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

[kickflip_mj]

they hinges work great! They bind slightly, but just enough so they lock in the vertical position. I drilled holes in the underside of the lid, clamped a 1' bar on the other side sandwiching the hing and lid flat. Then rosebud welded about 30 holes. (over exaggeration)

 

[kickflip_mj]

Last night I made some frame mount quick disconnect plates for the valves out of stainless sheet. The reason I did this is so I can take the plumbing off simply.

 

[kickflip_mj]

Last night I stripped the frame of everything to clean up and get it ready for some paint! What did you guys do to get the frame ready? Did you sand it?

 

[Bensiff]

Depends on how you are going to paint it. If you are rattle canning the thing with some Rustoleum you are fine doing nothing more than wiping it down with some lacquer thinner or similar degreaser to get your paw prints off that will inhibit paint adhesion. I'm shooting mine with automotive paint (figure it takes so much time and money to build a brewery may as well not have the finishing touch be a $5 rattle can). So if you take the route of putting down a good paint job you would do a bit more work...the day before I'm ready to paint I will hit the entire frame with a flap disk to get it all nice and shiny. Day of, I will hit it with a metal etching primer, basecoat, mid-coats, and then clear followed by color sanding and buffing...as Doc Brown said, "The way I see it, if you are going to build a time machine into a car, you may as well do it with some style."

 

[kickflip_mj]

Yeah but auto paint wont stand up to heat?

 

[Bensiff]

Yeah but auto paint wont stand up to heat?

Oh yeah, you are direct firing...

Just remember that whatever imperfections in the metal will show through your high temp paint. If you don't care, it doesn't matter, if it will annoy you, get a flap disk for your grinder and go to town. Something like a 60 grit is plenty good to get the weld seem from the foundry smoothed down (if you were like me and didn't think to put the weld seem down when fabricating) and polish up the scuffs from grinding your welds. Then go over with a 120 grit, wipe down with a degreaser, and spray with a high temp paint that has a rust inhibitor in it

 

[kickflip_mj]

Frankly im not even pleased with painted mild steel, Im sure I will move to stainless in the next year or so. But in the mean time it is good enough.

I did flap all the "flat" weld, then used 120 polishing grit, then scotch bright wheeled them all.lol I may be a little excessive when I do things sometimes, but I try to get it right the first time. Im not extremly impressed by the weld quality anyways due to my crappy weld pak ten. Just undercutting and pinholes that never seem to go away. But if I do it again it will be stainless and with a nice tig welder (next investment is a syncwave)

 

[Bensiff]

Frankly im not even pleased with painted mild steel, Im sure I will move to stainless in the next year or so. But in the mean time it is good enough.

I did flap all the "flat" weld, then used 120 polishing grit, then scotch bright wheeled them all.lol I may be a little excessive when I do things sometimes, but I try to get it right the first time. Im not extremly impressed by the weld quality anyways due to my crappy weld pak ten. Just undercutting and pinholes that never seem to go away. But if I do it again it will be stainless and with a nice tig welder (next investment is a syncwave)

That's too bad your welds didn't come out the best...pinholes make me think you have a shielding gas issue more than anything, are you running pure CO2 or mix? I have a Lincoln 140C that did great on 14 gauge tube and even some 3/16" plate brackets I joined to the tube, using 75/25 gas. I would love me a tig welder too, just don't see myself justifying the cost unless I could make money with it. Anyway, if you do some good prep work on the mild and take your time with the rattle can you should be able to get some nice results. But, I think your biggest barrier is that you have to use high temp paints with that direct fire system which really limits things. Going electric, the sky is the limit for me so I'm going black base with copper pearl over the top, so as long as it looks the color of a nice Oktoberfest I don't care what is underneath .

 

[Commonwealth]

Hey Kick this is super inspiring and a thing of brewing beauty. I am currently rolling a poor mans brewtus style set up using a 1 & 2 burner converted camp chef turkey fryer style stoves and have been thinking about getting my own welder. This thread sold me on the idea!!!!! Long live the custom diy stand, newbie welder dream!! Very cool in all respects, your dedication to it, the over the topness and your perfectionist motivation to name a few. I bow to your overbuilt, shinny robotic greatness, a thousand thank yous for the excellent motivation here.....

Now if I may return the favor: Regarding your back depending on the injury you may want to look into this: www.svaroopayorga.org. I dont know the nature of your injury ie compresional or torsional impact, structural malformation finally gave out etc. But do know this stuff is my fountain of youth and continues to keep an otherwise debilitating back issue of mine completely and comfortably in the rearview mirror. I know it is "yoga", not the most "brewer-man masculine" of recovery strategies and no medical journal research endorsing it..... but if you have a practitioner nearby I would be tell you anyone considering surgery would be foolish not to take a two or three week gamble with some private sessions. I'm no way connected to this organization other than the 20 minute routine I do every day or so. Other than the MRI to diagnose the cause of my pain It has done far more for me than the chirpractor, back doctor, physical therapist and steroids combined Good luck amigo and keep on posting!

 

[kickflip_mj]

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

Common, thank you so much for all the complements, It took a lot of devotion to get where I am now and it means a lot to know people appreciate my hard work. I have some past welding experience from a friends grandpa, but nothing you couldn't learn by trial and error. All I can say is read up, and practice, practice, practice.

Thank you for the information about my back, its been an awful road and anything will help. I feel pretty normal right now, but I definitely have my days.

 

[kickflip_mj]

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



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



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

 

[Bensiff]

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

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.

 

[kickflip_mj]

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.

 

[kickflip_mj]

Mounted the control panel to swivel when not in use. I'll take some pictures of the interior tomorrow.

 

[kickflip_mj]

Is it me or does it seem like something is missing with that control panel mount?

 

[kickflip_mj]

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 $$$

 

[Bensiff]

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.

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.

 

[Bensiff]

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 $$$

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?

 

[kickflip_mj]

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?

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.

 

[marcb]

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.

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!

 

[Bensiff]

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.

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.

 

[Bensiff]

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!

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.

 

[kickflip_mj]

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

 

[marcb]

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.

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....

 

[Bensiff]

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

Agreed. All stainless is monotone. While I'm no fan of the raiders, your black and silver will look nice .

 

[Bensiff]

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....

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.

 

[kickflip_mj]

Agreed. All stainless is monotone. While I'm no fan of the raiders, your black and silver will look nice .

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.

 

[kickflip_mj]

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]

OK, I'll ask... ????

 

[kickflip_mj]

OK, I'll ask... ????

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)