My insane 25 Gal, 100 Percent Hard Plumbed Tri-Clover, Automated Tippy Build

Yakima 728
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Used a hole saw to cut through the 2" tube for the wiring. This was just a pain to cut for some reason.

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Just showing off a stainless plate I made for a buddy's boat.

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Also spent some time making mounts for the casters. Welded and mounted them.

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kickflip_mj said:
Bensiff, I think the pinholes came from gaps between parts of the frame that I filled. Its not a big deal and I can touch them up with the tig machine, its just something that I don't want to do.lol
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Filling in with mig is trick...I had a joint with the same issue and tried walking in beads without cooking the edge of the steel. When I ground it down I had some pinholes where the fill metal was pretty thin so I bucked the tiger and touched it up again and succeeded. It would probably be a weak joint if i didn't weld a piece of tube perpendicularly over it.
 
That's really good advice, most of the small pinholes are on end caps I welded to fill the open gaps for the burners. The dang chops saw loved to take the path of least resistance. Id love to get something better one day, but I have managed this far.
 
Mounted the control panel to swivel when not in use. I'll take some pictures of the interior tomorrow.

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Is it me or does it seem like something is missing with that control panel mount?
 
kickflip_mj said:
That's really good advice, most of the small pinholes are on end caps I welded to fill the open gaps for the burners. The dang chops saw loved to take the path of least resistance. Id love to get something better one day, but I have managed this far.
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I used a 7" cutoff on my 10" chop saw so it went alright. However I know what you are talking about. If I missed a cut and had to trim off a very small amount the blade liked to bend to the side. Not only buggering up the cut; but, dangerousness as well as those cut off wheels can blow up if they get lateral pressure on them.
 
kickflip_mj said:
Update: fished the stand and now I am stripping it to get ready for paint. Ordered the last parts for the plumbing and now all I have left is the gas line parts and electrical $$$
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Looking good. Are you as sick of grinding welds and the tubing as me? I'm right now regretting my choice to go with auto paint. I'm just finishing with 80 grit flap disks. I need to run it up to 240 before priming. Ugh. What is missing with the panel mount?
 
Bensiff said:
Looking good. Are you as sick of grinding welds and the tubing as me? I'm right now regretting my choice to go with auto paint. I'm just finishing with 80 grit flap disks. I need to run it up to 240 before priming. Ugh. What is missing with the panel mount?
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Ha I am extremely tired of welding and grinding! This build is getting exhausting and I can't wait to get to the electrical. I also can't believe how expensive this build got. But once I started there was no turning back.

I feel like the panel mount is just really plain. I think I'm going to add a large stainless gusset on the 90. Maybe even put the brewery name there. Not really sure what to call it yet.
 
kickflip_mj said:
Ha I am extremely tired of welding and grinding! This build is getting exhausting and I can't wait to get to the electrical. I also can't believe how expensive this build got. But once I started there was no turning back.

I feel like the panel mount is just really plain. I think I'm going to add a large stainless gusset on the 90. Maybe even put the brewery name there. Not really sure what to call it yet.
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I think it's good to weigh the amount of effort it takes to get mild steel prepped for proper paint vs the extra duckets for stainless tubing. I know I'm over the top with my build but I do think ultimately stainless tubing is the way to go for stand builds given the heat, wort spillage, over boils etc....

That said I greatly admire this build and your tenacity, keep up the kicka$$ work as you are closer than you think to brewing!
 
kickflip_mj said:
Ha I am extremely tired of welding and grinding! This build is getting exhausting and I can't wait to get to the electrical. I also can't believe how expensive this build got. But once I started there was no turning back.

I feel like the panel mount is just really plain. I think I'm going to add a large stainless gusset on the 90. Maybe even put the brewery name there. Not really sure what to call it yet.
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What do you have for the electrical work remaining? I have to rewire my pumps with longer cords and build the wires to my kettles and then I'm good to go so that is easy enough...assuming the trial run doesn't reveal any issues with my panel.

I have never been into the naming of my home brewery so at the very least that isn't something I have to think about.
 
marcb said:
I think it's good to weigh the amount of effort it takes to get mild steel prepped for proper paint vs the extra duckets for stainless tubing. I know I'm over the top with my build but I do think ultimately stainless tubing is the way to go for stand builds given the heat, wort spillage, over boils etc....

That said I greatly admire this build and your tenacity, keep up the kicka$$ work as you are closer than you think to brewing!
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If I was going for pure function I would disagree. As with mild it is pretty easy to chop, weld, and grind a few welds where they might interfere, and then shoot with some rustoleum. However, since I'm coating with automotive paint, for my build to look good requires I grind all welds and sand everything to 240. Then there is the cost of the auto paint itself. It will look nice when done at least but certainly more money and effort than going stainless.
 
