Garage brewery build

Assuming the appraisal goes well, my fiance and I will be closing on this house in early March and I'll be building the brewery in this space shortly thereafter. The ceiling is 7' high and the width is about 8' (forgot to get an exact measurement during the inspection)

I batch sparge and will be brewing on an electric keggle system. Also, I would prefer to not pump anything but water. I will be able to plumb water in over the keggles and waste out if I drain it down the driveway. I plan on removing everything and starting from bare studs. Does anyone have any advice on how I should build the system in this space?

Cool, hope everything goes smoothly with the purchase/build.

Start by moving all of your electrical equipment. You need 3' of working space in front of panels, etc, and if you build a brewery there, you will need to move that stuff to keep to code.

Bernie Brewer said:

Start by moving all of your electrical equipment. You need 3' of working space in front of panels, etc, and if you build a brewery there, you will need to move that stuff to keep to code.

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I'm really not too worried about keeping it to code, plus doesn't the 3' rule only apply to businesses on commercial property? I'm just a home brewer who's enjoying the thought of having a fixed location for brewing.

Those panels are actually the old ones and are only junction boxes at this time.

How do you plan to operate your brewery ? Are you using pumps or gravity. do you already have a stand or no?

I was originally planning on pumping from HLT to Mash Tun then gravity from there but after doing a quick sketch I found that the Mash Tun would be too high. I think I'm going to go with a single level design just high enough to gravity feed into carboys. Pumps will be in the distant plan but not a priority.

No stand as of right now but I'll probably throw one together out of 2x4's and modify as necessary. Once I settle on a setup I like I'll weld a metal stand.

sjvicker said:

I'm really not too worried about keeping it to code, plus doesn't the 3' rule only apply to businesses on commercial property? I'm just a home brewer who's enjoying the thought of having a fixed location for brewing.

Those panels are actually the old ones and are only junction boxes at this time.

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What is that to the right of the workbench? Looks like a dead space? Could be an IDEAL place to put a small cold room for lagering. Just box it in with access doors and a small window AC unit. It's tall, too, so if there isn't anything up higher that we can't see in the pic, you could put a beefy shelf or two in it. Looks like with a strong shelf, you could do 4-6 batches at various stages of done-ness. Maybe 3 fermenters up top and 3 secondaries down under. Then you don't even have to move anything to rack off into the secondaries.

Looks like an ideal place to set up a garage brewery.

sjvicker said:

I'm really not too worried about keeping it to code, plus doesn't the 3' rule only apply to businesses on commercial property? I'm just a home brewer who's enjoying the thought of having a fixed location for brewing.

Those panels are actually the old ones and are only junction boxes at this time.

Click to expand...

It's your house, you'd BETTER want to keep it to code. The 3' rule applies to any panel or switchboard, no matter if it is a residence, or whatever. If they're just j-boxes, then get rid of them entirely. They're eyesores, and you are tearing down to the bare studs anyway.

prrriiide said:

What is that to the right of the workbench? Looks like a dead space? Could be an IDEAL place to put a small cold room for lagering. Just box it in with access doors and a small window AC unit. It's tall, too, so if there isn't anything up higher that we can't see in the pic, you could put a beefy shelf or two in it. Looks like with a strong shelf, you could do 4-6 batches at various stages of done-ness. Maybe 3 fermenters up top and 3 secondaries down under. Then you don't even have to move anything to rack off into the secondaries.

Looks like an ideal place to set up a garage brewery.

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Great idea, got me thinking about a few things. That space to the right of the workbench is a closet so I'm not even going to suggest removing it.



Right next to the closet on the wall you can see the gas line running into the basement.



This is a storage room with the furnace and hot water heater, a perfect room for fermenting and I can gravity feed right into the fermenters. This layout would allow me to put the boil kettle on the ground and give me enough room to use a vertical brew stand layout.

Bernie Brewer said:

It's your house, you'd BETTER want to keep it to code. The 3' rule applies to any panel or switchboard, no matter if it is a residence, or whatever. If they're just j-boxes, then get rid of them entirely. They're eyesores, and you are tearing down to the bare studs anyway.

Click to expand...

Can you elaborate on the 3' rule? In my current garage there's no way to park 2 cars without having one within 3' of the panel, do cars not matter because they're movable?

Does the 3' rule apply to the space directly in front of the panel or from side to side as well?

After a sudden unexpected loan modification (My fiance couldn't buy it on her own and get the original terms because we have joint bank accounts) and finding out we have to fix some plumbing issues before moving in, we're still on track to close in early March.

Here's what I'm thinking for the brewery layout. Waste water would be hard line attached to a flex hose I throw down the driveway on brew day and coil up after. I may swap the boil kettle and HLT to make cleanup easier.

sjvicker said:

Can you elaborate on the 3' rule? In my current garage there's no way to park 2 cars without having one within 3' of the panel, do cars not matter because they're movable?

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Correct.

sjvicker said:

Does the 3' rule apply to the space directly in front of the panel or from side to side as well?

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3' in front, measured from the front of the box
.
6 1/2' of head space, measured from the floor

30" of width, total space

We've finally closed on the house and started into some projects before we have to move in. Unfortunately no progress on the brewery at this point but maybe I can get something done over the next week.


GreenMonti did all of my welding and the end product was above and beyond what I expected!

Looks like a great project, Spencer. Keep the pictures coming.

Congrats on your house and engagement, too!

TibersamcoateswasrightBrew

I bookmarked your "Electric brewery plans" thread and have been following it without even knowing it was you. You're much farther into your electrical build than I am. I'm still at the "make the garage clean enough to brew in" phase.

sjvicker said:

I bookmarked your "Electric brewery plans" thread and have been following it without even knowing it was you. You're much farther into your electrical build than I am. I'm still at the "make the garage clean enough to brew in" phase.

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Let's keep each other updated, eh?

Good luck with your projects, and let me know if you're in Ho-Town any time soon. I have some beer on premises, believe it or not, and you're welcome to sample whatever I've got.