Brew Stand Concept: How's it look?

[Bear419]

Sketchup of my of a stand for my two vessel electric brewery. No need for HLT since I will either mash at full volume or cold water sparge. One of the top 2x4s has a latch and hinge so I can swing it out of the way for better access to the BK. Thoughts?

EDIT: The MLT is removed prior to boil

 

[stratslinger]

I think you're kind of scary with no eyeballs.

Aside from that, the design looks pretty sound - though I might personally be a little concerned about steam condensing on the bottom of the two 2x's directly above the kettle and dripping back in - if that wood is pressure treated, you could leech things back into your beer that you don't want there. If your plan includes hinges to get both of those out of the way for the boil, then no worries.

Also, I've never heard or read anything about cold sparging... How's that work, out of curiousity?

 

[Bear419]

Also, I've never heard or read anything about cold sparging... How's that work, out of curiousity?

Kaiser has a nice write up on it.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f36/cold-water-sparge-110856/

That's a good point on the condensation falling back into the BK. I was going to see if I could find a food safe sealant, but an additional hinge sounds simpler.

 

[uberg33k]

1. How are you planning to chill?
2. Where are you putting your e-kettle controls?

The only thing I'd say is you might want to consider having the kettle a bit higher. Not that it won't work as is, but have it high enough so you can drain the kettle into something if needs be. It'll also help keep prime on the pump.

 

[Spintab]

IMHO not a fan of the boil kettle being under anything. I see the idea is to minimize size but I really think a two tier sort of structure would be better. Then you'd have room under the tun to store/place all your misc stuff while you brew.

 

[Bear419]

1. How are you planning to chill?
2. Where are you putting your e-kettle controls?

1. I have an IC I'll stick in the 10 minutes of boil

2. I have a pretty long cord for control panel so I will probably have it sitting on counter several feet away

Good call on the height, I hadn't really thought about the pump failing and being stuck.

 

[Bear419]

IMHO not a fan of the boil kettle being under anything. I see the idea is to minimize size but I really think a two tier sort of structure would be better. Then you'd have room under the tun to store/place all your misc stuff while you brew.

Is that because of the wooden stand and plastic MLT?

I played with the idea of the BK and MLT being in the stacked position for storage, and having the BK tier pullout for actual brewing, Just couldn't figure out how to do it elegantly (i.e. very limited wood working skills).

 

[Spintab]

Is that because of the wooden stand and plastic MLT?

I played with the idea of the BK and MLT being in the stacked position for storage, and having the BK tier pullout for actual brewing, Just couldn't figure out how to do it elegantly (i.e. very limited wood working skills).

It's a number of things. For general water heating it's probably fine but you will get a constant flow of steam onto the wood and tun above. Once you boil you have wort steam and you run into the issue of it dripping back in like stratslinger said. That and whatever dust has collected on the stand.

A solution would be this. Frame a small box for the upper section with support down two sides (one side and the back) all the way to the ground and throw three castors on the bottom corners. Put a hinge on the far side of the back. Frame another small box for the bottom and put castors on all four corners. Attach the lower box to the piano hinge in such a way that it can rotate out to form a second tier. You'll need to support the open side of the top frame both when the bottom is open and when it's closed. Maybe just a loose 2x4 that can click into place some how. I hope that makes sense. I wish I had a picture as it's a little tough to put stuff like this into words.

 

[Spintab]

Sorry, it's crazy crude but it should get the point across. The whole thing could be 2x4's. Shouldn't be too hard to build. Just cut em to the right lengths and screw together with 2.5" screws. The orange squiggly is the hinge. Sorry, it didn't get labeled.

 

[Bear419]

Sorry, it's crazy crude but it should get the point across. The whole thing could be 2x4's. Shouldn't be too hard to build. Just cut em to the right lengths and screw together with 2.5" screws. The orange squiggly is the hinge. Sorry, it didn't get labeled.

Great idea. Thanks