Another brewstand

[wit2003]

So i spent quite some time looking through a few build threads and decided it was time to take a crack at my own stand.

Currently have been just propping my mash tun cooler high enough to drain into my boil kettle while it sits on my burner and manually adding sparge water. While this works for me it doesnt have quite the WOW factor as some of the other stands ive seen here on the site!

My idea was to build a three tier stand, but not of the "normal" variety I have seen. Here is a CAD model of what im thinking.

I made it at 18" wide and the tallest section worked to about 5ft to achieve gravity feed on all levels. My concern is that it may not be wide enough for that height...


Thoughts, good or bad?

 

[vraftsman]

what do you mean wide enough? So it doesn't fall over? I think as long as all your equipment (BK/MT/HLT) fits inside that 18" you'll be fine.

 

[wit2003]

Yea I don't want it to topple over. I don't think it would but I don't want to find out the hard way

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[lextasy23]

Looks good to me, I'd just add a wider base. And a nasty paint job.

what do you mean wide enough? So it doesn't fall over? I think as long as all your equipment (BK/MT/HLT) fits inside that 18" you'll be fine.

Theoretically, yes. Unless it was bumped into.

I think a wider base, on hinges and/or pins to lock them in place, with locking casters. You could take the side wings off to store it, and the pop them on when in use for stability.

 

[wit2003]

A quick redesign with added stability....not really liking it....

Redesigned the entire layout....kinda digging this....will have to play more with this design.....

 

[vraftsman]

Theoretically, yes. Unless it was bumped into.

I think a wider base, on hinges and/or pins to lock them in place, with locking casters. You could take the side wings off to store it, and the pop them on when in use for stability.

I like the idea of removable outrigger type things. I was just thinking if it were me I'd be tripping over them all the time, especially on a brew day

How about a sheet of 1/2" plywood laid down, just screw the four corners in during your brew day. Easy, cheap, more-or-less out of the way.

 

[vraftsman]

Redesigned the entire layout....kinda digging this....will have to play more with this design.....

+1 on this new layout. Maybe a little harder to store? I'm sure it'll tuck into a corner well enough.

 

[wit2003]

Storing the new design would not really be an issue. The way I have everything laid out right now it actually takes up more space.

If I can utilize the inside and sides of the stand for more storage it will actually be more convenient

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[lextasy23]

+1 on this new layout. Maybe a little harder to store? I'm sure it'll tuck into a corner well enough.

Agreed. And he's got plenty of corners lol.

 

[lextasy23]

Storing the new design would not really be an issue. The way I have everything laid out right now it actually takes up more space.

If I can utilize the inside and sides of the stand for more storage it will actually be more convenient

The stand is the storage. Pure ****ing genious.

 

[wit2003]

And did some more thinking and I might like this design a little better and it will definitely be stable. I havent finished all the detail bracing etc yet. The cover of the cooler would open away from the HLT, so the height is ok, just need to make sure i could still get in to stir the mash.

 

[ianw58]

You're also going to have to walk around the rig during brew days. Either that or reach over a hot burner and boil kettle during sparges.

The linear design makes it easier to reach everything, but is inherently less stable.

The vertical design is much more stable but requires more movement to brew.

 

[wit2003]

Taking what you said ianw, i went up to rev 5 lol

This will allow me to stand in front of the mash tun and have both burners behind the mash tun. In theory I could walk around the stand to the different "stations". I would need to add a valve to my HLT to be able to run a tube into the mash tun to work around the lid....this is ok because i plan on setting up for fly sparging in the future.

 

[ianw58]

Glad I could offer something to your already solid design.

I think you'll really enjoy brewing on that rig.

 

[LandoLincoln]

Personally, I'd work on the heights of the platforms.

For a full gravity-fed system, your BK valve needs to be just a couple inches higher than the top of your fermentation vessels, be they carboy, better bottle or bucket.
And then your mash tun valve needs to be a couple of inches higher than the top of your BK.
And then your HLT valve needs to be a couple of inches higher than the top of your mash tun.

 

[wit2003]

Originally I wasn't planning to gravity feed into the fermentation vessel to keep the overall height down. Playing around with designs I have more wiggle room now so I'll probably make adjustments

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[bajaedition]

Are we trying to totally stay away from any pumps at all?

because having a small pump on the HLT means you can have it on the bottom level. That would mean the Boil kettle would be in the middle level.
What that would accomplish is gravity feed into fermentor and bring the boil kettle up higher to a level that makes it more convenient to work with.

that is how I did my 3rd system and I like it a lot, my first system was a full gravity feed and it was just to tall and I did not like it and the second was a table system and even though it was easy to get to everything I did not like all the plumbing required.

I put a heat shield under the MT so the heating of the HLT did not affect it

 

[CastleHollow]

Regarding stability of the 3tier linear design: if you plan to use strut, your outside dimensions will end up being about 24" wide and that thing will be so heavy that even with 5 gallons of liquid in the HLT, it won't move. I built a similar design, have it on casters, and it's rock solid.

My original rig was a wooden stand like the bottom image in post #5. That worked for a few years but I got annoyed when having to move it, as well as all the moving I had to do on brewday.

 

[wit2003]

Are we trying to totally stay away from any pumps at all?

because having a small pump on the HLT means you can have it on the bottom level. That would mean the Boil kettle would be in the middle level.
What that would accomplish is gravity feed into fermentor and bring the boil kettle up higher to a level that makes it more convenient to work with.

that is how I did my 3rd system and I like it a lot, my first system was a full gravity feed and it was just to tall and I did not like it and the second was a table system and even though it was easy to get to everything I did not like all the plumbing required.

I put a heat shield under the MT so the heating of the HLT did not affect it

The height of the boil kettle in that design is at the current height of my burner. Its actually a good height for me too work at, but wouldnt hurt to be a little higher. I actually designed everything from the burner up. If i wanted to gravity feed into the fermentation vessel I would need to raise the lower level up about another foot or so. That would bring the HLT burner up about the same amount.

Im trying to avoid the use of a pump because $150ish or so is a little hard to swallow at the moment.

Back to the drawing board

 

[bajaedition]

I under stand about the cost of the pump
was why I stuck with a total gravity feed for so long

but I did not like how high it was and everything was way to unwieldy to pick up.

after welding up my current setup I did hand transfers for a while to the mash tun as I saved up for the pump plus the plumbing for the setup, you can easily invest another hundred into the plumbing

Your designs look good, keep up the brains storming, what helped me the most was doing a life sized mock up out of cut from cardboard boxes .
I even modeled the brew kettles and the mash tun just to make sure I had everything measure out correctly. That way I was dialed in for the get go.

I also spent a few months gathering the steel from the remnant tables from the local metal supply store out here. I was buy square tubing at almost scrap pricing instead of full price for the tubing

good luck

 

[wit2003]

SWMBO just approved the purchase of one pump. Back to the drawing board!!

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[ianw58]

One pump...

This was one of the $20 wonders that failed on the tired or fourth brew. It's been replaced by a Chugger. Don't waste your time or dollars on the cheapies.

 

[lextasy23]

SWMBO just approved the purchase of one pump. Back to the drawing board!!

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You have an awesome SWMBO. lol