Hoppo's E-Brewery Build

Good things come to those who wait. Kids, family and things that make them happy should always take priority.

Keep up the hard work!

Hoppopotomus said:

Had a couple of hours today to build the pump and plate chiller mounting system. Of course, I had to incorporate knotty pine boards and cedar logs. Hard to tell by the pics, but should look decent once clear coated. I just need to order a couple of more cam lock fittings for the plate chiller and run the duct work for the ventilation fan. Almost there!

Thanks TD! My kids go to Oxford Schools....great school system and a great place to live. Close to everything, but still some seclusion if you want it.

Click to expand...

What are those tabs that you are using to keep the plate chiller in place?

In this picture

I believe they were in the packet of machined screws that came with the ss outlet plates for my heating element assemblies. Not sure what exactly they would be used for, but they were sitting on my work bench, so I found a use for them.

Had a busy day in the brewery yesterday. I spend several hours emptying the room and moving all of the components over to my exercise room. I built a cedar framed, knotty pine paneled door to hide the plumbing under the sink. I wiped down all of the wood work and walls and am ready to finish off the rest of the wood work clear coating. I then plan on priming, then painting the floor with a heavy duty epoxy floor paint, as I don't feel like doing any more tiling at this point. Once that is done, I will run the vent out the back of the house and finish grouting all of the components.

I finally fired up the panel to check out the BCS platform last night via the internal wifi adapter. I was having problems accessing the ebrewsupply network from my IPad, so I sent and email to Ryan @ ebrewsupply. He responded almost immediately with his cell phone number and walked me through the logging on process. I'm a bit of an IT idiot. He was also nice enough pre-load his typical brewing process into the BCS, which will save me a ton of time. His process is slightly different than mine, but it will be much quicker tweaking his processes than having to start from scratch! It is still going to take some time learning the programming, but he gave me a great head start. I can't thank Ryan enough for the quality of his panels and his friendly customer support!

Hoppopotomus said:

Had a busy day in the brewery yesterday. I spend several hours emptying the room and moving all of the components over to my exercise room. I built a cedar framed, knotty pine paneled door to hide the plumbing under the sink. I wiped down all of the wood work and walls and am ready to finish off the rest of the wood work clear coating. I then plan on priming, then painting the floor with a heavy duty epoxy floor paint, as I don't feel like doing any more tiling at this point. Once that is done, I will run the vent out the back of the house and finish grouting all of the components.

I finally fired up the panel to check out the BCS platform last night via the internal wifi adapter. I was having problems accessing the ebrewsupply network from my IPad, so I sent and email to Ryan @ ebrewsupply. He responded almost immediately with his cell phone number and walked me through the logging on process. I'm a bit of an IT idiot. He was also nice enough pre-load his typical brewing process into the BCS, which will save me a ton of time. His process is slightly different than mine, but it will be much quicker tweaking his processes than having to start from scratch! It is still going to take some time learning the programming, but he gave me a great head start. I can't thank Ryan enough for the quality of his panels and his friendly customer support!

Click to expand...

Sounds like a pretty busy day! I hope you had some time to watch the Lions spank the Bears though

I recorded it and watched it later in the evening. What a game, especially the first half! I really wish they wouldn't have gave up those last two touchdowns + the 2 point conversions at the end though. I can't wait for the time to come when the Lions can put a team away with authority, rather than letting teams come back to within reach. I really wasn't too worried though.

A big shout out to Izzy for the extra help intercepting 'da Bear's defensive schemes.....what a joke!

I found some time to work on the brewery this weekend. I did some more clear coating and built a corner shelf for a TV in the corner of the brewery and dressed out the front with a gnarly cedar log that I had laying around. Pics. later. I then went thru my keggles and teflon taped all of the fittings and got everything back together. I also assembled all of my high temp. silicone hoses with camlock fittings. I have been playing around with the control panel programming, but need to modify several processes to meet the requirements of my system. I was able to do a wet test by running my "Heat to Strike" and my "Mashing" processes in the BCS. I found a couple of tiny little leaks at two of the weldless bulkheads, which I have corrected, but otherwise the panel is functioning, the pumps are pumping, and the elements are heating. I plan on flushing the entire system with hot water and pbw and then going thru the entire brewing process (with shorter times on the mash/boil) with water only. I want to make my way thru the entire process a few times before my inaugural first brew on the system. I still need a couple of male camlock fittings for my plate chiller, but otherwise it's almost ready! :rockin:

pics of the corner shelf with log trim, sink door, and hoses set up for mashing. I'll eventually upgrade to a flat screen tv in the brewery, as the shelf should allow a 32". For now, I have 3 old tube tv's sitting in the storage side of my basement collecting dust, so I'll use one of those for now. I'll be doing a few more wet tests this week on the system and plan on grouting this weekend. Not sure when I'll find the time to do the acid stain and sealer on the floor, but I'll likely start brewing down there before that.

