Stainless wall thickness for Brutus 10?

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BeerElf

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I've been getting quotes on stainless from some local sources and have found some really good prices.

$109 for 40' of 2 x 2 x .063 wall
$314 for 40' of 2" x 2" x 11ga (.120)

Everyone on here seems to have use the .120 wall. Has anyone used .063 (1/16") stainless to build their brutus? I'm wondering if it is strong enough to support the weight and temperatures?
 
BeerElf said:
IRC Alumminum & Stainless (www.ircalum.com) had the best price on the .120 wall.

And C&L Metal Sales (www.clmetalsales.com) had the best price on the .063.

Are you looking to buy some stainless too? If we go in together we may be able to get a better price for buying a larger total quantity.
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Someday

I built a stand this year with steel and am kicking myself for not going with SS. I may redo the stand at some point. I doubt you would get much of a price break by doubling up on the quantity.

Are you welding your own or contracting it out? I used a welder in Canby who sucked and then of course found somebody 5 minutes from my house who could have done the job better, faster and cheaper.

PM me if you need an info on where to go for supplies, etc. as you are new to the area.
 
I'll concur with Derrin, 0.063 is robust enough for this application. 1/8" wall square tube is way overkill. In any case, If you build the frame and it doesn't seem sturdy enough, adding additional bracing will stiffen it right up. I say go for it with 0.063.
 
SAMC,

Why don't you like steel? I'm think about using hot rolled it's about 1/2 the price of SS in my area.
 
LarMoeCur said:
SAMC,

Why don't you like steel? I'm think about using hot rolled it's about 1/2 the price of SS in my area.
Click to expand...

Strictly from an aesthetic point of view. Painting and keeping it from coming off the top of the frame has been a problem. I have spent more time and money than the additional cost of SS over regular steel. The BBQ paints come off and then I went with VHT ceramic header paint which would work really well if I had an oven large enough to cure the paint correctly. I could have had it powder coated with high temp powder but that was $200 so I passed.
 
BeerElf said:
I've been getting quotes on stainless from some local sources and have found some really good prices.

$109 for 40' of 2 x 2 x .063 wall
$314 for 40' of 2" x 2" x 11ga (.120)

Everyone on here seems to have use the .120 wall. Has anyone used .063 (1/16") stainless to build their brutus? I'm wondering if it is strong enough to support the weight and temperatures?
Click to expand...

Is that polished? If it is that is a screaming deal!
 
thantos said:
Is that polished? If it is that is a screaming deal!
Click to expand...

no, it's the mill finish, but 180 grit polished is not that much more.

I still haven't decided on which one I'll go with, but I'm leaning towards the .120 wall for peace of mind since I've not found anyone who is currently running asystem built with .063.
 
Bobby_M said:
If you're building to the brutus dimensions, I think .063 is more than enough. If it were me, I'd use 1.5x1.5x.063 tube.
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It will actually be a little wider and longer than the plans in BYO to accommodate my 15 gal. kettle in additions two keggles. The dimensions I'm looking at are 17" x 55"
 
SamC, Ahh never thought about the paint coming off the top because of the keggles. Back the to the drawing board. I'm thinking a sheet of SS over the top to protect the finish. Even with the added cost I'm still saving over 2 big ones.
 
Still, the longest horrizontal span is only 25 inches due to the center support. A keg is 35 pounds + (15g x 8pounds) and all three vessels will never be full at the same time. We're talking about maybe 400 pounds max distributed over the whole thing. You might have a problem if one of the kegs was filled with molten lead.
 
LarMoeCur - I think it's more of the heat from the burners that causes the paint to flake off. Then there's also the issue of rust. You won't need to worry about either of those with Stainless.

Bobby_M - you're probably right, plus I can get the polished .036 wall for $190 instead of $314 for mill finish .120. Hmm... I think I need to place my order...
 
I built my stand out of .063 x 2 x 2 steel tube, stainless tube in .063 wall is plenty strong for this... go for it.
 
One of our club members has an aluminum stand and he's building a new one out of SS. The problem is the thing conducts heat so well that every last corner of that thing gets hot! I can't tell you how many times he's made a skin donation to that thing.

Now maybe with SS heat shields and ceramic stand-offs it might be OK.
 
Yeah I was a little afraid of that but I had a boatload of t-slot extrusions lying around from a different project so essentially my frame was free. Plus the t-slot is attractive in that you can easily and robustly mount stuff to it whereas I would have to drill and tap the steel. T-slot is more flexible in that respect. I also plan on thermal barrier coating the stainless heat shields for even more insulation and they will also be tapered at the bottoms to better convect air to the burners. It should work but I guess the only way to know is to try it and see...
 
