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Ideas for a future brewstand

Post #1 made 13 years ago
by BrickBrewHaus
I'm finishing up my last year of grad school and can't help but think about the prospect of being gainfully employed and moving into a house that is more brewing friendly than our small apartment. I manage to brew, but have been doing 2.5 gal batches mainly because we don't have any room for beer storage, having more than 2 cases of beer on hand isn't an option. Back on topic...

With the prospect of having a house that's brewing friendly comes the prospect of having a nice brewery. I've been giving this a lot of thought lately and have come up with some things that I think would make brewing more enjoyable. Here is a sketch of what I think would be nice to have.
BrewStand.jpg
--The idea is to have everything I'll need on a brew day on the cart, so there's the middle shelf and room on the bottom shelf.
--There is room for 2 propane tanks (the 2 small cylinders) and my immersion chiller on the bottom-right of the cart.
--I would have a thin metal sheet to separate the burner from the propane tanks.
--It would be nice to have something to hoist the back out of the kettle so that's the skinny pole in the back, will probably swivel so it can be moved during the boil.
--The back will have a peg-board so I can air-dry miscellaneous parts like hoses.
--I'd also like a hose hook-up with a splitter, one for general water usage and the other going through a carbon filter.

Right now I think I'll try to convince my wife's uncle to weld the frame (probably 1" square steel tube). He builds trailers and has everything for welding. The surface tops will be wood of some kind. I can't make up my mind on what would be best; I'm thinking either wood planks or plywood. She has another uncle that has woodworking tools.

All of this is probably a year away, but it's never too early to start planning :cool: Any suggestions?
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Last edited by BrickBrewHaus on 29 Sep 2011, 11:34, edited 5 times in total.

Post #2 made 13 years ago
by hashie
I like your work BB :)

I'd put another shelf under your kettle for a gas burner, assuming you use one.

Also make sure the castors are lockable. You wouldn't want to bump it and have hot wort go everywhere.

The peg board is a great idea; mash paddle, silicone hose etc.

If you are going to incorporate water, I'd put a basin in as well. There are many times in a brew day where washing your hands would be a bonus.

And maybe somewhere for your laptop or note book?
"It's beer Jim, but not as we know it."

Post #3 made 13 years ago
by Yeasty
Good idea,

I'd go for a split set up with your boiler section seperate to your workbench, perhaps with a means of joining the two together. My reasoning being that it will be easier to store and move around. Plus you could just pull out the workbench section to use when kegging/bottling.

The sinks a good idea.

:luck:

Yeasty
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Post #4 made 13 years ago
by wizard78
Nice work BBH. I love seeing people's ideas for DIY from plans to finished products.
That design is similar to what I've been building. So far I've made the main bench part, so I still have to make the pot and burner section as well as some shelves. I'll try and get some pics up if you would like.
Cheers wiz
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Post #5 made 13 years ago
by BrickBrewHaus
hashie wrote:I'd put another shelf under your kettle for a gas burner, assuming you use one.
Agreed. I'm not sure what kind of burner I'll use and subsequently how it should be mounted. That'll have to be something that I figure out on the fly.
hashie wrote:Also make sure the castors are lockable. You wouldn't want to bump it and have hot wort go everywhere.
Also agreed. When I told my dad about this, the first thing he said was to buy nice castors, don't skimp on cheap ones.

I don't know if it's possible, but it would be cool to have some way of leveling the whole thing, just in case my future house doesn't have a level surface.
hashie wrote:If you are going to incorporate water, I'd put a basin in as well. There are many times in a brew day where washing your hands would be a bonus.
That is a great idea. I'll think about how to incorporate that without consuming a bunch of bench top space.
Yeasty wrote:I'd go for a split set up with your boiler section seperate to your workbench, perhaps with a means of joining the two together. My reasoning being that it will be easier to store and move around. Plus you could just pull out the workbench section to use when kegging/bottling.
Not a bad idea. At first I didn't like the idea, but hearing your logic about having the cart available, minus the burner stand, for bottling/kegging really makes it attractive. Interesting.
wizard78 wrote:That design is similar to what I've been building. So far I've made the main bench part, so I still have to make the pot and burner section as well as some shelves. I'll try and get some pics up if you would like.
Cheers wiz
Very cool. I'd love to see some pics. Like I said in the OP, this is a long way from happening, but I love thinking/fantasizing about these kind of things and any ideas between now and then are very much welcomed.
Last edited by BrickBrewHaus on 29 Sep 2011, 22:09, edited 5 times in total.

Post #6 made 13 years ago
by PistolPatch
I'm jealous BBH :angry:. Would love to build a set-up like the above but I'm in a unit with a small outdoor area :sad:. Really like the ideas that you, hash and wiz have come up with and look forward to seeing the end result.

