Time to build the brew hut! Any ideas?

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EdWort

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Ok,

SWMBO has issued the ultimatum. I HAVE to build a brew hut and clear out all my stuff from the garage, kitchen, & living room.

I'm looking for ideas & help. Here are my wants in the brew hut.

I've got about 15' w x20' L to work with in the front yard. I want room for a poker table & bar, two chest freezers & a fridge. I want a cold storage room too.

I also want to brew rain, snow, shine, hot or cold.

I'm going to build this myself and post pics in a new thread for the DIY section.

SWMBO wants it needs to look like this.

MyBrewHut.jpg




This will be a work in progress, so let the ideas begin!
 
Are you laying a slap?

Do you have a decent budget?
If so I'd build from prefab components. Plenty of good options on the market.
All pre insulated.
 
orfy said:
Are you laying a slap?

Do you have a decent budget?
If so I'd build from prefab components. Plenty of good options on the market.
All pre insulated.

What's laying a slap mean? Not being a smartass, I just want to know. Hope to build my own brewhut someday.
 
I think he meant to type slab.

Wish I were in a financial postition where my SWMBO could order me to build a brewhouse.....
 
I couldn't agree more. There are tons of prefab sheds out there, and you really can't save money doing it yourself especially with the extra time invested. How about used central air components for the chill room, after it's assembled it doesn't cost much to have a service come out and fill the freon (I saved a ton when I replaced my home's A/C by myself. there was a leak, so I didn't even have to get anyone to evacuate it before I started). Ask yourself if you really want a service bar, or just a serving and drinking area which could be smaller, giving you more room for the brewing area. Otherwise make the bar include fold out shelves and such to make racking and bottling easier. Design racks for empty carboys, buckets, etc. I guess I'm saying make things adaptable to the different things youll be doing in there instead of completely separating areas. arrange exact plans for electricity water and sewage before you start..... That's all the ideas i have at the moment.

BTW I'm jealous
 
EdWort said:
I'm looking for ideas & help. Here are my wants in the brew hut.

I've got about 15' w x20' L to work with in the front yard. I want room for a poker table & bar, two chest freezers & a fridge. I want a cold storage room too.

This will be a work in progress, so let the ideas begin!
Before finalizing your plans, I think you should do a preliminary build in another location. Just to work the ergonomics out, and make sure the water, drains, electrical, gas hookups, etc are placed correctly. After all, you'll be using this space for many years, so you want to get it right.

Come to think of it, I happen to have a 15' x 20' spot open in the backyard. When shall I expect you?
 
I'm not laying a slab. It'll be pier & beam (no permit needed then). I can't get a pre-fab unit the size I want where I want without cutting down some Live Oaks, so I'm looking at building it myself.

Good thought on the service bar. I want taps coming through the wall of the cold room with perhaps a 36" wide nook for a bar.

My budget is $4K so far.

No sewage needed. I'm putting in a french drain just for the sink when I rinsing kegs & carboys.

Fold out shelves sound good as well as racks for carboys & cornies.

I'm not a carpenter, but I'll be buying some books at Lowe's this weekend.
 
I'm not sure about brewhuts, but I'm pretty sure the first step is to buy SWMBO something very nice. :D

Have you checked out Jamil Z's brewshed? There isn't a ton of info on there, but it can give you a little more on the dimensions he has, the AC, etc.

Good luck!
 
I've seen Jamil's shed, thanks. He's part of the inspriation for a cold room, along with John Beere.

SWMBO will be getting a kitchen remodel in our old house some time in Spring and there's no way she'll let me brew in there once that's done.
 
I'd opt for a new 2 car garage that'll double as a brew house and whatever else you want to host.

In the summer time you can open both bay doors or just get one large one.

To keep the flies out you can do as they do in Mexico and hang baggies filled with water over the entrances. The sunlight reflects off the water and the flies multifacted eyes mutiply the sunlight so they stay away. ;)
 
A two car detached garage is another project in this money pit :D

We've got a bit of room too. The house is smack in the middle.

Property.JPG


The property is about 800 ft. long. This was taken during last year's drought, so the horse pasture is brown on the hill. It's back to being green now.
 
Ed....I'm jealous. Therefore, you suck:mug:

Take a look at these plans, theres many http://www.designer-shed-plans.com/

I'm going to build this one for my woodshop this spring http://www.designer-shed-plans.com/2325.htm I may try to incorporate a brew area in it, but its going to be mainly for woodwork. Not sure if the two would be compatible.

