Pre-Fabricated Brew Stand

[nateut]

Here's the website that I ordered my pre-fabricated brew stand from... They have received very positive comments/feedback on homebrewtalk.com, and I will be sure to post some photos and my review here once it arrives. Due to the recent sale, the owner told me there is currently a 2-3 week lead time from the time the order is placed until it ships. That's OK with me though, as it will give me some time to start gathering the rest of the pieces I'll need (pump, tubing, quick disconnects).

http://www.brewersequipment.com/

[Brewski]

Nate,  I'm considering a brew stand and like what I saw on the website. Heard you talking about it at the meeting. Would like to see your brewing stand when you get it. I'm moving up from the 5 gallon brews, just as easy to brew 10 at a time.
Bruce

[nateut]

I plan on updating this thread as the pieces start to arrive and will post my thoughts on the stand when it finally gets here. Once I get everything you (and any other Masher) are more than welcome to come and see it in action!

[nateut]

Photo of the new March 809 pump with a 1/2" SS female NPT to male quick disconnect installed. I still need to order the rest of the QD parts from bargainfittings.com, but they didn't have these in-stock so I ordered them directly from the manufacturer.

More to come as it arrives!

[nateut]

Ordered some more parts today... should arrive Monday!

Bargainfittings.com
4x  1/2" SS Camlock F Style Quick Disconnect
4x  1/2" SS Camock B Style Quick Disconnect
4x  Camlock Silicone Gasket
4x  1/2" SS NPT Street Elbow
3x  1/2" SS NPT 2-Piece Ball Valve
1x  SS Cooler Bulkhead Kit (Coupler, Nipple, Ball Valve)
12x 1/2" ID Silicone Tubing (3/4" OD)
1x  1/2" SS NPT Nipple Close
1x 1/2" SS NPT Coupling

[nateut]

Spent the past few days putting together my tubing and ball valves with all of the hardware that arrived on Saturday. Everything is going to plan so far; I should be able to pick up my welded keggles from AiB this weekend, and my brew stand should ship out by Friday!

The camlock quick disconnects are pretty sweet... a little tough to engage/disengage at first, but they seem to break in after a couple times. Making sure that you have the female disconnect on flush with the male disconnect helps as well.

[nateut]

Saturday, on my way up to Lansing to cover the WMU/MSU game, I swung by AiB to pickup my finished keggles. I used some free time on Sunday to get the ball valves, male QDs, and thermometer installed, and replaced the brass ball valve on my cooler mashtun as well. Everything looks good so far, but I am concerned that the thermometer probe will be too high for the batch sparge amounts used in 5-gallon batches. I'll do some testing soon and find out!

[sretter]

Checked out the link for the pre fab brew stand, nice looking rig!

[nateut]

Thanks! I'm very much looking forward to it arriving. I still have some pieces I'll need to buy before I can complete my first brew session using it, but things are coming together quite nicely.

I received my shipping notice this morning, so I should have some initial thoughts and photos posted by early next week.

[Fred R]

Hey Nate

The stand in the web site looks great!  I really like the integrated gas lines.  What options did you add on?  When the stand comes in I would like to come out with some brew and take a look at it if possible.

Fred

[nateut]

Sounds like a good plan! I was planning on inviting any mashers who wanted to make the drive down to a brew session if they were interested once I have everything setup and tested.

[nateut]

Just realized it has been awhile since I posted anything in here, including a photo of the assembled stand.  Unfortunately, I've been pretty busy on the weekends covering MAC football games, but I'm finally getting some free time to finish getting the pieces together and finally brewing a batch using the new system.  I'm still waiting for two stainless diptubes for the keggles, and I need to order a new chiller that has 1/2" NPT ports that I can use with my quick disconnects. After that, I need to mount the pump and she should be ready for brewing.

Overall, I'm pretty impressed with the build quality of this rig. I do wish I would have opted to spend a little more for the stainless upgrade, but I think this will serve me very well in the years to come.

More posted as I get the finishing pieces ordered and installed!

[nateut]

FINALLY got around to doing a water test this weekend and am happy to report that everything works as it should.  The burners worked very quickly to bring 5-6 gallons of water up to ~170 degF, and then I was able to use the pump to transfer water between the HLT, mash tun, and boil kettle.  The pump took a little getting used to, but as long as its primed it can move liquid pretty fast.  As I expected, the paint didn't hold up too well, but I'm not too worried about that.

I did find that I need to buy one more camlock for the output from the plate chiller; I'll make sure to put an order in soon so I can get the first batch going. If all goes well, perhaps I'll try to bring it to the big brew day if we end up doing it at Maumee Bay.