Looks good. I just moved and also have several tube TVs, unloading them sucked. I also still have a VCR for Disney movies for my kids. Trapped in the 90's

Thanks. Yeah, we had a garage sale a few years back and sold several old VCR's and a boat load of outdated electronics. I didn't feel like carrying the tube TV's up though. I have a 36" panasonic that probably weighs close to 100 lbs. I put the smallest of the 3 on the shelf, because the other two would stick out way too far, as they are easily 25" deep.....my how technology has changed. I have a 55" LED that is 1" thick. I took a few measurements last night and the shelf would accommodate a 42" flat panel, but it would be right up to the drop ceiling line once installed. I'll probably go with a 32" for clearance, as the room isn't too terribly large. Time to take a trip to Goodwill and unload the other boat anchors.

Hoppopotomus said:

Thanks. Yeah, we had a garage sale a few years back and sold several old VCR's and a boat load of outdated electronics. I didn't feel like carrying the tube TV's up though. I have a 36" panasonic that probably weighs close to 100 lbs. I put the smallest of the 3 on the shelf, because the other two would stick out way too far, as they are easily 25" deep.....my how technology has changed. I have a 55" LED that is 1" thick. I took a few measurements last night and the shelf would accommodate a 42" flat panel, but it would be right up to the drop ceiling line once installed. I'll probably go with a 32" for clearance, as the room isn't too terribly large. Time to take a trip to Goodwill and unload the other boat anchors.

Click to expand...

Goodwill might not take them, I'd call first. If they don't, Best Buy will recycle them upto 36" screens (I think it may be 32"). They require a $10 deposit, but give you a $10 gift card when you make your deposit, so if you want to buy something it works out in the end.

EPIC BUILD...

-=jason=-

Thanks Flo!

Here are a few pics. of recent progress. I was able to get the site glasses calibrated and vinyl stickers on today. Over the weekend, I spent several hours programming my brewing processes in the BCS system. Since my control panel has a built in wifi router, I am able to control the entire brewing process from the Ipad or my smart phone. I attached a couple of pics. of the web based BCS platform on the Ipad....pretty slick, eh? I have a few remaining tweaks to the programming, otherwise, my system has been wet tested and is free of leaks. I plan on running though an entire brewing process (shortening times, of course) to make sure that the BCS transitions between all processes and states within processes. I plan on installing the duct work for the vent fan this weekend. Otherwise, besides flooring and grouting, the brewery is pretty much ready to go. I may post a video of the brewing process when it's up and running.

Super, super slick. I flipped back just to look at the bare space and see the difference. Looks amazing!

Thanks man! I think that once I get the floor acid stained/clear coated and the drop ceiling in, it will look really polished. I'm likely gonna start brewing before I get those project done though.

Here's sorta what I have in mind for the acid stain on the floor, but with maybe some darker brown tones though.

Thats great! It'll match the walls And I definitely know what you mean about no longer waiting for the brewing sessions! I'm ready to brew again and I don't even have the control panel finished yet :/ Theres a few odds and ends still coming in which make me wish I had gone with a pre-built system and just had the panel shipped to me! I'd be going already!

looks great as usual :rockin:
By the way how was that Salisbury steak recipe?

My first batch on the new system is going to be a beefy porter, but I'm still trying to decided if I need a protein rest for the salisbury steak mash or not.

I got all of the stone work sealed with 2 coats of Tile Lab stone sealer, before I grout this weekend. With tumbled travertine, I always do 2 coats of sealer, then grout, then 2 more coats of sealer. I'm hitting HD tonight after work to get the duct work for my ventilation hood. I already have the louvered termination vent, so now I just need to find someone that has a 6" hole saw. I really don't want to spend $50 - $60 on something that I will only use once. Otherwise, the woodwork is all clear coated and I just need to stain/seal the floor. Almost there!

Hoppo - please do post video of your first brew day!

Are those HopSlam mini-kegs?

