2 tier brewing stand

[boogyman]

I meant to keep a diary of progress as I built, but I was really bad about taking pictures along the way, so here's some details on my newly finished 2 tier stand.

I was considering a single tier, but didn't like them for various reasons (storage space, needing a second pump to do fly sparging, etc), so I decided on a 2 tier. I have a 2 tier stand now (see pic below), but wanted to upgrade.

Original 2 tier stand:

My requirements were the possibility of automation, burners for both the HLT + BK, fly sparging, HERMS, and to upgrade some of my components. I ended up reusing the burner from my SQ14 as the HLT burner, added a new blichmann burner for the boil kettle, and a new SS brewtech boil kettle.

New kettle:

New blichmann burner:

 

[boogyman]

Being an engineer, I planned everything out first. I had 2 15 gallon kettles, and a cooler mash tun to accommodate for (and planned for the future possibility of a kettle mash tun).

Here's the finished stand:

It took some experimenting, but I came up with a 4 fin + "heat blocking bar" for the burner mounts. This allows the gasses to escape from under the pot, but keeps the heat from coming up the front and burning the sightglass, valve, thermometer, and whatever other equipment is attached to the kettle.

I also designed in a removable shelf

Here is the stand with the equipment on it

Since storage was a concern, I also designed it so that it would have a "storage mode", and take less floor space in my garage. Here it is in storage mode:

 

[boogyman]

The wheels are removable as well. Conveniently, they can fit into the same openings that the shelves go into. That means during storage mode, I can wheel the stand around upright if I wanted to.

Just for some more detail, here are the burner mounts from underneath. I added in a battery-powered ignition for the burners.

And finally, the pump mount. I moved over to stainless camlocks during this, and they are WAAAYY more convenient from the plastic quick disconnects I was using before.

If there is any interest in the design I came up with, I can post the sketchup file too.

 

[boogyman]

Some more details..

• I used 14 gauge 1&1/2" square tubing for the main stand, and 16 gauge 1&1/4" tubing for the shelf and wheel mounts.
• Most of the bolts/clevis pins/etc are just 3/8 size in whatever length I needed
• The stand is painted with rustoleum high heat black gloss paint.
• I scoured the internet for ideas (2 tiers are not especially common), so props to the brew magic, abetterbrewstand, and ruby street for some rough ideas.
• The gas manifold is all 1/2" black pipe and NPT fittings, up to the flex lines. At the gas lines, it's 1/2" flare to 3/8" flare on the burner orifices. if anyone wants, I can post more details on the gas manifold, and links to parts, because it was somewhat tough to find some of the adapters.

 

[Brian77095]

Very nice! I am in the process of building a two tier my self. Looks like you put a lot of thought into it.

Does the heat deflector work as expected? Happy with it?

 

[boogyman]

Very nice! I am in the process of building a two tier my self. Looks like you put a lot of thought into it.

Does the heat deflector work as expected? Happy with it?

Thanks

The heat deflector works surprisingly well. A LOT of heat comes out the sides and back of the pot, but the front is noticeably cooler to the point I don't need any further heat shielding. The only change I would possibly make is to just make the front heat deflector a bit longer so the pot doesn't have to sit as far forward.

 

[boogyman]

Had a request over PM, so here's the sketchup file. Just remove the .xml extension and unpack the zip file for the .skp file.

View attachment beerstand.zip.xml

 

[Bragg]

Thanks for sketch up file it is much appreciated. When you have time can you give more detail on gas manifold system as you said above. Thanks again