Solid strut single tier build

[daksin]

The strut will support a 3bbl system if you build in support columns to help with the load. It really is every bit as strong as 11 ga tubing.

Platt has locations for pick up, but nothing in SoCal.

Locations

I want to like Grainger...but they ALWAYS kill me on the price.

Good luck with your Nano brewery. Post something when you have it.

The closest one is near Bakersfield. Shipping may be killer. Just got the quote from IMS for the tube stock and it's super reasonable, and I wouldn't need to ship it. They may also have the strut but I'll have to go down there and find out. If my welder friend-of-a-friend comes through for cheap, that will be the way to go.

I'm actually most concerned about the joins on the strut. I'm sure the steel will hold up, but not as much with the various fittings that hold it all together.

 

[TerraNova]

I'm actually most concerned about the joins on the strut. I'm sure the steel will hold up, but not as much with the various fittings that hold it all together.

The fittings will hold it together for the weight you are talking about (3bbl). You can always drill into the solid parts and bolt on extra fittings if you are really concerned. The best thing though is to make sure engineer it properly. Make sure your top rails have columns underneath (so the weight is put on the columns) and not just relying on the fittings. The fittings should just be used to hold the rails in place over other structural column and not to bear the weight themselves.

See the pic below

 

[lpdjshaw]

So, work got a bit in the way but I've made a little bit more progress. Figured out a pretty simple way to make a pump cover using thin aluminum sheeting from HD. I fabbed it up using cardboard. Unfortunately with the weight of the ball valve on the front of the pump it fell and broke the pump head of my brand new Chugger when I was installing the cover so I ordered a ss one for it and my March 809HS. Here are a couple more detail photos. Will get a close up of the caster mounting and the entire setup in a day or two. I've gotten so much inspiration from this forum, hope this helps at least one or two others out there.

 

[lpdjshaw]

Pretty much done, just have to dial in a few hoses/fittings and put it through a dry (wet) run.

 

[Carlscan26]

Looking great!

You went with the pre-galvanized strut right? I'm curious to see how this reacts to heat and if it rusts.

 

[TerraNova]

Pretty much done, just have to dial in a few hoses/fittings and put it through a dry (wet) run.

A thing of beauty.

 

[lpdjshaw]

Looking great!
You went with the pre-galvanized strut right? I'm curious to see how this reacts to heat and if it rusts.

Yeah, I ended up using the galvanized. Would have loved to have gone with stainless but the cost was prohibitive right now. This stuff cost me just under $200 for the strut and fittings, stainless was gonna cost me about a grand. I had to keep the stand costs to a minimum since I also purchased three new pots and a few other goodies. If needed I can always go back later and put stainless strut on the upper portion or even go with a welded stainless upper frame.

A thing of beauty.

Thanks, anxious to brew on it!

 

[Kirch3333]

Here is the parts list ( http://www.strutchannelfittings.com/ )

4 X THK-002-PG-5 (5' solid strut) - full length for the top rails and 3 1/4" off for the bottom rails
2 X THK-002-PG-4 (4' solid strut) - cut in half for the legs
4 X THK-002-PG-3 (3' solid strut) - cut in 12 3/4" lengths for cross members
8 X THK-233 - angle bracket, used for corners
8 X THK-61 - splice straps, used to secure upper cross members to top rails
50 X THK-31 - strut nuts
1 X THK-450-50 - hex cap screw (50 pack)
4 X THK-147 - angle bracket, used to mount casters. I ordered the wrong ones initially so I'm waiting for these to arrive. (I got the casters from Caster City - 4" with brakes on the front ones)

FYI- If you enter the coupon code "SAVE" when you check out you'll save 10% on your entire order. If you order the exact parts list that the OP has listed here it'll end up being $165.43 (a savings of about $18) minus the actual casters. Winning! Thanks OP!