Not sure I've seen them before. That could be dangerous...

This is an incredible build (and home brewery). Thanks for documenting it and your other projects!

jpalarchio said:

Are those HopSlam mini-kegs?

Not sure I've seen them before. That could be dangerous...

Click to expand...

Yes, they are the 2011 batch. I was luck enough to get a call from my neighbor who was at a Meijer about 10 miles from my house when their craft beer distributor was stocking the shelves a couple of years back. He noticed that there were 1/2 dozen mini-kegs just put out on the floor. The distributor told him that he had 8 full cases in the back as well. I ran down to the store and picked up 2 mini's and a case (4 six packs) and spent something like $175 on Hop Slam! I haven't seen the mini kegs since, but did get my hands on a couple of 6 packs this year.

At 10% abv, the mini kegs were never cracked open, because most of my friends and neighbors do not care for a IPA's, let alone IIPA's at 10% abv. It would have been a waste for me to open them, because they would go flat after a few days. I came across the two kegs still buried in my beer cellar a few weeks back that I had forgotten about. I decided transfer both (about 3 gallons worth) into a 5 gallon corney and put it under gas. I now have Hop Slam on tap in my bar! :rockin: The fresh hop aroma and intense hop flavor has gone away as expected, but it's still a damn good beer. I was surprised at how intense the honey flavor is without all of the in your face hops.

KegOutlet said:

This is an incredible build (and home brewery). Thanks for documenting it and your other projects!

Click to expand...

Thanks man! I finished grouting this weekend and will be sealing all of the stone again on Tuesday. I plan on running the duct work on Thursday if I can get my hands on a 6" hole saw. Otherwise, besides flooring, it's about done. I was contacted by the asst. editor of BYO and they want to feature my brewery in the drool section of an upcoming publication, so I need to get this thing wrapped up before they retract their offer.

Grout done + 3 coats of stone sealer applied. One more thing to check off the list. Just duct work and flooring left.

Got my water report back from Ward Labs today......not good, not good at all. Super hard and ridiculously high in alkalinity. I started a thread in the brew science forum, because it's worse than I thought and I need help from the chemistry gurus to see if it is even salvageable. I would hate to have to install a R/O system.

A buddy of mine has a huge Wood-Mizer milling machine that I have taken advantage of for some of my other basement projects such as my cedar log mantle, liquor shelf in my bar, trim pieces, etc., etc. He had some large pine slabs in his pole barn that he milled years ago that he offered to me. I went over to his place this weekend and took the top one off of the pile. It was 16 ft. long, but I managed to get it into my jeep. I wanted to bring my keggles up a little higher and thought that a 3 1/2" slab of wood would do the trick and create an insulator between the keggles and the stainless steel table serving as the base of my brewing station. Here are a few pics.

The first pic is the left over slab after I cut off a 5 ft. section, which is the piece in the rest of the pics. I will use the remaining section of the slab to build a long table using antique industrial wrought iron legs. My wife wants an elevated table behind our couch in the FR of the basement, which creates seperation in the room. I sanded the piece for the brew stand for a few hours with belt and palm sanders, but couldn't get the cut marks completely off of the surface. If it was going to be a table or another piece of furniture I would have sanded it perfect, but since my keggles are going to be covering up the majority of it, I threw in the towel. My daughter helped me with clear coating. Should work well to elevate my keggles and provide an insulation barrier.

4 coats of polyurethane later and the wood slab is good to go. One more thing to check off of the list. Once the ducting is installed for the ventilation hood, I'm calling the construction done for now. I need to stop building and start brewing before I do the floor and drop ceiling. Thanks for being patient guys, I'm slowly getting there.

super nice brewery !! I really love that big pine slab....beautiful isn't it ?

A friend and I finished a large bar that he and his brother built in NH. Local pine slabs, live edge, sealed with a clear epoxy coat. Beautiful, as is your work. Get brewing.

A true thing of beauty!

jeffmeh said:

A friend and I finished a large bar that he and his brother built in NH. Local pine slabs, live edge, sealed with a clear epoxy coat. Beautiful, as is your work. Get brewing.

Click to expand...

I know what you mean, I love the look of slab bar tops with live edges. Not sure if you have ever seen it, but here's a pic of the bar I built a few years ago. Mine's a redwood slab with conversion varnish as opposed to pine. I wanted to avoid the thick glossy look of epoxy, but am learning that the conversion varnish isn't nearly as durable as the epoxy. I imagine that some day in the future, I will strip the conversion varnish and refinish in a epoxy for better durability.

