Single Tier Brewstand (The Firetable)

I put off starting this thread for long enough. Never mind that I put off finishing the stand for almost a year! I have two full brews done with this stand and am still working out some of the process kinks, but so far, things are going well.

Most of the pictures should have accompanying descriptions, I hope.
Facebook album

Feel free to ask any questions and give suggestions and comments. I didn't do a build thread because there's so much great info here I really didn't need to ask any of my own questions along the way.

Here's the price list. It's mostly complete except for a few late additions and "equipment corrections". It also contains some purchases I didn't/won't use, like the Iwaki pump, which is waiting to be sold.

Things I would do differently:

• 
  More carefully plan out the camlocks, I had a few that were incorrect

• 
  Not even try to bend copper for the gas manifold, buy the flex hose and be done

• 
  Disregard concerns about a gas bar. That would be much nicer and cleaner

• 
  Consider weldless fittings

• 
  Buy Bobby M's sightglass/thermo combo, but it wasn't available when I started

Special thanks to Bobby M, the people at ProFlow Dynamics, Chugger, and the guy who was selling the cheap silicone tubing in bulk, Jake from OH.

Looks great! I love your price list. It's very detailed, and the whole thing was surprisingly inexpensive!

Thanks pfgonzo. I got lucky with a few things, (camlocks are not that cheap anymore, and I had no trouble getting my chugger) and I made a few mispurchases, the Iwaki for one, but overall, I'm satisfied with the cost. Now to figure out the paint issue... eventually.

You should paint it pink...With leopard spots.

Looks very nice. May steal an idea or two from you if you don't mind. We are building (slowly) a very similar stand, but just have the basic frame done so far.

My only question and possible critique would be the distance from the burner to keggle bottom. That looks to to 4 or 5 inches. With that much of a gap, you may experience a lot of heat spreading out beyond the bottom and up to the sides of the keggles. If it does (like it did ours on a banjo kab6 stand,) the unwanted heat can boil the water in your sight glass, melt your thermometer lens, and ruin your teflon pipe thread tape! Not to mention losing heating efficiency of the intended liquid to be heated.

robbiex0r said:

Thanks pfgonzo. I got lucky with a few things, (camlocks are not that cheap anymore, and I had no trouble getting my chugger) and I made a few mispurchases, the Iwaki for one, but overall, I'm satisfied with the cost. Now to figure out the paint issue... eventually.

Click to expand...

www.bargainfittings.com they are still cheap there....

I have a question and an observation why the 6" burner over the jet burners? and I notice that not the height as the other poster stated but the fittings on the keggle are near those drain holes which is where the high heat will be comming thru.

I was going to mention the same thing about the burner distance. I'd consider making it adjustable before you put any paint on the stand while you have the chance. You're going to find this is something you'll want to play with.

Also - make sure you regulate those flames. The pictures of the burners lit show you're wasting a lot of fuel. Usually those 6" ring burners are low pressure. Did you convert them?

The 6" burner has a needle valve hooked up, allowing me to dial the flame down quite a bit. Down to about match-flame size. I went with the 6" to allow a slightly wider and softer flame for heating the mash tun in a more gentle manner. I still recirc the wort back into the top of the mash if I'm bumping the temperature. I plan to soon insulate the MLT, too.

Only one keg ended up with a skirt-hole near the fitting, so far it hasn't proved to be a problem, but I'll get around to closing it up some day.

So far, it does seem like I get some heat loss up and out the sides, but I don't see how moving the burners even closer would fix that. That's just going to compress the flame and increase the sideways pressure, isn't it? My sight glass does not boil.

I think I've dialed the flames in a bit better than what the pictures show, but I do remember they were running quite wide open for the picture. I usually barely crack the green gas valves as it just shoots out so much heat that it becomes terribly inefficient.

what's with the photo with a can of PBR? brrrrr

$10 for kegs?!! you stole them at that price...

Someone has worked in a bike shop Where are the pics of the bikes that I know must exist somewhere?

You can fit 12 half barrels in a Jeep if you're careful.

The welding shop belongs to my buddy Paul who is now building custom bike frames here in La Crosse. Here's a link to his FB page
Here's the daily ride and this is the rain bike. Mountain bike is somewhere too.

robbiex0r said:

You can fit 12 half barrels in a Jeep if you're careful.

The welding shop belongs to my buddy Paul who is now building custom bike frames here in La Crosse. Here's a link to his FB page
Here's the daily ride and this is the rain bike. Mountain bike is somewhere too.

Click to expand...

That's a lot of kegs, you got a contact over at City Brewing or something? I went to school in Winona so I rode Holzinger and HPT trails quite a bit and my wife worked for the La Crosse Tribune for a time so I've spen my fair share of time in the area.