Looking for example layouts of dedicated brewing spaces

Based on some conversation in another thread of mine, I've pretty much decided to try to build a dedicated brewing "outhouse" in my back yard.

Someone who owned my house previously had poured a nice 10x14 concrete pad within the last few decades, probalby had a shed on it, or maybe they parked a boat on it. Anyway, I should probalby see if I can figure out the thickness of the slap and whether or not it is reinforced, but I plan to build a brew building on this. For the sake of minimizing waste and making cutting easy on myself, I'll probably try to keep the dimensions of the building in multiples of 4 feet, so it may end up being 12x16. Or at least 12x14. I've pondered using a skid style foundation, lay 2 or 3 6x6 skids at the length of the building on this 10x14, since I've already checked the pad for level. I'll have to check with some construction experts or engineers on whether or not it's a good idea to have the skids hanging 1 foot past each end of the concrete.

I checked with my local building services dept, and a non-perm building under 200 sq ft doesn't need a permit, so at 12x16 I would be right under that limit. I would need permits to trench plumbing/electric, though.

So what I'm looking for between now and when I actually have money saved up to build is layouts. I know I'm not the first person to either build a dedicated homebrew building or have a dedicated homebrew room in a house, so if anyone wants to share their layouts, I'd be grateful. Just trying to get ideas of how I'll set everything up. Floor plan drawings, photos, napkin sketches, whatever you've got.

My goal is to keep as many brewing operations as possible in this building. This includes cleaning, brewing, fermenting, ageing, kegging/bottling. And drinking. I likely will have to move finished products out at some point, possibly at the bar inside the house which also doesn't yet exist, but if I have room to store several things on tap or in bottles within this building, that'd be great as well. I do plan to insulate the building and have some form of heating/cooling to keep the temp in an acceptable range for working and fermenting.


All pipedream at this point, but I'm trying to get the wheels turning fast enough to actually make something happen, and not let the coast and then stop again.

Thanks!

Nic

I guess I should start writing more concisely.

These are not mine, but they are dedicated brewing spaces and pretty damn nice:

http://www.hammersmithales.com/home.html **Click on the multimedia link once you are in this site.

http://www.homebrewersassociation.o...show?title=pimp-my-system-maxout-brew-station

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/maxout-brew-station-256435/

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/backyard-brewpub-126041/

Pick up a copy of BYO magazine, November 2012 Vol.18 No. 7 particularly. there is an in depth article on designing your home brewery that will be of great help and ideas for you. Brew Your Own magazine makes past copies available for purchase on line unless you are already a subscriber of course
http://byo.com/store/backissues

Good Luck!

An incredible job has been done here.
http://www.theelectricbrewery.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=25593&highlight=basement

Lots of discussion on layout and such.

duboman said:

Pick up a copy of BYO magazine, November 2012 Vol.18 No. 7 particularly. there is an in depth article on designing your home brewery that will be of great help and ideas for you. Brew Your Own magazine makes past copies available for purchase on line unless you are already a subscriber of course
http://byo.com/store/backissues

Good Luck!

Click to expand...

http://byo.com/store/backissues/201...age=flypage.tpl&product_id=159&category_id=28

That one?

limulus said:

These are not mine, but they are dedicated brewing spaces and pretty damn nice:

http://www.hammersmithales.com/home.html **Click on the multimedia link once you are in this site.

http://www.homebrewersassociation.o...show?title=pimp-my-system-maxout-brew-station

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/maxout-brew-station-256435/

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/backyard-brewpub-126041/

Click to expand...

Scoooooooore thanks! I think I'm going to drool. And maybe cry because nothing I make in the next couple of years will be as awesome as this stuff. But still great info!

Huaco said:

An incredible job has been done here.
http://www.theelectricbrewery.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=25593&highlight=basement

Lots of discussion on layout and such.

Click to expand...

Good info, thanks!

Nic0 said:

http://byo.com/store/backissues/2012-back-issues?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=159&category_id=28

That one?

Click to expand...

Yup!

duboman said:

Yup!

Click to expand...

Score. I'll pick that up. Looks like I also should probably subscribe to it.

Thanks again!

All of the above posts have identified some amazing systems, and brew spaces.

However, what I am seeing are all automated systems, with pumps and computers.

While I am not ready to reveal my garage build. I am trying to go a completely different direction. Old School.

Better check local building code again... plumbing usually means a permanent structure.
Scenario: You build a structure not quite to code (lack of foundation for example).
You pull a permit to run utilities.
They come out to inspect, and bam... red tag.

acidrain said:

Better check local building code again... plumbing usually means a permanent structure.
Scenario: You build a structure not quite to code (lack of foundation for example).
You pull a permit to run utilities.
They come out to inspect, and bam... red tag.

Click to expand...

