Paint or powder coat for my new Brew stand?

I'm building a new Brew stand similar to the Brutus. Inch and a half square steel tubing. I have a connection at a local IndyCar Race shop, and they are offering to powder coat it for me. I am a little concerned with the flames hitting the powder coating and it not standing up over the long term. They also said they have a ceramic coating then stand up to 1800 degrees, but is not as durable and would possibly be prone to scratching easier.

Anybody have any Pearls of Wisdom in their experience they can share with me?

The only thing I remember from a past conversation was to ask for a silicone-based powder coat. They are formulated to withstand extreme heat.

That would be the type of powder coat on a high-end grill (Weber Genesis, for example). FWIW.

Powder coat might not work around the burners. I added 2 layers of "heat wrap" and it's helping, but I think it's short term. The place I had it done said they would blast it back to bare and put ceramic on for the difference in cost. But, the difference was fairly significant. I think I paid ~$150 for powder coat. Ceramic was maybe triple. Cost of materials.

Todd

FYI, powder coat DOES NOT stand up to direct heat. Before I got it coated, I was made aware that it was going to happen, but I chose to go ahead with it anyways. It looks exactly the way I wanted it to, and I'm OK with the burn marks. After several sessions, I will probably blast those areas clean & coat with a high-temp black.

In my experience the High Temperature Rustoleum also burns off even though it is supposed to withstand 1200 degrees.

Recommend not coating anything close to the burners, and just live with bare metal.

David M. Taylor
NACE Certified Coating Inspector - Level 3

dmtaylor said:

Recommend not coating anything close to the burners, and just live with bare metal.

David M. Taylor
NACE Certified Coating Inspector - Level 3

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Should I have a concern with those areas rusting?

I say coat it with charcoal and embers. After decades of use it will still look the way it did on day one.

Rust is a form of rust protection. I use the Rustoleum Black High Heat and when I have "guests" helping me brew, I break out the can and spruce up my rig. Looks almost as good as the day I made it (Of course the paint burns right off in the flames, but the rest looks nice.) If I had it to do over, I think Rust is a nice color.

Even though it charred near the burners, the rest of the stand looks awesome. They did a great job. You might want to look into using high temp engine paint around the area where it burned off. It may hold up a lot better. Goggle it or maybe someone else will chime in on using that kind of paint.

John

Propane flame in free air runs around 3,623 °F.

Even the VHT coating I used is only rated to 1300°F-2000°F - intermittant.
I doubt with the flame exposure shown in the first pic there's anything that's going to stand up.

fwiw, not being comfortable with welding stainless steel at the time (rookie MIG operator ) I welded my current mild steel rig around a pair of Blichmann floor burners.



I painted the steel with that VHT coating above, and there's enough built-in clearance to the painted stuff that it's had no problems handling what spills out around the kettles.

The math favored just making the whole thing out of stainless tubing and a couple of BG14 burners.
That would have totally avoided the (expensive!) paint but I just didn't have the skills...

Cheers!

Sweet Rig!

I incorperated some heavy duty heat shields (if I recall it's 3/16" 3" X 4" angle) with an air gap around them and the rig and between them and the keggles. Both colors are the high heat grill/engine paint.
Neither have burnt off and so far no rust or charred looking parts.

Thank you kindly.

I had that beast totally finished and technically ready for its first run well over six months before its actual maiden brew - because of the *&#%$! paint.
I had gone all-in on the VHT2K stuff without realizing it needs to be cured, involving three heat phases separated by a couple of cool-down phases.
And it took 6 months to finally convince an applied coatings company to bake it at a price that didn't make me want to puke.

None of the powdercoaters would touch it - to a one, they offered to strip the paint and powdercoat it. THAT they could do. But powdercoat durability typically tops out below 500°F, so that wasn't happening.

Seriously, SS is the only real way to go if one doesn't want constant upkeep. Or just put up with it getting gnarly.
My solution works - I've done numerous batches without a hint of an issue - but it probably cost a couple hundred bucks more...

Cheers!

I have since converted to electric but when I was first building the stand for my gas rig, I went with stainless steel to avoid having to deal with the paint issues and upkeep. I still use the same stand for my e-system. Day Trippr that is a dandy!

John

Stainless steel is also marred by flames. In my mind not worth the cost. My brewery is not a museum piece but a working work of art!