One thing I would want in my hypothetical brew shed would be a self draining tiled floor. That way when I spill on it, I can just hose it off. Also, all my countertops would be able to be hosed off, so slight angle to the self draining floor.
 
If you bottle at all, maybe a deep closet for conditioning. You could keep your other brew stuff in there too with hanging space for tubes, etc. How about a closet sharing a wall with the chill room as a lager closet. Restraunt style hood for the boiling area. Floor drain for "spilled milk". And make sure the floor is above the elevation of the surrounding terrain to reduce the risk of flooding. I'm sure I'll think of more when I'm trying to fall asleep tonight.
 
homebrewer_99 said:
To keep the flies out you can do as they do in Mexico and hang baggies filled with water over the entrances. The sunlight reflects off the water and the flies multifacted eyes mutiply the sunlight so they stay away. ;)

We do that in Texas too ;)

How about a wrap around porch and something like this on the side of the hut?

DCP_5680SM.jpg


That way you could brew in the rain...plus it doesn't get that cold in Austin. I'd rather brew outside and have more room for fermenters/cold room inside

Either way you suck Ed :p
 
I'm assuming you're running permanent plumbing and electricity out to your hut. I'd want a utility sink (at a minimum), if not a nice big sink for the bar. Then, I'd include at least 100A service with a half dozen-ish 120V circuits, and one or two 220V circuits (keep the options open, even if you don't have any 220V toys...yet). If there's have natural gas service at the house, I'd definitely consider running a line to the brew hut (probably requires a permit, though...).

The cold room is an AWESOME idea - maybe you could have two sections - one for fermenting, and one for serving/storage. If you got crafty, you could run both sections on a single refrigeration unit, and just use a fan on a thermostat to circulate air from the cold side to the "warm" side.
 
Cheesefood said:
Build one semi-underground. That'd be cool. A subterranean with good ventillation.

Too many rocks in Texas....basements are unheard of down here

Would be cool though :D
 
homebrewer_99 said:
This is not quite 1/2 of my back yard.

I wouldn't know where to put a brewhut since there's already a single car garage back there.... :drunk:
Single tractor garage....???
 
Based on the photo of what your SWMBO would like, as compared with your $4k budget, you will have a lot of compromises to make. Personally, if possible I'd try to bump the budget, go through with the permiting process, pour a slab, and move along from there --- even if it meant that the "shed" was going to be a work in process for a couple or more years, once you get the shell and roof on, you can move your stuff out of SWMBO's way, and then take your time with completing the details.

Another suggestion -- if you could make one very very large room by using trussing or laminate beams, etc., you'd have flexibility to put up dividing walls or 1/2 high walls wherever you want, and it could be changed later (say if you move and the next buyer has visions of a cabana vs. a brew hut...).
I do like the wrap around porch idea, too!
 
When you purchase your A/c unit, get one that will come back on by itself after a power interruption. I learned this the hard way. The new A/C units have digital settings, when the power goes off and comes back on they will not restart by themselfs. You have to manual hit the power botton to turn them back on.

The old style units had a trun knob, when the electricty comes back on they come back on by themselves.

It's not good to come home and find your fermentables running 90 -100 degrees.
 
I'd incorporate the ability to be able to hose down your brew area. When I do my shed, it will definitely have tile floors (at least the part I do most of the brewing?cleaning activities in) WITH a floor drain. I love the idea of being able to bleach down the area and then hose it off with a good rinse.

Definitely make a cold box, and definitely plan a good plumbing system.
 
Ed, I'm a pretty good carpenter (finished three basements, built four decks, added on a garage extension, built a four seasons room).

If I were closer I'd come down and help. As I'm not...my suggestion would be to find a freind who's handy with a hammer and get them to "prime" your project by coming over and helping to get things started.

If not, it might be worthwhile to find a freelance carpenter looking to work for cash (should be easy to find given the new home building market right now) and have them help/guide you.

Spending an extra $1,000 in expertise and labor help might help you stretch that $4,000 out quite a bit, and avoid a $1,500 mistake...

Good luck buddy.
 
I personally would build a 5 foot or something over hang to brew under. I don't know if I would put the system inside. If you deside to have the taps come out of the wall I would make the "serving" side big enough for lagering beer too. A door between them would result in less condensation on the frame as compared to two doors to the rest of the room. I put a little sketch together off of what you wanted based off of your comments and my ideas.

