Weldless brew stand.

[npauley88]

What was your solution?

had the needle valves going opposite flow

 

[HitTheTwit]

I have not had a chance to hard plumb my burners in yet. The bigger burners in the earlier posts are 30 bucks from agrisupply.com and the 6 inch burners are 10 bucks. It puts out 70k btu's so figure it'll be enought to boil a 10 gallon batch without any problems.

Has anyone used these burners? Link to the $30 burners I wonder how well they work (how long to boil, efficiency, etc).

 

[dannedry]

Has anyone used these burners? Link to the $30 burners I wonder how well they work (how long to boil, efficiency, etc).

Those are the exact burners I used... but I've only used my rig once so far... but it got up to boiling pretty quickly... especially if you fire up the burner during your sparge after you've got a gallon or so of wort in your bk.

 

[Biscostew]

The thirty dollar burners from agrisupply work great, have three on my setup. Only thing to consider is its somewhat hard to keep a constant temp on my direct fired mash tun. I often heat to desired temp, turn off burner, repeat during mash. One work around would be to get two large burners for your kettle and hlt and a small burner for your mlt.

 

[DubbelDach]

Saw the link for the Wallace stand a few weeks ago, but just stumbled on this thread yesterday. Fantastic info guys!

After finding the Wallace page, I went straight to Google Sketchup. I want to use the slotted angle iron to create a 4-tier system to help my 87-year old lower back. I also am content to stay at 5 gallons. So I think, based on the measurements of my current 9 gallon Bayou Classic kettle and 52 qt rectangle Igloo cooler that I can pull off a compact gravity fed system.

A few questions...

1) Does this look stable? The hot liquor will only top out at about 5.5' high. I plan on filling that with a hose. If there are 8 or so gallons of weight up there and negligible weight on the other tiers, but the casters are locked, it won't make the low side flip up, will it?



2) McMaster-Carr has the green powder coated steel. Has anyone used or seen this? Might solve the problem of burning zinc fumes, or paying for expensive powder coating... I am picturing the finish sort of looking like a stop sign post. I can get all the lengths I need of this for ~$140, so if it's as good as the stuff everyone else is using, than I am all about it.

Thoughts or suggestions before I start buying stuff? Thanks!

 

[fright101]

Saw the link for the Wallace stand a few weeks ago, but just stumbled on this thread yesterday. Fantastic info guys!

After finding the Wallace page, I went straight to Google Sketchup. I want to use the slotted angle iron to create a 4-tier system to help my 87-year old lower back. I also am content to stay at 5 gallons. So I think, based on the measurements of my current 9 gallon Bayou Classic kettle and 52 qt rectangle Igloo cooler that I can pull off a compact gravity fed system.

A few questions...

1) Does this look stable? The hot liquor will only top out at about 5.5' high. I plan on filling that with a hose. If there are 8 or so gallons of weight up there and negligible weight on the other tiers, but the casters are locked, it won't make the low side flip up, will it?




Thoughts or suggestions before I start buying stuff? Thanks!

Ahhh..Google sketchup! Wow..that looks like a great program..Not too far from Solidworks (visually anyway). Very cool! design and all!

I have a feeling that you are asking about the stability because it is making you nervous? That is a good intuition to have..Personally..I would follow that and make it either wider (looks like 1'2" wide) or shorter. I don't know if it makes sense..But you are almost 4x the width in height(granted, the height isn't constant). It probably would not take much to tip..
I like to over engineer and be confident, than to possibly under engineer and always worry about it.
I hope I get to the point I can make one of these!

 

[OneHoppyGuy]

the base is much too narrow for the height
on a single tier the minimum depth should be about 18"
you have multiple tiers, the base footprint should compliment the height

I'm 285lbs and can hang from the top tier without the unit tipping

I'm confident you'll come up with a weld-less that's safe and sturdy

 

[DubbelDach]

Ahhh..Google sketchup! Wow..that looks like a great program..Not too far from Solidworks (visually anyway). Very cool! design and all!

Free and easy to learn!

I have a feeling that you are asking about the stability because it is making you nervous? That is a good intuition to have..Personally..I would follow that and make it either wider (looks like 1'2" wide) or shorter. I don't know if it makes sense..But you are almost 4x the width in height(granted, the height isn't constant). It probably would not take much to tip..

