BIAB brew stand with hoist and pump

[beerisgood42]

are you kidding me??? that is freaking awesome. i might as well quit now.

 

[musicawal]

Also interested ....sweet work

 

[wilserbrewer]

I recently sold my Brutus and decided to go BIAB for a smaller footprint and easier brewing.

Very interesting quote here...the future of homebrewing perhaps

 

[borny]

I thought the same when I read that quote.

Anyway, I did the same with my system. I felt it was to much of a hassle to set up clean and store a traditional 3 kettle set up...

 

[nattron]

I am in love

 

[fortydegnorth]

The brutus was awesome for the "authentic" brewing style of having multiple kettles but in reality we are trying to get sugar from grain and then boil it. Let's be honest, brewing isn't that hard it's impressing the neighbors that is. lol. I like to brew, clean and then relax in the easiest manner I can. Cleaning one pot and two hoses seems really awesome at this point. I run a business, am newly married and have plenty of other projects that I like to spend time on too so brewing is a lot of fun but I don't like spending all day doing it and then cleaning it all up. I tested the BIAB method on my stove with a couple 1 gallon batches and was sold immediately. I can't wait to test the new stand out. Now I have enough room for a fermentation chamber or maybe 2 or 3 stands in the future for multiple batches at once. Nothing says happy like 30 gallons of three different beers in 4 hours. I can have 3 of these for the price of one brutus and just about the same amount of space. I should have new pics up soon of everything completed, plumbed and fired up. I'll test the tipping with this design too. I don't think it'll be a problem.

 

[paganknight]

Nice concept . . Grate work
I might have to look into something like it . . when i get around to building a brew stand still working from the back porch no room for a full stand but make do and make beer

 

[Iqbal624]

what kind of material is this made out of?

 

[evandena]

Wish I would have read this before I started my two tier build.

 

[fortydegnorth]

2" square tubing. I used round bar for the burner grate area. The lower cross supports between the legs are 1"x2" tubing. Way overkill for a little stand.

 

[TitusCooker]

Very nice. My biab setup has also displaced my rims system. I use three thick wall conduit pipes lashed with rope. I looked up teepee knot and it holds tight. From there a cumalong (some call it a chain binder). It is enough to pick up my 40 gallon bag. Now that I have seen yours, though, I am rethinking!

 

[fortydegnorth]

My friends and wife call my homebrew Jake's Juice. Maybe I should call this "Jakes Juice Stand!"

 

[gunner65]

Very interesting quote here...the future of homebrewing perhaps

Quite possible.

 

[tojo]

Where did you find the hoist/crane?

 

[TuffDogStudio]

beautiful system, anxiously awaiting a report after you use it.

 

[fortydegnorth]

I fabricated the hoist/ crane. The winch is just a boat winch for a jetski trailer

 

[tojo]

I fabricated the hoist/ crane. The winch is just a boat winch for a jetski trailer

Gotcha...as stated before, very nice build.

 

[fortydegnorth]

All plumbed and test fired. I went with natural gas this time. I need to install the fittings in the lid for recirculation but that's all. 23 tip burner is intense!

 

[cscade]

This thing is so freakin' cool, just because it's so purpose-built.

I recommend never ever doing that with your mash bucket when it's full though

 

[pickles]

According to earlier posts he entirely plans to do that with the basket full.

 

[fortydegnorth]

Worst case scenario, I add an extension onto the side with a caster to keep it stable. I may test tonight with water in the pot to see how much it takes to make it tipsy.

 

[fortydegnorth]

Water test is done. Everyone can relax now about tipping.......including me. With 12 gallons of water in the pot and the boom extended straight out perpendicular to the stand (as far away as possible) it took 60 pounds in the basket to make it start to tip. In the position where it just clears the kettle by 3"-4" (which is what I'll always do) it took over 100 pounds to make it start to tip. A big beer, 10 gallon batch may have 30 pounds of grain. With absorbtion I could see a gallon or so being left in the grain after smashing it over the kettle. If that's the case I may have 38-40 pounds in the basket. Well within tipping. We aren't talking about 150 pounds hanging there. Once the wort is smashed from the grain and drains substantially I'll rotate it enough to clear the pot, lower it a bit and then just lift it off the hook. I never forsee having to worry about tipping this unless someone is hanging on it. For safety sake I may put a hinged outrigger on the side with a foot just to be reassured. Simple, cheap and effective. I'd recommend to anyone building one to just make the stand 6" wider on the boom side to allow the weight to be over the wheels.

 

[pvtschultz]

I'm jealous... I'm going to have to revisit my setup now.

 

[kickrjason]

Subbed!

 

[BrothOfVigor]

Very cool. I wish I had your crafting abilities. My one question is about the CFC, it looks like you will be pumping the wort down to nearly ground level, and then have it forced back up to whatever your fermenter-in height is, but once you run out of fluid on the pump inlet you will lose that ability. What volume loss are you expecting to be left in the CFC? Are you planning to recover it or just factor that towards your brewery efficiency?

 

[fortydegnorth]

I lose some in the chiller but never really worry about it. I make my batches large enough to have around 11 gallons going into the fermentor so after trub and yeast I have 10 gallons going into kegs. If I was worried about a little loss in a chiller I wouldn't be brewing on an $800 stand. I'd just buy beer. As much as we'd like to think we are saving tons of money on this hobby I'm convinced that we are just having fun and making great beer. I don't fret the efficiency or small losses. My chiller was always resing around a 5 gallon bucket before with my Brutus and it never made much difference to me then. The chiller isn't attached to the stand it's just resting on the aluminum shelf so it could be raised up.

 

[conpewter]

Very nice! I was wondering, why do people tend to use baskets and bags instead of just using a bag. Is it issues with strength? Bling factor? I want to do BIAB but since I'm doing electric would like to do so without a basket (no need to protect the element). I figured when I was done mashing I could gather up the longer ends of the bag, wrap a rope around it (slip knot) and lift it out. Probably have something similar to your setup, but simpler to hold it above the pot as I get up to boiling.

 

[AnchorBock]

Very nice! I was wondering, why do people tend to use baskets and bags instead of just using a bag. Is it issues with strength? Bling factor? I want to do BIAB but since I'm doing electric would like to do so without a basket (no need to protect the element). I figured when I was done mashing I could gather up the longer ends of the bag, wrap a rope around it (slip knot) and lift it out. Probably have something similar to your setup, but simpler to hold it above the pot as I get up to boiling.

I feel a lot more comfortable hanging and lifting by the basket lined with the bag than hanging the bag itself. When buying a new kettle it was easy to find one that came with a basket (I ended up getting a 20g for 10g batches and a 15g for 5g batches - both with baskets).

 

[conpewter]

Thanks I am planning on using a keggle so wouldn't have a good sized basket. Is BIAB going to be hard to do a normal gravity beer 10g in a 15g pot?

 

[goybar]

You can always add more water after you remove the grains to reach your pre-boil volume.

fortydegnorth - how many inches from the bottom of the basket to the bottom of the pot?

-chris