Weldless brew stand.

[gizmodog51]

kudos...
very innovative and i like thinking outa the box!

hell, you should market it...

great job:rockin:

GD51

 

[gizmodog51]

I am elated and embarrassed to say that 2 1/2 years after starting this thread I have finally finished my rig. In my defense I was working a job that required long hours and travel, I gutted and rebuilt my retirement home, sold my former home. I've converted the rig to natural gas and tomorrow I take it for my first retirement brew session...

you are an example of perserverence! enjoy the efforts of your labor in the first cool one you drink!

ger-er-dun!

GD51

 

[helibrewer]

My brother works for Tyco and uses tons of Unistrut. We built my fermentation chamber out of Unistrut and 5/8" plywood. The corner pieces and connectors is what can get pricey.

 

[gifty74]

The corner pieces and connectors is what can get pricey.

Correct. They winged connector pieces are made out of some super heavy duty stuff. I'm going to go for it though. The strut is so cheap that it'll still be relatively cheap with the more expensive connectors. One thing I changed my mind on, I had built a single station stand a few years ago out of the thinner 1 5/8" x 1" stuff and this time I'm going with the 1 5/8" square stuff. I think it'll make for much cleaner joints (where 3 pieces come together at a corner) and should look a little better. It's not that much more expensive. Just FYI, the 1 5/8" square strut is rated to handle a 1,690 lbs over a 24" span. The beam deflects only .060" at that loading. Pretty hefty stuff. It can handle 680 lbs over a 5' section. With vertical supports this will handle anything anyone would want to sit on it brewpot wise.

 

[skunker]

I've had been designing a system using channel strut and found the fittings here.
http://www.strutchannelfittings.com/
I have not bought any yet but them seem to have a great assortment.
Also, if you want to design via CAD you can download the CAD files from Cooper which makes a brand of strut.
http://www.cooperindustries.com/content/public/en/b-line/products/bolted_framing.html

 

[mdfairbairn]

I love this website. So many ways I can spend my money that I never would have thought of. I may have to do this.

Amen - This is awesome!!

 

[Chrisharvey]

Sure... the rigid pipe is all 1/2" black pipe and all these parts except for the 3 hoses and needle valves were all from lowes:

Brass valve 1/2" F npt on one end and 3/8" M flare on the other (x1)
12" black pipe nipple (x1)
2" black pipe nipple (x2)
1/2" black pipe tee (x2)
1/2" black pipe 90* (x1)
1/2" x 1/4" black pipe reducing bushing (x3)
1/4" needle valves (x3) that I got online
1/4" brass close nipple (x3)
1/4" F x 3/8" F coupler (x3)
And then the hoses I got online from some RV parts dealer

I didn't see the need to run it all the way across the stand... I wanted to allow room for me to get my keggles under the rig from the back side for storage, and if I had run the manifold all the way across, it would have just been one more thing to maneuver around, plus why spend the extra on longer pipe?

Hope that helps!

Mug,


For the gas line do you know where I can find them?

 

[seedubxj]

Has anyone built one of these using only the 1.5" material? 2.25" seems like it may be overkill. Am I alone in thinking this?

 

[emjay]

Has anyone built one of these using only the 1.5" material? 2.25" seems like it may be overkill. Am I alone in thinking this?

You're talking about a stand that has to support 50-100lbs (or more) of boiling hot wort, not to mention the heat also weakening the metal. I'd say that "overkill" should probably be a bare minimum.

 

[Bender]

You're talking about a stand that has to support 50-100lbs (or more) of boiling hot wort, not to mention the heat also weakening the metal. I'd say that "overkill" should probably be a bare minimum.

Agreed. The first time I ran my rig up to boiling it started to sag so I added additional bracing. I usually fill my HLT so I have lots of hot water for cleanup. I estimate the total load on the rig at 250 lbs including the keggles.

