Show Me Your Wood Brew Sculpture/Rig

I would see what you can get at a recycling center. A good recycling center can have some pretty nice lumber at a very good price. You can also go the free route like me if you are willing to bust down pallets. My entire brewstand cost me <$7 (for the screws to hold it together) as it was all recycled lumber from pallets and scrap lumber that a company was just throwing away.

 

Pics tomorrow......

 

Cedar would be overkill. If you're planning on painting it or staining and varnishing it, then I'd go untreated pine. But I guess it depends on where you're planning on storing it. My outdoor brew rig sits on my back deck exposed to the elements, so I used pressure-treated pine for everything but the slats and made sure to get some quality deck stain / sealant. It's held up well so far.

 

I have read this whole thread to get ideas for my first brew stand and I noticed your stand for the burners. It kind of looks like you have a "Camp Chef Explorer Stove" for your burners. I just bought that specific "stove" for the purpose of brewing with it. (2 30k BTU burners) What has been your experience with it? Does it work well/efficient? I haven't used mine yet... remodeling my basement now.
My System is 2 Keggles (HLT & BK) and a 10gal cooler (mash tun) IC & gravity fed CFC (just started using).

 

Here is mine. About 80% done I would say.
I will replace the plywood on the lower level with a piece that actually fits, lol, that was just thrown down to put stuff on.
Also will deck all the surfaces with plywood, paint it all black and red, and add some diamond plate accents.

 

Ok, I did my mods this weekend and here is the result. Right now it's a rough bench, I'm going to give it a test run in a couple of weeks and if everything works as I hope it will I'll start the process of sprucing it up a bit.

 

Looking good! Just out of curiosity, it looks like you have several extra inches of height on the HLT platform. By that, I mean that it must be a chore to get that pot of water up there, so lowering that platform to the bare minimum needed to get it to gravity feed into your mash tun would seem advantageous (unless you are pumping the water up to the HLT, in which case ignore this observation).

Cheers!

 

I'm planning on filling the HLT from my water filter via pvc. I haven't tested it yet (too damn cold out) but I don't foresee any issues with it.

 

man, the propane for the sparge vessel sure seems close to the flame of the mash tun....

 

Here ya go

 

I thought long and hard about the best set up for my rig, and spent a lot of time on this forum considering different options.

Ultimately, I decided to go for a 2 tier with the middle tier sunk. I wanted a stand that was relatively low to the ground so that I did not have to lift liquid above my shoulders when pouring my liquor into the HLT, and I wanted to be able to easily see into all vessels, especially the MLT. Additionally, I like the simple elegance of letting gravity do its work rather than relying entirely on pumps, so a 2 tier suited my needs (with one pump I can accomplish all that 2 pump single tiers can). Because I do not direct fire my MLT, but do I use burners for my HLT and BK, it made the most sense to gravity feed my MLT. In theory you could use this set-up with a direct-fired MLT though. Having my MLT as the low point also gives the added bonuses of making it the easiest vessel to work with (i.e. for stirring) and allows it to benefit from the heat of a burner on each side. I’ve brewed a handful of batches using this Bad Larry and haven't looked back.

Full plans and more photos here.

 

Looks nice. I built a similar setup and eventually needed to add casters to the middle of the bottom supports to address sagging.

 

Interesting. I have not had any issues with sagging. I may have gone overkill, but you could park a truck on this thing and I don't think it would sag!

 

Gravity rules! When the apocalypse comes, those of us with gravity-based rigs will still be brewing. The systems that rely on pumps will be dodging zombies as they try to keep their generators going.

 

This thread should have been titled: 'Show Me Your Woody, The Bigger The Better.'

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I can finally add to this thread! If you want to see some basic build pic, go here http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/just-another-wood-brew-rig-build-455866/#post5854219



Brewed a batch last weekend, another one coming tomorrow, will paint and tile the flat surfaces asap now that I know I like it!

 

I've got a box made, stained, and clear coated for my pump. My next DIY is a stand for my burner rig.

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Here is mine i just built it today. Ready to brew with it tomorrow.

 

Marketing campaign for those with wood stands. Got wood?

 

Almost done with my stand. Few little things left to do. Got two batches under my belt on it and works perfect.

 

I thought you might be the first to post pics without any wood in them, but I think I see a wood workbench peaking out to the left of your HLT.

 

I've never seen that type of wood before. It looks incredibly strong

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It's called Ironwood. I think it's from Africa or something...

Seriously though Corey, that is a nice stand! It's just not made of wood. The ribbing is all in good natured fun so please don't be offended. Plus it it makes me feel better since I recently nectro'd a 4 year old dead thread :smack:

 

Yeah sorry bout that. Just got a little excited to show it off. Maybe I will throw a piece of wood on there for a shelve or something.

 

Here's my brew stand and it's maden voyage. Made with left over (new & old) 2x4's from our basement renovation.

 

davekippen, did you happen to take a temperature reading on the wood surface under your burner? I was worried about this in my build and my workaround as been working very well - felt pads, then a square of mdf, then a square of ceramic tile. the top of the tile gets over 400F. under the tile it is never above 100F, and under the mdf it is room temp.

 

It never really even got warm. My burner stands almost a foot off the top.

 

Hey guys. Was finally able to get my rig to the point where I could actually brew on it. Relatively incomplete but was built to be a generational stand, to be able to go from two-tier to one tier when I was ready for it.

It's half wooden half metal, hope no one minds. This was taken during the water test. Absolutely no problem pumping up to the MLT and only some hoses to tighten for the constant sparging.


Here it is a little later finishing up the wheel barrow wheels that normally sit 1/2 inch off the ground and are made to "wheel barrow" the rig into the back through the grass since I like to brew on the back porch sometimes.

 

Love that wheel design! I was thinking of something like this. Can you take a couple more pics from different angles?

 

Thanks! Sure thing. It's basically just an axle made with a threaded steel rod, nuts and washers. Hope this is what you were wanting to see:

 

Perfect! Thanks for taking the time to share those pics!

 

OK, I am 99% finished with my stand. All I need to do is wire up an outlet and a switch or source a power strip that I like, to mount in a convenient spot to control switching the pump on and off. I have brewed two batches on it and both went very well. Couldn't be more pleased!

 

Spointon I love it. Are you going to stain and/or varnish it?

 

Starting my 3 Tier wood brew sculpture tomorrow. I had an old picnic table with bad legs that I managed to salvage 17 7' 2x4s from and I have a bunch of other scrap wood as well as some counter top material. Trying not to sink too much money into the project as I'm on a budget and I can see my self out growing this in a year or two. So far my only costs are looking like casters, paint, and possibly some hardware.

Any recommendations on paint/sealant? I'd prefer to rattle can it but if I have to brush it on so be it.

 

It's just going to be a basic gravity fed 5-6 gallon set up. 8 gallon HLT on a turkey fryer burner-> platform with cooler MLT-> 8 gallon brew kettle on another turkey fryer burner.

 

Possibly when it gets warmer. If I do anything it will likely just be a clear coat though (i.e. no stain).

 

Well I built mine today. Still need to do a few things but you get the idea.

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Once I brew on it and I'm sure I like everything I'll paint it.

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Doing the inaugural brew now. Definitely going to add some heat shielding between the hlt burner and the mash tun. Its not dangerously hot, but I'm a little uncomfortable still.

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