stick out a bit. I think I'll plan to weld a small guard that will protect the fittings when I'm moving the stand around and while it is being stored against a wall.




The Bayou Classic BG-12 burners I am using were already threaded for a metric bolt so I used that to mount them to the 1/2x1/2 metal bar.




A close-up of the hole drilled into the windscreen. I used a 3" hole saw (had it from some previous door knob installations). The burners themselves are mounted so they'll be 3-3/4" below the top of the brew stand.

I installed the wheels to see how square the frame was and it is actually pretty darn close. I think a thin set of washers on just one wheel will have it completely stable.



I also picked up some hardware to mount the pump housing and did a test run to see how that would work.



Still need to disassemble everything and paint the frame. We plan to use a wire wheel on the whole thing and then paint it with high temp clear coat to keep the bare metal look.

Also my orifices and needle valves arrive on Monday so I'm looking forward to getting started on assembling the gas manifold and hopefully at some point seeing some flame on this thing.

I realized I never posted any finished pictures of my brew stand. I am thinking about dragging it into my "photo studio" (aka my basement) and taking some pics of it this week. Here is one I have of the finished stand.

I'm going to work on building a parts list for anyone that may be working towards their own stand and will post that up as well.

Other than the lack of 45's on the top (I only say that because I struggled my ass off making 45's with my cutoff saw), it looks awesome.
I really like the back grating to protect the back of the bruners. if I can find some cheap, I might have to do that.
You going to paint it?

evandena said:

You going to paint it?

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Take a look at the end of post #36.

Stand looks great!