Design
After looking at dozens of DIY brew stands here and at other places on the internet I measured my 15 gallon kettles and Igloo 60 qt. cube cooler and worked up this not too original design. The only notable changes I later made were...
1) made the bottom frame braces larger.
2) lowered the MLT shelf 1 inch in case I decide to go with a round 10 gallon cooler later instead of the current Igloo Cube. Dropping it 1 inch also makes the MLT slightly easier to access. I'm 6' 1" and believe I can stir the mash without standing on a step ladder.
3) added some removable stabilizer/leveller bars with height adjustable feet. The rack itself is pretty square and sets solidly on flat surfaces, however there are some not-so-flat surfaces around my work shop and patio. If the rack is sitting level then there's no need for the bars, if it's not sitting level then it only takes a few minutes to attach the bars and adjust the height.
Build notes
Verified correct cut angle. I could have used all butt joint welds ( easier ) but preferred the look of mitered.
Note: it's necessary to leave a slight gap between work pieces to allow better penetration, it's also necessary to use a grinder to scuff away the black coating from the the area to be welded.
Verified burner shelf dimensions. My 15 gallon kettles fit inside the frame with about 3/4 to 1" clearance on each side.
Completed frame
I'm pretty sure I've over engineered this beast by about half. Those 45 degree braces at the top really aren't needed, also I'm pretty sure I could have used 1" square tubing instead of the 1.5" tubing I did use and the length of the frame base probably would have been fine at 4' instead of 6'. The good thing is that square tubing is pretty cheap, I only used about $120 worth.
One of the main reasons I went with a welded rack was that I wanted to learn how to weld and it truly was a learning experience! Mostly I learned that I suck at welding
The main reason I suck at it is because I have a genetic condition known as "essential tremor" which means that my hands have a mild shake all the time, this is not a good thing when it comes to welding. I just keep telling myself that pretty welds aren't going to make the beer taste any better!
They might be unattractive but my welds are solid and this thing is not coming apart any time soon. After welding everthing up I went back with a grinder to clean it up and that helped a lot.
MLT shelf design
I didn't want to make a solid base out of sheet metal or wood so went with a couple of cross bars for the cooler to sit on. I also left the rear part of the shelf off to allow easier access to the MLT outlet valve.
I determined the best location of the cross bars after measuring the bottom of the cooler.
The wheels on the cooler are of no use but I thought the axle shaft might make a good mounting point. Getting the wheels off the cooler was a whole lot more work than I thought it would be!
The axle shaft inserted through the brackets keeps the MLT from moving around on the shelf and positions the MLT exactly over the cross bars. Drilled a hole through the axle shaft to allow the use of a "hair pin" clip, I had thought about replacing the shaft with some all thread and using nuts to secure it but that seemed like overkill.
I had toyed with the idea of some kind of hinged "tipper" mounting that would allow me to dump the used grain without removing the cooler from the rack but never could come up with a design that I liked that didn't involve a whole bunch more welding or repositioning the MLT outlet valve on the front of the cooler.
Burner shelf design
On my rack the burner is hung below the brew pot by 4 straps, the straps are connected to the shelf by four 4 inch all thread rods attached to 4 angle iron "L" brackets welded to the shelf.
The L brackets perform 2 functions,
1 ) serve as strap attachment points and
2 ) provide the surface on which the kettle sits. These brackets are 1/8" thick steel and easily handle the weight of a full kettle.
Several designs I've looked at have the kettle sitting directly on the shelf itself, while this is a very stable design it potentially puts the burner flame in contact with a lot more rack material. It seems to me that this could cause a fair amount of heat loss to the kettle and possibly make portions of the rack uncomfortably hot during a brew session.
My L bracket design only has about 6 square inches of kettle contact per shelf. There is a slight potential for the burner flame to come in contact with the main part of the shelf but only if the flame is so high that it wraps around past the side of the kettle and flares sideways over 3/4 of an inch.
The L brackets are mounted 3/8 inch below the top surface of the shelf, this creates a lip that prevents the kettle from easily sliding off the center of the flame ( and the shelf ). The use of straps with pre-punched holes allow easy adjustment of the distance between the burner and the bottom of the kettle.
