Show Me Your Wood Brew Sculpture/Rig

I just recently put together this sculpture...
Old entertainment center laying around....
From the pictures you can see the development... the last picture is my first batch with it (extract), Going to move into all grain shortly... putting the final touches on the equipment

Just finished mine but haven't stained or sealed it yet. Made from cedar and has 2 of the Bayou Classic 16 inch burners.

Very nice classic woodie! I like the large carriage bolts...just beautiful...cant wat to see it stained...gonna look gorgeous!

If this question is already answered, my apologies but I didn't see it anywhere. I see a lot of these wooden rigs with propane burners sitting on them and no scorching of the wood. Is there no danger of setting it on fire when you are using propane burners on a wooden stand?

Here is my wood stand/brew rig so far
Still a bit to do but it is getting close now!
Few things I would have done differently along the way but its getting there

Covert said:

If this question is already answered, my apologies but I didn't see it anywhere. I see a lot of these wooden rigs with propane burners sitting on them and no scorching of the wood. Is there no danger of setting it on fire when you are using propane burners on a wooden stand?

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It takes quite a bit of heat to get wood to burning temps. Over 600°F, if I recall correctly.

That said, some simple precautions can be taken. On my brew stand, I have some 1/2" concrete backer board sheets where my propane burners stand. These sheets are normally used for construction where ceramic tiles will be used. The boards are pretty cheap and are readily available at hardware stores.

Other people take some sheet metal and bend them around the pieces of wood that are close to the sources of heat. That will work fine to deflect the heat.

I have a 2mm-thick aluminum heat shield (bent into a 20" square, and 6" tall)bolted 1.5 inches away from the wood that wraps around each of the two Hurricane burners mounted in my stand. The wood right behind the heat shield doesn't even get warm. Remember, heat rises - it really doesn't want to go laterally unless it has some serious pressure behind it, and our propane burners don't generate that kind of pressure.

First post on here. Been lurking for quite a while. Here is my wood brew sculpture in progress. It is going to be a RIMS system, and I have yet to install the flashing around the burners, pumps, etc.

I have about an inch of space between the outside of my burner and the wood. Even with a 16 gallon flat bottom pot on the burner, the wood doesn't get above warm. I don't crank the burner to the extreme though.

Note the scorching on the wood and the high tech ceramic floor tile countermeasure.

I have quite a bit of space under the burners and plan to add drip trays in case a boil over happens.

here's my wood brew stand its a HERM's setup

Nicely done! Simple, clean, and effective. This is right along the lines of what I have envisioned building.

nag7 said:

here's my wood brew stand its a HERM's setup

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kscarrington said:

Nicely done! Simple, clean, and effective. This is right along the lines of what I have envisioned building.

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thanks i used Kal's setup at www.theelectricbrewery.com as a start for mine and just changed it a little so i could store my propane tanks on the shelf.

Hi guys,

I am just wondering, for those who build the frame around the burners, what do you use to stop the wood getting scorched?

Cheers,

Fergus

I have each of the burners surrounded by a 20" W x 20" D x 6" H square (e.g., 80" circumference) of 0.096" sheet-metal bolted to the wood frame on the four corners. The wood doesn't even get warm, and I usually rest my fingers between the heat shield and the 2x4's. Remember, heat rises, so the only heat the wood is going to be exposed to is reflective heat from the sides of the kettle.

This is my three tier.

fergusyarrow said:

Hi guys,

I am just wondering, for those who build the frame around the burners, what do you use to stop the wood getting scorched?

Cheers,

Fergus

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I just went into my gallery and found a pic that shows the heat shields...



You can see the two shields, one wrapped around each burner.

Here's mine. Almost complete.

BrewingGunner said:

Here's mine. Almost complete.

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Where's the wood?

blaster_54738 said:

Where's the wood?

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It in the backyard, the sculpture is surrounded by wood instead of being made by it.

blaster_54738 said:

Where's the wood?

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Yeah I should have read the title. Oops!

BrewingGunner said:

Yeah I should have read the title. Oops!

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Mighty fine looking rig you have there though, looks a lot like what I have in mind for my new build

Update on my wooden brew rig... not too exciting but gets the job done... gravity wise.

beejayud said:

Update on my wooden brew rig... not too exciting but gets the job done... gravity wise.

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Looks awesome and that's all that matters!