Yeah, I have a 2 year old, so stability is important. The more I think this through though, I think if I put some weight on the small end, then that will make it more stable. And we're just really careful. The kid's not running around while I'm using this.

I think I might proceed with this design...

the base is much too narrow for the height
on a single tier the minimum depth should be about 18"
you have multiple tiers, the base footprint should compliment the height

With the space I have, I don't want the big wingspan that those legs give... Also don't want to go real high with it. Those sculptures are beautiful, just not what I need.

 

[OneHoppyGuy]

what about fold out outriggers like you see on boom and ladder trucks?

 

[Mike_A]

The thirty dollar burners from agrisupply work great, have three on my setup. Only thing to consider is its somewhat hard to keep a constant temp on my direct fired mash tun. I often heat to desired temp, turn off burner, repeat during mash. One work around would be to get two large burners for your kettle and hlt and a small burner for your mlt.

This is exactly what I do. I have two BG-14's (banjos) on the HLT and BK, and I use a mini-banjo (BG-12?) on the MLT. I must say though, that on average with a thin-walled aluminum kettle on a ~20lb grain + 30qt mash, I lose about 1*F every 10 minutes. The small banjo is capable of heating that much mash volume at a rate of about 2*F / min, so every 10 minutes I fire up the burner for 30-45 seconds and stir like crazy. Works great for me.

I find that if I leave the burner on as low as I can (which I can't really do with my rig outdoors, only when it's parked in the garage away from wind) that I have to constantly stir or I'll get hotspots, even if I am constantly recirculating. So, I'd rather have flame on for a short amount of time and stir for a short amount of time.

 

[bitterpeanut]

2) McMaster-Carr has the green powder coated steel. Has anyone used or seen this?

Nice find! It is just as thick and comes in similar sizes. That pushed me a little further towards possibly building it....

 

[DubbelDach]

Yeah, I may just pull the trigger on that green powder coated next week. Same thickness, etc. so I feel good about it.

 

[SanMarzano]

Its On. I ordered the Green Stuff!

Products
Line Quantity Item Ships Unit price Total
1 2 each 4664T72 Steel Perforated Flat and Angle Framing Angle, Green Powder-Coated, 1-5/8" X 1-5/8", 6'L today $12.02 each 24.04
2 6 each 4664T74 Steel Perforated Flat and Angle Framing Angle, Green Powder-Coated, 2-3/8" X 1-5/8", 6'L today $14.89 each 89.34
3 16 each 4664T22 Steel Perforated Flat and Angle Framing Galvanized Steel Corner Plate, 6" X 6" X 6" today $2.41 each 38.56
4 2 packs 4664T61 Steel Perforated Flat and Angle Framing Hardware: Zinc-Plated Steel Bolts W/Nuts & Washers, packs of 50 today $6.45 pack 12.90

Merchandise total
$164.84

 

[payton34]

i am trying to build one exactly like that but when i cut the short pieces for the sides i cant get the holes to line up. what am i doing wrong? any help would be greatly appreciated

 

[PLOVE]

Its On. I ordered the Green Stuff!

Products
Line Quantity Item Ships Unit price Total
1 2 each 4664T72 Steel Perforated Flat and Angle Framing Angle, Green Powder-Coated, 1-5/8" X 1-5/8", 6'L today $12.02 each 24.04
2 6 each 4664T74 Steel Perforated Flat and Angle Framing Angle, Green Powder-Coated, 2-3/8" X 1-5/8", 6'L today $14.89 each 89.34
3 16 each 4664T22 Steel Perforated Flat and Angle Framing Galvanized Steel Corner Plate, 6" X 6" X 6" today $2.41 each 38.56
4 2 packs 4664T61 Steel Perforated Flat and Angle Framing Hardware: Zinc-Plated Steel Bolts W/Nuts & Washers, packs of 50 today $6.45 pack 12.90

Merchandise total
$164.84

How much was the shipping, if you don't mind me asking?? McMaster doesn't really like to give that info out until you've pretty much placed your order. I'm on the fence about wood vs metal for an E-brewery. I like the look and expandability of the erector set build, but cost (with shipping) might argue for wood. . . thanks

 

[SanMarzano]

Yea......I have no clue yet....Fingers crossed, They are in SoCal and Im in NorCal so hopefully not that much. I hope its electric Lime Green =)

 

[agezzi]

No burners in it yet, but it's about 20 year old green powder coated angle iron. It's was free from work, so the price was just right. Will post again when it's finally together. It may be bit as I'm soon to be moving into my first home.

