I finally decided to go ahead with major renovations to the brew stand, just in time for the next brew (#19 - Lambic). Many of the changes were outlined in my previous post on the lambic, but I wanted to post a few times to ensure the changes are fully described. This post will be the first of five posts that I will be making in the days leading up to the Jan 3rd, 2009 brew to try and describe the new features and the building process.

Looking over the changes now, I can see that I have made changes to almost every part of the system. From the stand itself, to water, heat, and oxygenation. Very few things have remained untouched. To start off, let me present you the new stand as it looks completed to date.

The Stand

Picture 1	Picture 2	Picture 3

It feels great to finally have this all done, but I wish the end result was more magnificent and showed all the work that went into it. Lets me begin by outlining some of the structural changes on the stand:

• Now Made From Titanium Steel (Pictures 1-3):  at least thats what the spray paint can said. Yea, its the same old wood stand. I was going to clean it up and just laquer the stand a few times with some outdoor laquer, but I got convinced painting was the way to go. So I sanded the thing fairly heavily, applied wood filler to many of the joints, sanded some more after the filler dried, and then began applying paint. I started by applying primer to try and cover up the wood and filler. For this I used RustOleum Painters Touch White Primer. I decided to use spray paint because for some reason I felt it would be cool if the stand looked metal. While it looks pretty good, I'm not a good spray paint technician, and I think the stuff I picked is a little too sparkly. To get this look I used two cans of RustOleum Universal Metalic Spray Paint. The shininess has dulled a little now but when I first applied it all I could see was these glitter pieces everywhere, which made it look a little fruity. Once the metallic coats dried I applied several coats of clear protector in the form of RustOleum Painters Touch Clear Matte Spray Paint. This actually helps bead the water/wort off the stand very well, which should help keep the stand clean and sugar free.
• Tiled Mash Top (Picture 4):  the pedestal portion of the stand that holds the mash kettle is now tiled to protect the underlying wood and hopefully help retain heat. I had always planned on having some kind of stone, slate, or tile here to protect the stand. I even measured for it when originally creating the stand, which explains why until now the HLT kettle always sat about 1/4 inch higher than the mash kettle. To do this I used some extra tile we had lying around from the basement and cut four pieces to shape using my new Bosch Angle grinder. Always need an excuse to buy a new tool. I picked up some multi purpose tile cement and grout, and went to town. It worked out pretty well. I do have some concern because I didn't use bathroom cement and grout that is design for water and high heat, so I may be re-doing this, but for now its great.
• New Wheels (Picture 5):  this isn't really that much of a change really. The old wheels were 2 inches and just a tad bit small. The new ones are 3 inches and give the stand a little more height and support. It turned out to be a really good idea because the stand is MUCH heavier now, so more rolling ability is helpful. Nothing really special about the wheels per say, they are just standard 3 inch casters purchased from Home Depot. Two of them have locks to prevent the stand from moving.
• Fixed HLT Stand (Picture 6):  the HLT burner stand used to be removable and secured with cleats, but because my new burner must be fixed so does the stand. To secure it I drilled holes through the bottom of the HLT stand and system stand, securing both together with decent sized bolts and locknuts. It is definitely securely fastened now, but it also makes the stand much heavier.

Picture 4	Picture 5	Picture 6

Next Brew Stand Update Post

In the next update post I am going to go over the control panel, panel mount, and panel wiring.