LONG POST WARNING... SORRY.
So I am looking for ideas.
I have not been able to brew at all this year, due to equipment failures and what not, and I am now getting everything back up and running. I am in the process of going to all grain, I have 2 kegs that can be converted, and I have 2 ten gallon rubbermaid coolers, and 1 five gallon rubbermaid cooler. I have a hinged 15" SS false bottom and an unhinged 12" SS false bottom, both with a center hole, got those from Jaybird (thanks again man... they look incredible). I am looking at putting together a HERMS, more than likely using the two kegs for the boil kettle and the hlt, and a cooler for the mlt, with the hinged false bottom in the boil kettle, and the 12" in the mlt.
I have put some thought into how I want to build this part, looking back and forth between gas and electric for the hlt, how I want to set up automated temp control on the HERMS, things like that. At this point, after doing a lot of reading and listening to the Upgrade shows from The Brewing Network Sunday Sessions, etc, I have pretty much decided to go with high pressure gas for the boil kettle, and PID controlled electric for the HLT, with a pump doing a constant recirculation on the mash tun.
SO... now that you know the background, we get to why I am actually posting, and what I want some ideas about. The wife is tired of me brewing in the kitchen, so I convinced her to let me move the brewery to a block house that we have on the back of our property. I am going to move the lawnmower and everything out of the block house, and then remodel it as I see fit.
The building is 18' wide, 12' deep, 7' tall inside. There are currently two windows and a set of double doors. I am going to wall off the windows and replace the current doors with ones that are more secure and private. I am also thinking about removing the "ceiling" and moving the insulation between the studs, then redoing the wall board onto the studs, to open the space up a little. There is currently no power, water or gas running out to the building, so I will need to have that done. It is about 100' from the closest place to connect in for those things.
I have collected an oven, a dishwasher, two refridgerators, an upright freezer, a chest freezer, and stainless double sink. All these have come from different kitchen remodels, etc.
My question to you guys who have set up a dedicated space is, what kind of issues did you run into? What did you do that you love, and would not change? What did you do that you would like to go back and redo a different way?
I have listened to the Sunday Session episode on Building Your Brewhouse, now I want to pick your brains, so that I can try to minimize things that I am going to end up redoing because I end up not liking how something works.
So I am looking for ideas.
I have not been able to brew at all this year, due to equipment failures and what not, and I am now getting everything back up and running. I am in the process of going to all grain, I have 2 kegs that can be converted, and I have 2 ten gallon rubbermaid coolers, and 1 five gallon rubbermaid cooler. I have a hinged 15" SS false bottom and an unhinged 12" SS false bottom, both with a center hole, got those from Jaybird (thanks again man... they look incredible). I am looking at putting together a HERMS, more than likely using the two kegs for the boil kettle and the hlt, and a cooler for the mlt, with the hinged false bottom in the boil kettle, and the 12" in the mlt.
I have put some thought into how I want to build this part, looking back and forth between gas and electric for the hlt, how I want to set up automated temp control on the HERMS, things like that. At this point, after doing a lot of reading and listening to the Upgrade shows from The Brewing Network Sunday Sessions, etc, I have pretty much decided to go with high pressure gas for the boil kettle, and PID controlled electric for the HLT, with a pump doing a constant recirculation on the mash tun.
SO... now that you know the background, we get to why I am actually posting, and what I want some ideas about. The wife is tired of me brewing in the kitchen, so I convinced her to let me move the brewery to a block house that we have on the back of our property. I am going to move the lawnmower and everything out of the block house, and then remodel it as I see fit.
The building is 18' wide, 12' deep, 7' tall inside. There are currently two windows and a set of double doors. I am going to wall off the windows and replace the current doors with ones that are more secure and private. I am also thinking about removing the "ceiling" and moving the insulation between the studs, then redoing the wall board onto the studs, to open the space up a little. There is currently no power, water or gas running out to the building, so I will need to have that done. It is about 100' from the closest place to connect in for those things.
I have collected an oven, a dishwasher, two refridgerators, an upright freezer, a chest freezer, and stainless double sink. All these have come from different kitchen remodels, etc.
My question to you guys who have set up a dedicated space is, what kind of issues did you run into? What did you do that you love, and would not change? What did you do that you would like to go back and redo a different way?
I have listened to the Sunday Session episode on Building Your Brewhouse, now I want to pick your brains, so that I can try to minimize things that I am going to end up redoing because I end up not liking how something works.