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Tseay

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Dodging the Crocs at Kewarra Beach
A recent MRI shows that the verterbrae in my neck now closely resemble a dog's breakfast. This means I have to avoid lifting weights greater than 5-10kg. This rules out fermenters etc when full

To date I have got by with the help of one of my son's friends, who does the lifting of fermenters/boilers etc with me doing all prep and finishing work. ( I am a partial masher , but want to convert to full mash))

Has anyone rigged up a pulley system or similar to handle this sort of issue ?

Grateful for any advice.

Cheers

Chris
 
I am a big fan of literal hydraulic lifts. It works well on my brew day as all the lifting happens in one place, and the only exertion is turning on and off a couple of taps. No cranking geared winches, just let mains water pressure and gravity do the work. But it isnt as easily applicable to moving fermenters etc unless I could persuade my tree to grow a branch into my laundry.

liftovator.jpg
 
Hi there Tseay,
What happened to the neck, a fracture or what?
 
Thanks GL- I was thinking of some combination of hydraulics to lift fermenters etc combined with that roller conveyer type belts used for moving cartons around factories. I am sure that this will be an issue for others as we age.

Hi Sinkas- nothing so dramatic, nature and old age as far as I can tell. Didn't even know I had a problem until I developed carpel tunnel and other arm nerve symptomes that were also stemming from lots of computer work. The Doc did an MRI to get the bigger picture and bingo. I am quite comfortable , but just got to manage things so they don't worsen and allow me to continue brewing.

Cheers

T
 
:chug:
Gooday
I moved into AG in June this year. When I set up my system I gave a great deal of thought to lifting 50 ltr batches. I built a two tier brew stand and utilised a 2ton engine hoist hanging from the shed roof. I collect the wort into the kettle on a small dolly it is then pushed under the hoist. The kettle was custom made and can handle 80 ltr batches at a push. There are two lugs welded to the top of the kettle a simple bar and two D shackles attached to the lugs and up she goes onto the Nasa Stand. After flame out and cooling up she goes higher than the fermenter on the same dolly, a simple drop into a strainer on top of the fermenter and the wort is aretated and ready for the yeast. After pushing the fermenter across to the fermenting fridge Ilift it manualy into the fridge. I am looking at building a lifting device to do this but I have not had time to solve this one yet. One other problem with this system is whilst boiling the steam rises into the engine hoist to stop condenstation dripping back into the wort I use a fan on its lowest setting to blow the steam away.
Cheers Altstart
 
Tseay,

I'm in a very similar boat - I have the lower lumbar discs of an 80 year-old man (only 50 years to go until I catch up with them) but I'm cursed with a large build and a short memory, so I tend to keep lifting things I shouldn't.

The approach I've tried to take though is to let a pump do the lifting for me. If you get yourself organised, you never actually need to lift anything when its full.

Save yourself the $$$ on hoists and winches, and instead get a couple of pumps and do everything in situ at a comfortable working height (just like a 'real' brewery).

I might be able to help you out with some schmicko conical fermenters soon too...
 
Pump is the way to go. March or similar for hot beer transfers. A wine pump for cold beer transfers.
cheers
Drren
 
Tseay

My winch set up is based on one used by a switchboard manufacturer to lift large circuit breakers and the like. They do sell these on request for about $1200.

A supplier I use does a lot of old car restorations and he just bought a small gantry crane type set up (300kg?) of ebay for about $200.

I use a pump on my system but still have the problem of full fermenters (50l kegs) and the mash tun full of spent grain which probably weighs close to 40kg so a lifting set up is a huge help to try and prevent injuries.

By the way the minister for war and finance said that if I ever hurt myself so I couldn't work for even one day she would sell my set up to a stainless scrap dealer and change the locks on the shed.

Good luck with the neck

Regards Derrick
 
give her my number Crazy before she sells everything to WeeStu :)
 
hey the palfinger crane on my truck would be the go
if only i could fit it in my shed <_<
 
The palfinger aint that far off. The use of an engine hoist on wheels would be the go.

ef_2.jpg
 
Guys,

Thanks for your help. It looks like the pump approach is the way to go ( I have tracked down the March pump supplier about $260 a piece). However I still think I'll need some sort of lifting/lowering device, so will have a chat with some hydraulics people. Dont have a lot of room to move around in.

Cheers

T
 
Hi Tseay.

The pumps the way to do it.

One tier brewery, having every vessel on the same tier so you can easily reach in and out of them-particularly important for the mash tun.

Buy aluminium stock pots for your vessels because they don't weight anywhere near what a 50L keg weighs. Shovel the spent grains out of the tun with a jug-straight into the wheelie bin that you conveniently wheeled over beside the mash tun rather than lifting the mash tun and carrying it to the bin :rolleyes:

You could easily get out of lifting heavy things on brew day with a pump and a well designed brewery.

As for fermenters and lifting/moving them-what about spliting a 20L batch into two fermenters=10kg each as opposed to one 20kg one? It's perhaps a fraction more work cleaning and sterilising two fermenters instead of one but geez it's not that much messing around. You could buy the white 10L buckets from bunnings or some of those 15L plastic wine fermenters.

Or another option. Make a wheely cart for your fermenter. Pump into the fermenter on the cart from your kettle. If you make your cart the same height as the shelf in your fermenting fridge you can then just drive the cart to the door of the fridge and push that baby home. Bottle while the fermenter is still in the fridge.

I'm sure it can be done and it need not be too expensive. Sure the pump isn't cheap (search for the march pump bulk buy thread-you might still be able to get one cheap?) but I'd spend the money you'd spend on a hoist/hydraulic lift on buying three nice 50L aluminium pots (or two and an esky-whatever floats your boat) and building a little cart for your fermenter.

Hope it helps. Plenty of options.

Cheers, Justin
 

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