You hit the nail on the head with this one. If I knew what I know now, spending 700 bucks on the stainless would have been key. But I actually like the idea of the contrast between the black frame and all the stainless parts. I feel like a stainless frame just looks bland. The black will make everything pop
 
Bensiff said:
If I was going for pure function I would disagree. As with mild it is pretty easy to chop, weld, and grind a few welds where they might interfere, and then shoot with some rustoleum. However, since I'm coating with automotive paint, for my build to look good requires I grind all welds and sand everything to 240. Then there is the cost of the auto paint itself. It will look nice when done at least but certainly more money and effort than going stainless.
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How do you disagree with pure function? Even with automotive paint if you are direct firing your finish will suffer and ultimately start to oxidize. I have to clean and that's it....
 
kickflip_mj said:
You hit the nail on the head with this one. If I knew what I know now, spending 700 bucks on the stainless would have been key. But I actually like the idea of the contrast between the black frame and all the stainless parts. I feel like a stainless frame just looks bland. The black will make everything pop
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Agreed. All stainless is monotone. While I'm no fan of the raiders, your black and silver will look nice :).
 
marcb said:
How do you disagree with pure function? Even with automotive paint if you are direct firing your finish will suffer and ultimately start to oxidize. I have to clean and that's it....
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Direct fire and auto paint would certainly be bad indeed. Not only is the paint not designed for heat so it would be ruined on the first time out, auto paint uses isocyanates which can be easily managed during application with proper ppe and are completely safe once the paint is cured. However high heat breaks down the isocyanate binding so stuff like carbon monoxide, free isocyanate, and hydrogen cyanide can be released. Certainly nothing to play with for those using direct fire.

As far as pure function...I won't argue that stainless isn't a superior metal in the brewhouse, it certainly is. However, what abuse a stand sees at the home brew level is pretty limited so if I were building a stand for pure function and had little care about what it looked like, I have every reason to believe a quickly thrown together mild steel frame would last a lifetime with very little effort to maintain it while costing less to build and being easier to build than with stainless.
 
Bensiff said:
Agreed. All stainless is monotone. While I'm no fan of the raiders, your black and silver will look nice :).
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Not a fan of the raiders either! Hopefully my stand will look great painted, Im going with a gloss black header paint from KBS coatings. The downsides is the paint is rated for 1500 degrees, but most people were using them on their drag car headers and say the stuff is bulletproof. No peeling, cracking, discoloration. etc. The reviews where over the top, and I havnt been impressed with other peoples paint they use for stands.
 
So a little recommendation for people that want bottom drain kettles..... Don't try it with Mega pots, ask me how I know this.
 
rodduley said:
OK, I'll ask... ????
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Haha thanks.. The problem is the aluminum core and how its not an easy reach to weld from the inside. Maybe its the size of the 25 gal kettles that makes the reach awful. If I were to do it again, I would probably take a 2 inch holesaw and cut the bottom and aluminum core pry it out, exposing the inside layer, then weld a 1 inch tri from the outside. (all coming from a mediocre tig welder)
 
kickflip_mj said:
Haha thanks.. The problem is the aluminum core and how its not an easy reach to weld from the inside. Maybe its the size of the 25 gal kettles that makes the reach awful. If I were to do it again, I would probably take a 2 inch holesaw and cut the bottom and aluminum core pry it out, exposing the inside layer, then weld a 1 inch tri from the outside. (all coming from a mediocre tig welder)
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Hope you didn't ruin the kettle and were able to salvage the build.
 
I managed to seal them up nicely, but the welds were not up to my standards. I will leave thin walled tanks up to the experts next time.lol
 
kickflip_mj said:
I managed to seal them up nicely, but the welds were not up to my standards. I will leave thin walled tanks up to the experts next time.lol
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I hear you. I have that perfectionist voice in me too. Even on my frame where I'm grinding down my welds I still want them to look good even though no one will ever see them. Not to mention good looking welds are not purely aesthetic, they are a good way to know you have a solid weld. Keep up the good work. I look forward to seeing your completed build.
 
Bensiff said:
I hear you. I have that perfectionist voice in me too. Even on my frame where I'm grinding down my welds I still want them to look good even though no one will ever see them. Not to mention good looking welds are not purely aesthetic, they are a good way to know you have a solid weld. Keep up the good work. I look forward to seeing your completed build.
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We sound way to alike! I spent the hole night prepping the stand for paint! So much time degreasing/ removing the paint off the water filter housing etc..
 
My new sparge arm. It's going to take a lot of drilling!


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This is why this brewery is taking so long. Everything I do has to be made by me and I am a perfectionist. Lol
 
Well I had to weld it together still, but not the annoying part, especially since my drill press goes to fast for this job.
 
kickflip_mj said:
Well I had to weld it together still, but not the annoying part, especially since my drill press goes to fast for this job.
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You are like me. A perfectionist but cheap enough to build something with the assumption that what is built will be as good or better.
 
I know theirs will probably be better quality, I just don't like the idea of spending 70 bucks on a spool with some holes in it.
 
SO i just received my package of paint, It turns out that the aerosol cans are only rated to 1200 degrees (1500 as stated online). On top of that I called them and the Black online is gloss, but he says its going to be flat black after a few uses. I think Im going to get the 2000 degree paint from autozone
 
That sounds annoying. Nothing like ordering something, waiting for it to arrive, and then discovering what you really need is right down the street.
 
Yeah the paint is expensive too. 18 bucks a can!! I am really disappointing because I wanted something impressive looking. Flat black or some other color?
 
I really like the idea of having a gloss black stand.. Ok what about if I polish the top and hit it with a clear, anything below the burner surface hit with gloss black stove paint?
 

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