Brewstand build

[Dude]

Making progress....been at it since 11 this morning.....the frame is pretty much built, now we are completing some welds and then gonna clean them up....

 

[user 574]

Cool. Can't wait to see the finished product. Heading to the HBS to get my (your) Lake Walk Ingredients for tomorrows brew day. It's been 6+ weeks since I last brewed!

 

[SwAMi75]

Schweet!!!

 

[RichBrewer]

Man that is looking great! (It almost looks as good as your aviator! I can't wait to see pics of that baby in action.

 

[Dude]

It is almost finished! The welding is all done, I need to clean up the weld slag (lotsa grinding!), get the gas pipes together and it will be ready to brew on. I'll still need to finish it by cleaning it up and then getting it painted, but I'll do that as I wish. I just want it to ready to brew with, which it almost is.

Thursday of next week will be the inaugural brew. :rockin:

 

[Mr_Turtlehead]

Wow. Very nice!

 

[Beer Snob]

I can certainly agree there. Looking GREAT! Ok.. so who are you... the one on the left or the one on the right?

 

[todd_k]

my bet is the father in law is on the left and Dude is on the right. For some reason I expected a beard, crown, and sunglasses....

 

[Dude]

Thanks guys.....

Bought most of the plumbing for the gas lines tonight, so that is the main project Sunday. That and grinding.

Down the road....can't decide what color to paint it--I'm leaning blue. For now it will get a coat of hi temp black just to preserve it.

I'll post more pics on brewday next week with the whole set-up.

 

[SwAMi75]

Ceramicoat it!

 

[SwAMi75]

I can certainly agree there. Looking GREAT! Ok.. so who are you... the one on the left or the one on the right?

He's the one in the suspenders.

 

[sudsmonkey]

Brewstand is cool. You two look lika a brewstand commercial. Before and after. It must be a long, happy road between building the brewstand and the suspender wearing stage !

 

[Dude]

Well, the gas pipes are on. Once I get the regulator in the mail tomorrow, I have to get one more fitting and technically it would be ready to brew with. I'm gonna have to acquire additional items as I go along--the budget is rocked and then some for this project. SWMBO is about to blow a gasket if I need anything else to get it up and running. I don't blame her though. I have just short of 250 bucks invested in this project.

i did some grinding today but mostly figuring the gas plumbing and going back and forth to Lowe's for the parts. Two trips and about 2 hours and it is ready to fire up tomorrow! Can't wait to see if these 170K burners rock the hizzle with the new 20psi regulator.

Lotsa work ahead. I'm loving it though!

 

[Capa]

wow, looking great. makes me wanna go build one now...

 

[Lounge Lizard]

It is almost finished! The welding is all done, I need to clean up the weld slag (lotsa grinding!), get the gas pipes together and it will be ready to brew on. I'll still need to finish it by cleaning it up and then getting it painted, but I'll do that as I wish. I just want it to ready to brew with, which it almost is.

Thursday of next week will be the inaugural brew. :rockin:

Nice design, Dude! Looking forward to seeing more pics. Maybe some come brew day?

 

[Dude]

Finally got a test run in today. I got a rolling boil on the HLT in 28 minutes from 52° ground water. That is WAY better! I still doubt I'm getting 170K from the burners, but it is a marked improvement from what I had, so I can live with it. Maybe down the road I'll upgrade to multi-jet burners, at least for the HLT so I'm not waiting all day to heat up water.

I guess I am all set to brew with it tomorrow. I am going to tweak a few things in the gas lines today. I installed a temporary shelf for the mash tun to sit on until I decide for sure what I am going to do with it. I figure a couple of brew sessions will help me decide what will be best. After I brew 2-3 times on it, I'll finish the grinding and smoothing and then paint it. Prolly mid-late April for that.

I'll take more pics of the beast in action tomorrow. :rockin:

 

[Darth Konvel]

Very cool, can't wait to see the pictures of it "live".

 

[RichBrewer]

I'll take more pics of the beast in action tomorrow. :rockin:

I can't wait to see that beast in action! Man that sounds nice.
I'd rather be brewing tomorrow.

 

[BlightyBrewer]

Looks sweet Dude. Keep us posted with lots of pictures.

 

[Brewpastor]

Very cool. Congrats on the set-up. I can almost hear the burners roaring. Keep the pictures coming!

 

[Dude]

Ahhh....picked up some painting supplies today.

I am pretty much finished grinding on the stand. It is tedious work and I'm tired of it. And who says this thing has to look perfect?

Anyway, I'm off for the next 2 days so this is the project to get done. That'll give it time to cure before the next brew day in the first part of April.

First I'm going to strip it down with denatured alcohol to clean the metal the best I can, then put on a coat of rust reformer to protect it. Then I'll prime it, paint the burner areas with high heat black. The main part of the frame will be blue. kind of like this:

BLUE? LOL...I know, I know, to each his own, whatever floats your boat. I think when all is said and done it will look toit as a toiger. I'm probably going to paint that middle ring on my kegs the same color, too.

I'll take pics when it is done Tuesday.

 

[Baron von BeeGee]

I'm disappointed. Thought you'd be goin' with green and yellow!

 

[sudsmonkey]

The Dude abides, man.. The blue kinda... ties the whole project together , man !

Let us turn to Brewviticus 3:21 : " And His Dudeness shall paint the Holy Brewstand whatever color He damn well pleases"

 

[Robbw]

Nice! It'll be interesting to see how your first batch goes. Looking forward to hearing about it.

 

[Dude]

Well, here it is after all the prep and two coats.

Not what I wanted. This color is WAY too light. Looks like I'm going to have to buy a darker color, cause this isn't gonna cut it. how can the cap say one thing and the color be totaly off?

This was the cap color.

Compare. Not even close.

 

[Walker]

color looks pretty close to me, actually.

 

[user 574]

How tall is the top section of the frame? Then when you add the HLT how high are ya? I know a ladder is involved but just curious for those that get the h20 up there how you do it. Heave ho a full bugger up there or other means.

Looks a nice industrial blue to me. Not bad; darker probably would be a bit better though.

 

[MrSaLTy]

Ya but your looknig at it outside too.... that will make it seem lighter. I bet it looks closer to the swatch color inside the garage. It doesn't look that bad to me... if you really want to go through the trouble to do it over then go for it.

Dbrew: Id say put the HLT up there and then put the hose in it and then filler up when its up there.

 

[RichBrewer]

Well, here it is after all the prep and two coats.

Not what I wanted. This color is WAY too light. Looks like I'm going to have to buy a darker color, cause this isn't gonna cut it. how can the cap say one thing and the color be totaly off?

Hey it may not be perfect but it's looking pretty good! I'll take it if you don't want it.

 

[Baron von BeeGee]

At least it ain't Carowhina blue (at least not on this monitor). That would be horrid, and all your beer would taste like wine coolers.