Beer Forum

I'm in the stage of plumbing my brew stand for propane. It's a 2 tier stand with 3 burners. The burners I got from Academy. They were complete burner with stand and regulators. So I've got 3 burners; 3 regulators (adjustable 0-10) and 3 hoses. I'd like to do this as least expensive as possible. I was thinking about using one regulator and then a ball valve at each burner. Then I had another thought to save the expense of ball valves and use a regulator for each burner. Check out the linked drawing. Should it work the way it's designed or am I missing something somewhere? Thanks.


https://www.dropbox.com/s/0xcxhckjrsnj8gd/propane%20plumbing%20for%20brew%20stand.png

I wouldn't use copper pipe, but I don't see why black pipe wouldn't work provided you made all good connections. Depends on the regulators, I suppose.

Copper pipe would be/is fine on a brew stand, but it is forbidden by building code in/on a structure. There isn't a problem with copper, the material itself, as building code allows soft copper tube w/45° brass flare joints.
I used rigid pipe and soft copper tube on my stand with a combination of soldered and flare fittings with 0 problems.
If it were a house or a permanent fixture in the house, that wouldn't fly. So, if you're using it indoors, use iron.

jasonclick wrote:I'm in the stage of plumbing my brew stand for propane. It's a 2 tier stand with 3 burners. The burners I got from Academy. They were complete burner with stand and regulators. So I've got 3 burners; 3 regulators (adjustable 0-10) and 3 hoses. I'd like to do this as least expensive as possible. I was thinking about using one regulator and then a ball valve at each burner. Then I had another thought to save the expense of ball valves and use a regulator for each burner. Check out the linked drawing. Should it work the way it's designed or am I missing something somewhere? Thanks.


https://www.dropbox.com/s/0xcxhckjrsnj8gd/propane%20plumbing%20for%20brew%20stand.png

It wouldn't work if you hooked up just one regulator at the propane tank? That's what I'm hoping I can do.

Guido wrote:

jasonclick wrote:I'm in the stage of plumbing my brew stand for propane. It's a 2 tier stand with 3 burners. The burners I got from Academy. They were complete burner with stand and regulators. So I've got 3 burners; 3 regulators (adjustable 0-10) and 3 hoses. I'd like to do this as least expensive as possible. I was thinking about using one regulator and then a ball valve at each burner. Then I had another thought to save the expense of ball valves and use a regulator for each burner. Check out the linked drawing. Should it work the way it's designed or am I missing something somewhere? Thanks.


https://www.dropbox.com/s/0xcxhckjrsnj8gd/propane%20plumbing%20for%20brew%20stand.png

It wouldn't work if you hooked up just one regulator at the propane tank? That's what I'm hoping I can do.

All 3 burners are going to fire (or leak gas) at once... no individual control... unless you add separate valves before each burner, which is what he was trying to avoid.

tlael wrote:Copper pipe would be/is fine on a brew stand, but it is forbidden by building code in/on a structure. There isn't a problem with copper, the material itself, as building code allows soft copper tube w/45° brass flare joints.
I used rigid pipe and soft copper tube on my stand with a combination of soldered and flare fittings with 0 problems.
If it were a house or a permanent fixture in the house, that wouldn't fly. So, if you're using it indoors, use iron.

From my understanding copper should only be used with low pressure propane, like what you get from the large twinkie looking ones out in the yard. The BBQ tanks operate at a much higher pressure which is what makes the copper unsafe. But I'm no professional, that's just my understanding of it. I'd rather err on the safer, less potential for explosion (which would over caramelize your wort & that's just uncalled for) side.

Ozwald wrote:

Guido wrote:
It wouldn't work if you hooked up just one regulator at the propane tank? That's what I'm hoping I can do.

All 3 burners are going to fire (or leak gas) at once... no individual control... unless you add separate valves before each burner, which is what he was trying to avoid.

Duh...I should actually read the post once in a while. I was planning on a separate on/off valve before each burner.

All 3 burners are going to fire (or leak gas) at once... no individual control... unless you add separate valves before each burner, which is what he was trying to avoid.

the regulators are adjustable from 0-10. I figured that would be my cut off for each burner.

It wouldn't work if you hooked up just one regulator at the propane tank? That's what I'm hoping I can do.

That was my plan was to use one regulator... but being cheap i priced 3 ball valves that i would need to use and I thought to myself that I could eliminate the ball valves and just use the regulators for on/off since they are adjustable.


Since I've not worked with propane before (other than bbq and such) I wasn't sure if there was an issue with having the regulator at the end of the plumbing... typically it's right at the tank. if it's at the end, should use the black pipe since it's all under higher pressure?

jasonclick wrote:

Ozwald wrote:All 3 burners are going to fire (or leak gas) at once... no individual control... unless you add separate valves before each burner, which is what he was trying to avoid.

the regulators are adjustable from 0-10. I figured that would be my cut off for each burner.

I know, that was referring to Guido's hairbrained idea to blow himself up... or learn to read.

jasonclick wrote:if it's at the end, should use the black pipe since it's all under higher pressure?

For safety & peace of mind, I would use black pipe regardless of the regulator placement. And it's still a good idea to have a shut off directly at the tank.