Stand Wet Test

[D_Rabbit]

Sunday I did a test run with the new stand. Some things went well while others need some fine tuning.
- For some reason my keggles were draining 100%. Whenever the water went below the ball valve fitting I would lose my siphon. I spent about 2 hours trying to fix that and eventually think I did. I will test it again next weekend when I do another test on it.
- These burners put out some rediculous heat!! Brought 10 gallons of 80 degree water to 180 in 30 minutes. During the winter it will keep me nice and toasty in the garage even with the door wide open. I think I may move the burners up 1 notch to make it closer to the bottom of the keggle though. I think there was a lot of heat escaping around the bottom. That will allow me to lower the pressure on the gas line too.
- I need a keggle mash tun. It will be near impossible to mash in my cooler as it will melt. Also, it doesn't drain quick enough to use a pump which creates an issue. I was able to drain in to another, small pot, and dump that in to the boil keggle but not a fan of handling 160+ degree water in that fashion. This will need to be changed fast.
- I need to get my pump mounted to something fast. I don't like it mounted to the base as the burners make it incredibly hot and i'm worried it may damage the unit or melt the cord. I am thinking I will mount it to a wooden board and when I'm ready to transfer I can put the pump on the base and remove when needed.
- I like the outlet not mounted I think. One the pump is mounted I don't see there being a big issue like there was yesterday as the pump was moving all over the place and pulling the outlet with it. There was quite a bit of water spillage and heat. Both not really good for outlets with a plasic components.

Overall there were some good things and bad things from the test. Being a new system for me it will take some getting used to and some dialing in but I think a few more wet runs will resolve those issues. I don't see a brew day in the near future. It might be around mid july when I get my first batch on the new system.

[Dawg LB Steve]

That is a start each use comes with a bit more fine tuning till you get it down. Move the other burner to the middle and mash cooler where it is in the picture, use the other outside burner for your strike and sparge water, which will put your mash cooler far enough from the heat. When you are ready to start the boil you can have the mash cooler removed from the stand to start emptying grain from it. Could pick up something very similar to the stand material from McMaster Carr and put 2 from front to back for mounting the pump more solid and get the inlet inside the confines of the stand, your shins may thank you later for that.