Aluminum Brewery Stand Feasibility?

I am working on some plans/ doing a lot of research on RIMS/ HERMS systems. It seems most people opt for some type of angle iron, steel tubing, or stainless steel tubing. Is there a reason not many people (if anybody) considers using aluminum tubing? It is light, won't rust (may corrode), can maintain structural integrity, and looks nice.

There has to be a reason I am missing, someone please enlighten me. My only two guesses are 1) It may be difficult to weld because it melts easily or 2) People are afraid the heat from the burner (if direct fired) may weaken the material; but some type of heat shield should rectify that (right?).

 

Cause its hard (need a tig) to weld aluminum. I imagine that's the only real reason. That and people like the bling factor of SS.

 

Also, it may conduct heat easier then steal, so the stand itself might heat up, etc.. I don't think you would need to worry about heat weakening the stand though.

 

A lot more difficult to weld.

Not sure but probably more expensive.

 

Thanks!

Looking at the pricing it does seem more expensive than I thought, similar to SS in some cases.

 

you can mig weld aluminum, just need to have the set-up for it.
tom

 

I've seen some nice t-slot rigs. Check the "show us your Brutus" thread recent posts for one.

 

I guess if you wanted to get bling factor out of Aluminum you could upgrade to Aluminum-Lithium! It would be extremely light (but a 5x's more expensive than regular aluminum)!

 

I have been using aluminum extrusion for years with great results.

Hers is a perfect example made by Irrenarzt


Cheers,
ClaudiusB

 

Hopefully this isn't a Captain Obvious question... but about how heavy is your stand?

 

One man can lift it into the back of a pickup truck with relative ease. I brew at our local brewery quite often which requires me to haul my gear over there.

 

you can weld aluminum with a mig or tig but your shielding gas i believe needs to be pure argon. plus its AC current that you would use not DC (sounds like a swarm of bee's) lastly you need to have the filler rod to be aluminum

if you guys ever have a question about material strength or properties i have been using this website below for years through my time at school of undergrad and grad. and various project for selecting and making sure what metals to use.

www.matweb.com

 

Nice! Thanks for the properties site!

 

I use to work for an engineer for HNI Corporation, if there is a lot of weight that needs to be carried he tends to stay away from alluminum because it bends easier. However if you're not planning on having a big system id say go for it if you can weld it, because itll make it that much lighter. Also make sure it is all aluminum and not just an aluminum outer coating. Aluminum prices are quite high in the state of Iowa anyway.

 

Aluminum has some weird properties, it tends to start bending and then fail abruptly, steel on the other hand well bend, and will deflect a long ways before failing. (you get a fair bit of warning before it fails which it is preferred for structural applications)

However aluminum does drill well, which means you can do bolted connections instead of welding (potentially a lot more work but could be a lot easier, and requires less tools)

 

I used some two post server racks that someone gave me. I cut with a chopsaw and bolted all the aluminum up. I used steel and welded up the burners. They just sit on the aluminum so that I can slide them over and throw a big ol griddle on them for cooking stuff other than beer. The thing is super light. I am not a welder and I am not a metalurgist. I borrowed a mig welder from a buddy and started playing. If you can learn to brew you can learn to stick two pieces of metal together. Ive seen guys on here build brew rigs from everything, bed rails, wood, whatever. I say if you want aluminum, fire it up.

This is my first brew rig, and my first post. Take it easy on me if I did something wrong on this post! :rockin:

 

I think, with aluminum, alloy selection is more important than with steel. When selecting aluminum for construction, you need to make sure it has the correct strengths, resistance to thermal stressing, etc. Shape of the aluminum extrusion, as well as wall thickness, will also bring strength to the construction.

I worked at a sign shop for several years (in FL) where all the cabinets were made from aluminum. The support poles were steel, mostly due to them being cheaper, and heavier (high weight was important there).

I would think that as long as you do pick the correct aluminum alloy, shape, and wall thickness, you can make a stand that will last for generations.

A good point (already made) is the ability to easily (or more easily) drill aluminum (compared with stainless steel especially). If you want, you could even make a stand using square tubing (or box tubing) with blocks inside the ends, or at connection points, that you can use as attach points. That way, you can simply unbolt it in large sections, and move/store it much easier.

I think it should come down to material availability, how much you're willing to spend on the stand, and what you're more comfortable working with. Personally, I can gas weld steel (oxy/acetylene) but I'd be willing to work with aluminum... By the time I'm ready for a stand, I should have a house, or at least a garage to brew in. Chances are, I'll pick up an electric welder, so I could have the ability to weld aluminum too. Although, there's something to be said for having a professional do it for you. Invite the welder over for a cold one (or two) and you might even get a decent discount.

BTW, cook1969, very nice use of 'recycled' materials... I've seen server racks listed on craigslist for a decent range of prices. I hadn't thought of using those, until now... Even if it's a bit longer than you plan (racks can be up to 7 or 8 feet tall), you could just use the extra space for storage/rest areas...

 

The biggest thing is to be careful around the burners...the heat shields on my steel cart hit around 1200 degrees F, which won't work well with AL, aside from that you should be able to use it.

 

I'm completely sure you can build a strong enough brew stand out of aluminum extrusion, without having to weld anything. I would definitely put some thought into the heat shielding though, as the other posters are saying.

The company I work for uses obscene amounts of this stuff: www.8020.net

It looks great, goes together real easy, and is amazingly strong. The downside is that it's also expensive, once you add in all the little corner brackets and stuff. I would expect it to cost about $1000 to build a brew stand this way.