I was tired of hauling my brew pots out to the backyard and then back into the apartment every brew day. I was tired of lifting full pots up and down when I chose to brew indoors on our kitchen stove. So I opted to build a large frame that could house 2 propane burners, utilize gravity for transfers (at least part of the time) and be used to store all the brew pots, chillers and hoses when not in use. Also, I wanted the stand to be able to handle batch sizes between 5 and 15 gallons incase I buy bigger kettles in the future. The answer to my problem was metal Superstuts. Imagine 10 foot long metal pieces resembling parts of an Erector® set.
This is by no means an original idea. I was inspired to take on this project after reading STRUTTING YOUR STUFF: BUILDING A BREWSTAND by Drew Beechum in the May/June 2013 issue of Zymurgy (Vol. 36, No. 3). I highly recommend reading his article if you want to build one of these yourself (The article is available in the Zymurgy archives if you are an AHA member).
Hopefully this will help you decide if you are interested in building something like this, and what size and shape your design should be.
My plans are designed to allow 2 Blichmann propane burners to drop into the frame where I can then bolt them in place. The HLT sits on the top tier so I can use gravity to fly sparge the mash (MLT in the center). I don’t use a burner under the mash. I have more success simply adding small additions of boiling water from the hot liquor tank if the mash drops in temperature or if the recipe calls for multiple temperature rests. Then I use my pump for the vorlauf (recirculation) as well as the transfer into the boil kettle during the sparge. The kettles in the drawing are all different sizes (9 gallon/10 gallon/15 gallon), because that's what I've collected after many years of brewing. But it has worked just fine so far.
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Top view with the kettles removed. You can also use a 5 or 10 gallon cylindrical cooler in the center for your mash/lauter tun.
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Front view. Since making the original drawings I have added 4 wheels and moved the plate chiller to a different location mounted horizontally. Otherwise the finished product looks just like this.
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Despite the height, the brew stand is very stable. However, the wheels that I have since added do make the base slightly wider helping to stabilize it. The wheels also help if the ground where you brew is less than perfectly smooth and flat. I used four 10" wheels that are designed for a hand truck/dolly. They can handle a great deal of weight. Though I do often wonder how much it’s going to sting if a tire suddenly blew out while brewing. The entire frame would come down on my foot, and then 5 or 10 gallons of boiling liquid would rain down on me. Sounds pleasant.
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After two years of brewing with this system, I am considering cutting it down this summer to make it lower. I would like to make the entire system a bit less heavy, and lowering it would make stirring the mash easier. I haven't had any issues with the HLT being so high up because I have a water hose that quick-connects to the ball-valve on the HLT that I use to fill the kettle with cold water at the start of the brew day (see below). If I were using a burner other than the Blichmann burner I wouldn't feel as confident. Blichmann's burners are very heavy duty, and they have 4 steel tabs (or teeth) that prevent the base of a kettle from sliding around too much.
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Tools for the job:
•Saw (Sawzall w/metal cutting blade, Chop saw w/metal cutting disc or a hack saw) for cutting metal struts.
•Metal file, angle grinder w/ wire wheel or Dremel w/ grinder wheel for removing burrs and cleaning up cut ends.
•2 x 3/4” wrenches (socket or crescent, but it helps to have both).
•Drill with an step drill bit for drilling 1/2″ holes in steel.
•Tape measure.
•Helpful but not essential: Rubber mallet or a block of wood for aligning everything as you tighten up the bolts.
Parts needed:
•10 x Galvanized steel super-struts (1-5/8″ x 10′).
•100+ 1/2″ spring nuts and the same number of 1/2″ diameter bolts (Use 1.5″ length bolts where ever possible to save $ and weight, but you may need a few 2″ length bolts as well).
•2 x Blichmann propane burners.
•12 x 4-hole 90° corner brackets.
•10 x 3-hole flat brackets.
•6 x 2-hole flat brackets.
•2 x 2-hole 90° corner bracket
•Optional: Four 10″ wheels and two 1/2″ diameter steel rods each cut to about 26″
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Once you have the design, determine the number of struts needed and what cuts you will need to make to them. If you are using the same design that I used, I have a 3D drawing in the original Sketchup file (which I’m happy to share) that shows the specific lengths you’ll need to cut the stuts to. Mark out your cuts, brace the struts with a vice or clamps and proceed with cutting them to length. Once you have made all of your cuts, use a grinder or metal file to smooth out the edges and take off any sharp burrs. From this point it is only a matter of bolting everything together. You will want a large flat area where you can lay everything out and visualize the final shape. If you have never used the spring nuts that are used with the channel struts they can be a little awkward at first. The idea is that the spring should hold the rectangular nut in place inside of the channel while you thread the bolt through the hole on the opposite side of the strut. The spring nuts can be frustrating, but they are very strong and don’t require you to use a wrench on the nut, only on the bolt.
Take a close look at these connections. Hopefully you can see how the corners are braced together at key points in these photos.
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Below: Detail of the upper burner for the HLT and a wide view below that. Use 4 of the 3-hole flat brackets on the outside of the frame (2 on each side).
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Below: The inside of the upper frame where the HLT burner is mounted uses 4 of the 4-hole right angle corner brackets.
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Below: There are only 2 of these brackets used. The are used to mount the two center verticals (of the HTL burner) to the very bottom horizontal frame.
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Below: This is a view from the ground looking up at the cross bars that hold the mash-tun.
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Below: This type of connection is used in a few places. It combines the 3-hole flat bracket sandwiched under the 4-hole right angle bracket. Use this combo on the inside of the frame at the far right bottom corners, the far left corners bottom corners, and upper corners under boil kettle end.
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Testing the stability after mounting my propane burner in place for the boil kettle.
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Test brew, before the wheels and the HLT burner were attached.
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Sparging with gravity while pumping the run-off into the boil kettle.
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The brew stand as it looks today with 2 Blichmann propane burners, one pump and the wheels attached.
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Please don't hesitate to email us at [email protected] if you would like a copy of the original Sketchup file so you can view and customize a 3D drawing of the brewing stand. The original file also has drawings for Blichmann propane burners, boil kettles, a Therminator wort chiller and (the image above) the specific lengths you'll need to cut.
