My Brutus Build

I have been working on acquiring all the parts for about a month now. Just got back from dropping off the burners and pumps at the welders. I am going to be mounting hurricane burners very similar to the way nicksteck did in his build. While the welder is working on building the stand I have been building keggles in my garage using weldless fittings. After the burners and pumps get mounted I will be bringing this home to do the rest of the plumbing and wiring myself.
I took a quick picture while I was there of what it looks like so far. I will post more pictures once I get it home.

Looks Awesome!

I gotta get me one of those built!

Wow, that's sooooo sharp. I wonder....why didn't you just have the welder weld couplings in your kegs? Was it simply over budget?

ScubaSteve said:

Wow, that's sooooo sharp. I wonder....why didn't you just have the welder weld couplings in your kegs? Was it simply over budget?

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I still may take them over and have them welded in. I had already purchased the weldless fittings and figured I could be working on getting those ready while he is building the stand. Also, the budget is getting up there.

Ha! This looks GREAT my friend!!! I can't wait to see it finished!

I miss my build, that was half the fun


Yours is definitely looking good so far
How thick is your tubing? I told my welder I wanted 1/8 but got 1/4 instead. I have the same castors you do. Its the only failure point Ive found....for me anyway, the damn thing is just too heavy lol


I do recomend rolling 2" steel strips for retaining rings into the radius of a keg. Best mod Ive done to Lonnies plans

looks like a very clean build, you have a lot of work and fun in front of you, take a lot of pics please

Nick

Chimone said:

[Yours is definitely looking good so far
How thick is your tubing?

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I am using 1/8"

I have the same castors you do. Its the only failure point Ive found....for me anyway, the damn thing is just too heavy lol

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Yes, the casters may be too light duty. I saw them at Harbor Freight on sale and they were the only ones they had with brakes on the wheels at the time. If I need to replace them with something a little beefier I am not out much. Right know it rolls very smoothly, although mine is half the weight of yours.

I do recomend rolling 2" steel strips for retaining rings into the radius of a keg. Best mod Ive done to Lonnies plans

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Please explain.

Lonnie Mac said:

Ha! This looks GREAT my friend!!! I can't wait to see it finished!

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Thanks, Lonnie. I am sure we all hope to do you proud with our builds. Thank you for sharing your plans. I think it is great that you visit these forums. I may have some questions for you down the road.

apparatus said:

Please explain.

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Around each keg I put in a retaining ring. This ensures that the kegs do not move if they were accidentally bumped or what not.

nicksteck said:

looks like a very clean build, you have a lot of work and fun in front of you, take a lot of pics please

Nick

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I plan to take many pics once I get this home.
I am sure you must be lovin your new brew rig. Have you had a chance to do much brewing on it yet?

Chimone said:

Around each keg I put in a retaining ring. This ensures that the kegs do not move if they were accidentally bumped or what not.

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Ok, Gotcha. Good idea!

apparatus said:

I plan to take many pics once I get this home.
I am sure you must be lovin your new brew rig. Have you had a chance to do much brewing on it yet?

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i've brewed 2- 10 gallon batches, first time i was getting to know how everything worked, pumps, hoses, thermonator. second brew i worked on getting my love controls calirbrated, used the built in, love and 2 other thermometers to get an average. i ended up adjusting the love control about 3 degrees and learned a bit more about the counter flow chiller to.

once again have fun, you have a great resource in front of you!

apparatus said:

Ok, Gotcha. Good idea!

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X2

I never thought of that, but I'm always worried about them tipping over.

Something else I did...

I put the control box arm on a pivot so I can fold it up when not in use.

Chimone said:

Something else I did...

I put the control box arm on a pivot so I can fold it up when not in use.

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I am planning on doing something very much like that.

Got to bring home the stand from the welders last weekend. Here is the progress so far.
Front view with burners and pumps mounted.



Burner mounts fabricated by the welder. Very similar to Nicksteck's.


Top view of all three burners mounted.


Today I worked on plumbing. This was my first time trying to use a tubing bender. It was more difficult to do than I thought it would be. Here is a picture of a plumbing mock up. I will probably secure it all tomorrow.

Very nice.

You guys are WAY over-engineering your stands using 1/8" wall tubing (or greater)! 0.060" wall square tube is quite adequate for the application.

Yuri_Rage said:

Very nice.

You guys are WAY over-engineering your stands using 1/8" wall tubing (or greater)! 0.060" wall square tube is quite adequate for the application.

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App, your rig is looking VERY sweet my friend!

So the thing with .060 wall SS is (was) the price...

.120 wall is (was) usually quite a bit cheaper than .060... .120 is VERY common in the industry and thus, usually much more reasonably priced than any other SS.

All bets are off now in todays market...

Actually upwards of 300 pounds of hot water on the rear upper span beam would flex the .060 wall tube... A rear support would have to be added.

1/8th tubing may be over engineering but when you don't have a YURI Rage welding machine (weld this here, weld this there) you have to do something else. 1/8th tubing allowed me to tap screw threads everywhere making for a super clean build. If your worried about the weight, Just put 5 inch/250# caster city wheels and MCMaster Carr inserts and never look back.

Bartman

Yuri_Rage said:

Very nice.

You guys are WAY over-engineering your stands using 1/8" wall tubing (or greater)! 0.060" wall square tube is quite adequate for the application.

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Lol

thats just funny coming from you

Damn nice build going there, and might I say that's a damn nice Miller welder too!...