Brew-Rig build... might as well start a thread.

[Pintodave]

Figured I'd just start a thread on the build... can document the trials and tribulations as I go!

What I am shooting for:
All electric HERMs setup using a brew-troller

I've actually been able to spend some time on it the past week. So far so good.

Basic stand is complete. Made the controls able to swing 270 deg. Need to fab the panel box so I can finish the mount and I need to order pumps so I can fab up some brackets and get to work on the plumbing...

 

[JohnnyKim]

looks good. whats the thickness on the metal? 1/8" or 1/16?

 

[Pintodave]

The tube is 1 1/2" sq, .078 wall (14 gauge). I used 1/4" for the plates for the controls bracket... I used 1" square on the tubes that support the keggles.

 

[Bobby_M]

That sizing has great proportion and is obviously strong enough.

 

[Pintodave]

Thanks Bobby, that's what my goal was with the stand - something strong but not over kill and something that "looked right". Not that I have any immediate plans to build any more, but if I do I want something that can be "commercial quality".

Time to get bust finishing the keggles too!

 

[JohnnyKim]

do you think 2"x2" @ 1/16" is too thin?

 

[eccsynd]

I like that you kept it somewhat low profile. Some of the stands that I see are just too tall. I think that people try to shoot for a gravity carboy fill from the BK, but if you've made the jump to a single tier, you're going to be using pumps by definition...

IMHO, lower is better, as long as there is room for the pump (and it doesn't get melted).

 

[pickles]

what are the dimensions of your rig? I'm in the planning stages of my build. thanks

 

[pickles]

how does the electric element perform compared to a good gas burner as far as time required to bring wort to a boil? I was leaning towards gas for boil and electric for hlt/mlt but maybe I should go all electric if performance isn't compramised.

 

[Pintodave]

I think 2x2 .062 wall would be fine. You have to figure the most weight on the stand at any one time wouldnt be more than 10 gal per keggle (plus grains and keggle weight).

I dont know the exact dims off the top of my head, I'll measure the next time I am at "the shop" (my stepdad's garage-mahal where we work on the race cars). I know I left approx 3/4" around the front and sides of the kegs, plus the 1 1/2" tube between them, plus 1 1/2" end tubes on the frame. So the length stacks up as: keg diameter + 1.5 (x3), + 6.0 (1.5 tube x 4) so it should be around 60"-ish, the width should be 20"-ish. The kegs also sit inside the frame 1/2" (1 1/2" frame tube, kegs sit on 1" tube that is flush with bottom of frame tube), I did that for safety. I dont foresee a keggle with 10 gal of fluid getting "bumped" off the frame, but I felt better with it having a lip of some sorts to contain the keggle. I made the working height so I could barely reach the bottom of the keggle, I think that worked out to right around 24-25" from the ground to the bottom of the keggle.

As far as the elec vs. gas thing, I was going to do all gas, then do a hybrid, then after doing ALOT of research on here, I am pretty confident I can go all elec. and be able to "fine tune" thesystem more to my liking. The only thing I am undecided about is the heat exchanger - I want to use the HLT, but I may end up using a dedicated vessle... if I do I'll try to build some cool mount that folds down easily for storage purposes. Havent got that far yet

 

[Pintodave]

Got the first heating element fitting installed in the HLT...

The good news is I am actually not too bad at tig welding, the bad news is when you screw up, it can be a real PITA. As I was repositioning myself and the keg to finish the weld, my foot slipped on the peddle and I blew a frikkin' hole in the keg just above the fitting. The damn weld was about perfect until that point. So my 20 minute job turned into 90. Trying to patch a hole in thin-wall stainless wasn't exactly fun, but I got it... Hard to see in in the pictures, the repair came out ok...

 

[android]

lookin tough!

 

[CodeRage]

alls well that ends well. Looks real good man. I am sure I would have turned that keg into swiss cheese. I was looking into a tig set up and figured it wasn't worth the investment for the use I am going to get out of it. Think I will use a a silver solder called staybright 8..

 

[Orangevango]

Thats looking slick, out of curiosity, what did you use to drill that hole for the element?

 

[Sizz]

Looks good. I wish I had access to a TIG. Where did you get the coupler from? It's not 1" NPT right?

 

[Pintodave]

I just used a 1 5/8 hole saw for the hole, go at it nice and easy with some form of lubrication and it works nice, I filed the burr down just enough so I had to tap the fitting in snug.

Finding the coupler was an adventure. It is 1" STRAIT pipe, which I didnt even know existed until I tried to find the right fitting. The only 1" NPS fittings I could find were black iron. So what I ended up doing was buying a 1" NPT stainless fitting and tapping it deeper with a 1" pipe tap. I priced a 1" NPS tap, all I could find were close to a hundred bucks (I have since found them cheaper, $37 from wttool.com). There is a happy medium where the size of the pipe tap and the size of the strait threads will work because there are only like 4 threads on the heating element (and a nice rubber gasket seal), but there was way too much thread in the fitting so I bored out some of the threads out to make the deeper tapping easier.

Since I have found the 1" NPS taps cheaper I would probably just buy some stainless stock and machine the fitting next time.

Or go weldless, I think high gravity brew sells a stainless nut/o-ring. But I like welding stuff.

 

[pickles]

Could you just weld the "weldless" fitting onto the keg? Seems as though it has the correct threads. Just a thought

 

[IrregularPulse]

Could you just weld the "weldless" fitting onto the keg? Seems as though it has the correct threads. Just a thought

This is what I did for my ball valve. Well not I but the guy I had weld my kegs. but this fitting would not the be the same as the weldless kits you get to fall valves. The threads on the heater element are much larger.

 

[pickles]

Since I have found the 1" NPS taps cheaper I would probably just buy some stainless stock and machine the fitting next time.

Or go weldless, I think high gravity brew sells a stainless nut/o-ring. But I like welding stuff.

I'm referring to the fitting High Gravity Brew sells

Its specifically made for a heating element.

 

[Pintodave]

Pickles, that exact though had crossed my mind after I saw the correct sized nut (although I had already re-tapped the fittings I have), but getting a nice opening for the nut to fit into would be a pain, as you wouldnt want to just weld it to the outside of the nut to a round hole because there would be some deep crevasses for stuff to get in from the inside. I guess you could spend the time cutting/grinding/filing the hole to the correct hex shaped opening but you'd also have to watch the depth because you need a good flat surface for the rubber to seat on and the nut doesnt look that thick - but I do think it is do-able.

Its a coin-toss, the way I did it was a pain to prepare the fitting but easy to put in the keg, buying the correct thread nut is way easier but prepping the keg would be more tedious...

 

[pickles]

yeah good call i didn't think of that