How much space do you really need?

I am planning on buying a new home in the next year or so and the thought crossed my mind, as I'm sure it has to just about anyone else looking into homes...just how much space do I need in the long run? There aren't any basements around here, so I would likely end up using a part of the garage as the home brewery, but I've seen floor plans that had options of adding a 5 foot extension to the side of a 3 car garage, so I am pretty sure that would be enough space for just about any homebrew project I can think of. I am not saying that I want to build a huge shiny HERMS or anything, but I would like room to grow to support my hobby. I guess what I'm asking is how much room would all of those upper end things take all together? Better that I plan to have all that space and not use it than not be able to due to lack of space

5'x22' should be plenty of room for the average setup. I am using part of my 2 car garage (just enough room left for SWMBO's car and the Harley). I have a 8.8cf chest freezer, top freezer kegerator and a 8' long "brew bench". I do store my pots and buckets on top of the bench and built it high enough to fit a rolling tool box underneath with about 200 empty bottles. It all depends on how far you take the "hobby"

If I were getting a house with a 3 car garage, I would close off the single car part, add a window unit, tile and a utility tub with a RO system and have a dedicated brew room with a small bar. My zipper is tightening as I think about this....haha

I don't have much space. My garage is dedicated to my construction business, so there is no room for any brew stuff in there. I have my brewery stored in an unused, spare bedroom (10 X 12), and it takes up about 2/3 of the room...

Brewing in a condo in the Bronx NYC. Two batches in the bottle with one in the chamber. Pipe line is flowing and I have more than I can drink :rockin:

I was wondering the same thing before I dived in with my first attempt at brewing (I jumped in at the deep end with all grain I think). But I seemed to get by with the limited space in my kitchen. Its around 16 feet by five feet including all counter tops and appliances and I seemed to do fine. I'd just say tidy as you go and find a nice corner for your fermenting bucket.

The answer is always more than you have (or more than SWMBO will allow)

You will never have enough room. The key is to scatter your brewing things all over the house so they aren't confined to one giant mass of wife-hatred. Kinda like moving the uneaten peas around on your dinner plate to fool mom and dad in to thinking you ate some.

But shoot for an entire bedroom of stuff and a garage brew-area. That should get you started.

I'm getting by ok with what I've got now in my rental house, but I have to move from out back with the banjo burner to in the kitchen where I do all the aeration and pitch yeast and all that. I figured if I plan before I actually shop houseplans, I can have an idea of what to keep an eye out for and hopefully when I do make my purchase, I can have a centralized brewing area that doesn't require me to move across the house holding an 88 quart stainless brew kettle

I'm getting along just fine with a rack of open shelving in the basement to hold my gear (except the turkey fryer and its tank, which stay in the garage). I haul the BK and the burner out to the patio (an 8x8 square of concrete that holds the grill), brew and chill out there, then haul the BK down to the utility sink in the basement for aeration and racking to the fermenter. Fermenter sits in a dark corner of the basement until it's time to bottle, then I stick it on top of the dryer and rack to the bottling bucket. Then swap the two and bottle. Afterwards, I clean up in the utility sink and stick everything back on the shelves. It's not big-time brewing, but it's fine for five-gallon batches of extract brews (all I've done so far). If you want to go all-grain you'll need more space for equipment and you'll probably want space to store grain too. If you got that five-foot extension you could probably get by with half of it, and use the other half for a workshop (hey, you gotta build that brewstand somewhere, right?).

I have a machine shop in half of my basement, that is my brewery maintenance department with 2 tall cabinet units dedicated to fermenting and bottling tucked away in there, then i have all of my brewing equipment up in the rafters of my garage, truthfully there isn't a lot of space dedicated to brewing your 5 foot extension should be more than enough for brewing and shop activities.

It depends on where you're going to brew. If you're going to brew in the garage, it's easiest and convenient to have the stand stay set up. I have a pretty small footprint for mine- about 5' long and 3' wide or so. But then there are hoses, carboys, fermenters, some stuff in cabinets, etc. I have tons of stuff in the basement (all my grain, mill fermenters, kegs) and then the brewery in the laundry room. If I had it all in one place, I'd probably easily use a 12'x12' area.

One of my friends (SeaBeeJohn) has an awesome garage set up with his grains on shelfs in rubbermaid bins and the brewery across the garage against the wall. He still can fit cars in there, if he wanted to!

That sounds awesome, Yooper! I wish I could have a basement to do all this in, but there really aren't very many houses that have basements around here. However, 3 car garages with extensions are becoming more common in all the new construction areas, so that seems like the best option. Park 2 cars and still have enough room to set up the equipment. I guess I'll have to figure out how to be able to fire up the burner in the garage (with the roll up door open, of course) without burning the house down

No basement or garage here. its all man cave and kitchen.