Home of the BrewNosers

Stumbled across this while looking for gear for my first BIAB adventure. Might be helpful. Canadian tire sells same thing for $10.00 more. In the CDN Tire reviews one says the sh_ts while a whole bunch say good pulley system. Maybe worth a look to save the arms when hoisting out the brew bag.

Food for thought.
Stoker

http://www.princessauto.com/pal/product ... ulley-Lift" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

hmm, a full carboy is probably more than 50lbs... I'm thinking of putting in a pulley lift system above my keezer for the odd time I want to lager. I think I need something a little stronger though.

I'm thinking that either of you could maybe rig something up with a come along:

http://www.canadiantire.ca/AST/browse/6 ... ?locale=en" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

how do you control the descent? I picture the whole thing crashing down once the lever is released

bluenose wrote:how do you control the descent? I picture the whole thing crashing down once the lever is released

That's a good point, hadn't thought that far ahead.

Yes, a full carboy is a bit more than 50lbs. But I'd bet it's not enough more to really be a problem. Those hooks look like the most likely point of failure

I had a beautiful system hooked up in my wine cellar in the last place I owned. Three levels of shelves, a pulley hanging from a barn-door slider, and a boat-trailer winch. I could pick up a 5-gallon carboy and place it on any part of the 8' shelf (upper shelves were removable so that you could lower through them to the lower levels.

1 litre of water weighs 1 kg or 2.2 lbs
therefore a 23 litre batch of water weighs 50.6 lbs
wort is a little denser than water, but you're still pretty close

I think they err on the side of caution when they rate the strength on things

bluenose wrote:1 litre of water weighs 1 kg or 2.2 lbs
therefore a 23 litre batch of water weighs 50.6 lbs
wort is a little denser than water, but you're still pretty close

I think they err on the side of caution when they rate the strength on things

...and an empty carboy weighs? Enough to put it well over 50lbs.

I was thinking white bucket, but yeah carboy puts it definitely over the top

this system would just be for lifting the bag full of spent grain and the liquid trapped in them. so for a 23l batch you're looking at 10lb of grain and probably 15lb of water. so this lift *would* work. Probably cheaper to buy a few pulleys and some climbing rope and rig your own though. Probably worth over building it too, cause cleaning up steaming hot grain and sticky wort sucks.

bluenose wrote:I was thinking white bucket, but yeah carboy puts it definitely over the top

Well, I don't lift plastic pails more than once - fill them from the brew kettle (or grape press), then lift them to a shelf to brew, but we often have wine in 5 gallon carboys for years, so they tend to get moved around a lot.

If you're lifting pails by the handle, I pretty much expect the handle to be the first point of failure. I really wouldn't worry about a 50lb hoist for that.

I exchanged a few ideas with GuingesRock earlier I put together a tripod with 2X4's. A few pictures attached.

It supports my weight so a bag of grain isn't going to break it.

I used the top of a primary bucket as a template for the 3/4 inch plywood circle then screwed (from above) and glued three C-shaped leg mounts at 120 degrees to each other to the bottom. The legs meet the C-shaped mounts at 60 and 30 degrees (I think) and sit flush with 90 degree angle in the mount.

Three bolts hold the legs to the top and it comes apart fairly easily.

Nice work!

Ha. Thanks, it really was easy to put together.

Very neat and well made. If it was painted and had a large model of a mug of beer sitting on the top platform, it would make it a nice landmark for a proud home brewer to have outside his house . The washing line post behind it makes me wonder if a hangman's gallows sort of setup might work too, not high enough I know, and the neighbours are probably already wondering what you are up to

Not a bad idea. I mean the landmark part. ha. The legs are 10' 2X4's so it's around 8 or 8.5' tall. I thought about doing the yardarm thing you mentioned using that post but you're right it isn't quite high enough. And ya one neighbor was staring at it pretty hard already. I didn't explain it to him, I'll let him stew on it a while.

I like it. Are they 8' 2x4?

Sandy

They're 10 foot 2x4's so it's plenty tall over the burner and kettle.

Ottiscan, Is that your greenhouse? have you brewed in there when the weather is bad?

That is actually my woodshed. It drys firewood out amazingly. I do use it to harden of transplants in the spring, it's full of wood at the moment.

I will be using it to brew in since there will be room in there when I move some wood inside.

I posted a few more pics in the do it yourself section, thinking that might be a good spot for the tripod pictures.

Here's a couple pics of the woodshed. It's a bow-roof shed made from a design from Stimson Marine in Maine. Very inexpensive to put up and uses 1X4 strapping to make the arches. Very strong.
It faces south so the wood heats up and the hot air vents out the top drawing cool air in the bottom. It is 9' tall at the center and plenty of room for doing a brew.
Cheers

Looks great! Maybe another one for a brew house for the winter?

Nice building! Have you seen anybody using them as greenhouses?

Hey Mr. X

They are used as greenhouses quite often. Here's where I got the plans,

http://www.by-the-sea.com/stimsonmarine/bowroof.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

If you google search bow roof sheds there's lots of them out there.

Ottiscan...sorry I get a bit bored at work sometimes I was wondering if you rounded the tops of those 2x4s, if the legs could be folded in for easy stowing, like a camera tripod, when not in use, to save having to undo the bolts each time. I suppose then you might need spikes on the feet or ropes between the legs or something to stop the legs splaying.