planker101
Well-Known Member
I wanted something that would take up less space, be able to do big (for me) batches, and be easy to clean. I decided to go BIAB, one pump, plate chiller all mounted in a 2'x2' footprint (could go smaller if you used a keg). I built a rotating arm with a pulley so that you could easily drain the bag, then rotate it out of the way and easily dump it into a trashcan (I had a guy make me custom bags with a handle on the bottom to facilitate dumping).
My prototype stand was built to accomodate either a burner or electric (if it was pure electric it would be shorter).
I used a manual ball valve at the kettle, a 2-way electric for push button flow control, and a 3-way electric for keg/chiller switching (no hose moves this way).
kettle fittings left to right are ball valve, sight glass, thermowell, heating element. I found a 20 gallon concord pot on ebay that came with a steamer rack to keep the bag from touching the element.
Anyways, as much of a pita as it was to design and build it is really quite simple and you could probably make it less fancy, but equally functional. So far biggest grain bill I've done is 35#. I usually shoot for 12 gallon batches (will do 5-15 gallon batches if you're into smaller or larger) Tried it with a keg before I got the 20 gallon pot.
Would probably have been $1600-$2000, I never bothered to put together a price list since I don't have time to make them anymore. This one has a lot of extras though, probably could do a "base model" cheeper. I'm hoping I can start making stands again eventually as I really enjoy it, but for now I just have to be happy using this one.