Those L brackets were a real pain to make, I ruined 2 of them trying to freehand drill the mounting holes. Eventually had to set up my drill press and a jig to drill the holes exactly where they needed to be.
For now I don't have burner wind screens but I believe my design would easily accommodate them.
After reading numerous horror stories about using galvanized metal around burners I researched methods of removing the zinc from the straps and the all thread rods; the easiest, safest and cheapest of which was soaking the pieces in vinegar for a couple of days, worked great. Muriatic acid would have stripped the zinc in a matter of minutes but it's quite a bit more dangerous to work with so I gave that method a skip. Grinding the zinc off or burning it off with a blow torch were other options but they seemed just about as risky ( if not more so ) as acid.
BTW, when the photo of the burner was taken there was a nice blue flame about 2 - 3 inches tall coming out of burner, my camera just couldn't see it, weird.
LP Tank holder
A 5 gallon LP tank fits nicely in a standard milk crate. Using some 1 " aluminum "L" stock I attached cross bars to a milk crate which allows the LP tank to hang between the bottom frame tubes. Mounting the tank this way allows me to easily move the LP tank on/off the rack, gives me a little more freedom in positioning it on the rack and allows me to move the rack more easily than if the LP tank were just sitting on the ground. You can't tell very well from the photos but the crate is about 2 inches off the ground.
Stabilizer/Leveller bars
A pretty basic design; left over 1.5" square steel tubing bolted to underside of base. The feet ( yes, 1.5" tubing scraps ) are attached with 1/2" all thread.
As you can tell from the photos the slab my workshop sits on is cracked in several places, thanks to "fracking" Oklahoma is now the earthquake capital of the U.S.
With the stabilizers installed the rack is super solid. I made them 5' wide but 3' wide probably would have been fine, over engineering strikes again!
I needed twenty 1/2" holes drilled for this so went down to Tractor Supply and bought the cheapest 1/2" bit they had. That bit made it through 2 and a half holes before it dulled to uselessness, arrgh! Then I realized I had forgotten to change the speed on my drill press, oops!
I had it set to 3100 rpm when it should have been on the lowest speed, in this case 450 rpm ( it's a low end Delta table top model I've been struggling with for the last 15 - 20 years ).
So I went to Lowes and bought a Kobalt brand titanium coated bit ( for about twice what I paid for the first bit ) and was able to drill the remaining 17 and a half holes with no problems, looking at the bit I'd say it's probably got half a dozen holes left in it ( through soft steel ).
I'm thinking real hard about buying a "drill doctor" bit sharpener, I've got about 40 or 50 dull bits of various sizes lying in state in a coffee can that I'd love to be able to use again.
Paint
After priming the rack I couldn't decide what color to paint it. I finally bought a half dozen cans of cheap flat black paint at WallyWorld just to get some paint on it for the time being. Excuse the poor spray job, I promise to do better if and when I decide on the final color!
Cost
There are lots of cheaper ways of putting together an all grain set up ( and to be fair, far more expensive ways as well ).
If I hadn't wanted to try my hand at welding I probably would have went with adjustable wire racks. The material cost probably would have been about the same if I had gone with wire racks but probably would have been less than one tenth the effort.
Not counting the cost of the two 15 gallon kettles ( about $300 total as I recall ) I think I've invested about $400 in material ( metal tubing, burners, wheels, plumbing, cooler, etc. ) and about $100,000 worth of my time and labor
Regarding time; I think I spent about 16 solid hours cutting, welding and grinding which was spread out over three weekends and a couple of evenings after work. If I were a better welder it probably would have been about 5 or 6 hours.
Extra cost
I also bought a $162 welder and about $100 worth of protective gear and welding accessories for the project but I'm not counting that as I have several other welding projects lined up, ditto for the $70 Harbor Freight chop saw. Also, I had to add a 220V 50 amp circuit to my workshop for the welder. That was like $50 for parts, I did the install myself but I'm sure it would have been at least $100 to have someone else do it.
If you have any questions let me know, cheers!
