Brew-Magic Basement Brewery

OK, this my first post to HBT. Been brewing for seven years now, mostly AG using coolers. We bought a larger house that has a full basement, so I now can dedicate some space for a brew room.

As you can see, the cornerstone of the operation will be the Brew-Magic system which I purchased this summer. After a few brews with it on the back patio, I moved it downstairs once winter kicked-in. I had spent countless hours researching what setup I wanted (build a BRUTUS, electric, just buy the Brew-Magic frame and do the rest myself, etc.). But, decided the best way for me to proceed once considering my DIY skill level and time, was to buy a system (I cannot weld or do advanced electrical). Choose to go with SABCO since I live in Ohio and could go pick it up to avoid freight. And, I really believe it is an excellent setup.

Choose this part of the basement since it has a floor drain and a tie-in to the main drain line. Also, has a window, is close to plumbing and gas lines. On the down side, the HVAC is also located here, which will complicate the ventilation a little.

I have been looking for used SS vent hoods, but most of what I find at restaurant auctions is either the wrong size, or has Ansul already built in and are pricey. My father-in-law has a farm in Kansas and his neighbor does some SS work, so sent him the specs. and waiting for him to get back to me on cost. Plan is to mount the hood on the joist on the back wall, use an inline fan mounted between the joists and cut a hole behind it to vent right to the back of the house. But, with the HVAC in the same area, I will most likely need to rig some type of make-up air. In addition, there is a lot of wiring running right where I would need to mount the duct and fan. So, still some things to work out.

As for other amenities, I want to find a used commercial SS double or triple bowl sink and maybe an SS table. I keep looking at closed restaurant auctions, and I will find the right one at some point.

I was also thinking of a used commercial fridge for lagering, and maybe build a closet to use for fermentation. But, have not worked all that out yet.

Anyway, I know this is a long post, but if anyone has any suggestions or idea's on what you would do, it would sure be appreciated.

My advice would be to contact Brew Magic to see what they recommend for CFM to ensure no health risks... then your local town to ensure you are up to code. That's my nickel.

Yeah, and if you're dead-set on running a gas setup indoors, I'd get several CO detectors in addition to a good ventilation solution. A lot of those burners are designed pretty inefficiently (meaning throw a lot of CO) assuming that people will be using them outdoors.

Try a local heating and cooling shop for an exhaust hood and ventilation help. The company I work for makes hoods quite often for various ventilation projects. Good luck.

Thanks for the info folks. SABCO's web page says the system is rated for indoor commercial use, but they recommend checking with you local fire codes. They do not recommend any specific vent setup or CFM's. I even spoke to Bob Sulier when I went to pick it up and asked him about it. He basically said the same thing, which I understand why.

Speaking of the visit, it was really neat. Bob took me on a quick tour of the shop, then he brought me into the conference room where a system was set up. Walked me through the basic process and components. Really nice guy, even showed me a prototype they were working on. Guys in the shop seemed to really enjoy working there. They loaded it in the minivan for me and off I went, smiling the whole way back to Columbus.

Anyways, I know that proper ventilation is the most critical phase in setting up a basement brewery using an NG appliance like this. So, I am taking my time and will make sure it is right.

And as you mentioned, make up air is also critical, especially given the cfm's you'll be moving. Looking at your furnace I assume your water heater is gravity draft also. Without make up air you'll suck those combustion gasses right out of the appliances.

Beach

beach said:

And as you mentioned, make up air is also critical, especially given the cfm's you'll be moving. Looking at your furnace I assume your water heater is gravity draft also. Without make up air you'll suck those combustion gasses right out of the appliances.

Beach

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Absolutely Beach. Once I get the hood, fan and speed control installed, I will start experimenting with the air flow and see how how bad the vacuum is. Most likely, I will need a second inline fan to provide the make-up. So, my thinking right now is to fabricate a panel that will replace the window screen. Panel will have a connection to an insulated PVC pipe or duct that will carry the fresh air along the top of the wall and down below the brew rig. I need to devise a way to diffuse the air under the rig so a nice wide column of fresh air rises up, taking the fumes and moisture out through the hood. But, it cannot disrupt the burners. The diffuser will need to have a quick disconnect so it can be stored when not in use. The goal is to provide adequate make-up air while still leaving the room comfortable in in winter and summer.

