How to level brew stand that's on casters?

[morbster]

I feel like I'm missing a simple solution to my problem and am hoping someone's dealt with this before.

I have a single vessel BIAB system on a small brew stand. The stand has casters so I can roll the vessel from its normal brewing location to my grain bag hoist midway through brewing.

The problem I have is that my basement is very uneven (sloped towards a drain), which makes it difficult to measure liquid level during the various measurement times (filling strike water, pre-boil, post boil, etc.).

Ideally, I'd like to install some shims or something that will help keep the vessel level when I'm brewing, then just roll it over to the grain hoist area, where levelness doesn't matter.

It's worth noting that I have a pretty lightweight stand setup, so I can lift one side a few inches if needed to overcome a stop or something.

 

[mongoose33]

It depends on how the casters are attached to the stand, but you might be able to use some washers to lift the stand on one corner or two corners to allow it to be level on a sloped floor. Insert between caster and where it's attached to the stand.

You can get some pretty stout washers. Such as:

 

[Homergah]

There's a device that Sears sold years ago just for that, sort of. It was like a jack that attached to whatever you were wheeling around. When you stepped on this lever it would lift the structure up off the casters just enough to make it stationary. It had four feet that could be adjusted individually. I'll see if I can find one on the inter webs.

 

[Homergah]

Would something like this work?

 

[Brew_Dude41]

This is what I think homergah was thinking of:

That is from lowes. Had one on my table saw and worked well.

Personally I am going to go this route for my system :

I just noticed I need a 200 set minimum from this source, so need to keep looking a bit more...

 

[day_trippr]

Accounting for "a few inches" of unevenness is going to be a challenge (well past washers, I think).
Might be worth making some kind of leveled pad upon the floor with a ramp on the side leading to the grain hoist...

Cheers!

 

[morbster]

Just wanted to provide an update. I decided to build a small platform similar to @day_tripper’a description, and it has worked out well so far.

I purchased a 2’ x 2’ 3/4” plywood board and used some 3/4” diameter bolts to create adjustable legs for the platform.

I plan to add a coat of paint (moisture barrier), build a ramp up it, and add a small barrier around the edges.

 

[day_trippr]

That'll play

 

[bkboiler]

https://www.mcmaster.com/equipment-feet

https://www.mcmaster.com/cam-lock-levers

can put a cylinder attached to the side of your table leg and extend the equipment foot to the right length to level and the cam lock lever to extend it out once you've rolled your table into place...may need to rotate the cam so that it extends to lock rather than retracts to lock...

 

[bkboiler]

Or I guess to be really easy

https://www.mcmaster.com/leveling-casters

 

[Soulshine2]

I feel like I'm missing a simple solution to my problem and am hoping someone's dealt with this before.

I have a single vessel BIAB system on a small brew stand. The stand has casters so I can roll the vessel from its normal brewing location to my grain bag hoist midway through brewing.

The problem I have is that my basement is very uneven (sloped towards a drain), which makes it difficult to measure liquid level during the various measurement times (filling strike water, pre-boil, post boil, etc.).

Ideally, I'd like to install some shims or something that will help keep the vessel level when I'm brewing, then just roll it over to the grain hoist area, where levelness doesn't matter.

It's worth noting that I have a pretty lightweight stand setup, so I can lift one side a few inches if needed to overcome a stop or something.

My career is all about aligning and leveling things . If your floor is that out of level you're worried about reading fill lines I would consider buying some self leveling concrete as one would use prior to installing a hardwood or tile floor. Can you simply have one area set for this , because if you were to shim the casters for the one area it will certainly be out of level in any other area.

 

[mongoose33]

Or I guess to be really easy

https://www.mcmaster.com/leveling-casters

Might be easy, but inexpensive it's not.