DIY three-tier brew stand

[jaytizzle]

Been awhile since I've posted but still active in the hobby and the local community.

I've been brewing for about a year now and have around 25 extract + specialty grains batches under my belt. It's time to move to all-grain and I've been brainstorming how I wanted my system set up.

What I've come up with is a bottom draining mash tun keggle (upside down keggle, if you will). This will gravity feed into a holding vessel (essentially a lauter grant from what I'm told) then be pumped over to my BK. The BK will be used to heat water and this will be pumped over to the mash tun.

To accomplish this, and to minimize space that my rig takes up, I went with a three tier vertical build. I had a guy at my office fab up the stand on my instructions and it came out pretty awesome. Construction material is 2" square tubing with heavy duty casters (although I won't be moving it with liquids on board, these are for storage). I should get the pots drilled and all hardware installed this week. I'll probably add some kind of safety chain system to go around the pots to make sure that nothing bad happens.

Pot stands are 12" from ground for lauter grant, 24" off ground for BK, and 48" off ground for mash tun.

The pots will all be keggles with weldless fittings and camlocks. High temp silicone tubing will be used to transfer all liquids through the stainless head chugger pump. There's a second bracket on the stand in case I ever want to add another pump to the system.

The burner is a 210,000 BTU/hr 10" banjo burner with 0-30 psi adjustable regulator. I cranked it up lastnight and can't wait to get this thing running on a brew day!

The other benefit, since I live in south Louisiana, is that my crawfish pot fits perfectly on the stand!

So here's a few pictures...

 

[Thomsen1287]

Hey nice build JT.

 

[rekoob]

Looking good! Thought about making one like that prior to my single tier build. That will brew!

 

[Magefire]

JT can you post a picture with your custom keggle and pots in place? I am intrigued by the custom keggle idea.

 

[bradoslovich]

Very nice stand! That is a huge wind block for the burner. Did you roll that or have it cut from a pcs of pipe? You could almost cut that in thirds for two other burners. I would be interested in learning how brew day goes with one burner and no HLT. I might try something like that with my set-up and see if I can eliminate a burner.

 

[bsomogyi]

You'll love the banjo's man. Nice build! Oh and by the looks of the photo you will have plenty of propane on supply. Lol!

 

[BPal75]

I would love something like this, but have zero welding skills.

 

[jaytizzle]

JT can you post a picture with your custom keggle and pots in place? I am intrigued by the custom keggle idea.

I'm in the process of drilling the keggles and mounting the hardware now. I had a snafu yesterday and I need to find another keg but I should be able to limp along for now and get it up and running. One keg had a dent in it that I couldn't see before cutting and the false bottom doesn't sit flush. I may try to rig it but will also be looking for a replacement keg.

Very nice stand! That is a huge wind block for the burner. Did you roll that or have it cut from a pcs of pipe? You could almost cut that in thirds for two other burners. I would be interested in learning how brew day goes with one burner and no HLT. I might try something like that with my set-up and see if I can eliminate a burner.

Agreed, it is very large. Looks like my welder tacked it together from a sheet of thin steel. It's rock solid, though!

As far as single burner, it's a nice configuration. The top tier will be for the mash tun. I'll heat the water in the BK on the middle tier then pump it up to the tun and load the grain. From there I'll batch sparge by gravity draining down to the lowest tier and sparging into the tun by pumping from the BK. Once my wort is where I like it (volume and gravity) in the lauter grant, I can move around a couple of hoses and pump from there to the BK for the brew. Make sense?

You'll love the banjo's man. Nice build! Oh and by the looks of the photo you will have plenty of propane on supply. Lol!

Hah... that's the warehouse at my work. They do leak testing stuff and built those remote leak testing contraptions. I don't think they'd notice a missing tank??

I would love something like this, but have zero welding skills.

Me neither! Thank goodness that we have a handy guy at the office. Built it based off of my measurements for a great price!

 

[jaytizzle]

I did get the BK cut and fit lastnight. An angle grinder with the 4mm cutting wheels makes quick work of these kegs. I need to get a grinding disk to smooth out the edges and clean it up but it works for now. The cobalt step bits also go through the kegs really easily for cuttting the holes.

The BK has a dip tube in the bottom that I need to cut shorter and pull close to the wall. I have a huge 1/2"x50' copper immersion chiller that I am going to outfit with a Jamil whirlpool attachment on Thursday and I need the dip tube moved to make it fit. I have to decide if I want to integrate the the whirlpool return into the top port on the pot or if I want to just attach it to the chiller body.

 

[MrNatural]

Nice build.

 

[jaytizzle]

So a few more pictures...

I've got all of the hardware installed and brewed twice on the stand over the weekend. First up was an american amber then I brewed a red bean red ale. I've insulated the mash tun but need to do more to hold the heat better. I am playing with the idea of lining the outside with flexwatt heat tape.

Otherwise the brewing went well. It was my first All Grain brewing so I had a friend come supervise the first brew. It's definitely a learning process and I need to get the details of my system ironed out so I can tailor recipes properly. It's a lot more nerve wracking than extract ever was!

Here's a couple more pictures...

New Barley Crusher grain mill that SWMBO got me for my birthday

Quick shot of the rig the night I got it set up and plumbing done

And me and my future brewing assistant on the first brew day!