Added a big-ass used commercial sink from Craig's list. Thing is almost nine feet long.

See I've thought about going with gas indoors as I have a natural gas line I can splice into without issue. It just has an end cap on it, but I'm very concerned about the ventilation issues. Don't really feel like blowing my house off it's foundation. lol

BIGREDIOWAN said:

See I've thought about going with gas indoors as I have a natural gas line I can splice into without issue. It just has an end cap on it, but I'm very concerned about the ventilation issues. Don't really feel like blowing my house off it's foundation. lol

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Yeah, that would be a bad day.

The problem with venting a system like this is finding a hood big enough for a decent price. Almost all of the used hoods are Type I, that are used for grease. Which is perfectly fine to use brewing, it's just many of them have fire suppression systems built-in, or are huge. So, the used prices for a type I hood are close enough to a new type II hood (condensate) to where you can't justify buying used.

I have contacted a couple of welding shops and I am waiting to hear back. Well see, maybe I will get lucky on CG.

You might try a sheetmetal shop and have them fabricate a hood. I used sheet metal for mine and coated it in a few layers of copper colored rustoleum. It has a hydroponic fan venting straight outdoors. The hood only ran 105 bucks. The fan was about 130 and the piping and paint added another 30. Not too out of line.

cowgo said:

You might try a sheetmetal shop and have them fabricate a hood. I used sheet metal for mine and coated it in a few layers of copper colored rustoleum. It has a hydroponic fan venting straight outdoors. The hood only ran 105 bucks. The fan was about 130 and the piping and paint added another 30. Not too out of line.

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That looks pretty good. Any issues with condensation dripping down from the hood or building-up in the piping?

scratchy1971 said:

That looks pretty good. Any issues with condensation dripping down from the hood or building-up in the piping?

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No, that fan has a lot of suck to it. Haven't had an issue with condensation. The hood extends out a couple inches past the pot all around so if there was condensation it would drip outside the pot.

As you can see in the pic, I have two ceiling bath fans above the pot too. They give 200 cfm, but cause crazy condensation. I did those initially because I have a low ceiling. Didn't pan out. I saw where a couple other HBT'ers had a cone hood atop their pot and I can tell you, it works very well.

Ok, made a hood out of 1 inch foam board and attached a 600 cfm fan to the side. It vents quite nicely and does not draw any air down the HVAC flues. Done several hours of testing and no carbon monoxide levels have been detected.

Sink is hooked-up, and I added a table along with a wire rack.

First brew session with be this Saturday, doing a Black IPA and an Unfiltered Wheat. Cannot wait!

That is one sexy beast! Love the solution for the vent hood. With all that air moving around and all the floaties (wild yeast, bacteria, etc), have you thought about how you will transfer from the kettle to your fermenter? I'd recommend some type of closed system to make sure they don't get into your wort. Let us know how the brew day goes.

Yeah, it is mostly closed. I'm using a Chill Wizard into a 10 gal. conical.

Everything on Sat. went well, except my Black IPA was lower in gravity then expected. I screwed-up the amount of water needed and dilluted it, but still tasted nice going into the fermenter. Definitly need a good shop vac going forward, since lifting these keggles gets old pretty quick. Overall, it was a good first batch in the new brewery.

Ok, so this has been a great thread for me. A friend and I also have a Brew Magic. We area also looking to move it indoors to a basement. Michigan winters can be brutal. A couple of questions:

Are you using propane or natural gas?
How many batches have you done in the new brewery and have you yet seen any CO levels?
What is the noise level like with the fan? You think it would be good to have a silencer open the duct work?
How much square footage is your basement?
What are the dimensions of the hood?


Thanks in advance. And I completely agree with your post about Bob Sulier. Amazingly nice guys there at Sabco. Cheers!

drgraffnburg said:

Ok, so this has been a great thread for me. A friend and I also have a Brew Magic. We area also looking to move it indoors to a basement. Michigan winters can be brutal. A couple of questions:

Are you using propane or natural gas?
How many batches have you done in the new brewery and have you yet seen any CO levels?
What is the noise level like with the fan? You think it would be good to have a silencer open the duct work?
How much square footage is your basement?
What are the dimensions of the hood?

