My Single-Tier Propane/Electric Hybrid Brew Rig

Did you end up going with the stainless? If so, don't powdercoat it, get your ass to polishing!

Nope. Decided to go with mild steel. The guy who did the welding ground down all the welds on the outside parts, and it looks like stainless right now... but a bit of moisture will change that pretty quick

I think in materials and welding labor I saved about $200 going with mild steel.

I'm pretty sure I'll regret it, but it has helped the budget for the project.

Wonder how much it would cost to get something that size copper plated...

Met with the welder today. He's adding the mounts for the pumps & control panel, then it's going to be powder coated red. Hope to get it home by the end of next week.

diatonic said:

Met with the welder today. He's adding the mounts for the pumps & control panel, then it's going to be powder coated red. Hope to get it home by the end of next week.

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Is he doin the mounts for the burners, too? I look forward to seeing it.

This thread has helped me with developing a propane/electric HERMS/RIMS system. I opened a thread last night for it. I'm excited!

Durden said:

Is he doin the mounts for the burners, too? I look forward to seeing it.

This thread has helped me with developing a propane/electric HERMS/RIMS system. I opened a thread last night for it. I'm excited!

Click to expand...

I'm going to tap some screw holes in the beams where the burners go to mount brackets for the burners. I wanted to have a chance to fire them at different heights to find the optimal location... then I'll just make some brackets to hold the burners.

I'll be watching your thread! I plan on making a video of the first brew day with mine and I'll post it here. Hoping to be able to brew in about 2-3 weeks on it.

:rockin:

I picked up the completed stand from the welder last night, and I'm taking it to the powder-coater today. Here's how it turned out with the pump mounts and removable control panel arm:

Too excited not to post this pic. Just picked up from powder coating. Now I just need to build some Snake10 style heat shields.



I have a few holes I still need to cut in the control panel, so I'll be being extra careful with that

Here it is at home. Ignore the neglected winter yard.

Wow, looks VERY nice!
I'm watching this thread more than any other.
You must be looking forward to brew day. (May 1st, right?)
Are you gonna brew with other brewers on brew day?
If so, you are gonna make them crap themselves.

Ooh the orange is spectacular! Nice work sir.

Very nice!

/subscribed

pickles said:

Ooh the orange is spectacular! Nice work sir.

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Thanks! The iPhone camera doesn't really represent the color well. It's pretty much the same color red a Snake10's killer Brutus frame:



His build is what made me decide to go with that color. Looks sweet!

And to prevent more PM's asking, I paid $80 for the powder coating. Bid from another shop was $150. They sandblasted it, and powder coated it. It's not high-temp (cured at 400F) so I'm working on some heat shields.

Got home and set the kegs on it to get a feel of how it will be to brew on.



The control box turned out fantastic. I'm going to start putting it together tomorrow.



I sent the design for the control panel labels to a local sign shop. I'm picking up the vinyl tomorrow to apply to the front. The vinyl part is on the right, I'm having it cut from yellow vinyl.

First logo I've seen on a control panel.
Now, I have to make one.
You may have started a trend.
Do you study nucleonics?

frolf said:

First logo I've seen on a control panel.
Now, I have to make one.
You may have started a trend.
Do you study nucleonics?

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I did reactor chemistry/radiological controls in the Navy on submarines in the 90s as an engineering department laboratory technician. The lab where I performed coolant analysis was called 'Nucleonics'. I don't do lab work any more, but I find that my lab experience helps in my brewing... Nucleonics seemed like a good name for my rig, and it puts a smile on my face

I think airbalancer's was the first control panel I saw with a logo:

Wow! I mean Wow! Can I say it? Wow! That looks good!

Do you think the 1.5" square steel is overkill or the appropriate size? I want to do similar and want to know if that's the min or typical size steel to use. Also what kind of place did you get the steel from?

ghart999 said:

Do you think the 1.5" square steel is overkill or the appropriate size? I want to do similar and want to know if that's the min or typical size steel to use. Also what kind of place did you get the steel from?

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Depends on the wall thickness I suppose. I've seen stands made of 1", not sure of the thickness.

I got one 24' stick of 16 gauge and one 15 gauge. They only had one 16 gauge after selling me two so they gave me a 15 gauge piece for the same price. It feels plenty sturdy, and is fairly light. I'm a little concerned that when I tap some threads I'll have to be careful not to over torque & strip them.

Thanks for the positive comments. The sign shop screwed up the vinyl (they printed clear yellow on clear vinyl which looks like ass). They're re-doing it and I'll have it tomorrow.

Very small update. Got the vinyl for my control panel and applied it. Now I just need to:

1. Wire the control panel
2. Mount the pumps
3. Plumb the gas
4. Plumb the water lines
5. Plumb the wort lines
6. Run the wiring for pumps and gas valve
7. Finish the keggles

Then it's BREW TIME!

Very nice work.
Think I'll sit on the sideline and watch for awhile.

Thanks! Despite feeling like I'm posting too many updates with too little progress, here's another . I got the propane regulator mounted, and gas shutoff valves mounted for the HLT and BK gas ports. The yellow teflon tape seems a lot easier to work with than the super thin white stuff.

No pics, because it's dark outside and my iPhone is incapable of taking low-light photos. I'm really hoping the propane regulator I bought on eBay will work. It's a 1st stage regulator for an RV that can do 5-15psi and deliver up to 1,000,000 BTU/hour. I'm using high-pressure orifices and valves in my application, and hope that a steady 15psi on the banjo burners will be sufficient. You can be sure more pictures will follow shortly.

I'm contacting a local sheet metal/fabrication shop to build wind screens for the burners, and possibly mounts. We'll see how that goes.

