Here's our brewing station. We took a 6' stainless steel kitchen table and cut about 10" off the legs. We then added casters so that we can roll the entire station around the garage. We recently had 3 12" diameter holes cut into the table top. We mounted 3 Blichmann burners under the table in order to keep the center of gravity low.
On top of the table, we have a hot liquor tank (hot water), a mash tun, and boil kettle. We use pumps to transport the fluids around (water for mash/sparging, wart for boiling). We also have a plate chiller for cooling the wart down for fermentation.
First, here's our brewing table. With the 3 holes cut into it, the Blichmann burners can easily heat our Hot Liquor Tank, Mash Tun, and Boil Kettle.
Here, you can see all 3 vessels on the table. The pumps mounted at the bottom of the table are used to transfer wort between the Mash Tun and Boil Kettle. During the mash, we recirculate the wort from the bottom of the Mash Tun back to the top.
First, here's our brewing table. With the 3 holes cut into it, the Blichmann burners can easily heat our Hot Liquor Tank, Mash Tun, and Boil Kettle.
Here, you can see all 3 vessels on the table. The pumps mounted at the bottom of the table are used to transfer wort between the Mash Tun and Boil Kettle. During the mash, we recirculate the wort from the bottom of the Mash Tun back to the top.
That looks really good. I'm about to go to a horizontal system with pumps and was thinking along these lines. Is the table top sturdy enough to support the weight of the pots (full) or did you do some reinforcement? Any chance you'll post some more detailed pictures?
ReplyDeleteThis is awesome! Can you tell me how you mounted the burners? I'd love to see a picture of the underside. I'm looking for a SS Table to do the same thing.
ReplyDeleteYes, we did reinforce the table with additional 2" of metal support. Imagine a long rectangle with 2 shorter pieces welded between the pots, giving us 3 'squares' of metal support under the tabletop. The burners are mounted to the support brackets under the table.
ReplyDeleteWe also had to retrofit the table after this picture was taken. We added 2.5" risers near the burners to lift the pots off the table and provide more clearance for the burners. Prior to this the table top would overheat and warp. The additional clearance has solved this problem. We'll try to get some pictures up before our next brew session this weekend.
Regarding the risers, if the look at the first picture, you'll see 3 1" risers around each of the burners (slightly angled). We had to replace these with 3 2.5" risers to get the clearance we needed to dissipate the heat generated by the burners.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the updates. I was wondering about the heat on the table top. I'd like to hear about whether the extra height solved the issue. I was thinking that it might be helpful to find a way to mount something like the modular aluminum mount employed in the top tier sculpture. That way you could move the burners up and down as desired.
ReplyDeleteI think the s/s table is a great (and elegant) solution for a sculpture. I love the clean look.