Basement Brew House

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BrewerinBR

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I have an area in my basement that I am preparing to use as a brew room. Here is where I started:

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I'm no expert in this area, but i'll give my .02! In my opinion if you can recycle the air in the brew room every 3min I don't think you should have any problems. seems like your taking all the necessary precautions.
 
Add the new wall and ceiling, insulation and plastic vapor barrier.
On the other side of those walls is a bedroom and storage area. Rest of the walls are the work shop and a storage area.

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Add the post for the tiered system, and the plastic and insulation on the other wall. The gap in the plastic, where the wire is hanging is where the Exhaust fan will go... once I buy it. Also got the rest of electrical done.

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Drywall is up, the 4 inch fresh air in vent is in with ducting, and the door and frame is in. I hate sanding drywall mud so I textured the entire room with an old adobe style.

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How did you work the exhaust portion? Does it vent right to the outside? I would assume it does. If so did you cut a hole right through and run it out like a dryer vent? Also I assume your using natural gas?
 
Installed the wood trim on the back wall, finished the post for the tiered brewing stack. Going with 60 quart pots so I can do 10 gallon batches. I have low pressure burners (3). In the 2nd pic the wood on the right wall is the level of the HLT, the wood runner (where the socket is) is for the MLT, the BK will be to the left of the post and have legs.

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How did you work the exhaust portion? Does it vent right to the outside? I would assume it does. If so did you cut a hole right through and run it out like a dryer vent? Also I assume your using natural gas?

The 4 inch is fresh air in and I used dryer vent with a 4 inch inline fan, moves 80 CFM and pull airs from the exterior (north side of house). The exhaust fan, once installed, will be a 6 inch vent but for that I will PVC as that is what the fan manufacturer recommends. That fan will move 140 CFM. Going to use a commercial grade fan so I can run it as much as I need/want to. But they are a bit pricey and my budget is tight, so far I worked on this for 8 months. Edit: The 4 inch goes out just above the sill plate but this is 22 feet long that is why the inline fan

No natural gas where I live so it has to be propane. Building my own burners, will post pics of those soon.

Edit: The Exhaust fan will vent to the exterior (west side of house) just like a dryer or a bathroom vent. In fact the fan I am looking at is a bathroom fan just commercial grade. It is about 10 feet to the exterior wall, will go up and out just above the sill plate because I do not want to cut a 6 inch hole in the 8 inch poured concrete walls in my basement.
 
Painted the door trim and built a set of shelves for storage, and moved in the metal shelves for bottles (227 of them de-labeled, washed, rinsed and ready for sanitizer). That is as far as I have gotten, still need to buy the exhaust fan and install it. So far its been 8 months of work, used up a lot of old building materials from renovations and upgrades to the house. Last few pics for now.

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Great build so far! I plan on building a brewing room in my basement this winter. Can't wait to see your progress, so I can steal all of your ideas. :D

Keep on posting pics and keep up the good work. :mug:
 
How many square feet is your room? Looking good, keep it up! :mug:

The room is 11' by 7' so 77 Square feet, ceiling height is 7'6" total of 577 cubic feet. Small but it is just a room for brewing in, no fridges or nothing going in there. Brewing and storing brewing equipment.

I built a fermentation chamber in my shop. Have some dead space behind a wall that has all the plumbing behind it. Nothing special, I use ice in a bucket to keep the temp at about 65-67 since this summer is so warm.
 
Great job so far........I have a natural gas hook-up that is available in my brew area if I ever decide to brew inside my home. It would work perfectly to just hook a burner up to it with a valve, vent it outside and I'm set.
 
Great job so far........I have a natural gas hook-up that is available in my brew area if I ever decide to brew inside my home. It would work perfectly to just hook a burner up to it with a valve, vent it outside and I'm set.
Thanks ...
With a good commercial exhaust fan and natural gas you can use the high pressure burners that produce much more heat. Natural Gas burns much more efficient than propane.
I have to use propane, no natural gas here. Indoors is the only option as I don't have a garage, 3 gallons works on the propane stove in the kitchen, but I want to move to 10 gallons. 3 gallons just is not enough, I go thru a batch before the next one is even bottled.
 
thanks for the info. im deciding now what im going to do as far as my dedicated space is concerned. i have been toying with the idea to brew out of basement but i was concerned about the ventilation aspect. i would be using natural gas but that space is only 5 1/2 feet by 12 so im not even sure if thats all that practical. any idea how much an adequate commercial fan is going to run you?
 
thanks for the info. im deciding now what im going to do as far as my dedicated space is concerned. i have been toying with the idea to brew out of basement but i was concerned about the ventilation aspect. i would be using natural gas but that space is only 5 1/2 feet by 12 so im not even sure if thats all that practical. any idea how much an adequate commercial fan is going to run you?