I'm in the process of building my Brutus out of 2x2x.120 and I can tell you its waaayy overkill. I could use this thing to support a house. It weighs a freaking ton. But I don't think I would have gone with anything different.
 
Resurrecting this thread, since I'm in the process of assembling the bits for my own stand, and wanted to pick the brains of the metallurgists here.

I want to go with stainless, I really do. But.

40' of .63 is $278
40' of .120 is $440

While I'm not worried about the strength of the .63 - the Brutus design has a support bar in the front, and the plans leave enough scrap to weld one at the back if needed - the thickness of the steel wouldn't be very forgiving in terms of welding. Half the thickness would be easier to burn or bollocks up, I'd think - especially for someone with zero welding experience?

40' of .120 mild steel is $120, plus another $30 in high temp engine paint is the other option, and a hard one to say no to when I figure that the $300 savings pays for my Love switches and solenoid valves.
 
Hi, I am new to the forums and somewhat new to Brewing.
I am in the initial stages of planning my Brutus 10 as many of you are. I'm very happy to find out that people agree that .063 wall SS will be plenty enough. Costs can be rough but, if I'm gonna do it, the thing might as well be made of something I'll be happy with. -meaning Stainless Steel
My thoughts were to build and tack weld this together and maybe take it to a professional to tig weld it all together.

Ubermick stated that it would be easier to burn through when welding.
Has anyone had any luck being able to weld steel this thin?

Does anyone know if .063 wall is plenty for the gas beam?

Thanks for any replies.

Nick

*****Edit: I just saw Hooks made his out of .063 wall. Looks great.*****
 
Mines inch and a half 1/8 wall gas beam and all.
img144121.jpg
 
I built a Brutus 10 Clone for a freind of mine using 1.5" X 1.5" X 0.063" SS tubing. It was plenty strong and has been in use for a year and half now.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/brotherhoodbrew/sets/72157605889391749

However being a lighter gauge it was a bit more difficult to weld and keep straight while welding. Not impossible, but something to watch out for. I think a heavier gauge would be easier to weld but hardly worth the extra cost (and weight).

Also had a hard time sealing the ends of the gas beam where it connects to the vertical members at each end. (the weld was bridging accross to the horizontal beams on each side of the gas beam and allowing the gas to leak through). If I had to do it again I would weld end caps on the beam and pressure test it before welding it to the vertical members.
 
Lehr: What an awesome job. Too pretty to brew on.

e-9Brew: This is awesome. Thank you.
I just got a quote today for 2" .063 wall SS for $231.00 from a local company. I can live with that price. Although I am going to go to a local scrap yard that does have 304 SS to see if I can squeeze a little better price out of this whole process.
 
I've brewed over 80 batches on my frame since building it. I usually brew every Saturday but I brewed on Sunday this weekend as I had to do some bottling on Saturday. This is just to give you an idea of how often my frame is being used. I used it less often at first but I use it very often now. I have that biitch dialed in now.

I scrapped the heat shields after only a dozen batches or so as they didn't work as well as without them. The ceramic standoffs are typically made from steatite, a form of soapstone. They are expensive and fragile. I did machine a bunch of stainless standoffs as the ceramic ones were breaking often but then I decided to remove the shields altogether. You don't need heat shields at all. They only reduce the efficiency of your combustion and therefore you get much more carbon on your pots. I'm an chemical engineer so I think I know what I'm doing more or less and I fiddled with different designs/ideas/modifications and none of them worked as well as not using any shields at all. Yeah the frame gets a bit hot, but you learn to not touch it after only a few times. Derrin mentioned his club friend was switching to stainless after many skin donations. This has not been my experience whatsoever. A few very minor burns at first, but nothing that left any scars. However many people are idiots and will not learn from their mistakes. Aluminum is not a good choice for these types of people.

T-slot doesn't clean up as well as stainless though. So if you are the kind of guy who spends all weekend detailing your BMW, t-slot may not be for you.
 
Irrenarzt said:
I've brewed over 80 batches on my frame since building it. I usually brew every Saturday but I brewed on Sunday this weekend as I had to do some bottling on Saturday. This is just to give you an idea of how often my frame is being used. I used it less often at first but I use it very often now. I have that biitch dialed in now.
Click to expand...

Great! Thanks for the reply and proof of concept. Sounds like it is really holding up.

What size tslot did you use?

Guess I'll just have to eliminate boil-overs :)
 
surfmonk said:
Great! Thanks for the reply and proof of concept. Sounds like it is really holding up.

What size tslot did you use?

Guess I'll just have to eliminate boil-overs :)
Click to expand...

I used 45 x 45 mm everywhere but the top main perimeter, which I used 45 x 90 mm.

Here's an old pic but you can get the idea. It's robust. No way is it going to melt or sag.

photo-2.jpg
 

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