This build feels like it is taking forever, but I'm starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. It felt good to get the 6 Blichmann 3 piece ball valves mounted in my keggles.

On a side note, the full-flow 1/2" stainless quick disconnects are really expensive. That is all.

diatonic-

You are a couple of weeks ahead of us (brother-in-law and me) on your build and I am learning a lot from you. Please post pictures when you get a chance.

Our rig will be much lower tech (all gas), but similar. We just got our frame welded up (b-i-l is good hobby welder) and have started drilling kegs for valves.

I will start a thread when we get our pictures together on the same computer....

-Sean

Faxed the following drawings to a local sheet metal fab shop. Will have a quote Monday morning to fabricate these. My plan is to mount the wind screens to the frame using the brackets, then mount the burners to the frame. I plan to have the top of the burner 4.5" below the top of the stand. I'll post some more drawings late of the stainless heat shields I'm making to protect the top of the frame from intense heat.

Brackets:


Wind shields/burner mounts:


Today I also picked up a 30psig pressure gauge for the gas beam. Will look better than a plug in the unused port, and help with leak testing. Also had a custom propane hose made to go from tank to regulator. Closed on a 2nd mortgage to get cash for more stainless quick disconnects. (That's a joke, but they are friggin' expensive)

It was a sunny day outside... so I wheeled the work in progress out of the garage and took some pictures.

more











Please don't quote all of these images, I've done enough damage already

Looking good. I sure do like that color!

love it if i would ever stop brewing i might get mine done

Excellent work so far, my friend.

Prost!

Nice job! I can't wait to see the finished product.

Awesome! Where did you get that awesome labeling done? Any pics of it being applied? BTW I still say its orange JK

pickles said:

Awesome! Where did you get that awesome labeling done? Any pics of it being applied? BTW I still say its orange JK

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All of the lettering was done by FastSigns. No pictures of it being applied. They main letters are cut from yellow vinyl, and the brewery logo is a clear piece which has the yellow parts printed on it. It had some small lines that the sign shop were afraid wouldn't cut well from vinyl. They were a little more expensive, but had it done in 24 hours. Had a quote that was 1/3 the price, but it was going to take a week... and I wasn't feeling very patient .

You know, it is an "orangy" red

Awesome work on the stand Diatonic.

If I may ask a question....

What kind of fitting did you use for the gas ports on the gas beam?

JP

WoW, sweet looking stand! I really like the gas beam a lot. The mounts for the pump are also a nice job and great idea.
Well done!

I like the color!

copster88 said:

Awesome work on the stand Diatonic.

If I may ask a question....

What kind of fitting did you use for the gas ports on the gas beam?

JP

Click to expand...

I used four ½" stainless half-couplings. They're TIG welded in to the beam. I'm using the port that I had intended someday maybe to feed an MLT burner to bring in propane from the regulator, and put a pressure gauge in the port I had been planning to use for bringing in propane from the regulator. The regulator has a vent that needs to face down unless you have it covered... which is why I made the change.

NEW STUFF TODAY!

I picked up some 25A fuses and waterproof fuse enclosures to mount where the 220V comes in to the panel. The circuit will be able to provide up to 50A and I wanted some protection on the inside of the box in case a short occurs. These will each have a hot leg routed through them.



Picked up this awesome cable which will run from a junction box on the rig, to my panel. It has 6 16 AWG conductors. The way I plan it is to have a j-box which has conduit to each of the pumps, and the gas valve. Then attach this cable to the j-box to run to the panel.

Pins:

Center: ground (green)
White: Neutral
Black: Pump 1
Blue: Pump 2
Orange: HLT Gas
Red: Unused (for now)

6 foot cord:


Panel mountable connector for inside:



I created a whirlpool/recirculation return tube for the HLT. It will be used while the HLT coil is in use to reduce temperature stratification in the HLT. I took some video of it in use with the march pump, and the little giant, and will try to post that later. The Little Giant gets much better flow.

This is how far the HLT drains with the dip tube I am using:

SouthernYankee said:

WoW, sweet looking stand! I really like the gas beam a lot. The mounts for the pump are also a nice job and great idea.
Well done!

I like the color!

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Thanks SouthernYankee! Our builds look like they could be brothers!

Here's the comparison of my 2 pumps with the 'whirlpool' port. Sorry it was done on a crappy phone camera:

Awesome build! I am not sure if you have seen any of my threads, but you can use both coils during cooling. Fill the HLT with ice, top up with water, then circulate the hot wort through the HLT coil and the ice water through the BK coil.

I call this system DITCHES (Dual Immersion Thermal Coil Heat Exchange System). I think it is the best design around. You have direct fired RIMS, HERMS, and a kick ass cooling system. Super flexible and easy to use. DITCHES FTW!!!

Boerderij_Kabouter said:

Awesome build! I am not sure if you have seen any of my threads, but you can use both coils during cooling. Fill the HLT with ice, top up with water, then circulate the hot wort through the HLT coil and the ice water through the BK coil.

I call this system DITCHES (Dual Immersion Thermal Coil Heat Exchange System). I think it is the best design around. You have direct fired RIMS, HERMS, and a kick ass cooling system. Super flexible and easy to use. DITCHES FTW!!!

Click to expand...

I have admired much of your work! I'd imagine I could drop temps pretty darn quick with DITCHES. Will definately have to give it a try. I've even got a big upright freezer in my garage I could stash ice in throughout the week so I wouldn't have to buy it

squeeze some food coloring in there and check out your mixing power! Nice build. holy crap.

This really is a top-notch build! I like that multipin connector.