Welding a brew stand

[rubiconbrewer]

Thanks Day tripper for posting your drawing and thanks to Socal for sharing your dimensions. Fusa your brewstand is coming along great, thanks for posting the pic.

I have my tubing ordered so I'm hopping to start building it in the next couple weekends.

Where did you guys get your casters from? That is one thing I still have yet to figure out.

Also, does anyone have any tips on pump placement?

 

[day_trippr]

"Casters R Us"

No, actually I got mine from Caster City.
I went with 4" total-locking casters with expansion stems to fit my 1-1/2" tubing.

As for pumps, just make sure the heads are oriented optimally (output at 12 o'clock) and the pumps are located somewhere below your lowest kettle valves...

Cheers!

 

[SoCal-Doug]

Mcmaster Carr, but harbor freight has a few that might work also. I needed a shaft mounting style rather than a plate. Hard to explain in words, but I took a 1.5" square plate and drilled a hole in it. Then welded a nut over the hole. Then welded the hole plate onto the bottom of each leg with the nut upward. This way the caster bolt screwed right into the bottom of the leg.

 

[fusa]

I used these Moogiitools 4" Swivel Rubber Caster Wheels

 

[rubiconbrewer]

Thanks for all your help! I ended up buying some expanding casters from castercity. I talked to the owner on the phone, he was very helpful. Its coming along. We had some warping going on because of the stainless pulling from the heat but I think it will be fine. Unfortunately had to make a design change halfway through, but it worked out fine. Here is a picture of the progress we made yesterday:

 

[fusa]

Finally done!

 

[rubiconbrewer]

Looks good! Have you tested it out yet?

 

[fusa]

I'm hoping to Sunday, if not then, definitely next Sunday.

 

[day_trippr]

How much of a gap will there be between your kettle bottoms and the top edge of those wind screens?
And will both wind screens be full height for their entire circumference? (it looks like the far end one has a gap that was filled on the near one).

Point being, burners need some breathing space (see Charles's Law) and from the view provided it looks like the gap from the screens to kettle bottoms is quite tight and with no other space for heat/exhaust to escape.

And what's going on the VESA mount?

Cheers!

 

[fusa]

The top part of the wind screens move back (did that right after I took the picture). The VESA mount holds my control panel. There's a few minor adjustments like tightening the VESA mounts etc but that will be done this weekend hopefully.

 

[day_trippr]

Excellent - I think you'll find you definitely need that gap for those bg14s to work properly. There was a commercially available screen that was somewhat similar that took both ends on one side of the circle straight back leaving roughly 1/3" of the total screen circumference open at that level. Might want to emulate that )

Cheers!

 

[fusa]

Its a heat shield from Brewers Hardware.

 

[day_trippr]

Yeah, that's what I was referring to. The two flappy upper sections can be pointed in parallel towards the back providing an exhaust path.

Like this, as shown on the BH site

Cheers!

 

[fusa]

The first use of the stand. Was so much easier to setup than the 200+lb wooden stand.

 

[Ironedge]

Thank you for the kind words, they're appreciated. I actually have a ton of pics, from the first chunks of scrap I started learning on through the last artful touch with the grinder If there's a particular detail you're interested in I can likely find a close-up.

The "box" at the left-front corner is a Dudadiesel 30 plate 12" plate chiller, mounted on a swinging plate that can be latched tucked in away from shins (or for laying on its side in the back of my Durango) or deployed out for chilling to the fermentors...

View attachment 614489


View attachment 614490

Cheers!

What did you use to make the mounting points for the Chiller plate? I have an 18" duda and was looking to mount it the same way.

cheers

 

[day_trippr]

What did you use to make the mounting points for the Chiller plate? I have an 18" duda and was looking to mount it the same way.

cheers

I used pieces of 2" wide x 3/16" thick bar, steel tubing with a 1/4" ID, and 1/4" steel rod, to form the hinges, and 1/8" steel sheet for the swinging panel that the chiller bolts to.

The latches use the same materials, plus some ss spring stock...

Cheers!

 

[Ironedge]

I used pieces of 2" wide x 3/16" thick bar, steel tubing with a 1/4" ID, and 1/4" steel rod, to form the hinges, and 1/8" steel sheet for the swinging panel that the chiller bolts to.

The latches use the same materials, plus some ss spring stock...

Cheers!

Thanks for the info. That addition was a first for me.

Cheers

 

[KeggleBrewer]

.030/.035/.040 flux core would be fine. I used .035 solid with shielding gas to fabricate my stand.

I had never used any welder before, but between attending the YouTube School Of Welding and practicing on scraps I had become a world class grinder and was good to go

Cheers!

Grinding is the first thing you learn in welding 101

 

[rubiconbrewer]

Finally made a little more progress. Shelf and bottoms are basically done. Got the mounting brackets for the blichmann burners welded on. Still need to find a good place to weld on pump bracket and weld on a hinged step.

 

[fusa]

Added some black pipe for propane.

 

[rubiconbrewer]

Almost done! Just need to trim the legs to the step down a bit.

I don't have much experience with pumps. Would it work ok if I mounted my pump how it is now or is that not low enough? Was even thinking of mounting it with it mounted upside down on the bottom side of the shelf. Any tips would be appreciated!

 

[day_trippr]

Your pump head orientation in the 2nd and third pics is 180° from optimal...

Cheers!

 

[fusa]

Nice job on the stand!

@rubiconbrewer Where did you get the end caps for the square tubing? Those would work great on mine. Originally was going to weld some 1.5" square pieces to cover the ends but didn't think it was worth the hassle in the end.

Here is a simple picture of how to mount the pump
http://www.homebrewing.com/articles/building-better-pumps/

 

[rubiconbrewer]

Your pump head orientation in the 2nd and third pics is 180° from optimal...

Cheers!

Yeah forgot that I took pictures before and after I switched the output to facing up. Other than the location of the output should it work good from this location? I didn't know if the pump would work better down lower or if it made a difference as long as you were below the lowest valve.

 

[rubiconbrewer]

Thanks fusa!

I got them on ebay. I bought the pack of 20 so I have several extras They also sell a pack of 10. I was also thinking of welding caps on as well. But decided that was too much extra work.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/20-Pack-1-...rentrq:1e3a2da216b0a4e8e0c01156fff7cde2|iid:1

 

[day_trippr]

As long as there's a gravity drop to the pump inputs (ie: they're somewhere below your kettle output valves) they'll work fine. I don't think there's a need to maximize the drop. The centers of my pump heads are 18" below the kettle valves and I've never had any problem priming/maintaining prime...

Cheers!

 

[rubiconbrewer]

Perfect thanks! Okay. I should be fine then, i'm about 14" from center of pump head to bottom of lowest valve. Yep just looked at the pictures from my first and only use of the pump and now I see why I had a heck of a time....inlet was facing up...

 

[fusa]

Finished the stand for decoction mash/soda/bochet