It's just the start of my e build

This is the stand I built over the winter. I only got a couple of batches through it before the little one showed up and took all my free time. Soon I hope to get back out there. It currently uses two BG-14's, one for the HLT and one under the BK.

Put this guy through a couple of batches. Works great with the casters on it and it contains my entire brewery minus bottles when not in use.

Here's mine, should be done by the weekend.

I just finished my brew stand recently. I realize that there are those that may not agree on using wood for a brew stand with propane burners, but the basic design that I copied from a fellow member, along with the style of burners that I am using, I have had no issues with scorched or even warm wood at the writing of this note. Thank you to everyone who makes additions to this site.

I used this thread for a lot of design ideas and tweaked to what I knew I could build and what would work for the equipment I planned for. HLT is getting replaced with a 20 gallon BoilerMaker as soon as it arrives. Tons more pics in the link in my signature.

TobyG said:

I used this thread for a lot of design ideas and tweaked to what I knew I could build and what would work for the equipment I planned for. HLT is getting replaced with a 20 gallon BoilerMaker as soon as it arrives. Tons more pics in the link in my signature.

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Ever worry about running out of propane with 3 tanks under there?

Travestian said:

Ever worry about running out of propane with 3 tanks under there?

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I had four until last brew day. lol I just didn't go get the other refilled yet since I had spares. I had a bad experience with a couple of underperforming tanks once, so I wanted to make sure I didn't have to worry. Plus I had the space under there and have them handy for when the grill on the back patio runs out of LP at inconvenient times.

I'm planning to build a two tier system with a propane burner on lower level. Are you guys using a fire retardant sealer on the wood? I'm concerned that polyurethane or varnish would be flammable or give off fumes.

Bashiba said:

Just used my new woody for the first time yesterday, its not quite done as I'm waiting to add the blichmann tower of power to automate the mash temp if it ever gets done. And have to wire the pumps to a more permanent solution as well.

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I have the Blichman burners also. Are the sitting right on the wood? I assumed the would get hot underneath and burn the wood.

joeg13 said:

I have the Blichman burners also. Are the sitting right on the wood? I assumed the would get hot underneath and burn the wood.

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From the pic it looks like he has a sheet of something fastened to the top of the rig underneath the burners.

joeg13 said:

I'm planning to build a two tier system with a propane burner on lower level. Are you guys using a fire retardant sealer on the wood? I'm concerned that polyurethane or varnish would be flammable or give off fumes.

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I put a coat of Thompson's water sealer. That being said, I think some of the paranoia about stands catching on fire is just that. After all, you stand closer to the flame when you're stirring your wort. The base under my burners gets hotter from the sunlight than it does from the burners. I don't think I'd try to build a frame for multi-jet burners out of wood, but with a banjo burner sitting on top of one, I'm not that worried.

joeg13 said:

I'm planning to build a two tier system with a propane burner on lower level. Are you guys using a fire retardant sealer on the wood? I'm concerned that polyurethane or varnish would be flammable or give off fumes.

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I used a stain poly blend on my single tier stand. The first time I used it you could smell a little bit of the stain but after the first heating cycle I have had no problems since. That was probably only due to the fact that I didn't get a chance to really let the stain cure due to the stand living in my garage in the winter.
I did put heatshields around my banjo burners, but even cranked up, the keg gets red hot before I worry about the wood. Just give it enough spacing to keep the air flowing around it and you will be fine.

TobyG said:

I put a coat of Thompson's water sealer. That being said, I think some of the paranoia about stands catching on fire is just that. After all, you stand closer to the flame when you're stirring your wort. The base under my burners gets hotter from the sunlight than it does from the burners. I don't think I'd try to build a frame for multi-jet burners out of wood, but with a banjo burner sitting on top of one, I'm not that worried.

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I've never had to worry about my stand getting warm at all from the burners. I agree though about not building a frame for multi jet burners. Or any burner for that matter. I used a clear polyurethane and have had no issues.

When I first built my woody, I can still remember that first day... lighting up the burner, fully prepared to see a remake of the towering inferno, right there in my back yard. Six years later, and it's still going strong. In fact, I'm in the middle of completing Woody Version 2.0... BIGGER, STRONGER, AUTOMATED, INTEGRATED MILL & CONTROL PANEL... but still made out of wood!!