Thanks in advance. And I completely agree with your post about Bob Sulier. Amazingly nice guys there at Sabco. Cheers!

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Natural Gas, fairly easy to convert the BM.

I have done 9 batches. CO2 detectors have never detected anything.

The fan is not loud by any means, but is by far the loudest thing in the brewery. Turned up all the way, about 80% of the noise is from the air rushing into the intake in the hood. It will drown out background music, but it is not annoying. Not sure what exactly you mean by a silencer. I saw these canister muffler looking things that are silencers used for high end range hood installations, but I did not bother researching them since I only have a 2 ft. run to the wall. Just not enough room to install it.

The basement is 1500 sq. ft. No walls yet, but eventually the brewery will be walled-off to about 15 by 20 feet, maybe a little more if needed.

The hood is 80" long by 40" wide and 13" tall. If I were to build it again today, I would increase the height to about 17 or 18 inches. Basically, I would want it to hang down to about 2-3 inches above my head, or about 75 inches above the floor. This would increase the capacity of the hood and capture more moisture, but still allow enough room to add grain. I also plan to experiment with attaching a piece of foam board to the left side next to the boil, basically extend that side down another 20 inches. Since the boil kettle is lower on the BM, this would help prevent any steam escaping out of the side. The hood works very well as is, but there is a little hop smell and slight humidity increase in the basement after the boil. Thinking these modifications would decrease it. Finally, if you can place the fan intake in the top of the hood, maybe between the boil and mash kettles, that would be best.

One last thing, foam board is flammable. Make sure you use the foil backed kind and cover all exposed foam and joints with aluminum tape. Even then, it will not tolerate direct flame contact for more than a minute.

I will post some additional pics that may help. Cheers.

scratchy1971 said:

Natural Gas, fairly easy to convert the BM.

I have done 9 batches. CO2 detectors have never detected anything.

The fan is not loud by any means, but is by far the loudest thing in the brewery. Turned up all the way, about 80% of the noise is from the air rushing into the intake in the hood. It will drown out background music, but it is not annoying. Not sure what exactly you mean by a silencer. I saw these canister muffler looking things that are silencers used for high end range hood installations, but I did not bother researching them since I only have a 2 ft. run to the wall. Just not enough room to install it.

The basement is 1500 sq. ft. No walls yet, but eventually the brewery will be walled-off to about 15 by 20 feet, maybe a little more if needed.

The hood is 80" long by 40" wide and 13" tall. If I were to build it again today, I would increase the height to about 17 or 18 inches. Basically, I would want it to hang down to about 2-3 inches above my head, or about 75 inches above the floor. This would increase the capacity of the hood and capture more moisture, but still allow enough room to add grain. I also plan to experiment with attaching a piece of foam board to the left side next to the boil, basically extend that side down another 20 inches. Since the boil kettle is lower on the BM, this would help prevent any steam escaping out of the side. The hood works very well as is, but there is a little hop smell and slight humidity increase in the basement after the boil. Thinking these modifications would decrease it. Finally, if you can place the fan intake in the top of the hood, maybe between the boil and mash kettles, that would be best.

One last thing, foam board is flammable. Make sure you use the foil backed kind and cover all exposed foam and joints with aluminum tape. Even then, it will not tolerate direct flame contact for more than a minute.

I will post some additional pics that may help. Cheers.

Click to expand...

Perfect. Thanks for the information. Any drips from condensation gathering on the hood? Our plazas to build something out of stainless steel and use a drip tray along the bottom.

Your welcome. There has been no moisture in the hood at all. I plan to brew 15 gallons in Dec, so will see if that changes.

It will be the first cold weather brew. So there may be some moisture when the cold make-up air mixes with the heat and boil vapors. Will see.

Ok, here are some more pics.

thanks for posting more pics. really appreciate it. good work, again.

Your UL listed CO detectors will not alarm until you have a serious emergency (the fire dept doesn't want nuisance calls). I strongly recommend that you invest in a low level health monitor like the one made by http://www.coexperts.com/

Finally, freezer space for fermentation and hops. 7 lbs. of hops in the freezer is a great feeling.