My insane 25 Gal, 100 Percent Hard Plumbed Tri-Clover, Automated Tippy Build

kickflip_mj said:

Thanks guys for following. I wanted to work on my brew stand but I am currently working on my truck. Upper control arms are shot.

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Bummer! Happened to me today too, lost half the day working on and ultimately replacing the garage door opener... What a pain.

Nice build! Can't wait to see more.

Back action, I received 20 tri clamps, 20 gaskets and 9 elbows, and the last 4 feet of piping! Thanks brewers hardware!

Kickflip

Do us all a favor and use a proper jack stand next time you are working under your truck. It would be a shame to see something silly happen that prevents you from finishing your sweet build. Nice d'max too, I just got one myself...

Happy building and brewing!

Biggie, I agree with you completely. I wasn't under it, but i definitely should have used my brain more and put the jack stands under it.

The dmax has been with me for ten years and she is going strong. Inside is falling apart, but overall she has gotten me everywhere i need to go.

This is impressive - both in craftsmanship and bling factor. :cheers:

But it seems like a common theme on these builds is to mount the chiller outside the frame...it seems like it will be easy to hit/damage that way. Why not extend the frame out and protect the chiller, maybe give yourself a little table space, etc.?

Carl,
I like the way you think! I am actually mounting the control panel right above it. Originally i planned on having everything contained under the frame, but that didn't work as planned to with the hard plumbing.

Some of the things I notice is people mounting them horizontally, which makes no sense to me at all. Why would you want stuff sitting in the coil till your next batch?

BiggieB400 said:

Do us all a favor and use a proper jack stand next time you are working under your truck. It would be a shame to see something silly happen that prevents you from finishing your sweet build. Nice d'max too, I just got one myself...

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Ha, I was thinking the same thing. I usually leave the car on the jack, but prop a jack stand under there as well "just in case".

Tonight I managed to complete the chiller return and sight glass. When I tried to dimple the pot, it decided to dimple one side, such a pan, I had to use a small pipe to make all sides of the hole even. Oh and I don't care about whirlpooling since I have an in line filter, the return In the pot is to keep the liquids inside the pot

im starting to wonder if casters will hold this rig up?

kickflip_mj said:

im starting to wonder if casters will hold this rig up?

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How heavy is it?

sub'd. That is one glorious rig. Job well done mate.

Carlscan26 said:

How heavy is it?

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I havnt figured that out yet, I'm assuming a lot. I guess I can figure it out by the fittings used. It's just a lot more than I anticipated. My casters are rated for 300# each. I may need to add another 2

jgalati said:

sub'd. That is one glorious rig. Job well done mate.

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Thank you!

kickflip_mj said:

I havnt figured that out yet, I'm assuming a lot. I guess I can figure it out by the fittings used. It's just a lot more than I anticipated. My casters are rated for 300# each. I may need to add another 2

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You don't think it weighs 1200 pounds, do you?!

Once you add the wort it might start getting up there. If you have 15gal in the hlt and the mt you are looking at least 250.

hmm maybe I should get some casters that are rated 500#+, I wounder what the factor of safety is on the ones I have now? maybe like 30 percent more?

kickflip_mj said:

Tonight I managed to complete the chiller return and sight glass. When I tried to dimple the pot, it decided to dimple one side, such a pan, I had to use a small pipe to make all sides of the hole even. Oh and I don't care about whirlpooling since I have an in line filter, the return In the pot is to keep the liquids inside the pot

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Man this is going to be a beautiful rig. Some day I am going to have something like this.

uncle, thank you for the complements. I have gone a little overboard but that's my style. I wanted to build something that I knew was just perfect for me.

Just read this entire thread! WOW!! Very impressive! Question, what problems were you having welding in the bottom of the kettle. I have several people ask me to weld in the bottom of those kettles and I have always been concerned about the aluminum between the stainless. Did you tig them from the inside of the kettle and get blow back from the aluminum?

Again very well done! Keep up the good work..

Cheers
Jay

Jay bird, thank you for the complement. Welding the bottoms of those kettles is extremely tough with tig. I think the best option would be fusion welding. I originally tried using filler and that was a catastrophe. I got one sealed but then had to break the weld. You definitely should be concerned about blowing through the metal. The clad bottom makes it hard to weld because you have to weld almost blind from the inside.

