New Sculpture

[ChileBrewer]

Hey guys!
I have finished the first part of my new stand/sculpture. Its useable now and sturdy but I don't think I'll be finished with it for a while. I was debating on making a 3 tier stand and had the plans drawn up for my kegs but the night I went to make it I decided it was to tall for me and went with this 2 tier. I saw a more completed version on an Australian brew site when searching google. I went with this design as I would like to one day have a pump or two and since I am still young and capable of lifting five gallons, the one lift doesn't bother me much. There welds aren't to pretty since they were done late at night and I am a self taught welder and don't do it enough to be more that a little useful.

I reused as much as I could from the kegs as I could. I cut slots in a keg top for my false bottom, which on the first brew worked perfect. I drained the mash tun using the old keg draw tube for a hose guide and siphoned. No stuck mash so far... The springs I used to help hold the extra cut top for a lid and a old rubber o-ring for a thermometer holder.

I did just order weld less fittings and valves which will be installed before the next brew day to help things out but this buy has officially used up all my brew kit money for the far future except for more grains.

I don't have any brewing experience at this point, I have read a few books and brewed the first time last Friday, so any tips or other ideas would be much appreciated.

The wants:
-Burner mounts under each barrel to move the one burner more easily that I currently have
-More shielding
-Painting (I think a nice red, white and blue with a flag somewhere if I can find one)
-More separate area or maybe a separate small table with a hole to grind with my new/used carina grinder.
-Wheels
-Better storage areas
-Maybe a fold out table from one end to write notes and set current cold home brew.

Whole stand:

[img="[url]https://www.icloud.com/photostream/#A5532ODWyelHf;7785C933-909A-44CE-9BAE-5E9D50E42621[/url]"]

False bottom:

https://www.icloud.com/photostream/#A5532ODWyelHf;354273F2-7C35-4F29-B29B-AB50ACD44D02

https://www.icloud.com/photostream/#A5532ODWyelHf;FD3658E7-BDD1-4212-B580-BAD07A5E2C75

https://www.icloud.com/photostream/#A5532ODWyelHf;D26F33DC-FFCD-40EC-860A-7135D5E4E191

Homemade chiller:

https://www.icloud.com/photostream/#A5532ODWyelHf;57161AAF-FC5A-4E43-AD15-883184748E88

Mash draining:

https://www.icloud.com/photostream/#A5532ODWyelHf;9710B0C7-BFCC-4665-BE91-C2ADCE572EF2

https://www.icloud.com/photostream/#A5532ODWyelHf;05CEAA3F-DFAF-43BC-9529-233A51200EAC

Brewday setup:

https://www.icloud.com/photostream/#A5532ODWyelHf;B719ED69-D272-4AF5-BA9D-4C28D14BBF82

First finished brew:

https://www.icloud.com/photostream/#A5532ODWyelHf;2D7FAA27-E901-4939-9B01-8214485AB761

I pre boiled only water the day before and by my calculations my pre boil amount was on but it boiled down more than anticipated. Per my original gravity calculations I hit a 1.045 and the recipe called for a 1.050, I don't feel so bad for my first time brewing and going all grain, hopefully it tastes good in a few more weeks.

Thanks for looking and happy brewing!



(Sorry I can't seem to get these picture links to imbed, let me know if I am doing something wrong)