I will certainly doule check for permitting requirements for everything before I start construction. But I won't even be doing that until I decide on a layout and have some money to spend.

If I have to get permits, I have to get permits. I'm wanting to build a portable building not to get around permitting but to make it actually portable should I ever move again. I already know for a fact I'll need permits to run the underground utilities.

Grossy said:

...However, what I am seeing are all automated systems, with pumps and computers.

While I am not ready to reveal my garage build. I am trying to go a completely different direction. Old School.

Click to expand...

Oldschool is cool. I'm a nerd, and certain technology is nice to have. BUt I'll probalby have some aspect of oldschoolness. But the technology I have will hopefully be home made. A completely automated brewery would be boring, the fun of it is actually doing something, not pressing a button that says "Make Beer" and in a month it goes "Ding!" and you have beer ready to drink.

I may use thermostats, possibly computer controlled, but I'll still have to do work. And if I have a pump, I may end up making it instead of buying it.

duboman said:

Pick up a copy of BYO magazine, November 2012 Vol.18 No. 7 particularly. there is an in depth article on designing your home brewery that will be of great help and ideas for you. Brew Your Own magazine makes past copies available for purchase on line unless you are already a subscriber of course
http://byo.com/store/backissues

Good Luck!

Click to expand...

I ordered this back issue (unforutnately not on sale, so I paid 8 bucks including shipping. BUt to make up for it ordered a FREE trial issue (should be the Jan/Feb 2013, so I'll be waiting a few weeks) and if I like these I shall subscribe!

Here are a couple of pics. of mine. I included a pic of my bar and 4 tap matching keezer. I also included a pic of my brewery in progress, which is located in the basement in my mechanical room adjacent to my bar. I sort of created an assembly line of brewing with a grain storage bin to the far left, then a motorized grain mill, then the brewing station, then the ss sink with pre-rinse faucet, then the ale chamber, then the later chamber, and then a cold storage room, which you can't see in the pic. I also have a stainless steel table that will serve as an island (not pictured) and a wall full of shelving on the wall opposite to the brewery for equipment storage. It's drywalled and the cement board is up at this point, but as I said, it's still a work in progress. Let me know if you have any questions.....and good luck!

Being a woodworker, I have made a few bars in my day, and yours is awesome. Love those live edges!!!

Three things to think about:

1. Floor drain
2. Floor drain
3. Floor drain

patthebrewer said:

Being a woodworker, I have made a few bars in my day, and yours is awesome. Love those live edges!!!

Click to expand...

Thanks! I found the redwood slabs in northern CA through a company called Artisan Burlwood. I really wanted a large wood slab bar with live edges and finally I found Jim at A.B. He gave me a fantastic deal on the bar top, so I got the countertop behind the bar as well. I'm in Michigan, so I had to build a lot of trust in Jim, but once he took it upon himself to rough and finish sand the pieces and sent me before and after pics., I was comfortable with the purchase. The only issue is that redwood is really soft, so despite 5 coats of conversion varnish, it still dents easily.....oh well, gives it more character I suppose. Someday I may strip it, sand it down again, and then use 2 step epoxy for the finish, but I was trying to avoid the thick glassy look and go with something a little more natural looking. My dad has a lot of red cedar on his property, which paired nicely with the redwood, so overall I'm happy with it.


+1 on the floor drain. I have one in my brewery and wouldn't have built the brewery down there without one.....just can't see it in the pic.

Hoppopotomus said:

Here are a couple of pics. of mine. I included a pic of my bar and 4 tap matching keezer. I also included a pic of my brewery in progress, which is located in the basement in my mechanical room adjacent to my bar. I sort of created an assembly line of brewing with a grain storage bin to the far left, then a motorized grain mill, then the brewing station, then the ss sink with pre-rinse faucet, then the ale chamber, then the later chamber, and then a cold storage room, which you can't see in the pic. I also have a stainless steel table that will serve as an island (not pictured) and a wall full of shelving on the wall opposite to the brewery for equipment storage. It's drywalled and the cement board is up at this point, but as I said, it's still a work in progress. Let me know if you have any questions.....and good luck!

Click to expand...

That's awesome. Mine will probably not look that nice. At least not in the beginnings. I'll probably go for function and if there's any money left, make it look nice. At least on the inside. I'll have to make the outside look half decent to prevent it from being an eyesore to the neighborhood since mine will be an outbuilding. And I have a lot smaller space to work with probably.

I may pester you every now and then!

One quick question now... are there burners under some or all of your keggles there? Or is that just a stainless steel shelf with kegs? I just assumed they were keggles because it appears there is an exhaust intake right above them...which I also plan to have.

ajdelange said:

Three things to think about:

1. Floor drain
2. Floor drain
3. Floor drain

Click to expand...

