Brewing Rooms/Equipment

I cannot find a thread about this so I'll post one. But, if its already there post a link.

I am curious as to how people streamline their brewing process with some sort of brewing room. I am looking into converting a room of mine into a brewing room (consistant temperature, easy wort transfer and storage, etc.).

Right now, all of my equipment lives in my kitchen and is hogging up space. Need HELP!

Post pictures of your brewing room set up!

Hi Lowry. I distinguish between my space in the basement that includes fermentation, bottling, cleaning/sanitation and storage from where I do brewing - which is either outside or in the garage. I use propane so can't do that inside. I also keep my grain mill in the garage (away from the basement brewing area because I don't want grain dust there.

Cheers!

Yes if you have a basement with a big basement sink, that can be really handy, although the temperature varies by season. Most likely you will eventually want to do your boil outside (if you don't already), since heating a full volume boil on the stove is horrible. The basement is also great for conditioning/aging a long running beer in the secondary/keg/bottle.

Basement brewing is made a world easier by going electric (search heat sticks or e-keggle) and having a utility sink. I have my entire rig down there. I separated the area using plastic walls to keep any sawdust/etc out of the brewery. I do use my mill outside of that area to cut down on graindust. Basements will fluctuate with the seasons, but it is a gradual rise/decline. I combat that by using a fermentation cabinet that I can control the temp in using a heater or ice depending on the season.

I don't have a brewery room per se, but I have a walk-out basement that allows me to set up my burner right outside the door while keeping everything else indoors. Since my basement is mostly unfinished, my stuff is really kind of spread all over the place (grain kept in one area, ferm vessels elsewhere, brew day equipment in another spot), especially in and around the slop sink I picked up on craigslist (which is within 15 feet of the door where I have the burner and MT set up).

Electric allows you to make a pretty compact set-up without a lot of moving or burning parts, but it does carry some heftier price tags if you aren't already wired up for it.

Awesome stuff guys.

I guess the majority of brewers on here are all grain brewers. I'm still using extracts so I don't have to boil that much volume. And I don't mash either so I have a simple process as it is. Is there added benefit to doing all grain and mashing your own? (Can you really taste the difference or is it not worth it?)

Here's my brewroom I've been working on since early September. It has natural gas hookups, sound system, large washtub, SS table which acts as my 3 tier setup (soon to have a second burner on legs), but right now I boil in a 5 gal. pot on top of the table, then move the burner to the ground and use my 15 gal. kettle as the BK. I also built a large fermentation chamber, using a mini fridge. It seems to be getting dialed in with each batch I do.

After a few boils in there, the range hood does a great job evacuating the gas/water vapors from the room. My O2 detector hasn't gone off at all and the room doesn't smell or get too hot.

Lowry0031 said:

I cannot find a thread about this so I'll post one. But, if its already there post a link.

I am curious as to how people streamline their brewing process with some sort of brewing room. I am looking into converting a room of mine into a brewing room (consistant temperature, easy wort transfer and storage, etc.).

Right now, all of my equipment lives in my kitchen and is hogging up space. Need HELP!

Post pictures of your brewing room set up!

Click to expand...

Right there with you Lowry, looking forward to seeing your responses!

I've got an 8x8 space + room under the stairs to work with. I keep fluctuating between having a 'warm' space and a 'cool' space... LOL - I think I need both!
I'm not there yet but would also like to add lagering and kegging...

pictures, pictures, pictures please!!

Good pics Waunabeer! I like the setup.

Question..why is your brew kettle so high?

Here's my brewing shed, It's wired, and partial insulated at this point, and heated with a space heater.
My Keezer and 3 Tier stand along with the rest of my brewing stuff is stored in there.
I may get it plumbed but eventually it will be a finished space/man cave.
Work progresses when funds are available.
(sorry for the crappy cellphone pics)

Lowry0031 said:

Good pics Waunabeer! I like the setup.

Question..why is your brew kettle so high?

Click to expand...

I keep my hot liquor tank up high so I can gravity feed it into the mash tun. Then from there I can gravity feed the wort into the boil kettle on the ground (blichmann burner w/ leg extension kit). It works pretty well and eliminates lifting any heavy pots.