My attempt at a single tier brew sculpture

Here is the start of my sculpture build. I have found inspiration on this forum to start the project and this will bring me in to the all grain realm once completed. I appreciate all input and advice you may have to offer. Here are a couple of pics of the progress.

Ken

That thing going to have wheels?

Pretty sweet "attempt". Can't wait to see the finished product.

I'm definitely going to put it on casters. I'm still trying to decide if I want to go LP or natural gas.

Gotta decide that before you decide what kind of burners to use. The LP option gives you transportability so you can take it with you to a group brew day or if you ever have to move to a house w/ no NG. Seems like people have a difficult time getting the pressure right, etc. w/ NG, too. LP is easy.

What are you going to use for kettles/MLT? Do you plan to automate this at all?

I'd love to hear what you've spent on steel, if you don't mind.

If your budget is tight, you can use bed frames. You can pick those up for cheap/free. I built my stands out of scrap steel I got for free. I can easily overlook the holes that were already drilled.

@mattmcl...I am using 1/8" x 1 1/4" spent about $45 on the metal and have 3 12' sticks left over from what I bought so far. I bought it from a metal supply shop in escondido, ca and found it in the yard it is new product that they were calling pickled.

@ Lil' Sparky...I am using converted Sanke kegs for the Kettle and other tanks. No plans to automate at this time. I have been doing extract brews up to now and will now try some all grain with the new setup. Any advise on the conversion of the keg for the mast tun? false bottom or just a screen off of the copper tube? Site Glass?

I didn't automate my system either. I understand the "cool" factor, but don't think it's worth the extra $$.

I've got a hinged full false bottom in my sanke MLT - works great. I recirculate the mash and can do so at full flow without worries about a stuck mash. I got mine from jaybird. He may be making some again in the future. If you're interested, shoot him a PM and see.

I've also got a thermosite that allows me to guage the strike water and insert a digital thermo probe.

Here's a pic inside my MLT.

Nice...where do you get your weldless fittings from?

Thanks. I got some of my fittings from northernbrewer.com. Others I put together myself using hi-temp o-rings from NB.

I found some locking casters to put on...





Ken

Looks good. Have you figured out what you're going to do for burners?

<nitpick> Since it looks like your kegs fit "just right" on the supports, I would really think about tacking on some tabs to keep them in place. You don't want a full brew kettle to slip down inside there. </nitpick>

Mount your pump so it has the outlet at the top. If you dont it has a hard time with getting air trapped in it.

Are you mounting a second pump? If not, how are you going to lauter. You'll need to have a pump from the HLT to the MLT, and one from the MLT to the BK.

You only need one pump if you batch sparge. I think several of us on here have a single tier w/ a single pump. Quick-disconnects make it easy to switch around how the pump is being used.

Lil' Sparky said:

If your budget is tight, you can use bed frames. You can pick those up for cheap/free. I built my stands out of scrap steel I got for free. I can easily overlook the holes that were already drilled.

Click to expand...

Sweet!

What a great idea.

dubs1856 said:

@mattmcl...I am using 1/8" x 1 1/4" spent about $45 on the metal and have 3 12' sticks left over from what I bought so far. I bought it from a metal supply shop in escondido, ca and found it in the yard it is new product that they were calling pickled.

Click to expand...

Did you get that stuff at Escondido Metal Supply? I think I saw that same stuff out in the scrap yard the other day and was wondering about it. Did it weld up ok? You're using a MIG?

I'm in Carlsbad, down by La Costa resort. I'm glad to hear that pickled stuff worked out well - it seemed like a good deal compared to the 1x1x.125 I was considering. That wasn't even really that bad - $80 for 40' of it.