Brutus Minimus...another build

[J-Malone]

Hey all,

I enjoy looking at others build threads and since I am about to embark on the building of one myself, I thought I'd start this thread to document it.

I am building a brutus style single tier, 3 vessel, 1 pump system. It will not be automated (at least not at the moment), but I will have the pump hooked up to a switch box for ease of use.

I am using a very similar design as the one diatonic built...see here: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/my-single-tier-propane-electric-hybrid-brew-rig-160432/

I made some small adjustments to the size of the unit but not many. It will not be electric, and the plan at the moment is to use 6" LP gas burners from agrisupply with propane.

I will be starting from scratch. I am in the process of acquiring the kegs needed for conversion (I have 1 that a friend gave me that he has had lying around for years). The stand will be 58" wide, 16.5" deep and 19" tall (w/o casters, ~24" with). It will be made of 1.5" square A36 mild steel tube, 11 gauge (1/8"). I got it at a local steel shop for $44 for 20ft w tax. I bought 2 sticks + a 5 ft drop section they had on hand in case I needed it, as well as a section of 1"x1" angle 1/4" thick (I plan to use it for keg bracing on the top and possibly for pump mounting help).

A friend is welding it for me and we will get started tomorrow. I will try and post some pics of the progress, I am hoping to have it together by the end of the weekend. Then I can work on the other things that need to happen before we can brew on it. Namely, kegs and getting those converted.

I am planning on doing the standard conversion on the kegs except I am thinking of adding a Hex coil to the boil kettle and maybe the HLT for use in cooling. I am thinking I can recirculate the cooling wort and whirlpool it, while recirculating the coolant water through ice water in the HLT...I will need 2 pumps for this process and I am working on that part...

I want to thank everyone at Homebrewtalk for the inspiration to do this...especially Lonnie Mac, w/o you what kind of brew stand would we all be trying to build? lol and diatonic for posting your schematic, it allowed me to copy it and put it into MS Paint and alter the measurements to fit my needs and change the bracing around a little...

Anyway, I'll keep you posted...

JM

 

[J-Malone]

Quick Question for those that have built a Brutus...Is there anything you would have done differently or something you wish you'd have known prior to starting?

 

[J-Malone]

stand welded together...prepping it for welding the casters on.

 

[J-Malone]

 

[J-Malone]

 

[J-Malone]

can someone tell me how to resize these? I loaded all of them the same, I have no idea why the first ones are smaller...

 

[J-Malone]

looking from the side

stand with caters welded

Casters--5" swivel, 2 w/ brakes, 2 w/o...weight rating 400#

We just welded the casters to the base

Just adding some text to the pics

Additionally, I am trying to figure out how I am going to mount my burners...6" LP burners from Agrisupply on order...How are most people mounting these?

 

[J-Malone]

Anybody?

Noone wants to weigh in?

 

[bufitfn]

Here is mine

 

[J-Malone]

Here is mine

What size pipe did you use for the gas line?
What did you use to insulate the Mash Tun?

 

[bufitfn]

It's 3/8 black pipe, it's a short run so 3/8 is plenty. The tun has 1" mineral wool insulation and is wrapped in aluminum

 

[J-Malone]

Thanks...So, if I was going to do a longer run all the way across the stand should I use larger or smaller or would 3/8 work for that as well? Is 3/8" the size needed for a lot of the burner fittings? I'm sorry for all the questions, I haven't received the burners yet and haven't had the chance to try and piece anything together.

I like that mashtun insulation...

 

[bufitfn]

My run is about 5 feet and My 3 high pressure (20 psi) burners run fine
The banjo burners I use have 1/4" thread orifices into the burner, but they hook up to
3/8" flair fittings

 

[J-Malone]

ok, got all the welding completed and there is only a little bit of grinding left to do (I didnt feel like finishing it late last night), I'll probably get it completed this weekend.

We added a couple 5" pieces of tubing behind the front supports to accomodate pump mounting in the future. We added 12 pieces of 1x1 angle to the top to act as guards to keep the kegs from sliding off (I am sure they wont, but it never hurts to have them in case and I like the way it looks).

And as an addition, I had my welder add a piece of tubing to the right side of the stand to act as the future home of the control box (and I will probably mount the pump switch there until I add a real control box)

I plan to finish grinding the welds and start, and hopefully, finish the the plumbing for the gas line and test the burners.

Question...After grinding the welds down, do you use like a sanding pad or something to really smooth it over?

 

[J-Malone]

Got my gas manifold built and mounted. I was able to get 2 of the burners (low pressure 6" BG12's from agrisupply) mounted and tested. I had an issue with the 3rd one and I hope to have it corrected and mounted tonight.

I posted a video of the test fire of the first 2 burners...here you go!
http://www.youtube.com/user/JOMalone3113?feature=mhum

After some discussions I am thinking about leaving the low pressure hooked up and see how that goes. I can always convert to high pressure. At the moment the manifold configuration is this:

Tank-->10psi regulator-->1/2" black iron pipe-->tee-->gas ball valve-->gate valve-->low press. orifice-->to BG12 burner.

Each burners are mounted a little different depending on its use. the outside burners (HLT and MT) are mounted the same, about 5" from the bottom of the kettle. The Boil Kettle will be in the center and the burner is mounted 3.5" from the bottom. My thinking was that I am trying to get max usage of the burner on the BK, but the other 2 are just there for superficial heating for the most part (and if I need to, I can crank up the burner on the HLT). If I didnt mention before this will be a direct fired RIMS, very similar to the one Bobby M has put together. I plan to incorporate a Hex coil in the HLT in case I want to do any herms type stuff and I also plan to use it during cooling.

I will get some shots of it tonight and post them later...watch the video and let me know if you have suggestions (about the brew stand, not my horribly messy gargage...lol)

John

 

[Hebby]

Looking good, I am about to get started on my build this weekend.