Unveiling my brewery & garage build

I've got a few more photos to share for those following my progress. I've been hesitant to post too much during this phase of the project, since most of the work I'm doing now is not directly beer/homebrew related. I am happily brewing behind the scenes though, and am please to report that my pipeline of beer (and cider) is stronger than it has ever been.

Decking material enjoying it's last ever opportunity to stay dry and warm indoors


Spent the day yesterday laying down the decking with my buddy the contractor.


Looking at this picture after the fact reminds me that I'm going to need to put some real effort into rehabilitating the lawn next to the deck come spring time. It's been seriously trampled at the worst time of year. I think it'll continue to be pretty ugly there until the first growth spurt of spring.

Like you say, once that lawn comes in all lush an green you'll have an amazing space for cook outs and sharing your home brew with friends. V jealous!

Absolutely AMAZING, looks good.

Thanks, all. Lots more progress today. I'll get some more photos when I can.

It's been raining like crazy in Seattle (shocking, I know), so today's update is taken from inside the sunroom.

Very Nice

Minor update here, the ~20 year old squirrel cage fan that came with my reclaimed exhaust hood has given up the ghost. It failed on my during a boil a couple of weeks ago (90 minute boil IIPA) which i noticed when the building got very hot and very humid rather quickly. After letting it cool down and dry out for a day it seemed to be working ok, but it failed again on my during a boil this week.. It was time for it to go.

It has been replaced by a 400cfm in-line fan, similar to those used by many other brewers on HBT, which I hooked up directly above the vent hood. It's a bit louder, but moves a lot more air.

I had a feeling this was coming. In fact, this possibility is the primary reason I had not built the box around the top of the hood to conceal the pipe.

New Fan in place




I was asking a lot of this old fan. It did it's best.

R.I.P. Old Fan.....

Awesome work, read the whole thread today and really enjoyed it. Time to start planning my 'shed' build this spring...

I read the whole thread this morning, and Kudos to you for a great job on your "Garage" and the thread. Serious envy here.

All I can say is SWEET!!! Great job with the narrative and pics. Really jealous. Good luck going forward.

fall-line said:

Minor update here, the ~20 year old squirrel cage fan that came with my reclaimed exhaust hood has given up the ghost. It failed on my during a boil a couple of weeks ago (90 minute boil IIPA) which i noticed when the building got very hot and very humid rather quickly. After letting it cool down and dry out for a day it seemed to be working ok, but it failed again on my during a boil this week.. It was time for it to go.

It has been replaced by a 400cfm in-line fan, similar to those used by many other brewers on HBT, which I hooked up directly above the vent hood. It's a bit louder, but moves a lot more air.

I had a feeling this was coming. In fact, this possibility is the primary reason I had not built the box around the top of the hood to conceal the pipe.

New Fan in place

I was asking a lot of this old fan. It did it's best.

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That fan is very undersized for the apparent job. Everything I have read recommends 100 CFM per 10,000 BTU of output. Better get a CO detector.

I agree that the calculations say I should have a fan about 2x the size. If I were to do it over again (or make a recommendation for someone starting fresh), I'd go with a 8" diamater pipe and a 700-1000 CFM fan. That being said, I have very little static pressure on the outflow of this fan since it vents straight up. The 400cfm unit works great, even at full boil. The CO detector (I've had one installed since day one) has never chirped and the fan has always been able to keep up with the vapor.

fall-line, What kind of CO detector do you use?

Looks sweet

cascadia said:

fall-line, What kind of CO detector do you use?

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Pretty basic, I picked it up at Lowes here in N. Seattle (I see you are local):
http://www.lowes.com/pd_304230-347-CO605_4294722466__?productId=3031861&Ns=p_product_qty_sales_dollar|1

It does the job, every time I drive my car in or out of the garage (which is rare) it goes nuts.

SDBreWs0624 said:

Looks sweet

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Sheldon said:

All I can say is SWEET!!! Great job with the narrative and pics. Really jealous. Good luck going forward.

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Helly said:

Awesome work, read the whole thread today and really enjoyed it. Time to start planning my 'shed' build this spring...

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Oldskooler said:

I read the whole thread this morning, and Kudos to you for a great job on your "Garage" and the thread. Serious envy here.

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Thanks for your kind words, all. I appreciate it.

I dont like you!

Great job!!!

Nice build!! From the first picture I had guessed where you were located because it looked a lot like my neighborhood. From your further descriptions I know we are farther apart, but you sure would be a nice neighbor to have!

I just completed an electric brewery. I still need to get an exhaust fan hooked up. I have been brewing with the garage doors open so far. I haven't had any problems with condensation. Seeing your hood has inspired me to get something figured out.

fall-line said:

Pretty basic, I picked it up at Lowes here in N. Seattle (I see you are local):
http://www.lowes.com/pd_304230-347-CO605_4294722466__?productId=3031861&Ns=p_product_qty_sales_dollar|1

It does the job, every time I drive my car in or out of the garage (which is rare) it goes nuts.

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Cool thanks, I have seen that one at Lowe's. Good to know it works. For the price I'll probably pick one up for cheap insurance. Fantastic build BTW.

Love all the progress here! Keep us posted with all the projects.

