My Electric Brewery Build!

I have officially gotten wife approval. I will be building an electric brewery in the basement. It will be another Kal clone. I ordered the control panel kit tonight! So excited!!!

Pictures of the space to be posted soon. And I hope to document the steps as I build it out!

Awesome! Can't wait to see it!

Congrats, let the fun begin! I have a few of these left if you are interested. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f16/contactors-e-brew-heating-elements-273489/

how about a before picture of the space!

Good luck. I started mine just after xmas last year and was brewing by March. Happy to answer any questions if you have them.

zeus53219 said:

Congrats, let the fun begin! I have a few of these left if you are interested. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f16/contactors-e-brew-heating-elements-273489/

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No thanks. Already bought the elements. Appreciated though!

milldoggy said:

Good luck. I started mine just after xmas last year and was brewing by March. Happy to answer any questions if you have them.

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Oh, I'll have questions, . What did you do for ventilation?

Photos of the before:

Before I cleaned the area this evening:




After I cleaned the area. I plan to put the brew stand to the right of the drainage. Over the drainage I plan to put a custom stand or a stainless steel table. Later I could put a sink there:




In this photo you can see the basement from the bottom of the stairs. Across the brewery (on the right wall) you can barely see the washer and dryer. I plan to upgrade that sink for easy cleaning of the kettles:



Here is a closeup of the sink and washer/dryer directly across the brewery area. I plan to run PVC between the joists above directly outside next to the dryer vent for the ventilation exhaust:



Lots of room for improvement, other ideas, suggestions, etc. I plan to scan the buildouts this weekend on HBT to get some more ideas. For right now I'm not planning on closing it in. I could do that later though...

I did my in the garage, so I made some fans from server cooliong fans(my build thread is in my sig) and crack my garage door. Looking at your basement. I would make a hood from some wood and plastic panels, get some 6" pvc, run it to you basement window. Install block glass with a dryer vent in one section. Use a 6x4 reduce to hook the fan/blower from the 6" pvc to the dryer vent. Outside run the pvc up and away with a 135 to 180 at the end to prevent rain from coming in.

milldoggy said:

I did my in the garage, so I made some fans from server cooliong fans(my build thread is in my sig) and crack my garage door. Looking at your basement. I would make a hood from some wood and plastic panels, get some 6" pvc, run it to you basement window. Install block glass with a dryer vent in one section. Use a 6x4 reduce to hook the fan/blower from the 6" pvc to the dryer vent. Outside run the pvc up and away with a 135 to 180 at the end to prevent rain from coming in.

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I am actually planning a wood hood with plastic panels!

I was going to run the PVC directly to a new 4" hole that I would make. But now that you mention utilizing the window it has me thinking. Not sure how I would implement the block glass. It would probably be easier to just install a new dryer vent. But it does have me intrigued...

Check out Nattys build, this will give you some ideas.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f170/nattybrews-electric-brewery-build-216462/index2.html

nice, I am planning to start an electric brewery in my basement when the tax money shows up! it will be nice not freezing while brewing with these Syracuse winters, although this year has been strangely mild....

milldoggy said:

Check out Nattys build, this will give you some ideas.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f170/nattybrews-electric-brewery-build-216462/index2.html

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It definitely has. I actually found that thread a couple days ago when I search for that type of hood. I have been talking with Matt on private messages tonight actually!

nvr2low said:

nice, I am planning to start an electric brewery in my basement when the tax money shows up! it will be nice not freezing while brewing with these Syracuse winters, although this year has been strangely mild....

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Yes, strangely mild. I'm a snowmobiler and I have been out yet. I have never had that happen before this late into the season....

My first equipment arrival! Two Chugger Pumps. I read some very good reviews on them, and for the price I couldn't pass them up with the SS heads. Unfortunately they won't see some action for a couple months!

jbsengineer said:

Yes, strangely mild. I'm a snowmobiler and I have been out yet. I have never had that happen before this late into the season....

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I haven't rode in years do to cost but i grew up riding. if i didn't get to ride before Christmas i was getting upset. i have been out skiing, sick of the man made stuff though.....

If I put a new sink over the drainage pipe would it be easy to tap into for drainage?

" I plan to run PVC between the joists above directly outside next to the dryer vent for the ventilation exhaust:"

Am i reading this right, you are running your exahust across the basement? If so you may have issues with condensation in the tube. If you are planning on a condenser you dont need to vent outside at all, thats what i am working on. Hopefully it works!

jtsims21 said:

" I plan to run PVC between the joists above directly outside next to the dryer vent for the ventilation exhaust:"

Am i reading this right, you are running your exahust across the basement? If so you may have issues with condensation in the tube. If you are planning on a condenser you dont need to vent outside at all, thats what i am working on. Hopefully it works!

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I figure I could run the exhaust for a few hours (timer) after I am done boiling and that should dry it out sufficiently.

Do you have a build thread for your condenser? I'd love to follow it!

Subscribed. Good luck! Let me know if you have any questions.