 

[Daves69]

Thanks to this thread I now have $165 worth of parts shipping to my house from G-P LLC!! Impulse buy I guess but at only $165 how can you complain! Oh I know how...... Now I need to get new burners because why would I mount my old not matched set on this beauty? That means I need pipe/fitting etc... But I can't wait!!! Thanks for the clever ideas!

 

[BashD]

Truly beautiful, well done.

 

[Daves69]

So I have my strut, fittings, casters, burners and pump. Still need hoses, fittings etc... I big issue is now what is the best way to cut the strut? I checked some other threads and it looks like people are using chop saws mostly. I was thinking about renting one but now thinking about just taking it to a welding/fabrication shop and having them do it...

 

[BugHunter]

So I have my strut, fittings, casters, burners and pump. Still need hoses, fittings etc... I big issue is now what is the best way to cut the strut? I checked some other threads and it looks like people are using chop saws mostly. I was thinking about renting one but now thinking about just taking it to a welding/fabrication shop and having them do it...

If you've got easy access to am affordable shop go ahead and have them do it if you're more comfortable with that option. I bought two $8 disposable chop blades and rented a chop saw from a Home Depot for 4 hours and $10. $26 total and a couple hours to measure and cut everything down to size.

 

[Daves69]

If you've got easy access to am affordable shop go ahead and have them do it if you're more comfortable with that option. I bought two $8 disposable chop blades and rented a chop saw from a Home Depot for 4 hours and $10. $26 total and a couple hours to measure and cut everything down to size.

I actually just realized that the company I work for has a Milwaukee Portable Bandsaw and one of my co-workers said he will assist in cutting it on Monday.
This works out perfect since I wont' have to pay any $$ and won't have to worry about the noise with my neighbors etc.. My Job is in a Commercial Complex that is pretty much a ghost town after 5PM, so we are just going to cut them in the back lot. He (co-worker) assures me that the cuts will be straight and not a hack job. We will see, I will post up pics when I get them cut!

 

[noremorse1]

Yeah, I ended up using the galvanized. Would have loved to have gone with stainless but the cost was prohibitive right now. This stuff cost me just under $200 for the strut and fittings, stainless was gonna cost me about a grand. I had to keep the stand costs to a minimum since I also purchased three new pots and a few other goodies. If needed I can always go back later and put stainless strut on the upper portion or even go with a welded stainless upper frame.



Thanks, anxious to brew on it!

I am considering doing a build like this and not really concerned about using galvanized as this will be an electric build. HOWEVER... I would only be concerned about the part that is in contact with heat/flame if I were using gas. That would be the top portion of the rig. If you were to replace the top strut channel with stainless, it would increase the total cost by about $180.00 (two 10 foot lengths of stainless strut, and a handful of stainless fittings).

There is no need to make the entire rig stainless if the only concern between stainless and glav is burning off the galvanization and, in turn, toxic fumes and rust.

 

[Daves69]

I am considering doing a build like this and not really concerned about using galvanized as this will be an electric build. HOWEVER... I would only be concerned about the part that is in contact with heat/flame if I were using gas. That would be the top portion of the rig. If you were to replace the top strut channel with stainless, it would increase the total cost by about $180.00 (two 10 foot lengths of stainless strut, and a handful of stainless fittings). There is no need to make the entire rig stainless if the only concern between stainless and glav is burning off the galvanization and, in turn, toxic fumes and rust.

Valid point but even if you had to replace the top every two years you would not break even until year ten. But then I plan on having a full stainless stand. Most of us use strut to get us brewing now for cheap and plan to upgrade in the future.

 

[BugHunter]

Valid point but even if you had to replace the top every two years you would not break even until year ten. But then I plan on having a full stainless stand. Most of us use strut to get us brewing now for cheap and plan to upgrade in the future.

That's my plan. I have $80 in parts from strutchannelfittings.com and another $75 for 4 strut lengths from Home Depot. I'll likely have to replace the top section once before I can afford to convert to entirely electric so, for my system, strut it is.