179-edworts.bmp


If you want I could go into more detail with the drawing for you to go off of. This is just a basic sketch. BTW the left is the porch which I included in the 20' long. The right is the over hang for the brewing equipment from which you could have an opening or coupler to pump beer from the kettle to the fermenter already in the fermentation area. The two on the top are the serving and fermentation areas from left to right. That would give you about 4 feet of tap area on the wall for the bar. The large area is about 10' by 15' big enough for almost anything.
 
Now I know that things in Texas are fairly less expencive than here in California but I dont see all that for 4 grand. I have done a bunch of remodels and a tun of building in my short time in this life BUT just to build a say 20 x 20 room for brewing with electrical probably 100 amp service is enough (maybe 60 but why push it ) and some plumbing on a raised foundation wothout permits ( I hear ya there) your looking at 7 to 10,000 out here and thats doing it yourself and doing it right. I am just assuming your going to put a washable floor and good lighting and ventalation. Just some thoughts on you budget. I spent 2500 remodeling garage into a brewery and I already had the structure in place. 2x4's,sheetrock, wire, boxes and switches are expencive not to mention the roof and windows doors etc. I have put a bunch of stuff together like this so if you need some advice or help let me know.
good luck with the build its a dream for many.
cheers
JJ
 
EdWort said:
I'm not laying a slab. It'll be pier & beam (no permit needed then). I can't get a pre-fab unit the size I want where I want without cutting down some Live Oaks, so I'm looking at building it myself.

I know chopping down healthy trees is something a lot of people aren't comfortable with but could you not go ahead and then plant a few oak saplings somewhere else on the property, for good karma.

Seems like it would save you a bunch of hassle and allow you to get a prefab.

Anyway good luck with the project.
 
I can't decide on the foundation vs pier thing. Having the shed off the ground helps prevent mold/mildew problems. Plus having shade trees is a big plus in my book. While you're at the hardware store, look around at all the lumber. Prices have gone up a lot around here, while the quality is going down a bit. You may find the budget impact of this to be quite a bit if you haven't built anything in the last couple years.
 
Check out that site. They sell pre-cut kits as well as the pre-assembled. The pre-cut type would help you avoid cutting down any trees. Definitely worth investigation
 
EdWort said:
I've got about 15' w x20' L to work with in the front yard. I want room for a poker table & bar, two chest freezers & a fridge. I want a cold storage room too.

I just sont see there being enough room in a 15'x20' shed for all of that and a stripper pole. I mean...the guys need some kind of entertainment on poker nights between rounds of Hold 'em besides just great beer.

Something you might think about is talking to an AC guy about an old unit. They pull residential/commercial units that still work all the time. My Grandfather used to own a small grocery store. He picked up a 20 ton unit that was just over 6 months old for only $300. It was pulled from a business that had added on and needed a bigger ac system. You can get ac stuff cheap if you just ask and have the time to wait for a good deal to come along. Get an overkill unit and you could brew in comfort in the middle of August with refrigerated air.
 
Wow, some great ideas! Thanks! I think I'll get some professional help to get it framed out. I still need to work on the interior layout.

SWMBO wants to put in our Eckbank set we brought back from Germany. It's similar in style to this, but the seats are padded.

Landhaus%20Eckbank5.jpg

It'll be the Stammtich where cards can be played, beer drunk, on the long side, you can pass out if needed. :D
 
Jim Karr said:
Ed, please elaborate on "the french drain".

A drainage hole in the ground filled with gravel. Just for rinse water from the sink. It beats just pouring it on the ground.
 
I know when you do it yourself you can do it a a bunch cheaper but I think 4K is not enough. I built a 3,800 sf house "slap" and all for about 120K but that was before materials went up so much. I have 2,500sf of wood ceilings, wood and tile floors, wood windows and very nice fixtures. I did all of the work myself including the CAD drawings and even the cabinets so you can see it is very much less expensive to DIY. Also put in a small basement.

This will be a good excuse to buy more toys such as nail guns, compressors and saws.
I hope to see you next weekend so If I remember we can talk about it.
 
Here's mine, it's 16x16 has a 60 amp box (wish it was 100) no plumbing. My best friend, myself and my sons built it and a lot of the wood was free and I have about $2500.00 in it. Go to my gallery and you can see some shots of the inside.
1332-P1010050.JPG


And we had a ball building it!!!!
 
Are you planning any HVAC for it like a window unit?
 
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