Backyard Biergarten

You may have seen my post on how to make a DIY beer garden table and two benches for about $100, well unfortunately for SWMBO building that table opened up a can of corn. I liked how that table looked so much that I decided to redo my entire back patio in the style of a German Biergarten. I don't have the time or money to dig out my dirt-floor basement into a man cave, so she was fairly receptive to the idea.

I hope to have everything done for my annual Oktoberfest party that is happening at the end of September, so I have a lot to tackle in the next few weeks. In order to get this thing done, I have quite a few projects to tackle. Here's what I need to get done:
*Tapping an indoor outlet for outdoor CGFI outlet installed in my garden wall.
*Setting up posts for string lighting
*Adding an entrance sign in the Biergarten style
*Building 8 ft beer garden table with benches
*Building 4 ft beer garden table with benches with backs
*Building 4 chairs for the fire pit
*Landscaping (I probably won't get this done until the spring)
*RoundUpping the ever-living-**** out of the weeds growing through my flagstone.

This is a lot to do, but I think that I can get it done for the party. I had a very crazy idea to somehow split my beverage lines in my keezer and then mount tap shanks through the walls of my house so that I could pour beer outside, but then I realized that I had probably had too much beer and it was probably time to go to bed.

Pictures to come soon, I hope you guys enjoy watching everything progress!

Having just moved back from Stuttgart I took the easy approach and bought 4 table/bench combos before I left so I can too can commemorate Oktoberfest every year (what a great time it was over there). I've subscribed to watch the progress and hopefully get some ideas that I can add to our backyard.


Prost,
Michael

I'd like to see this myself. I want to build a patio in back since I have the doors built in already. I'd like to see some pics of biergartens nowadays. I could use some input here myself.

Just to give everyone an idea, here's my planned layout for the Biergarten. This drawing is somewhat to scale.

Pictures sir, pictures I say!

And I'll be the first...sub'd!

sub'd

I have pics. I had a busy weekend working on the Biergarten. Unfortunately, I didn't get to work on it as much on Sunday because I was forced to go to a wine festival. I was really bored so about an hour into it I said that I had to go to the bathroom, and snuck over to the brewpub that was within walking distance. When I returned an hour later, no one was suspicious. Who am I kidding, they knew that I went to the brewery.

Here's the progress so far. I put up the main poles that I will put my "Biergarten" sign across. Right now it's painted solid white, but I plan to add the Bavarian blue stripe in a week after the paint is cured.


I installed an outdoor outlet in the stacked stone wall on my patio. This involved lots of caulk. I also ran an extension cord through one of the large Biergarten poles, then used a dremel to cut a hole in the post about 6 inches below the dirt. One end of the cord sticks out of the top of the pole and will be used to plug in my string lights. The other end goes through the hole in the pole, then runs through the dirt and the stacked stone wall, and it sticks out of the wall right next to the outlet.


It's a bit of a repeat, but here's my 21.5"x96" table with one bench. It's all stained and good to go, just need to make the other bench.


Yesterday I finished construction on a smaller version of the large biergarten table. This one is 60" long and should seat 6 people. Weather permitting, I will stain it today. I plan to make two benches for this one similar to the large bench, except these benches will have backs.


Last but no least, here's an overview snapshot from yesterday after I finished the small table. Yes, I know that I need to weed. I managed to get the string lights hooked up after I took this picture, but the photo in the dark didn't turn out too well, so this is all you get for now.

The lights lit up at night.

Weeding is so overrated. Foot traffic will kill those weeds right quick!!!

Dude! Sweet!

sconsi said:

*RoundUpping the ever-living-**** out of the weeds growing through my flagstone.

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Boiling water is a great way to kill the weeds that are growing up through your flagstones naturally. No need for herbicides. I routinely use my electric kettle to keep the weeds down between my garden stones. Works great!

Really nice job man, it's looking great! :rockin:

great idea! I'm slowly transforming my back patio in the beergarden style as well. I started this year growing hops on lines vertically over the patio (for shade). I've got some simple blue and white banners to hang from those at my Oktoberfest themed party this weekend, perhaps I'll make a post with some pics, but I look forward to seeing how you do it too so I can get some ideas for the future.