 

[DakotaRules]

I have 3 keggels (15.5 gal) and I error on safety.
1 gal on water = 8.32lbs
8.32x45gal=374.4lbs
I never boil them full but you should get the point.

 

[seedubxj]

Seems like you guys know more than me. I'll stick to the suggested sizes. Better safe than sorry, right?

 

[seedubxj]

Ok, so I ordered all the material from McMaster this morning. The original post states the following measurements:

54 inches long by 16-1/2 inches deep and 21 inches high

So should all my cuts be based on these? Meaning, cut as described, or cut a bit less and have the overlap of material stacked/butted make up some of the length? (specifically in the 16.5" cuts) Does that make sense? It does in my head, but who knows...

 

[seedubxj]

Almost there! Spent 90 minutes on it do far

 

[Bender]

Almost there! Spent 90 minutes on it do far

Looks good. You're going to want to add another brace in the back center.

 

[seedubxj]

There is. You just can't see it.

 

[Bender]

There is. You just can't see it.

My x-ray vision is weakening with age.

 

[seedubxj]

Got my caster on this morning. Burners should be on by the end of the weekend. May need to wait for Santa for my pumps though. Not too shabby for about 2 hours of labor.

 

[jdesch75]

Got my caster on this morning. Burners should be on by the end of the weekend. May need to wait for Santa for my pumps though. Not too shabby for about 2 hours of labor.

Have you tried using the Home Depot coolers for a MT yet? I was thinking of buying one but wanted to know how well it held temp.

 

[seedubxj]

It works great. Brewed the other night and it was just below freezing outside and I only lost one degree over an hour.

 

[jdesch75]

It works great. Brewed the other night and it was just below freezing outside and I only lost one degree over an hour.

Best news I've heard all day! The price is right and now I can see the quality is right!

Thx

 

[SuckaMooHudda]

Anyone do this build as a basement setup? Wondering how you ventilated? I am thinking of building this with the natural gas burners and I plan on buying one or two range hoods for venting with an additional fresh air return. Any help advising if this will work or not would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Dukeman9988]

Anyone do this build as a basement setup? Wondering how you ventilated? I am thinking of building this with the natural gas burners and I plan on buying one or two range hoods for venting with an additional fresh air return. Any help advising if this will work or not would be greatly appreciated.

I have been using this as a basement set up. I built a hood out of wood and bought an inline fan on eBay, goes right out the dryer shoot.

 

[SuckaMooHudda]

Thank you for the reply. I appreciate it. Any way you could post some pics of your setup and hood, please?

 

[Dukeman9988]

Thank you for the reply. I appreciate it. Any way you could post some pics of your setup and hood, please?

Not a very good picture and not very clean at this point.

 

[SuckaMooHudda]

What size fan and what is the CFM rating on the fan? I am really sorry for all the questions but I am obviously paranoid about carbon monoxide/ lack of oxygen, etc.....as I know nothing about HVAC and the likes

 

[Dukeman9988]

What size fan and what is the CFM rating on the fan? I am really sorry for all the questions but I am obviously paranoid about carbon monoxide/ lack of oxygen, etc.....as I know nothing about HVAC and the likes

If I remember correctly it was around 750cfm and is 6", bought it on eBay for 70$ or so. I have a carbon dioxide detector right by my brew stand and I have never got a hit in the 10 times or so that I have brewed on it.

 

[Dukeman9988]

If I remember correctly it was around 750cfm and is 6", bought it on eBay for 70$ or so. I have a carbon dioxide detector right by my brew stand and I have never got a hit in the 10 times or so that I have brewed on it.

Also, I just keep my storm doors open going into the basement to make up for O2

 

[mxpx5678]

Here is my brew stand, I am very close to being done with it, just have to mount the pump and figure out some stuff with my kettles.

 

[SuckaMooHudda]

Duke- i was actually thinking of doing 2 runs....one exaust fan and one in the opposite direction pulling in fresh air from outside to the stand. I would think that'd work, huh?]Thanks for all the help on this so far. Appreciate it.