5 1/2 by 12 is 66 square feet, mine is only 77 square feet. Organized and planned correctly it could work. Well the 140 cubic foot per minute fan I need is at Lowe's for 130 plus tax. It is their standard commercial grade bathroom fan without a light. Not outrageous, but more then hobby budget has right now. The room is a total of 577 cubic feet, with 80 in and 140 out that's 220 CFM of air flow, less the ducting which is just under 20 cubic feet, so the fan system will cycle the air about every 3 to 4 minutes. Should be enough to remove CO; CO2; unburned propane and moisture. The Fresh air in is in the ceiling at the opposite side of the room as the exhaust. The exhaust fan will be about 24 inches up from the floor very near the burners. So I will a positive air flow in , through and out. Well that is the plan. When I get further along I will post some more pics and info.
 
Nice workmanship, but how is the end of that lower portion of your plywood shelves supported??

Also, wont that room get pretty warm with the burners going?
 
Nice workmanship, but how is the end of that lower portion of your plywood shelves supported??

Also, wont that room get pretty warm with the burners going?

The last two shelves are supported by two 1 1/2" plywood strips under the shelves. Those strips are screwed to studs using 3 inch screws. The end piece is screwed to those strips. with 1.5 inch screws. The 1 1/2" strips are screwed to the opposite end board that goes to the floor. The end that appears to float will hold my weight (230 Lbs) on the top shelf because of leverage. The bottom shelf will be for storing light items like empty bottling buckets, and is not intended for heavy items. So it is a visual effect, so Thank You, for noticing! a trick I learned from an old carpenter (my Dad).
Also the plywood shelves are 3/4" plywood.

Yes I am very concerned that in summer it may get warm in there. In winter when the outside air coming in that 4 inch vent is 5 below being too warm will not be a concern. The basement normally is 48 in winter and 52 in summer. This summer was odd... got as warm as 68 so if this type of summer continues then yes summer brewing will be warm..
 
Got the laptop workstation installed. It is right by the door so it had to fold away when not in use. Since I am always on HBT when I am brewing, I had to have a place for my laptop.

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Built the burner for the HLT and installed it. Then Built the burner for the BK and put the legs on it. Couple of views of the burners and bench for the mash tun.

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Put the piping together for the propane sealed it, sanded it and put some flat black spray paint on it. Three valves, someday I may want to add a stainless steel mash tun. The lowest connection is the hose to the 20 lb propane tank (outside until in use.).

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Hmmmm? A lot of wood around a lot of flames??? :confused: Be careful big fella! :mug:

Yes indeed, did a test fire up today... the low pressure burners do not put out a large flame. This burner design is the third generation, burner design 1 caught fire, burner design two worked better but still heated the wood to much. This design does not even get the far ends of the burner metal hot. just warm to the touch. I can actually hold on to the far ends of the burner on legs after 45 minutes of burning and move it. Its no 100k burner but better than my meager propane kitchen stove.
 
Jes don't wanna see your azz get burnup! :mug: ....I know I didn't really pull off the gansta' talk right now, but seriously be careful.
 
Here it is,the old and the new, my old mash tun as an HLT, new cooler mash tun, and the boil kettle all ready to brew... Originally planned to go directly to a 10 gallon setup, but jumped to 5 gallons for now, since my boil kettle can handle it just needed the mash tun.

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Jes don't wanna see your azz get burnup! :mug: ....I know I didn't really pull off the gansta' talk right now, but seriously be careful.

I certainly will be very cautious, thank you. Installed a CO Detector and a Smoke Detector, and have a large fire extinguisher at the ready. Also rule number 1 is if those burners are lit then I am in the room, no exception. Cannot wait to give it a go tomorrow, just will be very watchful and cautious.
 
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