Cheers!
Steve

BTW, I like the beirgarten tables you built, I've got to think about how to make them dissemble/collapse easily so I can store them the rest of the year. Space is at a premium at my place.

Any ideas along these lines?

looks good! can i ask where you got those lights from? ?

You just need to track down an oom pah band now!

Rivenin said:

looks good! can i ask where you got those lights from? ?

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Target; they're in the patio section. I bought 12 boxes of them for my wedding, and they're great for patio lighting. They are seriously so bright that you could read a book by them, but it doesn't seem that bright.

The small posts that I used to put them up are incredibly easy to make. It cost less than $30 to make three of them. I used 1"x10' steel conduit pipes, a 1.25"x10' PVC conduit pipe cut into three 2.5' pieces, eye hooks, and black spray paint.

First attach the hooks to the tops of the steel conduit pipes; I went about 2" down. Then spray paint the pipes black. Next, drive the PVC pieces 2' into the ground. Insert the steel conduit into the PVC pipes. Then I put a few screws though the PVC and steel conduit pipes for added support.

HausBrauerei_Harvey said:

BTW, I like the beirgarten tables you built, I've got to think about how to make them dissemble/collapse easily so I can store them the rest of the year. Space is at a premium at my place.

Any ideas along these lines?

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I'm not sure how to do the 30-60-90 support from the cross beam on the legs, but I have an idea. Attach the legs to the tabletop with hinges, but instead of having a wooden beam across the length of the table between the leg cross beams, use a piece of galvanized steel pipe that screws into brackets on the cross beams. This will make sure that the legs don't fold in on themselves, and it provides extra support.

Or you could always just do all the legs in galvanized pipe so that you can easily break it down. That will probably get expensive though.

sconsi said:

I'm not sure how to do the 30-60-90 support from the cross beam on the legs, but I have an idea. Attach the legs to the tabletop with hinges, but instead of having a wooden beam across the length of the table between the leg cross beams, use a piece of galvanized steel pipe that screws into brackets on the cross beams. This will make sure that the legs don't fold in on themselves, and it provides extra support.

Or you could always just do all the legs in galvanized pipe so that you can easily break it down. That will probably get expensive though.

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The folding wood legs with the galvanized cross brace is a great idea, thanks!

Looking forward to seeing this come together.

No Biergarten is complete with out dirndls.

This thread is suddenly so interesting.

Took a break from the heavy lifting today, or maybe it was that I got distracted by Spartan's dirndl picture

Had to do something though, so I constructed this official beer garden pretzel rack from some scrap wood. This frees up the fraulein's hands to get us more beer.

solid! I like the pretzel rack idea, well done.

Got a good deal of work done over the weekend despite the rain. Got one of the entry poles painted with the blue Bavarian stripe. I hoped to get both done, but doing those stripes is a royal pain in the rear.

Finished the benches for the small table too. I put a back on the one to prevent people from tipping over on it in case they get it stuck on the grass.

Here's what it looks like all together. Just need to paint the other pole, build the last bench, stain, build the Biergarten sign, and clean. I'd like to get the lounge chairs done before my Oktoberfest party, but I have a feeling that I won't get them done.

HausBrauerei_Harvey said:

solid! I like the pretzel rack idea, well done.

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Personally, I prefer the other racks that have been posted to this thread.

looks great!

I had my oktoberfest party this past weekend and it was a blast. There a few pics of my decorating at the end of the following album. I'm going to have to figure out collapsable tables by next years party, thanks for the inspiration.

HausBrauerei_Harvey said:

looks great!

I had my oktoberfest party this past weekend and it was a blast. There a few pics of my decorating at the end of the following album. I'm going to have to figure out collapsable tables by next years party, thanks for the inspiration.

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Very nice!!! No Oktoberfest is complete without the lederhosen. Looking forward to seeing thos collapable tables for next year. Prost!

