Stainless Bench For Brew Stand

[captaincleanoff]

Thinking about getting a 1800m stainless bench for my 3 vessel brew stand.

Just kinda surprised I've never seen pics of any brew setup using one of these before.

Are there any disadvantages that I am overlooking? I do not need to weld anything to it, and I will be using immersion elements. I do not need to weld anything to it, and I will be using immersion elemen
Like this one:

 

[bignath]

Howdy CC,

i use something very similar to that and for my brewing it works great.

The one i have is from the big green shed, and it has a wire rack shelf underneath instead of two solid shelves.

*I AM NOT AN ELECTRICIAN. THIS MAY OR MAY NOT BE CONSIDERED "SAFE" BUT IT'S WORKING FINE FOR ME, blah blah blah...


My HLT is electric (30lt aluminium pot with a kettle element installed) and i also have a kambrook single hotplate that it sits on. This gives me roughly 4000kw of heating. Have had a look at the circuit board for the shed, and it looks like i'm running 16A fuses, and heavy duty extension cords. Haven't had anything trip it so far, and i have two fridges, TV and DVD, ipod dock and the usual lighting all on whilst i brew...

I have mounted small water recirculation pump on the stand to transfer from HLT to mash tun (esky) and from there, i gravity feed my kettle which is sitting on a fabricated stand on the ground. Works great.

Oh, i also have a water filter attached to the stand. On brewday, i hook up the garden hose, fill HLT from the filter, power on, pump the hot water to the mash tun and the rest is as we know it....

Mines on wheels too, which makes it easy to wheel out under the patio if it's a nice day. Nothing like brewing outside in fine weather, the smell of grains and hops wafting over the backyard.. :icon_drool2:
It also came with adjustable feet to help level it, but i prefer the castor wheels.

Before i installed the element into my HLT, i used to use the same burner for my kettle (3 ring burner) for my HLT and that used to sit on top of the stainless trolley.
I was initially worried about the strength of it, but it did a good job for me.
Feel much safer though now that i'm not using crazy amounts of heat close to the stand anymore.

Reckon it cost me about $130 on special if i remember rightly.....

 

[donburke]

how tall is the bench ?

will you be able to get in the top of the vessels to stir if needed ?

what weight rating does it have ? adequate for your needs ?

how much is it $$$ ?


if its a good price, and suits your purpose then i imagine it will be a cheaper option than having a custom one fabricated

 

[Cortez The Killer]

My system is electric and have been using a desk / bench for a while

The drawers come in handy too

When electric you only really need a bench / flat surface

I've put a piece of timber across the top of the opening leaving a 3-4mm gap that my march pump bracket slides into - this allows the pump to be slid back and forth should the need arise (as ingenious as I thought myself to be - I haven't actually used this feature)

There are pics of my stand in my signature before moving to an actual desk that SWMBO didn't want in the house anymore

Cheers

 

[ekul]

Just make sure you can get above your pots and that everything is nice and stable. 30L+ of boiling wort is pretty dangerous if its high up and unstable.

My bench is only 400mm (or 450mm?) high which means that I can see everything going on, even with an 80L pot(soon to be 140L). I designed it so that the bottom of the kettle is 5cm above the height of a cube. Plus it only cost about $30 (probably less) to build. Its light and i can put it in the back of my car if need be. Doesn't look quite as good as that stainless bench though!

 

[DarkFaerytale]

Seeing as i can't start a new thread i'll post here.

how did you go with the bench Captaincleanoff?

i'm looking at one as well from Ebay. HERE

wondering what peoples thoughts and experiences are?

i'll be putting a 50L braumiester on it along with a 40L electric Boiler

 

[cliffo]

I've got one of their SS bench/sink units.

It's done the job for about two years for me.

How do you currently remove the malt pipe from your Brau?

If by hand I'd imagine having the Brau sitting on that it will be too high to comfortably remove.

 

[DarkFaerytale]

Thanks Cliffo, I've put a lifter thingy in so should be fine. still, i can see the height being an issue with malt perhaps

 

[cliffo]

I'd say it would be too high.

I've got my 50L Brau sitting on a small table I knocked up from a piece of MDF with four legs screwed in to it.

I put a self-adhesive vinyl tile square on the top to help with moisture issues. So far so good though I expect it will need replacing at some point.

The top of the table sits about 26cm high and is about the right height to allow me to fill the malt pipe and remove it by hand plus drain the end result into the fermenter.

I do want to get some sort of winch set up in place though.