Matho wrote:DCBC wrote:Brewing System 3.0 should be finished (at least on the welding end of things) by tomorrow. Dropped my chiller and pump off this morning so he could have a template for the mounts that will be placed on the horizontal cross pieces. Those, the 2" flat vertical bits, and the plumbing extensions are not on yet. You can see the wind screens that will be attached later today.
Getting excited.
My folding stand (see a couple of posts above) is for sale by the way. Someone near north Texas make me an offer. 
thats one awesome looking workshop I'm so jealous
It is definitely a cool space. But that's not mine. It's a professional welder's shop that I imagine has been in this town forever. The guys that work there have been there for years. Unfortunately, I don't weld. So I spent a good bit of time ebaying things I have, but don't use much to finance this project. The beauty of it is that it takes 5 days start to finish. If it were me, and I could weld, it would cost less in materials, but would probably take me months. The way it sits, they say it should be done by this afternoon.
I dropped off the 20 tip jet/wok burners this morning. I had originally planned to just support them with black pipe. But they have a mounting hole on them and are a bit heavier than I expected. So we're having plates done inside the windscreen rings to support them. Then, I can just hang the black gas pipe from them and secure it in a couple of spots on the bottom rail for stability.
Here's this morning's picture. He has the March pump mounted (bolted to a plate) and is working on the cover for it. Next, the mount for the CFC, some vertical pieces in the front to match the rears and some vertical pieces on the top/rear to attach any plumbing assuming I feel industrious in the next year or so and want to hard plumb some return lines or fresh water to the HLT.
I learned a lot from having him do my last stand (and then having him modify it.
1. Be extremely detailed with your drawing and your measurements.
2. While it's there the first time, get everything you think you might want done done. On my last stand, I spent nearly as much having it modified to take a larger kettle as I did to have it built in the first place.
3. Take your gear over and make sure everything fits. It's much easier for them and you to visualize it with the gear in place.
4. When in doubt, build it stout. My original thought was 16 gauge 1.5" box tubing. And while that is probably more than sufficient, in the end, 2" x 0.0125" thick box tubing (except for the diagonal pot supports and cross pieces) was what I went with. Ran about $100 more.
5. The upgrade to stainless is much more expensive than I would have guessed based on what the upcharge at B3 is. They quoted me 3x for SS. Stove paint is much cheaper.
6. The welding and materials are never as expensive as I expect them to be. But I'll probably owe another $100 for all the add ons I have thrown at them as it came together. This is still cheaper than trying to get it fixed later (see #2 above).
7. Even with all of my planning, I will probably get it home and have forgotten something.
I've consumed all of my homebrew. I'm worried. I can't relax. Now what?
Pvt. 1st Class BN Army
was there. Luckily, I'm working a lot closer to home now, no offense to your city, it's just really fucking far from my swamp.
