I have attached some pictures of how I want my brew stand as of now. I am sure I have not thought of everything or have all the dimensions exactly correct since I don;t have the parts, but it gives me an idea of how I want to lay it up and the materials I would need.

The Square tubing is 1.5" and .12" Thick which is probably overkill but should last a lifetime...lol I am hoping to make it out of 304 Stainless, but if that is too expensive I will go with Carbon Steel, I do have the benefit of working at a place that 95% of the work they do is with stainless and have plenty of help to get it all cut up and welded, just need the funds...

Not sure when I will get started but hope to do it soon, as long as the wedding planning(lack of money) doesn't get in the way..

Any Thoughts or comments on it? I still need to do a few things like run the pipes for the gas but that is kind of a pain and have given up at the moment..lol

So how does it look? It is pretty similar to most kind of a hybrid design

I would think that you might want to move the pumps up, or you are going to need the stand to sit-up pretty high. I personally would move the pump to sit on the topside of the mounts. You can take some aluminum sheeting and make a shield pretty easy. I don't see a place to mount a chiller, but maybe you don't plan on a plate chiller. I would go the plate chiller route if you are planning on this design. You can then mount it to the frame of the stand and you really only have to hook the water up each time. Good luck with the build!

Yeah I am planning on using a plate chiller or maybe mounting a counter flow chiller, haven;t decided yet, but there will be plenty of room.

Not sure why I would need to mount the pumps higher? there will be plenty of room below the pump for tubing(about 10 inches), I mean if it is an issue it wouldn't be difficult to move them, though I do like the water shields.

As of now it is only about 4 feet to the top of the pots...so should be fine...no real need to go lower..

No comments, just wanted to see the pics in the thread.

Lookin good...ever consider maybe some racks or shelves underneath? Perhaps a pull out drawer. Might help keep things handy come brewday and you should have extra room under there right?

yeah good idea...probably not a drawer as that would be difficult but definitely some hooks and other things to store things...

nice looking rig. the design seems practical to me, and as far as storage goes: what about putting a fold down flap/shelf on either side? you can keep it out of the way until needed, and then have a place to put your mash paddle, glass of home brew, etc right there instead of having to have a table nearby. just a thought

i like that idea natty!! a nice shelf on the side that can fold down out of the way.

If we are looking at the front in the picture I might be concerned that the PID might get in the way. If you have a ball valve coming out the front with hosing the PID looks like it could be in the way. Do you plan to mash in a kettle? I still think that the pumps should be moved, the bend in the hose might restrict the wort transfer. I might suggest more room in-between the burners/pots. Once you do that put some type of material like diamond plating or something cheaper on the stand and now you have a place for your beer while you stir the mash. It will also be a place to put your mash paddle and Irish moss.

Yeah that is def a good idea need a place to put hops, whirlfloc and yeast nutrient, oh yeah and a beer too lol. Maybe I will just add one to the kettle side

I will be doing a HERMS system, do will be recirculating the mash through the HLT though a copper or stainless coil controlled with a Ranco or something

For the pumps would the ball valve go on the bottom or top? Or can I choose? I know it needs to be on the outlet but does it matter if that is on the bottom or top?

I don't have mine mounted and I use it east to west not north and south. That is the way I would mount it as well. If you don't want to buy a second march pump you might consider a design like the Sabco Brew Magic system. It will save you several hundred dollars and you can let the wort drain into the boil kettle.

I have considered the other styles of brew stands if I am going to make one I am going to go all in, why skimp or short cut to regret later, this thing should last a lifetime. It may be cheaper at first to cut corners or leave out something I want but it would cost more to add it later

This is the style I want just need to try and think about all the little details(such as where to mount the pumps )

All the stands I have seen have them mounted north to south? Hmm now I must do more research. Lol

Where you work, do they do all sorts or mostly sheet metal, tubing or angle? Your design would be easy to make work with something other than tubing which can be expensive.

I did my brew rig out of carbon steel and painted it but this summer I put up shade sails and painted the posts with stainless steel paint. After a summer in the sun it still looks nice with no sign of corrosion. Not as sexy as a #3 polish on real stainless but even the stainless paint looks better than the black paint on my rig.

or, just use stainless where the heat from the burners will contact the stand, then regular steel for the rest?

the company I work for does everything...Stainless(every kind you can think of lol, 304, 410, 347...etc),Carbon, Titanium, Zinc Alloys. the last two I am not affording...lol

what would you use besides square tubing? I guess I could use use angle, not sure I would like the look of it though.

today I was wondering I could do it out of Aluminum, since it would be lighter..but not sure how it would hold up to the heat, and welding steel and aluminum is next to impossible(it is possible but very difficult) and I don;t want to bolt it to together.

I am still def looking into other options, I may run some Analysis to see how well 1.5" at 0.062" would hold up to the weight. Since that would be a lot lighter and cheaper

yeah that is a possibility...maybe if the stainless steel paint is as good as Dane says..I won't wish I got all stainless..lol

Hey Stinky, the only suggestions I have is
1: Install the pumps above the bottom rail not below ,
You will apprciate the shorter run of hosing when it comes to priming the pumps.
2: Install a drip pan that would run the lenght of the stand under the bottom rail.
There have been many times I wish I had a chatch pan under my rig to catch drips and spills.

Stainless tubing and especially square can be a pricey. I was just thinking that your horizontal runs could be angle with the point facing up. You would have good strength and spills would just roll off and the verticals in the corners could also be angle stock. The joint between the two could make some pockets that collect crud so you could use square tubing in the vertical corners as a compromise. The one problem with angle stock unless mounted at 90 degrees is mounting stuff will require welding mounting tabs.

If you want to go with the stainless paint it does seem to work. The columns in this photo were primed & painted spring of 2010 and the photo was taken after they had been out in the weather a year. Looking up close there are no pin holes of rust though you can see a varying pattern (damn close to brush strokes) of how the stainless particles settled as the paint dried.



Back when I used to do food processing machinery it was permitted by the FDA as an alternative to true stainless construction. It was good enough for Fast Food Merchandisers (Hardees) but not good enough for McDonalds. McD's had to have real stainless with a 3B polish or better.

Man trying to figure out what I need for the electronics and gas control is damn confusing, anyone know about how to set all that up? I know I need some kind of Honeywell Standing pilot valve and a pilot burner and a love controller but knowing which one I need and how to wire it up is above me at the moment...

anyone know about this stuff?

so I have found these options

http://www.pexsupply.com/Honeywell-VR8200A2132-1-2-24-Vac-Standing-Pilot-Gas-Valve-11588000-p

http://www.pexsupply.com/Honeywell-Q314A4586-Honeywell-Q314A4586-Pilot-Burner-4113000-p

http://www.pexsupply.com/Honeywell-Q390A1061-36-Thermocouple-1753000-p

http://www.dwyer-inst.com/Product/Temper...riesTS/Ordering though I have no idea which one I need?I am going to guess the 120 Volt one, but then how do I get to the 24V for the valve? and I know I need the Natural gas to Lp conversion kits for each of those.. am I on the right track? what am I missing?

Ask some heating & air folks for a couple old transformers or see if they'll let you steal one from an old furnace. Most contractors usually have a pile of old furnaces removed when they install new ones. Some transformers use a 120 volt input while others are 240. If you get one of each you are set. Feed them both with 120VAC and the 120 volt one will give you 24 VAC out and the 240 volt one will give you 12 VAC. Most residential units use transformers with 120 volt primaries so finding a 240 volt one will be the hard part.