Brewing Stand

[Ghillie]

Putting together a rough plan for a wooden stand for my gear (Robobrew single vessel system, sparge water heater and a grain mill). Any suggestions, thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated!

So... I have opted for a bracket on the grain mill tier rather than upright supports, as to easily slide a bucket underneath to collect the crushed grain. 100mm cutout on the shelf to allow the grain to fall through, with the grain mill mounted nearer the front of the stand to allow clearance for the handle to rotate, or space to fit a drill. The grain mill is currently mounted on a board, so I'll just bolt the board to the tier shelf.

On the Robobrew tier, I have opted for a 200mm cutout on the underside for ventilation purposes. The base of the Robo is 318mm; so I think the 200mm cutout will allow for plenty airflow. I want to keep everything central, but realise this will mean the addition of a small length of hose for transferring wort into the FV via the tap. Past experience has taught me that the Robobrew has to be sat right on the edge of whatever it's mounted on, so the wort coming out the tap can angle into the FV. I suppose I could always slide it forward each time and forget about the hose.

Sparge heater tier, not much to say really. I'll be filling a measuring jug from the sparge heater tap, so I still know how much I'm pouring in. Height here is almost irrelevant as I'm not using fancy sparge arm or the like.

Will fit some hooks to the underside of the sparge heater tier to hang the immersion chiller. There's also a shelf on the same tier to maybe hold buckets, FV's, jugs, etc.

I plan to hook my fishing scales to the underside of the sparge heater tier also. There will be enough clearance there to hang a bucket on the scales for measuring my grain before crushing.

Will chap a nail into one of the front uprights to hang the mash paddle from.

Will likely mount a metal clad double gang socket on the rear somewhere, for plugging in the Robo and sparge heater.

Anything you guys would add, change or anything you think isn't required?

Cheers!

 

[Dutto]

Nae bad .... but ....

1. The ONLY thing that can be pumped to height is a liquid so all the liquids should be "high".
2. The Mash is heavy whereas the milled grain is relatively light. If you place the Mash Tun underneath the Mill you will be able to move it to a higher level before introducing the Strike Water and the Sparge Water.
3. From the higher level, after Mashing, the wort can be drained and sparged into the Robobrew at a lower level.
4. After boiling, the wort can be cooled in the Robobrew and then pumped into the FV before transferring to the Brew Fridge.

Here's my own 3-Tier Set-up. I can recommend something similar as my only "strenuous effort" requirement is lifting the COOLED wort in the Boiler to where the Mash Tun sits so that it can be whirlpooled and then the wort flowed into the FV.

Enjoy!

 

[Ghillie]

Hey @Dutto!

Thanks for your reply.

I plan on filling the sparge water heater up with a garden hose. And the a Robobrew is an "all in one" kind of system so I will be mashing, sparging and boiling in that.

 

[Bigcol49]

I plan on filling the sparge water heater up with a garden hose.

Hi!
I ordered food-safe hose for filling my HLT.

 

[Ghillie]

Even just for filling it up with cold water from the tap?

 

[Bigcol49]

Even just for filling it up with cold water from the tap?

Hi!
I'm not usually OCD about this type of thing
PS I've started a conversation.

 

[Ghillie]

My pal dropped off the brew stand yesterday, well pleased.

Putting down a changed up coconut wheat beer today. With the addition of a mosaic dry hop and lactose at flameout. More of a milkshake pionacolada brew. Why not? Not my cup of tea, but it is hers which is important too!

 

[Oneflewover]

Very nice. What happened to the grain mill?

 

[MyQul]

Looks nice and compact

 

[Ghillie]

Very nice. What happened to the grain mill?

Decided against it in the end... It would have been cool, but thankfully the grain mill fits on top of a bucket perfect anyway. Would have make the whole stand a very tight fit/smaller platform width overall if there was a third tier. Pity really.

 

[HoppyTommy]

I got hold of two plaster board pallets. The box nature of pallets makes them very rigid and easy to build with for someone with limited woodwork skills like me. I couldn't be bothered to build up any extra height for my burco boiler and still sparge with a big jug instead. The whole thing makes a nice storage area for all my brewing stuff as well.