Brewstand Build

After brewing for a year on my make-shift 'stand' I have decided to go ahead with something more appropriate. I have no welding experience and after seeing many builds that are slightly different and the always present ‘next time I would do this’, I went with the erector-set design.

I started by looking at Sam Scott's Wallace and at Bender’s Weldless brew stand and finally at the My brewstand design from BeantownR6. From these I made my design modifications and thanks to the Revit model from BeantownR6, I got my plans drawn up and started to buy things. My design is a 4 vessel design: HLT, MLT, Kettle, and Whirlpool. I went with this so I can more easily do back to back batches and the added cost was minimal. Thanks to the erector-set design, if 4 don’t work I can easily drop back to 3 like the others have.

The current plans are for it to be HERMS system with 2 pumps and be natural gas. I will be using 2 hurricane burners with the natural gas conversion kits from Williams Brewing. There will be a vertical heat shielded wall between the burner side and the non-burner side. I will be running hard piping for the gas and for water along the bottom with a carbon water filter. For cooling I will be using a CFC chiller with tap water and then ice water from either the HLT or a separate vessel.

The MLT and Whirlpool vessels will be upside-down kegs utilizing the sanke fitting with 2” tri-clovers. A false bottom will be in the MLT. I will dump the trub from the whirlpool and then dump the wort into a sanke fermenter on a cart so it can be moved to the fermentation chamber.

I am still working on this and it will be some time, but feedback and input are welcomed to help make this a better build. On with the pictures, the actual plans will follow when I get them updated.

Current build status:


Initial callouts:

Materials:


Just the stand so far, will update as I go.

Future additions/upgrades:

First day Progress:

Bottom with legs:


Top, bottom, and cross-members assembled:


Details:
Corner/Caster assembly:


Lower Cross-member/Caster Assembly:


Upper Cross-member Assembly:


Corner Assembly:


Bottom View:


Squaring the base:

looks nice. any idea what you've spent on the erector-set material?

android said:

looks nice. any idea what you've spent on the erector-set material?

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Same question I have!

I will update the 3rd post with the materials and costs as soon as I can. Should be a little later today. I will also update that post as I go along with the build, including price, source, quantity, and part numbers.

Got some more parts in. The Hurricane Burners from BrewmastersWarehouse.com and the LG 3-MD-HC pump from eBay.


I also updated the post with the materials list for the stand and rearranged the thread a bit.

looks good! i decided to put off the brew stand and just go with 2 bayou sq 14 burner stands. i may pursue the stand in the future.

looks good so far. i was also designing a four vessel system for my brewery. RIMS mash and a dedicated whirlpool. interested to see how this turns out. good luck!

one thing i did notice is that your whirlpool inlet may be a little too high to achieve an efficient whirlpool action. it should be somewhere around where your other thermo's are (1/3 the way up on the keg). I can see the usefulness of a sightglass (post cast volume, dilution) but not really a thermometer since it would be getting chilled right after through the CFC. or do you plan on chilling before the whirlpool?

JOHN51277 said:

Same question I have!

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me too, how much?

The whirlpool inlet location isn't set yet and it will have an arm on it inside. I just plopped it on there for now.

I will be pumping through the CFC and back into the kettle until the temp drops below 140* or so. Then it will go from the kettle through the CFC and into the whirlpool. I figure on recirculating in the whirlpool for a bit to get a good spin going and to ensure the temperature drop. I will then dump the trub out of the bottom of the whirlpool before I transfer to the fermenter.

My tap water isn't that cold so it may take a while. The HLT can also be used as a Cold Water Tank for use in chilling if I am single batch brewing. The thermometer add on isn't that much more so it shouldn't be a problem.

I have some basic flow diagrams that I will be putting up soon, it might help things make sense.

Post #2 has the costs in it. The picture is a bit small though. The stand came to $266 for everything. (EDIT: Updated price)

More progress made, got the burners mounted. I had to add some more metal angle and will probably need to add some more for the MLT and Whirlpool. It really stabilizes the keggles and will look more uniform. I went with metal from Home Depot, but if I had planned better I would have gotten it from McMaster-Carr along with the other pieces. I think it will end up being (2) 4’ sections of each 1-1/2”x1-1/2” and 1-1/2”x2-1/4” plus the one 4’ piece of flat perforated for the burner mounts.

The burners location are not final as I have not yet lit them. They have a few inches of vertical movement and I can easily add more if needed by buying more flat metal and cutting it longer. They currently are propane, but I have the natural gas valves on the way. I do not think I will get the NG all set soon so I bought a regulator with two hoses from Home Depot so I can fire the burners up on propane and try to get a test fire of the burners and maybe sneak in a brew session.

Burner pictures:

you've got me reconsidering a wood build for my electric set up. The erector set frames just seem so simple.

IrregularPulse said:

you've got me reconsidering a wood build for my electric set up. The erector set frames just seem so simple.

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It is simple and making changes and additions are easy too. Most of the work is in the planning.

Got the burners lit using the regulator from Home Depot and propane. The flames were smaller than I thought they would be and not quite as clean. I am using the standard propane valve that came with them. My gas conversion kits are on the way so I will reserve judgement until they are installed and I hve my NG hooked up.

The burners did get hot and I was able to get the flames up and around the sides of the kegs. Once things cooled off I lowered one burner on 'notch' and the other two. Going to do another test tonight to see whic setting is the best.

Here are a few pictures: