The frame of my sculpture is an industrial shelving unit I got from Costco for $150. I went this route because I don't have the skills to weld or access to a welder. I also wanted something that was completely reconfigurable and easy to dissasemble if needed for transporting. It comes with 4 shelves, each holds 1 ton. I'm only using two shelves but the extras give me the flexability to reconfigure this setup if I add more equipment, or just want to try a change. The crossbeams simply lock into place and are fully height adjustable by the inch. The shelves have tabs that drop into slots in the braces for stability. I picked up three stainless turkey fryer setups for $35 each last year on the day after Thanksgiving. Apparently no one wants a turkey fryer after Thanksgiving and they were selling them for something like 70% off. I'm using one burner/7.5 gal kettle for my HLT and one as a direct fire grant, although I've never actually fired it. My boil kettle is a 15 gal pot from B3 fired by a Bajou Classic outdoor cooker. I cut the legs off these burner stands, cut slots in my shelving, and simply dropped the burner units in. They are totally stable, yet totally removable/reconfigurable.
I added Thermothingys and weldless bulkheads to two of my 7.5 gal stainless turket fryer pots. I am using digital meat thermometers from Harbor Freight for $8 each. They work great but are not waterproof. Hasn't been a problem yet. I use an analog meat thermometer in the igloo mash tun because it can be calibrated. I have an alcohol lab thermometer that I cal the mash tun thermo against, and also for poking around the mash for hot spots. I push the wort with a march-809. I rigged up a cover for the pump after a brew session where my buddy was boiling an extract batch in my HLT witch is directly above the pump. He had a boil over and the pump was completely douched with sticky wort. Luckily it wasn't on at the time. I broke the pump down and cleaned as best I could and saved it. I know, pretty stupid putting the pump right below a kettle.
I'm using 1/2" silicone tubing from B3 (I think) and brass quick disconnects from McMaster Carr (super awesome!).
I don't have any cool automation, but I do have a slick switch for my pump. I got three remote operated power outlets from Costco called Superswitches ($15). Just plug the outlet adapter thingy into the wall socket, plug the thing you want to control into the adapter thingy, and clicky clicky on the remote!
so waddya think?