Maybe instead of a pegboard, consider having a board with U-clips on it. These nylon clips should have the same internal diameter as the external diameter of the hose you wish to suspend. The advantage is that you can hang the end of the hose from them which means that water can evaporate out instead of getting stuck at the top of the U. I hope that makes some sense? If I can find a pic of one, I'll post it up.

:peace:
PP
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Post #7 made 13 years ago
by BrickBrewHaus
PistolPatch wrote:Maybe instead of a pegboard, consider having a board with U-clips on it. These nylon clips should have the same internal diameter as the external diameter of the hose you wish to suspend. The advantage is that you can hang the end of the hose from them which means that water can evaporate out instead of getting stuck at the top of the U. I hope that makes some sense? If I can find a pic of one, I'll post it up.
:scratch: :scratch: Did a google search for "u-clips" and a bunch of things came up, not sure which you were talking about.
Last edited by BrickBrewHaus on 30 Sep 2011, 21:23, edited 5 times in total.

Post #9 made 13 years ago
by PistolPatch
I couldn't find a pic of the nylon cable clamps I wanted to show you but this pic might help describe what I mean...
CableClamp.jpg
The ones I mean are nylon, and self-adhesive though they work on the same principle. They are a cross between this pic and the following pics...

Here's a few pics of the type of clamp that I use in my beer fridge to keep the gas and beer lines organised...
ClipClampOpen.JPG
ClipClampClosed.JPG
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Last edited by PistolPatch on 01 Oct 2011, 16:05, edited 5 times in total.
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Post #10 made 13 years ago
by Yeasty
Something like this ? not self adhesive but the same I think.
511040_wl.jpg
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Last edited by Yeasty on 01 Oct 2011, 16:33, edited 5 times in total.
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Post #11 made 13 years ago
by BrickBrewHaus
Thanks for the pics guys. I think what I would like to have more than anything are slanted pegs on a pegboard so I can air dry things like my Erlenmeyer and hyrometer jar, but I can't find anything like that. I'm thinking something like this. Obviously I'm not gonna pay $100+ USD for a lab drying rack, but you can see what I mean by "slanted". With something like this, you can hang pretty much anything.
Last edited by BrickBrewHaus on 01 Oct 2011, 23:49, edited 5 times in total.

Post #12 made 13 years ago
by stux
Make a dowel peg board

Pegs
Larger dowels, 1/2 inch thick or bigger, can be used for a variety of pegs and hanging hooks. Simply bore a hole the size of the dowel into the mounting surface at an angle. Cut your dowel's end at the same angle and sand it smooth. Glue the peg and insert it into the hole, tapping it home with a hammer as needed. Add as many pegs as needed. Anchor the mounting board to the wall studs for a strong coat or hat rack.

Actually I could use one for drying/storing erlenmeyers too
Last edited by stux on 02 Oct 2011, 07:51, edited 5 times in total.
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Post #13 made 13 years ago
by BrickBrewHaus
stux wrote:Make a dowel peg board

Pegs
Larger dowels, 1/2 inch thick or bigger, can be used for a variety of pegs and hanging hooks. Simply bore a hole the size of the dowel into the mounting surface at an angle. Cut your dowel's end at the same angle and sand it smooth. Glue the peg and insert it into the hole, tapping it home with a hammer as needed. Add as many pegs as needed. Anchor the mounting board to the wall studs for a strong coat or hat rack.

Actually I could use one for drying/storing erlenmeyers too
Great idea stux. Thanks for that.
Last edited by BrickBrewHaus on 03 Oct 2011, 03:03, edited 5 times in total.

Post #14 made 13 years ago
by PistolPatch
Yeasty: That clip you have pictured is a bit different from my ones. Yours locks closed by the look of it whereas mine 'spring' open and closed. Meant to buy some of the U-clips today but forgot :)

BBH: I think stux's dowel pegs would work really well. I'd have it so the pegs pull in and out so you can adjust them for whatever you want. Be nice if it could be made from something impervious but can't think of anything easy off the top of my head :scratch: :think:
Last edited by PistolPatch on 03 Oct 2011, 22:33, edited 5 times in total.
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Post #15 made 13 years ago
by BrickBrewHaus
A person could use these and they would be waterproof. I'm not so sure I would be too worried about making them movable/adjustable. But to do so you could have holes drilled in the backboard in different locations. The holes would need to be deep enough that the peg wouldn't pop out somehow. Then you could just insert the peg in whichever hole you needed to use. :whistle:

For making them permanent, I would just drill the hole and use epoxy to glue the peg in place.
Last edited by BrickBrewHaus on 03 Oct 2011, 23:38, edited 5 times in total.
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