Yes... all 3 of those are high on my list of wants... based on the amount of stuff I typically get on the floor during a brew session. And while we're talking about floors... Can anyone recommend a durable, low slip floor type that's easy to clean? And preferably inexpensive? And relatively easy to put down? And made of gold?

Ok scratch that last one.

My system will be 100% electric.......inspired by Kal at www.electricbrewery.com. The ventilation hood is to vent out steam and exhaust odor.....not carbon monoxide from burning propane. I,m sick of cooking over propane and would be very hesitant about doing so in an enclosed space....even with a vent hood. I routinely brew in my garage with propane in the winter and with the garage door partially open and my back service door open for cross ventilation I have had several instances where I didn't feel too well from the fumes. With it being in my basement, I'm only comfortable with a well designed and well built electric system. The kegs on the table will be my brewing vessels. I have most of the components, just need to find time to knock out the keggle conversions. I will be using 5500 W heating elements in the HLT and BK. The MLT will maintain mash temp. via a HERMs coil in the HLT. Any qustions....just drop me a line, I'm happy to help anyway that I can.

Hoppopotomus said:

I will be using 5500 W heating elements in the HLT and BK. The MLT will maintain mash temp. via a HERMs coil in the HLT. Any qustions....just drop me a line, I'm happy to help anyway that I can.

Click to expand...

So two 23 amp circuits (assuming 240V)? But I guess unless you're making batch after batch after batch you probalby won't be running both at once?

I like Gas and wanted to run NG line to mine, but haven't completely ruled out electric yet. It just seems like all the controllers I've seen for electric brewing is unreasonably expensive. Maybe I'm shopping in the wrong places!?

My house is pretty old (100 years) and although it's had some updates to the electric system in teh past few decades (no more fuse panels, breaker boxes... yes, more than one... technically one is a sub panel), I think it would still probably need some work to have that kind of a load on my box, unless I tell the wife to leave the house for a few hours. It might be a 60 Amp load center. I'll have to check again now. I think the incoming wire from the utility company is rated for plenty more than that, though. I asked them if I could put a 200 amp panel in and they said if the wire to the weatherhead was too small, they would replace it; of course I would have to replace everything from the weather head down.

Thoughts on that?

I built a Kal Control panel for my brewery. It is a "Back-to-Back" panel with 50 Amp GFCI service. I can heat both keggles at the same time. It is really great because I can fill the HLT to cover my HERMS coil and also heat strike water in the BK. I just pump from my BK with calibrated sight glass to the MLT when it is time to dough-in. BTW, I am running 4500W elements instead of the 5500W.

Huaco said:

I built a Kal Control panel for my brewery. It is a "Back-to-Back" panel with 50 Amp GFCI service. I can heat both keggles at the same time. It is really great because I can fill the HLT to cover my HERMS coil and also heat strike water in the BK. I just pump from my BK with calibrated sight glass to the MLT when it is time to dough-in. BTW, I am running 4500W elements instead of the 5500W.

Click to expand...

So you made your controller from scratch...meaning you bought relays, thermocouple wire, and made a thermostat? Not sure what "Kal" is.

Whether I understood you correctly or not.... how bad did it dent the pocketbook?

I bought the 50A Back to Back kit from TheElectricBrewery.com

http://www.theelectricbrewery.com/control-panel

Yes, it is a pretty good ding to the 'ol pocket book. Just depends on what your budget is.

Here is a shot of my brew space in the garage. As "dedicated" as I can get right now since I am renting. It was enough for me to go rogue and have the 240 service installed... I'm not going to start building permanent installations. Since this picture was taken, I have moved in my fermentation chest freezer just to the left of my brew stand an control panel. I plan to ferment in 15 gallon malt drums and use pumps to pump wort into the drums and CO2 pressure to push the finished beer out and into kegs.

Holy crap. Maybe some day if I have a commercial brewery!

And that controller is half the size of your house!

....time to hit the electric brewery forum for more ideas.

Come on over there man. I go by the same screen name there as well. The great thing about Kal's system is that it is all 'off the shelf' items. Nothing proprietary in this brewery at all. Some guys build very simple versions of the panels, some go all out with stainless enclosures and tables, sinks, vent hoods... I am about in the middle with my setup.

acidrain said:

Better check local building code again... plumbing usually means a permanent structure.
Scenario: You build a structure not quite to code (lack of foundation for example).
You pull a permit to run utilities.
They come out to inspect, and bam... red tag.

Click to expand...

You're right, brewing is a hobby that often involves running plumbing and electrics, and code should be followed.

That being said, there is often a way around code. For example he may be able to run a free standing (or even attached to the outside of the building) hose faucet. Then its just a matter of running a food safe house to whatever sink, or distribution manifold the brewing rig is using.