Awesome

Is it summer yet? I'm almost ready! As I mentioned before I've been avoiding spamming the this thread with non beer related updates, but I'm happy to report that the decking is done. Moving along now to the railings and the arbor, painting the fence, and building the outdoor kitchen.

Meanwhile I'm happy to say that the brewing continues, with an IIPA, Maibock, Moose Drool, 'Island Lager', home grown apfelwein, and a Pale in various stages of fermenting or consuming. We're looking forward to the brewery warming party in March!





The design has changed a little from the original sketches, but it's pretty cool to once again see my drawings coming together in real life as they did with the building itself.

Looks really good! That'll be an amazing space to use in the summer!

Your lawn isn't as green as in the sketch though!

Seriously! My poor lawn (at least the part the borders the deck) has been destroyed by this project. Far too much foot traffic and materials placed on it at the worst time of year. As soon as the days start getting a little warmer/longer, I'm going to begin a serious lawn revitalization effort.

for all the more that's left I say go with astroturf and use the time saved from mowing to brew!

Honestly looks great. In the last 3 years I've gone from a grass only back yard to around 1200 S.F of Deck and patio space.

Heh, yeah I can certainly see the attraction of 'hardscaping' over lawn. That being said. I have encroached upon my lawn enough in this project and am determined to take good care of the rest of it. We have a dog, and plan to have kids. Both of these critters benefit greatly from a good roll around in the grass on a summer day.

fall-line said:

Heh, yeah I can certainly see the attraction of 'hardscaping' over lawn. That being said. I have encroached upon my lawn enough in this project and am determined to take good care of the rest of it. We have a dog, and plan to have kids. Both of these critters benefit greatly from a good roll around in the grass on a summer day.

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Some aeration, overseeding and water will green it back up in no time. Grass is easy if you get sun.

TyTanium said:

Some aeration, overseeding and water will green it back up in no time. Grass is easy if you get sun.

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It's hard if you have too much sun

TyTanium said:

Grass is easy if you get sun.

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uh, have you seen where he's from?

sweetcell said:

uh, have you seen where he's from?

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haha. that was my first thought when I read that post as well. However, we actually do get a ton of sun here in the summer. Our lawns grow like crazy in the spring and early summer with the combination of rain and sun we get, but from July - September, Seattle is actually drier than most cities in the US. You see a lot of brown lawns.

I think this year, I'll need to water it a bit more than usual to help it's recovery.

Down here in Texas you have to water daily if you don't want your lawn to end up as dirt.

tom_gamer said:

Down here in Texas you have to water daily if you don't want your lawn to end up as dirt.

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Nonsense. El Paso is about the only place that needs watering twice a week. Just about anywhere in Texas East of Midland can get away with less often than that.

freelunch said:

Nonsense. El Paso is about the only place that needs watering twice a week. Just about anywhere in Texas East of Midland can get away with less often than that.

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I call BS. I live in Houston and you need to water basically daily in the summer heat if you don't want you lawn to die.

I lived in Plano for five years. The automatic sprinklers went on every other day to keep the "expansive clay" moist. If it dried out, the house foundation could crack. And that St. Augustine grass...the hotter it was, and the more you watered, the more it grew! Kinda reminds me of "crab grass" up here in the north!

glenn514

Just finished reading the whole post. Great job. Very envious of your space. Good luck with your brewing and projects. Keep us posted as you automate your brewery.

Wow... Just read all 28 pages. Impressive to say the least.

mrklueber said:

Just finished reading the whole post. Great job. Very envious of your space. Good luck with your brewing and projects. Keep us posted as you automate your brewery.

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rdann87 said:

Wow... Just read all 28 pages. Impressive to say the least.

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Thanks! I've re-read the thread start to finish a couple of times through this journey, it's a nice reminder of (most of) the steps along the way.

For all you Texas folk that think your lawns have it bad. Here is the monthly and seasonal rainfall comparison for our cities. We get lots of rain pretty much all year and the species of grass the survives in the wet best here does not tollerate drought well at all. As you can see though, we get quite a bit less rain than most places (even in Texas) during July-September. I assume this is due to the fact that you get semi-regular thunderstorms, but everywhere is a little different. We get maybe one or two thunderstorms a year. Summer rain is a rare treat.

http://average-rainfall-cities.findthedata.org/compare/244-247-249-268/Dallas-fort-Worth-vs-El-Paso-vs-Houston-vs-Seattle-Sea-tac-Ap

It's not uncommon for folks in Seattle to water their lawns 2-3x a day during this period. I've found that if I don't water at least once a day it'll be brown and dusty by the end of July.

Usually, we just let it happen and save our water for the garden, which needs it even worse. This year, I think the lawn will get some more love to help it bounce back.

I'm looking forward to having those two large ran cisterns filled up for watering the garden, but unfortunately the 620 gallons won't be anywhere near enough to carry us through the summer. Best estimates are that we will need close to 4000 gallons.

I was happy to be able to take advantage of the long weekend and some nice weather to get the arbor started along with my trusty contractor. Working with this beautiful cedar was a nice change from the composite material we used on the deck.

Sanding, shaping, and staining the beam.


Lifted it into place


Detail


Rear posts are in, starting on the rails and rafters. (low light at the end of the day)


I also got some work done on the brewing rig. I'll get those photos pulled together and post them a bit later.