After looking at dozens of DIY brew stands here and at other places on the internet I measured my 15 gallon kettles and Igloo 60 qt. cube cooler and worked up this not too original design. The only notable changes I later made were...
1) made the bottom frame braces larger.
2) lowered the MLT shelf 1 inch in case I decide to go with a round 10 gallon cooler later instead of the current Igloo Cube. Dropping it 1 inch also makes the MLT slightly easier to access. I'm 6' 1" and believe I can stir the mash without standing on a step ladder.
3) added some removable stabilizer/leveller bars with height adjustable feet. The rack itself is pretty square and sets solidly on flat surfaces, however there are some not-so-flat surfaces around my work shop and patio. If the rack is sitting level then there's no need for the bars, if it's not sitting level then it only takes a few minutes to attach the bars and adjust the height.
Build notes
Verified correct cut angle. I could have used all butt joint welds ( easier ) but preferred the look of mitered.
Note: it's necessary to leave a slight gap between work pieces to allow better penetration, it's also necessary to use a grinder to scuff away the black coating from the the area to be welded.
Verified burner shelf dimensions. My 15 gallon kettles fit inside the frame with about 3/4 to 1" clearance on each side.
Completed frame
I'm pretty sure I've over engineered this beast by about half. Those 45 degree braces at the top really aren't needed, also I'm pretty sure I could have used 1" square tubing instead of the 1.5" tubing I did use and the length of the frame base probably would have been fine at 4' instead of 6'. The good thing is that square tubing is pretty cheap, I only used about $120 worth.
One of the main reasons I went with a welded rack was that I wanted to learn how to weld and it truly was a learning experience! Mostly I learned that I suck at welding
The main reason I suck at it is because I have a genetic condition known as "essential tremor" which means that my hands have a mild shake all the time, this is not a good thing when it comes to welding. I just keep telling myself that pretty welds aren't going to make the beer taste any better!They might be unattractive but my welds are solid and this thing is not coming apart any time soon. After welding everthing up I went back with a grinder to clean it up and that helped a lot.
MLT shelf design
I didn't want to make a solid base out of sheet metal or wood so went with a couple of cross bars for the cooler to sit on. I also left the rear part of the shelf off to allow easier access to the MLT outlet valve.
I determined the best location of the cross bars after measuring the bottom of the cooler.
The wheels on the cooler are of no use but I thought the axle shaft might make a good mounting point. Getting the wheels off the cooler was a whole lot more work than I thought it would be!
The axle shaft inserted through the brackets keeps the MLT from moving around on the shelf and positions the MLT exactly over the cross bars. Drilled a hole through the axle shaft to allow the use of a "hair pin" clip, I had thought about replacing the shaft with some all thread and using nuts to secure it but that seemed like overkill.
I had toyed with the idea of some kind of hinged "tipper" mounting that would allow me to dump the used grain without removing the cooler from the rack but never could come up with a design that I liked that didn't involve a whole bunch more welding or repositioning the MLT outlet valve on the front of the cooler.
Burner shelf design
On my rack the burner is hung below the brew pot by 4 straps, the straps are connected to the shelf by four 4 inch all thread rods attached to 4 angle iron "L" brackets welded to the shelf.
The L brackets perform 2 functions,
1 ) serve as strap attachment points and
2 ) provide the surface on which the kettle sits. These brackets are 1/8" thick steel and easily handle the weight of a full kettle.
Several designs I've looked at have the kettle sitting directly on the shelf itself, while this is a very stable design it potentially puts the burner flame in contact with a lot more rack material. It seems to me that this could cause a fair amount of heat loss to the kettle and possibly make portions of the rack uncomfortably hot during a brew session.
My L bracket design only has about 6 square inches of kettle contact per shelf. There is a slight potential for the burner flame to come in contact with the main part of the shelf but only if the flame is so high that it wraps around past the side of the kettle and flares sideways over 3/4 of an inch.
The L brackets are mounted 3/8 inch below the top surface of the shelf, this creates a lip that prevents the kettle from easily sliding off the center of the flame ( and the shelf ). The use of straps with pre-punched holes allow easy adjustment of the distance between the burner and the bottom of the kettle.
