The birth of Zeus. (Non typical brewstand build.)

[brewman !]

Why am I using plate mount casters instead of stem mount casters ?

Good question.

It's because my casters are locking, both on the swivel and on the wheel itself and I was not able to find double locking stem mount casters. I was only able to find them as plate mount. Thus my casters are plate mount.

I wanted locking casters so the stand doesn't move when I'm working on a brew and so that I can park it on an incline (driveway ?) and it doesn't roll away.

BTW, I went with 4 swivel casters, not 2 swivels and 2 fixed.

 

[brewman !]

Update.

There is a lot going on in my life at the moment, but I got the top of the stand welded up this week. Sorry, I don't have time to post pictures at the moment.

I'm hoping for a quieter week next week so that I can finish it up.

Tip: don't TIG weld in short sleeves. I got a (mild) "sun burn" on my arms doing so, similar to the burn one might get welding 7018 rods at high current. I knew 7018 rods could give one a sunburn, but I didn't think TIGing would. Now I know better.

 

[jay8s]

How's this project going?

 

[ryanhope]

Not if you have a ramp, and use a couple of these instead of casters
http://m.hammacher.com/Product/Default.aspx?sku=11983

Or you could winch it into the back of your truck

 

[brewman !]

How's this project going?

Its was going well, but its stalled at the moment, due to Christmas and a trip to Mexico and now I'm out of town for the weekend.

I hope to get back working on it next week.

 

[JRems]

I was wondering if you have fired up your on demand water heater and what kind of gpm you can get while still outputting 180 degree water?

 

[brewman !]

I was wondering if you have fired up your on demand water heater and what kind of gpm you can get while still outputting 180 degree water?

I haven't tested it yet. I'm still welding the stand together.

 

[brewman !]

Sorry for the lack of progress on this project. In addition to being gone most of January, we've been shopping for a new house. We bought one yesterday.

 

[BeardedIdiot]

Congrats on the new house! Hopefully it doesn't make the building of this fantastic brewstand a moot point .

Can't wait to see more progress on this. It looks like an amazing project.

 

[brewman !]

Congrats on the new house! Hopefully it doesn't make the building of this fantastic brewstand a moot point .

Absolutely not. As a matter of fact, I'll probably be tailoring a portion of the garage to brewing and it will now be part of a larger setup.

Can't wait to see more progress on this. It looks like an amazing project.

I can't wait to get back working on it !

 

[rdann87]

Buy a house.. from what i've seen you should just weld your own together.

impressive stuff

 

[bottlebomber]

That's ok man, we'll be here, waiting

 

[downtobrew]

Did you come to a conclusion on how to deal with the dead space problem with your pump manifold? I was thinking about going with a cross-based manifold too, but I was also worried about the dead space in the cross. How much fluid is left behind?

 

[BobbyB029]

Can wait I see an update

 

[bottlebomber]

Ha, I was just thinking about this recently too. Slacker!!

 

[brewman !]

Time to revive this thing.

FYI, I'm a busy man these days. We had a baby back in July and now have 3 children, a 7yo, 3yo and 7 month old baby.

The house reno is more or less done. We moved in back in June. It turned out great.

I am now trying to figure out what I want to build. Things have changed since I started this thread.

My previous design was going to be powered by natgas burners. I intended to use it in the garage.

In our new house, I'll now probably have space (next fall) for a dedicated brewery in the basement.

I thought about building replica German barvarian brew haus, (https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f14/ideas-adding-hobby-brewery-tavern-mancave-house-249040/) but I've pretty abandoned that because I'm not sure how much it would get used, especially since our house already has (or will have) really nice space for entertaining/consumption of beverages. Ie, it has a really nice kitchen and family room on the main floor and it will have a great bar/games area/ media room in the basement.

I also rewired the house such that I've got access to a 240V 100A feed in both the basement and the garage. So the question becomes, do I still want to brew in the garage or do I now want to brew in the basement ? Do I want an electric brewery or a gas fired brewery ?

The garage presently isn't heated or insulated but will be at some point. Its going to be a pretty plush garage, with painted drywall, probably a couch, etc.

I'm also considering using steam injection in the mash tuns. My current design uses a natgas fired direct heat mash tun.

I also have a SS table that I bought a while back that I haven't been talking about. If I ended up building a basement brewery, I'd want the sink I bought mounted with that table so they can be used together. However, if I'm brewing in the garage and rolling things out to use, I'd probably rather have the sink built into the brewstand like I had designed.

Lots to think about here. Essentially I'm starting over.

One more thing... I lost all the plans and drawing I made when the SSD on my laptop died. So I'm really back at square one. Yes, I cut the SS tubing to built the designed stand, but that isn't a major impediment to building something new.

Any advice ?

 

[brewman !]

Zeus is being reborn.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/zeuss-rebirth-non-typical-all-steam-brew-stand-455905/#post5854615

 

[dlester]

wow cool...let's see the finished product.