Lets just say it's something I wouldn't recommend. I'm still concerned if I can get the pots sealed.

kickflip_mj said:

Jay bird, thank you for the complement. Welding the bottoms of those kettles is extremely tough with tig. I think the best option would be fusion welding. I originally tried using filler and that was a catastrophe. I got one sealed but then had to break the weld. You definitely should be concerned about blowing through the metal. The clad bottom makes it hard to weld because you have to weld almost blind from the inside.

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kickflip_mj said:

Lets just say it's something I wouldn't recommend. I'm still concerned if I can get the pots sealed.

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Haaa That's kinda' what I thought.. Thanks for taken one for the team on that one brotha'....Great build man very impressive!
Cheers
Jay

Anytime jaybird. Lol I knew no one had actually done it so I thought I should give it a try. Pretty bad decision, my mash tun was the test tank. Needless to say it has a 6" tri on the bottom for certain reasons.

kickflip_mj said:

Anytime jaybird. Lol I knew no one had actually done it so I thought I should give it a try. Pretty bad decision, my mash tun was the test tank. Needless to say it has a 6" tri on the bottom for certain reasons.

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Yeah the 6" tri colver is what made me think you were having trouble. I bet that was a bugger to weld on there. So did you end up just doing a solder or are the welded.. If you wouldn't mind post up a picture inside the kettles of your welds man I would like to see how they ended up.

Jay

I actually havnt welded them, try are just tack welded for now.here is one I completed

I wouldn't say I'm a bad welder, but the bottoms are pretty tough. Here is a T fitting I welded.

kickflip_mj said:

I wouldn't say I'm a bad welder, but the bottoms are pretty tough. Here is a T fitting I welded.

View attachment 124715

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Thanks for posting those up..
Those look great!
Well done..

Cheers
Jay

kickflip_mj said:

im starting to wonder if casters will hold this rig up?

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I've got these on mine. Work perfectly.

http://www.woodcraft.com/product/20...ling-with-4-hole-mounting-plate-414-tall.aspx

dfess1 said:

I've got these on mine. Work perfectly.

http://www.woodcraft.com/product/20...ling-with-4-hole-mounting-plate-414-tall.aspx

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Thank you so much for the source, I actually own casters. Im just really concerned that they wont support the weight, and they are rated for 300# each.lol their is a lot of metal on this rig too.

Disclaimer: I'm no engineer.

But you're dispersing that weight over 4 casters, rated at 300# each. Would that not stand to reason that it should be able to handle at a minimum 600#, if not the full 1200#? And if you've got that much weight (1200#) on your rig, well I'd say it should be mounted permanently anyway!

deleted - late to the party.

It should be fine, I guess I should have noted that I plan to go to 50 gal, so i'm over engineering everything.

Dfess, I understand the math, this thing is just getting extremely heavy. I definitely don't think its going to weight enough to crumple the casters.

Ohh man I think your going to be just fine. I am putting my 2.5BBL system on casters. each kettle is 100 gallon and getting their own stand and casters, along with my 3bbl fermenters all on casters. and the 3 BBL fermenters will only have 3 casters under each one.
Yes you share the weight when using casters so if you have 4 @300# you collectively have 1200# load capacity depending on distribution spread.

Cheers
Jay

Build looks great. As far as casters, I just got a mailer from Rockwell woodworking, they have ones that attach to the side so that a stand can sit on the ground and then you kick them in when you need to move your stand which got me thinking about my build...there's are only rated to 100lbs but I'm sure someone makes heavier duty ones:

http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=30842&site=ROCKLER

BTW, I hope you weren't trusting your life to a little O ring in your hydraulic jack and had some jack stands securing things.

Bensiff, I was being an idiot. I didn't roll under their but still should have had things secured, I did use two jacks in the same location as a fail-safe.

Sorry to inform you guys, I will be in Arizona for work and Cabo for a little vacation. When I get back I will be back at this project!

kickflip_mj said:

Sorry to inform you guys, I will be in Arizona for work and Cabo for a little vacation. When I get back I will be back at this project!

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WHAT!!! You cant go on vacation at a time like this!!!

WOW how selfish of you:cross:

Cheers
Jay

Haha I know it's rediculous! I'll be sure to order abunch of stuff so I can just finish this thing up! I'm still trying to figure out what to paint it with!

kickflip_mj said:

Haha I know it's rediculous! I'll be sure to order abunch of stuff so I can just finish this thing up! I'm still trying to figure out what to paint it with!

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Paint? I just assumed you were going to chrome plate the frame lol