After discussing replacing a fire escape that didn’t meet code, the customer, whom I did not recognize, asked “Can you make a cylinder?” “Sure,” I replied. “Out of stainless steel?” he questioned.
After a bit more discussion I showed him a stainless pot we had made that had never been claimed by the person who ordered it, hoping I might finally be able to gain some income from the work we had long ago completed.
“No. Bigger,” he explained.
And that’s how Ken Hebb and I started the discussion about fabricating the equipment for the brewery he was planning in the summer of 2012. The cylinders were actually 11 tanks, 10 to 15 feet tall, capable of holding about 1000 gallons of beer in various stages of production. And most of them had a heating or cooling jacket and insulation to regulate the temperature of its contents.
It took over a year to complete the 11 tanks for St. Lawrence Brewing. You can see tons (literally) of stainless plate transform into beautiful brewing equipment on this page in just minutes.
Here are a few pictures of the completed tanks:
Chris is tig welding the hatch in the mash tun.