I kow I need to stop building crap and get the brewing going. I'm just trying to wrap up the odds and ends, because I'm afraid if I don't and just start brewing, I'll never finish them. I also am trying to work out my water chemistry (different thread), because my water analysis from Ward Labs sucks! I'm considering a reverse osmosis system, because my existing water supply to the HLT will require a lot of work (acid neutralization, boiling, and/or lime softening) due to extremely high alkalinity. I'm getting advice from the chemistry gurus in the Brewing Science forum on how to salvage my water, and have been emailing back and forth with John Palmer. He's a brilliant man and very willing to help, but even when he is trying to explain things to me in general terms, a lot of the infomation is way over my head. I'm just honored that he is trying to help me out. It may just be easier to install R/O and rebuild my water from there. Sorry to go

Oops, forgot to attach the pic.

Hoppopotomus said:

Oops, forgot to attach the pic.

Click to expand...

Gorgeous.

Good luck with the water chemistry thing. I'm fortunate enough to have very soft water out here, so I can build from it. I have owned RO systems before for aquarium stuff, and they are slow and produce a lot of waste water. Before you buy one, you may want to see if you can get RO water at a supermarket locally, and do some experimenting.

Thanks. I have been brewing for years with R/O water from a dispensor at the local Meijer, but that was when I was doing 5 gallon batches on my old system. I really would hate to have to carry 20 gallons of water down to my basement everytime I brew on my new higher capacity system. I'm really researching different R/O units with larger storage tanks and trying to cross compare useable water production with waste water discharge. John suggested an ion-exhange unit to remove the alkalinity, but keep the hardness. I'm not sure what I'm going to do at this point, but that's for another thread.

Where are the updates? I love this build.

I second that motion.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Home Brew mobile app

Sorry fellas, I haven't had time to get onto HBT much lately. I'll post some updated pics. at the end of the week. I started the drop ceiling last week and am about 75% complete with it. I plan on wrapping it up tomorrow when I get out of work and then will clean up the mess left behind on Thursday and snap a few pics. Besides the ceiling, I did purchase a flat screen tv for the brewery and am working on a sound system with some old Bose speakers and Technics receiver that I had laying around. I found a slimport adapter for my smartphone, so now I can catch the wireless signal from my control panel on my phone and project the BCS screen onto my HDTV. Pretty cool to be able to see all of the temperature guages and the process on a bigger screen.

My final project pertaining to the brewery with be the flooring. I'm still trying to decide how much time and effort I can afford to put into it. I love the idea of acid staining the concrete and then sealing it, but I made a mess of the concrete during construction, as I originally planned on tiling. The prep work would be ridiculous to go that route now. I don't think that my knees and back can take any more tiling and grouting either. I'm exploring some of the vinyl plank flooring options, since it's 100% waterproof and very quick to install. I have found some really nice dimensional options that have the look and texture of natural stone tiles, as well as textured faux wood options like weathered pine, country cedar, etc. When I started this process, I would have never dreamed of going this route, but as I explore these products more and more, there's some pretty cool stuff out there at a reasonable price and goes down very quickly.

I have ran a couple of batches through the system, which both turned out really, really well. The first brewing session had a few hiccups, but the second one was pretty damn smooth. I am wrapping up the ceiling this week, as I want to brew another batch over the weekend. Then onto flooring.

Check out www.legacyindustrial.com for floor stain and sealer. Seriously affordable and an awesome product. Urethane sealer with a epoxy topcoat and a traction additive over top of brown stain would look sweet and hide any questionable concrete finishing.


Sent from my iPad using Home Brew

KPSquared....I tried to check out the metioned products, but the link was for an electrical equipment supplier. I used their search engine, but nothing comes up for floor stains, floor sealers, etc. Could you re-check the link or direct me to the actual page that these products are sold. Thanks.

On a side note, I was able to finish all of the drop ceiling and lighting in the brewery last night. I will clean up the mess tomorrow, as I work 13 hrs. today, and will post some pics. Thanks guys.

http://legacyindustrial.net/cart/ultimate-clear-sealer-system-p-177.html

I had the wrong dot...

They are super helpful. Lots of product besides this one. Acid stain goes down first.

Talk to them and they'll hook you up.

Sent from my SGH-I747M using Home Brew mobile app