Tippy Dump for Blichmann mash tun

I was getting tired of wrestling my mash tun to dump the grain in trash bags. I decided to come up with a way that I could add a tippy dump to my system with no welding and no modifications to my kettles.

Below is what I came up with. I used it at the end of todays brew day and it worked perfect!

The vertical uprights are 2" EMT (metal) conduit. The hinges are standard gate hinges. Cross bar is 1/8" x 2" steel plate and the large metal piece in the handle is a large chunk of aluminum billet.

You remove the two top screws (only thumb tight) from the billet piece and set the kettle over the block. You replace the two screws and the kettle is held securely in place and can't slide in any direction. When tipping, you simply use the handle on the front of the kettle and the leverage ensures the kettle stays presses against the tippy dump (see last pic). When not in use, the frame can be left hanging on the back side of the brew stand out of the way (it rotates 180 degrees to hang down flush with the back of the stand).

I've seen some posts that people are hesitant to tip off the back or front of the stand fearing that the stand may tip over. I can tell you on my stand this is absolutely not an issue. I tested this with a 50# bag of grain before actually using it with mashed grains.

JonW said:

I decided to come up with a way that I could add a tippy dump to my system with no welding and no modifications to my kettles.

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I've been contemplating the same thing. You did an excellent job, sir!

EarthBound said:

I've been contemplating the same thing. You did an excellent job, sir!

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Thank you!

That looks beautiful! Where did you find that black tubing and cross bar?

HitTheTwit said:

That looks beautiful! Where did you find that black tubing and cross bar?

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Those pieces were from Home Depot. The tubing is 2" electrical (metal) EMT conduit.

JonW said:

Thank you!

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Thank you for posting it. It inspired me to start working on my own no-welding installation of a tippy-dump...

Nice design! Simple and effective. Out of curiosity, how come you went this route instead of the "classic" design? (the one with the partial frame and the MLT pivoting in place)

outside92129 said:

Nice design! Simple and effective. Out of curiosity, how come you went this route instead of the "classic" design? (the one with the partial frame and the MLT pivoting in place)

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Umm... because it was simple and effective. When it comes to a tippy dump, I don't really think there is a "classic" design.

I smell "electrical actuator"!

M_C

Nice job Jon. Looks like a work/back saver.

That is a thing of beauty. Nice job!

Misplaced_Canuck said:

I smell "electrical actuator"!

M_C

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+1

Nice job and it looks great.

thats a nice rig you have, what size batches are you doing ?

Thanks for all the compliments everyone. It works very smooth and really was simple to create.

HollisBrewCo said:

thats a nice rig you have, what size batches are you doing ?

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All my batches are 10 gallons. This sunday I'll be doing two 10G batches back-to-back and the tippy dump along with the multiple pump setup will allow me to cruise right along moving into the second batch mash while the first batch is still in the boil.

Thanks for sharing, I'll be doing this too.

That is just the cats meow.... I can not lift and have been studying either a jib crane or some way to lift and dump kettles. This is perfect and does not increase my foot print or require extensive mods to my sculpture or my Kettles. All in all a very elegant way of dealing with a task I was having problems engineering out of my system. Being confined to a "chair" requires me to think outside the box to answer or address issues that "normal" people take for granted. Definately a two thumbs up "Prost!!!" from the cripple.
Bob

Very nice use of common bits of hardware for a "no-weld" solution! I'm sure your lower back is happier now....

Very nice Jon... and I concur, there is no classic design on anything home brewing.

Misplaced_Canuck said:

I smell "electrical actuator"!

M_C

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Nah, Pneumatic is better. I knew there was a reason I ordered the ninth cylinder.... I figured at least get a spare so if I needed a replacement I would have one handy. I guess i figured out the "need" pretty quick. My pneuma stuff will all be here Monday so I had better get myself busy and get the shop cleaner to keep the possibility of contamination to a minimum.
Bob

Any chance we can get a parts list with links?

This thing is awesome and exactly what I'm looking for; just not super clear on all the parts.



Adam

biertourist said:

Any chance we can get a parts list with links?

This thing is awesome and exactly what I'm looking for; just not super clear on all the parts.

Adam

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Unfortunately I don't have a full parts list because this was made from pieces I had laying around. The hinges, EMT conduit "legs" and the steel plate cross member can be had at Lowes or Home Depot. The billet piece I used in the center was scrap I had laying around.

There are several ways you could accomplish this with different parts. The basic premise is the pivot point and the captive handle to keep the kettle from moving up or down.

Since originally building this, I have changed to doing 15-18 gallon batches. My mash tun routinely see's 40+ lbs (dry) of grain for a batch which is probably around 100 lbs wet when dumping. It still works great!

Props to the G1 kettles, the G2 might be a little trickier to interface to the handle...

Cheers!