Fermentation Stand for a pair of Spike CF15 Conicals w/ DIY Glycol Chiller

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tripleD

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Aug 2, 2017
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Location
Jacksonville, FL
I have been lurking on here for the better part of a year benefiting from the community's knowledge without sharing any of my own successes / failures. In an attempt to give back a little, I thought I would share my fermentation stand build in the hopes that someone can learn from my mistakes and improve upon my design.

I have an amazing wife who supports my obssesions. For Father's Day this year, she bought me a pair of Spike CF15 Conicals. I was blown away with the build quality of these things.
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Since the wife was being generous, I got what I could while the getting was good. I also grabbed the cooling / heating bundle that spike offers. It is a shame to
cover up all of that stainless shinyness, but since I brew and ferment in the garage, I need all of the help I can get to maintain temps in the Florida summers.
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I enjoy woodworking and my garage pulls double duty as a woodworking shop and brew room. I had plenty of scrap wood left over from other projects. The stand is built from scraps of oak, pine, birch, and maple. Since I planned on painting the stand, I wasn't woried about matching grain.

I built the base our of 1x4s and 1/2" ply. I don't have any photos of the casters, but I used 6 100lb casters which easily move the stand around while both conicals are full.
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The original plan was to have pegboard stating 16" from the bottom and form the back of the stand. After testfitting, I decided to raise the back an additional foot.
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After taping off the garage to create a "spray room" I hit the stand with four coats of black acrylic semi-gloss. It took forever to cure, but it should wear pretty well.
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I found some 16" wide galvinized pegboard pieces on Amazon before I started the project. I used 4 to create the backing of the stand.
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This is the stand as it sits now.
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When I have some free time in the future, I am going to build an eight inch deep top to the stand for storing growlers up out of the way.

Unfortunatly, while manipulating my DIY chiller, I ruptured the condensor coil and opted to replace it with a purpose built Peguin 1/2 hp. I have only used the conical for one brew session so far. There is a blonde ale in it's second week of fermentation. On Friday, I will be attempting my first lager.

If you have any questions ask away.
 
I realize this is an old thread, but:
a) Very nice setup!
b) Any additional thoughts now that you've had it for a while? Anything you wish you had done differently, or particularly like about it?

Cheers!
 
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