Brew stand metal gauge

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I'm going to be building a stand for my homebrew hobby. I'm having difficulty deciding on the metal thickness. This will be built out of 1.5" A36 square tube. I would like to use 16 gauge, but am concerned about warping around the burners. There will be two burners in my design, one on the top tier and one on the far right hand area. Using 15 gallon beer kegs as brew pots. What do you think? Is 16 gauge strong enough to support 10 or 12 gallons of water and the keg over a 90 minute brew session, without any warping? As an option, I'm considering using 11 gauge for the metal supporting the brewpots.Thanks for your feedback. Attached Images
Reply:Personally I'd use 1/8" but i love to overbuild stuff.  I also brew and I wouldn't want my 12 gal of scalding water on something that wasn't damn solid 46" off the ground.  I wouldn't be worried about warping, I'd be worried about the material not being rigid enough with that much weight.  Also, since I have a jack wagon yellow lab with only 1 eye who loves to run into everything I'd probably put some fold down outriggers since it's only 18" wide.  Probably overkill, but like I said if it fell over it could ruin expensive equipment and cover your driveway or wherever in sticky, hard to clean fluid. I'm excited to see how this turns out, I've been wanting to build one of these for a while now but haven't had the time.Millermatic 135Syncrowave 250
Reply:Hmmm, thanks for the feedback. I'll think about offsetting the casters on an outrigger. That would be easy to do and not get in the way I don't think. I'll check on the beer forums about the stability of a two tier as well. I'll post a build thread when I get to that point. Hopefully in May sometime.
Reply:I built a stand off of the Brutus 10 dimensions and used 11gThis is all I got because it was for someone else I didn't take any more photosI build a lot of stuff using 16g and I don't think I would use it for the stand.About 8lbs a gallon adds up quickly.Ed Conleyhttp://www.screamingbroccoli.com/MM252MM211 (Sold)Passport Plus & Spool gunLincoln SP135 Plus- (Gone to a good home)Klutch 120v Plasma cutterSO 2020 benderBeer in the fridge
Reply:Originally Posted by nicmertHmmm, thanks for the feedback. I'll think about offsetting the casters on an outrigger. That would be easy to do and not get in the way I don't think. I'll check on the beer forums about the stability of a two tier as well. I'll post a build thread when I get to that point. Hopefully in May sometime.
Reply:I should try to come up with a better drawing. I tried my hand at using Sketchup, but didn't do to well, so i just had to steal this one. I'll have my hot liquor tank on the elevated section, mash tun in the middle (using a cooler, so no burner) and my brew kettle on the far right. I have one march pump to pump liquid around. So just gravity into the mash using a fly sparge arm. I'll work up some sort of swing out support, I do think that would make it safer. Nice stand Ed, is that 2" stock? Steve
Reply:Originally Posted by nicmertI should try to come up with a better drawing. I tried my hand at using Sketchup, but didn't do to well, so i just had to steal this one. I'll have my hot liquor tank on the elevated section, mash tun in the middle (using a cooler, so no burner) and my brew kettle on the far right. I have one march pump to pump liquid around. So just gravity into the mash using a fly sparge arm. I'll work up some sort of swing out support, I do think that would make it safer. Nice stand Ed, is that 2" stock? Steve