 

[SanMarzano]

How much was the shipping, if you don't mind me asking?? McMaster doesn't really like to give that info out until you've pretty much placed your order. I'm on the fence about wood vs metal for an E-brewery. I like the look and expandability of the erector set build, but cost (with shipping) might argue for wood. . . thanks

So it looks like I was charged $204...14 of that was tax.....so 25 bucks for shipping.....Not great but could be worse(Cheaper than a welder)

Still cheaper than lowes when you factor shipping per piece and its powder coated

http://www.lowes.com/ProductDisplay...gId=10051&cmRelshp=req&rel=nofollow&cId=PDIO1

 

[blacks4]

Its On. I ordered the Green Stuff!

Products
Line Quantity Item Ships Unit price Total
1 2 each 4664T72 Steel Perforated Flat and Angle Framing Angle, Green Powder-Coated, 1-5/8" X 1-5/8", 6'L today $12.02 each 24.04
2 6 each 4664T74 Steel Perforated Flat and Angle Framing Angle, Green Powder-Coated, 2-3/8" X 1-5/8", 6'L today $14.89 each 89.34
3 16 each 4664T22 Steel Perforated Flat and Angle Framing Galvanized Steel Corner Plate, 6" X 6" X 6" today $2.41 each 38.56
4 2 packs 4664T61 Steel Perforated Flat and Angle Framing Hardware: Zinc-Plated Steel Bolts W/Nuts & Washers, packs of 50 today $6.45 pack 12.90

Merchandise total
$164.84

Nice. I ordered the regular (non-green) stuff last night as well as gas plumbing parts and bits. Getting close!

 

[DubbelDach]

20 year old green powder coated angle iron

It is?

 

[SanMarzano]

Anyone have a list of gas parts to buy to put together burners?

 

[blacks4]

Anyone have a list of gas parts to buy to put together burners?

srsly. I just ordered a bunch of parts from McMaster that I *think* will work but with all the conversions from flare to NPT, we'll see. Also, what's best to use to seal the threads? Rectorseal? If so, which one?

 

[SanMarzano]

So...I got the green stuff...It looks good but it is all scratched up and dinged...so if you are looking for perfect Powdercoat forget it.......Each piece is not individually wrapped so I assume this is why.....If I did it again Id probably go with the regular stuff.

Anyway as for burners....Im very lost here because this will be my first ever gas plumb...not exact sure what I need. Im assuming this will work
http://kegcowboy.com/index.php?dispatch=products.view&product_id=215
plus some black pipe and thumb valves from a big box place. I wish I had a part list because Im sure Ill need fittings of all kinds

 

[OneHoppyGuy]

Three of these valves.

Three hoses 1/4" 350 psi with 3/8" F SAE gas flare at both ends. Cut and made to suit. In my area there is Suburban Propane and they make mine up for me. You can also use the flexible steel appliance gas lines similar to this pipe.

Three of these fittings attached at the burner end make for a clean finish.

I hope this helps...

 

[SanMarzano]

awesome thank you

 

[blacks4]

thanks for the pics and links. but what about needle valves to control the exact flow to the burners? I thought ball valves were mostly used for on/off gas applications?

 

[cehoudek]

I think you can use either ball valves or needle valves, but needle valves should give you better control at lower volumes. Here is what I use ...

http://bayouclassicdepot.com/nv108p_propane_burner_part.htm

 

[OneHoppyGuy]

thanks for the pics and links. but what about needle valves to control the exact flow to the burners? I thought ball valves were mostly used for on/off gas applications?

Never needed them and they require more plumbing...

 

[PLOVE]

So it looks like I was charged $204...14 of that was tax.....so 25 bucks for shipping.....Not great but could be worse(Cheaper than a welder)
[/url]

Thanks for the shipping update. I'm up in the PNW (tax free Oregon), so gives me a reasonable estimate of shipping cost. Since I'm going all electric, I'll probably stick with a two-tier wood build, but it's good to know there are options out there. . ..

 

[ox1574]

I am having a problem running three burners at the same time. I have the 30 PSU regulator on my tank and below are the pics of the plumbing. It is possible that i keep tripping the valve in the regulator when I crank up the third burner?