4 tier brew rig, all gravity

I found out about google sketchup from this site and decided to design a brew rig for a friend.
I wanted to make it very portable and easy to setup so he could bring it to brewfests.
It will have 2 large wheels that contact the ground when tilted so it can be moved like a dolly.
All the propane will be hard piped with the tank mounted below the tallest tier.
I'd like to use only gravity and an immersion chiller for the wort, we will see how that goes.
Here are the plans....




The basic frame is built already from .095 wall 1.5" square tube. Seems very sturdy and capable of holding the keggles fully loaded with water. I haven't been over to take pics yet.
Its tall and we will do lots of safety testing before we starting heating stuff up with it.

I originally designed a step ladder to pin/bolt to the frame to make it more rigid
But he decided it was sturdy enough without it, and would use a separate ladder instead.

looks great. here is a pic of mine. its got wheels on it so i can tilt it like a dolly

jonp9576 said:

looks great. here is a pic of mine. its got wheels on it so i can tilt it like a dolly

Click to expand...

Nice!
The platforms kinda look like window shutters.

Looking good! Do you have an estimate on how much it will weigh when completed? That could be an important consideration for portability. I don't like having to climb a ladder for access, especially for MT.

One suggestion I have based on your design is that to be a gravity fed system, you don't necessarily need to have the bottom of the keg in line with the top of the next week. Assuming you are going to have your exit the side of the keg, you can shave a few inches of each tier and make the ball valve just above the top of the kettle on the next tier. IIRC, my stand is just over 58" to the top level.

You may also want to think about having the wheels touch the ground at all times (and add two more). Add some brackets to the 2nd and 3rd tier to lock the kettes in place. That way you can put the top keg in the lower corner and that would allow you to just move everything in place.

HomebrewJeff said:

You may also want to think about having the wheels touch the ground at all times (and add two more).

Click to expand...

So,4 wheels touching the ground at all times?
I kinda like the dolly idea...lift the bottom onto tail gate...roll into bed

HomebrewJeff said:

Add some brackets to the 2nd and 3rd tier to lock the kettes in place. That way you can put the top keg in the lower corner and that would allow you to just move everything in place.

Click to expand...

Would definintely add to the overall weight, but I like it.