Those L brackets were a real pain to make, I ruined 2 of them trying to freehand drill the mounting holes. Eventually had to set up my drill press and a jig to drill the holes exactly where they needed to be.
For now I don't have burner wind screens but I believe my design would easily accommodate them.
After reading numerous horror stories about using galvanized metal around burners I researched methods of removing the zinc from the straps and the all thread rods; the easiest, safest and cheapest of which was soaking the pieces in vinegar for a couple of days, worked great. Muriatic acid would have stripped the zinc in a matter of minutes but it's quite a bit more dangerous to work with so I gave that method a skip. Grinding the zinc off or burning it off with a blow torch were other options but they seemed just about as risky ( if not more so ) as acid.
BTW, when the photo of the burner was taken there was a nice blue flame about 2 - 3 inches tall coming out of burner, my camera just couldn't see it, weird.
LP Tank holder
A 5 gallon LP tank fits nicely in a standard milk crate. Using some 1 " aluminum "L" stock I attached cross bars to a milk crate which allows the LP tank to hang between the bottom frame tubes. Mounting the tank this way allows me to easily move the LP tank on/off the rack, gives me a little more freedom in positioning it on the rack and allows me to move the rack more easily than if the LP tank were just sitting on the ground. You can't tell very well from the photos but the crate is about 2 inches off the ground.
Stabilizer/Leveller bars
A pretty basic design; left over 1.5" square steel tubing bolted to underside of base. The feet ( yes, 1.5" tubing scraps ) are attached with 1/2" all thread.
As you can tell from the photos the slab my workshop sits on is cracked in several places, thanks to "fracking" Oklahoma is now the earthquake capital of the U.S.
With the stabilizers installed the rack is super solid. I made them 5' wide but 3' wide probably would have been fine, over engineering strikes again!
I needed twenty 1/2" holes drilled for this so went down to Tractor Supply and bought the cheapest 1/2" bit they had. That bit made it through 2 and a half holes before it dulled to uselessness, arrgh! Then I realized I had forgotten to change the speed on my drill press, oops!
I had it set to 3100 rpm when it should have been on the lowest speed, in this case 450 rpm ( it's a low end Delta table top model I've been struggling with for the last 15 - 20 years ).
So I went to Lowes and bought a Kobalt brand titanium coated bit ( for about twice what I paid for the first bit ) and was able to drill the remaining 17 and a half holes with no problems, looking at the bit I'd say it's probably got half a dozen holes left in it ( through soft steel ).
I'm thinking real hard about buying a "drill doctor" bit sharpener, I've got about 40 or 50 dull bits of various sizes lying in state in a coffee can that I'd love to be able to use again.
Paint
After priming the rack I couldn't decide what color to paint it. I finally bought a half dozen cans of cheap flat black paint at WallyWorld just to get some paint on it for the time being. Excuse the poor spray job, I promise to do better if and when I decide on the final color!
Cost
There are lots of cheaper ways of putting together an all grain set up ( and to be fair, far more expensive ways as well ).
If I hadn't wanted to try my hand at welding I probably would have went with adjustable wire racks. The material cost probably would have been about the same if I had gone with wire racks but probably would have been less than one tenth the effort.
Not counting the cost of the two 15 gallon kettles ( about $300 total as I recall ) I think I've invested about $400 in material ( metal tubing, burners, wheels, plumbing, cooler, etc. ) and about $100,000 worth of my time and labor
Regarding time; I think I spent about 16 solid hours cutting, welding and grinding which was spread out over three weekends and a couple of evenings after work. If I were a better welder it probably would have been about 5 or 6 hours.
Extra cost
I also bought a $162 welder and about $100 worth of protective gear and welding accessories for the project but I'm not counting that as I have several other welding projects lined up, ditto for the $70 Harbor Freight chop saw. Also, I had to add a 220V 50 amp circuit to my workshop for the welder. That was like $50 for parts, I did the install myself but I'm sure it would have been at least $100 to have someone else do it.
If you have any questions let me know, cheers!