 

[noremorse1]

That's my plan. I have $80 in parts from strutchannelfittings.com and another $75 for 4 strut lengths from Home Depot. I'll likely have to replace the top section once before I can afford to convert to entirely electric so, for my system, strut it is.

Wrapping the strut that is exposed to heat/flame in a few layers of tinfoil each brew should extend the life of your stand. Just an idea.

 

[Daves69]

Wrapping the strut that is exposed to heat/flame in a few layers of tinfoil each brew should extend the life of your stand. Just an idea.

Have you seen the price of tin foil recently? Folks I bought solid strut for aesthetics but if you but the slotted your taking like $15 for a10' section. I must have 50 batches on my current cheap Bass Pro turkey fryers and even that metal is good for another 50 batches.

This stuff lasts and if your that worried about it holding up or dis-coloring then there are other products out there to build your stand out of. A fully stainless mig welded option comes to mind.

Good luck!

 

[elmito]

hey guys has anyone calculated how much weight this can hold?

 

[Daves69]

hey guys has anyone calculated how much weight this can hold?

Enough to brew a half barrel, seriously though I did the math and without the center column supports and 5' wide your in the 1,400lb range. Add the center supports and remove the casters and you could achieve around 2,000 would be my guess.

This stuff is strong and there are data sheets on the deformation floating around here and on the web.

 

[elmito]

Awesome, thanks for all the info. I'm trying to put a 30 gallon build together. Looks like I'll have to make it a little wider and deeper than yours. The 30 gallon bayou classics have a bigger base than my current keggles. I think I'll also make one of the top struts longer to mount a control panel.

 

[stompbox]

#1. Did the OP drill hole for the connections then? I don't see any holes, not sure how this was put together if you did not drill holes.

#2. i like the idea of using a SS and Galv. hybrid to save money, but I know some metals do not like to be placed together. Could there be an issue having SS and Galv touch?

 

[Daves69]

#1. Did the OP drill hole for the connections then? I don't see any holes, not sure how this was put together if you did not drill holes.

#2. i like the idea of using a SS and Galv. hybrid to save money, but I know some metals do not like to be placed together. Could there be an issue having SS and Galv touch?

#1. It's the same connections as what your used to seeing its just solid strut, what that means is the wholes are not there. The Channel where the nut/bolts connect to are still there. Solid strut has no true advantages over slotted strut for brewing other then it might be a little easier to clean up/wipe down.

#2. As long as your not welding Galv. to SS you will be fine. Just bolting the two together wont hurt anything. Worst case would be if you cut the Galv. strut your going to have a unprotected area where it could rust and that rust might attempt to make it's way to the SS.

Here is my version of the OP's, I used solid as well. No SS however.

 

[musikguru6]

How are the gas lines attached to the structure?

 

[musikguru6]

Also, what size casters will fit this?

 

[Daves69]

I think your asking about my stand since you commented in the other thread with the same questions, these are the casters I used: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0000DD1F6/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

Also to bolt the gas manifold to the stand again I took eye bolts that were just a little smaller the the OD of the Iron Pipe and opened them up a little so I could slide the pipe in them, then just drilled holes and bolted them to the bottom cross member.

 

[71westbrewing]

anyone have any idea where I could get the plug/switch receptacle he uses for the pumps?

 

[raysmithtx]

I have seen them at Lowes in my area. I bought a couple for my outdoor receptacles that set out in the rain.

 

[bd2xu]

I have seen them at Lowes in my area. I bought a couple for my outdoor receptacles that set out in the rain.

I got one at Home Depot, mounted two switches, mounted it to frame. I will take a pic later

 

[pellis007]

Hey lpdjshaw...really nice build. I've been subbed to this thread for awhile and have finally decided I'm going to build my own. Everything is in my shopping cart but before I press "Order"...any changes you would recommend? I'm sure you've had opportunity to brew on this rig and just wondered if there's anything you'd do differently with the stand now that you've had a chance to use it.
Thanks,
Pete