New addition to the backyard biergarten. I give you the barrel end table made from bourbon barrels that Heavy Seas used to age one of their brews a few years ago.

sconsi said:

Very nice!!! No Oktoberfest is complete without the lederhosen. Looking forward to seeing thos collapable tables for next year. Prost!

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I made eight 8-foot long benches this weekend for my Oktoberfest party in a few weeks. I ended up deciding that an easily assemble-able disassemble-able design would be easier in the long-run than a collapsible design.

I just went with a 2x12 with 2x10 legs, with 2x10 cut into 45 degrees cross braces on the legs for support. I found a place to rent beirgarten size tables for $10 a day so i'm just doing that this year. Here's to hoping folks use the tables like I hope they will, general debauchery and fun. I made all the benches for $200 which I don't think is bad either.

HausBrauerei_Harvey said:

I made eight 8-foot long benches this weekend for my Oktoberfest party in a few weeks. I ended up deciding that an easily assemble-able disassemble-able design would be easier in the long-run than a collapsible design.

I just went with a 2x12 with 2x10 legs, with 2x10 cut into 45 degrees cross braces on the legs for support. I found a place to rent beirgarten size tables for $10 a day so i'm just doing that this year. Here's to hoping folks use the tables like I hope they will, general debauchery and fun. I made all the benches for $200 which I don't think is bad either.

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Pics or it didn't happen!

sconsi said:

Pics or it didn't happen!

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I'll get some up by this weekend when i do a little sanding on them. right now they are all stacked up in my shop and it resembles a pile of lumber more than anything!

Here are some shots of the benches and pretzel holders I finished up this weekend. my party is this coming saturday and I can't wait!

HausBrauerei_Harvey said:

Here are some shots of the benches and pretzel holders I finished up this weekend. my party is this coming saturday and I can't wait!

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I see you've changed the design of the benches. Was there a problem with the old ones? I'm planning on building a table and a pair of benches this weekend for a party we're having next weekend.

Spartan1979 said:

I see you've changed the design of the benches. Was there a problem with the old ones? I'm planning on building a table and a pair of benches this weekend for a party we're having next weekend.

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This was just me showing the OP what I did, they were not his benches. I think either design will work just fine, the key is having some sort of cross-brace support in there. I did what I did as I wanted to be able to easily assemble and disassemble the benches each year.

HausBrauerei_Harvey said:

This was just me showing the OP what I did, they were not his benches. I think either design will work just fine, the key is having some sort of cross-brace support in there. I did what I did as I wanted to be able to easily assemble and disassemble the benches each year.

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Sorry, I thought the OP had posted it.

I think I'm going to make the benches as combination of both styles. The legs like the OP, but use 2 x 12 for the surface. A 1x just doesn't seem thick enough. The real ones use 5/4 material and hardwood,

Spartan1979 said:

Sorry, I thought the OP had posted it.

I think I'm going to make the benches as combination of both styles. The legs like the OP, but use 2 x 12 for the surface. A 1x just doesn't seem thick enough. The real ones use 5/4 material and hardwood,

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My party was this weekend and it was a rager! 60+ people, 35 gallons of brews, and 65 pounds of roasted pig. The 2x12 benches took a beating and laughed at all the masses could throw at them, i'm really happy with how they worked and the beirgarten themed party. Thanks again for the inspiration!

I built a table and benches last weekend for an Oktoberfest party we're having this weekend. Here's my version:



It's hard to tell in the pic, but the legs are green. I tapered the legs a bit, moved them in a little (about 4 inches) and rounded the corners and edges. 2x12 for the bench tops. I'll post a better pic after I get them outside. The Urethane is still drying.

Spartan1979 said:

I built a table and benches last weekend for an Oktoberfest party we're having this weekend. Here's my version:

It's hard to tell in the pic, but the legs are green. I tapered the legs a bit, moved them in a little (about 4 inches) and rounded the corners and edges. 2x12 for the bench tops. I'll post a better pic after I get them outside. The Urethane is still drying.

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Nice! yours look a ton nicer than mine! Folks used the benches how I hoped they would at my party so now I'm going to work on getting some stain on them so they look nicer for next year.