Kal

Do yourself a favor and do a test run with the chugger pumps all the way up to the temperature you plan on using them at. They have had some issue with the impellers stopping at elevated temperatures around 170. They are rated for over 200 but give it a shot. If you have trouble their customer service was excellent at resolving the problem. When I bought mine 2 months ago I ran mine and at about 150 it was screaming like a banshee just circulating the HLT. The other issue that I had is these pumps need complete unrestricted flow to prevent cavitation. No less then .5" full port fittings should be used on the suction side. The discharge does not matter. The actually like some back pressure. Any ways just my 2 cents from my experience with these pumps.

jtsims21 said:

Am i reading this right, you are running your exahust across the basement? If so you may have issues with condensation in the tube. If you are planning on a condenser you dont need to vent outside at all, thats what i am working on. Hopefully it works!

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Been thinking about this myself for the last few hours. You see some commercial breweries use them like this small one:

Steam condenser for the boil kettle. Cold water sprays in and condenses the steam from the kettle so it can just run into the drain instead of smelling up the neighborhood.

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(original thread here)

For home use I don't see this really working because:

- You'd need to run water through it during the entire boil (very wasteful).

- Nothing is 100% efficient so you'd still get *some* humidity in the room which will build up. How much, I don't know.

- Heat: None of the heat escapes the room so the room would likely get very warm over time.

I'm still curious to hear about experiences with a steam condenser however. It's an interesting idea.

Kal

kal said:

Been thinking about this myself for the last few hours. You see some commercial breweries use them like this small one:



(original thread here)

For home use I don't see this really working because:

- You'd need to run water through it during the entire boil (very wasteful).

- Nothing is 100% efficient so you'd still get *some* humidity in the room which will build up. How much, I don't know.

- Heat: None of the heat escapes the room so the room would likely get very warm over time.

I'm still curious to hear about experiences with a steam condenser however. It's an interesting idea.

Kal

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My plan will just get most of the steam, in the summer its not a big deal ill just leave a window open and in the winter a little humidity will be good!

for running water my plan was to recycle water from a large bucket with a pond pump.

with my system yes heat would build up and again in the winter thats good, and in the summer a fan will fix/ help with that.

sorry for the hyjack! I should probably start a thread on it.

Yes please - start a thread. I have a lot of comments on your approach but don't want to hijack this thread...

Kal

Ok, little progress so far. Parts have been rolling in, the pumps, fittings, wiring, inline fan, and spa panel.

This past weekend I cleaned and organized the basement (part of the deal with the wife). Today I finished mounting an LCD in the basement. I couldn't possibly brew without watching some sports or listening to some music.

Tomorrow a friend is coming over and we are going to start building the brew stand and ventilation hood.

This weekend, I have no formal plans so I should be able to get the brew stand finished, wiring installed, and pump stand installed.

Everything is ordered except some odds and ends, so I have about 2 or 3 boxes a day arriving, . My wife is starting to realize she agreed to something bigger than she thought, !

Also, I'm looking into installing the control panel off of the brew stand. Some combination of a pole and articulating TV mount maybe.

jbsengineer said:

Yes, strangely mild. I'm a snowmobiler and I have been out yet. I have never had that happen before this late into the season....

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Not to hijack the thread but I live about 75 miles north of SYR and rode for the first time last night....snow should be gone again tomorrow??? Strange winter for sure. I love reading these build threads, learn something new and different ideas on each one...hope to get my build further along soon....

more more more. heck even Kal is on board for this brew porn. Can't wait to read more. BTW Kal any update on your brewery?

This past weekend I was able to get the brew stand started. I made it a little deeper than Kal's plans. Same length. However, I kept notches in each corner. I'm going to sand or router the edges a bit and put a 2.5 foot long of 1.5" clear PVC pipe filled with malted barley in each corner. Each corner will have a sand art effect of grain. Hoping that turns out nice. I'm going to stain the stand very dark so the barley really sticks out.





The notches:

Also, I picked up a HDMI cable for my laptop and toyed with using the TV as a large Beer Smith panel:

nice can't wait to start building my own and the hdtv in the brewery that is very bling

Great work!

Keep me apprised on your approach to a swing arm for your panel. I am doing the same thing on mine but haven't come up with the design yet. Looking great!

I am still waiting for a few tidbits to come in before I start drilling holes, but at least I have my first control panel in place for now

subscribed. Love the TV with Beersmith!

cant wait to see how this turns out. I think I am leaning this way as well since my house is already all electric (no gas in the city I live in).

My 2nd and 3rd 20 Gallon Blichmann's arrived today:

jbsengineer said:

My 2nd and 3rd 20 Gallon Blichmann's arrived today:

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I hate you with a passion.
Love the bling:rockin:

now that's just greedy...

Shiny. No thermometer on the second and third Boilermaker? I didn't know you could order them without!

Kal

I am also looking forward to how you approach the arm for the panel. I have been trying to come up with a solution that I am comfortable supporting that much $$ worth of electronics.