My Back Injury Inspired DIY Brew Stand

[arnobg]

Last week during my brew day I injured my back lifting a kettle with 7 gallons of wort off of the burner. It was my fault lifting with my back and not my legs (I know better but was in a hurry and didn't pay attention). After not being able to stand straight or walk for almost 2 days, and still a little sore to this day, I decided to build a brew stand to avoid something like this happening again. At 28 years old, my back is something I need to take care of.

Here is a rough sketch/render of my brew stand build for my BIAB setup. I use a hook/pulley on the ceiling currently to lift the bag from the kettle so that part will not change. I bought most of the lumber and fasteners today, so tomorrow I will get started and share an update with photos.

Some details on my setup: I use a Bayou SP10 burner with a Bayou 9 gallon kettle which I will shortly upgrade to a Spike V3 15 gallon. The burner will sit on the lower step on the right of the stand. The top of the kettle will end up about 1-2" above the top rail of the stand. This will make it easy to just pour the wort from the valve on the kettle straight into a fermentation bucket on the floor (no lifting required). I will use the table on the left to sit things I am using for the brew day such as thermometers, mash paddle, etc. I would like to figure out some ways to make some storage on this thing as well.

 

[Sandstorm]

Looks good to me. The table will be useful for sure.

I was inspired to build my brew stand by a hernia. Ouch**

Didn't realize how much I needed a table during brew day until after I bulit my stand.

My stand and pump were the best investments I have made.

 

[arnobg]

Well I had the day off and spent most of the day building it. This is what I put together. I am very happy with it, just need to paint or stain it so it doesn't get nasty. I also need to put a valve on the kettle.

The only concern I have is the wood near the burner. The burner itself is a foot laterally from any wood and I put a tile under the burner. I was thinking about wrapping the top rail with aluminum flashing but I'm not sure if this is necessary or not.

Anyone have any experience with that?

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[arnobg]

Not that anyone is interested because I don't have any "bling" on my rig, but went ahead and stained it today. I also cut out part of the table to integrate my grain mill into the cart.

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[Jwin]

For the record, your lateral beams are incorrect. They should have been cut the other way where the front pieces would be screwed into both the vertical 2x4 and the side lateral 2x4. Then sink four screws in the front, 2 in each (vertical and side lat) and 3 screws in the side, 2 toward in inside and one toward the outside, so that the screws won't meet inside the wood and cause a split.
I know it's to late now, but for others in the future...