Building of the Spruce Moose brew stand

By Patrick Baggoley

Having not brewed for about five years, when I finally got the last couple of pieces of gear together to try my first all grain batch in January 2009, I decided to get back into it with a vengeance. 

As most do, I spent my few couple of batches propping up various vessels on milk crates, benches and saw horses, and each time I’d end up trying a different configuration. I’d trip over things, misplace mash paddles and thermometers and generally get very confused. This meant it was hard to get parts of the process such as mash-in, recirculating and sparging properly co-ordinated and consistent.

And I was worried that without consistency at this stage, how was I going to get any consistency in the finished product? That, and confusion being the mother of all stuff-ups, I was highly likely to forget something like a hop addition, or starting the timer. 

So the idea of a building brew stand started taking over my thoughts … While I loved the idea of a welded two or single-level stand, I can’t weld (yet) and didn’t really have the cash to consider a March pump. So 3-tier gravity system seemed the logical way to go. 

Then I came across the idea of using a server rack. I found a few references to brewers using them for brewstands, but not too many pictures. This didn’t seem to matter though, because the idea is pretty straight forward – bolt shelves in at the height you need them and away you go! 

After a couple of weeks, I saw a few racks for sale on Allbids. The handy thing seemed to be that the racks less suited for use in IT (missing doors, too big for most modern compact servers) appeared better for adapting to other use. I was lucky enough to win a pair of racks for the princely sum of $1 (plus 12.5% broker’s fee) and thought I’d use two of them side-by-side. 

What I’d failed to fathom (despite measuring them before bidding) was how big they really were. They had to sit on top of the trailer, rather than inside it, and I had to remove parts of the door frame just to get them into my workshed! Once in place, they seemed to offer countless options.

The metal panels that came with the racks seemed
 ideal cross-beams for shelves made of timber planks.
 

First run worked well, but the large gaps between the vessels seemed to be a waste of space, and the long hoses were losing a bit of heat on the way. So with a bit of thinking realized I’d be able to do it all in one rack. The first step was to strip it back to bare basics. This enabled me to move the uprights out to make them about 70cm apart instead of 50cm. 

Next dilemma was the original metal panels wouldn’t fit the wider spacing so I needed new cross beams. Timber seemed the easiest option since I had several pieces already lying about. I had considered rebating the cross beams to allow the shelves to fit flush, but this would have just weakened the cross beams.

 

For strength I made the cross beams by gluing/nailing two pieces of
 timber together to create a ledge for the shelf planks to sit in.
 

 
The shelf pieces I built with a T profile, also for strength. The
 vertical part of these T pieces had to be shorter than the horizontal
 so they could inter-lock with the cross bars.
 

The pieces were all cut to length first, then each cross bar and shelf piece was made separately. I then assembled the whole shelves raw, pilot-drilling all the screw holes before screwing it together. I then disassembled it all so each piece could be stained and varnished separately and ensure the varnish got into all the gaps and sealed every part of the timber. Each piece was cut to allow about 1mm of space to account for three thick coats of varnish and expansion/contraction of the timber.

I stained it all because I had several spare litres of stain, and same with the marine-grade varnish. The former has purely visual benefits but I was interested in the latter so that spills and steam didn’t degrade the timber too quickly.

 
I decided to go all stainless-steel screws to complement the stain, and the
 chromed hex screws on the front I had left-over from something else – they
 do actually provide structural support, but I admit are more there for looks
 

The height of each shelf was calculated by working up from the bottom. The kettle sits on runners at the base of the stand which was high enough to drain the sweet wort straight into a “no chill” cube (now rarely used). Minimal head space was left between the top of one vessel and the bottom of the next shelf. This means I can still fill the hot liquor tank/tun (HLT) without having to climb up on anything. 

The finishing touch was aluminium strips screwed to the top of each shelf piece, to avoid scratching up the marine varnish with my stainless-steel vessels. 

The benefit I’ve found in this system is knowing everything has its own place and is consistent for each brew. This has enabled me to create more permanent set-ups and made it more reasonable to invest in items such as stainless elbows and silicon hose, because I know exactly how they’re to be used and how long they need to be. One 1m length of silicon hose fits neatly between the HLT and the mashtun (MT), and during the sparge can move neatly between the MT and the kettle.

 
For the sparge I use a reclaimed old-style showerhead connected
 to a 1/2" BSB hosetail. A G-clamp holds it just above the grain
 bed, with the holes pointing up to allow the sparge water to gently
  flow into the MT.
 

Another benefit is that since it’s all bolted together the system can change as my requirements to. At this stage I lift the boiler up to the first shelf to hook it up to a plate chiller and drain into a fermenter, but in due course I’ll be able to move everything up to suit. Similarly if I move up from a 36L kettle to a 60L, or a 20L MT to a 40L, I’ll be able to do so. 

I’ve already bolted in a lamp to help me see into my MT better, and bolted bulldog clips on one of the uprights so I can weigh out hop additions in plastic cups and have them clipped beside the kettle ready to go when needed. Other projects include some removable platforms to go beside each vessel, so I can store additional gear (fermenters, bottle trees etc) neatly on the shelves when not in use.

So all of this just took a bit of time, and less than $40 worth of bits and pieces, plus stuff I already had lying around the shed. Now all I need to do is a whole lotta brewing to make sure the beer can start living up to the stand! If you've got any questions, or suggestions of how i can improve it, don't hesitate to contact me via the forum. 

Happy brewing!

Comments

[Chris]

Bloody good use of a rack. Might have to see what the boss wants to ditch :)

[Chubby]

Awww that is sooo cool.