Another Basement Brewery Build

I started brewing in my garage in North Carolina in 2011. For 46 batches it worked well, but in 2013 we moved to St Louis and had out first baby so brewing took a little break. I knew once we got settled in our house I wanted to build my ultimate basement brewery, so I did.

My goals were:

• Be able to brew year round at any time of the day, to accommodate weather and family life better. This meant I had to go indoors, which meant electric.
• Keep everything brewery related contained to a small area of the basement.
• Build a system that could brew anything I wanted to brew, and do it consistently.
• Re-use as much of my existing equipment as possible.

Fortunately the house we bought had a perfect basement for brewing. The back corner of the basement had power, water, drainage and a window for ventilation. Having all of the utilities available within a few feet of each other made this project much easier.

This is what I started with (panorama):


And this is what I have now:


More pictures to come.

First I had to take care of the basics:

• Fresh coat of primer and paint - previous wall was painted with several different colors, or nothing at all.
• New lighting - hung 2 4' 2 bulb fluorescent fixtures to replace the single fixture light bulb.
• Tile floor - wife nixed this idea. Maybe next year i'll do this.

Plumbing
I needed a large sink to do clean-up so I needed water supply lines and a place to drain the water. I knew nothing about plumbing when I started, other than that plumbers are expensive, and I was going to have to do this one on my own. Now I have a really good understanding of supply lines, venting, drains, air admittance valves, p-traps, etc.

I determined the "right" way to do the drain was to dig up the slab and replace the p-trap under the floor with a Wye and 2 p-traps and also tie these to a vent. Cutting the slab wasn't an option, and venting was also difficult to come by, so I made the best I could with what i had. I made my modifications easily reversible in the event we move again.

I cut the washing machine's cast iron stand pipe off with a reciprocating saw and built a new stack for the washer and another channel for the sink drain. I used a Fernco rubber fitting to couple the cast iron to the PVC.



Water supply lines turned out to be time consuming because there was 0 room for error. I learned to sweat copper pipes and built everything on the floor so it was easier to build and ready to go. I ended up doing the copper pipes twice. I threw out my first go round since I wasn't 100% confident in my work. The second attempt was pro quality.

I learned about a type of fitting called a shark bite. These things are fantastic when you have to deal with existing piping. They are very very expensive (like 10x a regular copper fitting), but worth it for their simplicity. I T'd into the hot water line from the washing machine:


And T'd the main cold water line for the house for the cold side:


I gave myself 2 cold lines so I'd have a dedicated line for brewery water and cooling water.


And now my wife finally has her "laundry sink"!


Here's what I did with the additional cold water line. One path is filtered (eventually R/O), and the other is straight cold water for flushing the plate chiller and general chill water.


Electrical
I am an electrical controls engineer by trade so this part was trivial for me. I had to learn a few things about household power that were different than what I was used to in industrial settings, but nothing crazy.

I added a 50A GFCI to my breaker panel and ran some 6/3 NM-B cord over to my panel. Panel components are mostly from Auber. If i had to do it over again, I wouldn't buy another thing from them ever again. They have the worst customer service I've ever encountered anytime in my life. I have 3 controllers: A PID for the HLT, a PID for the RIMS/MLT and a dial controller for the Boil Kettle. I put switches in for my pumps too.




I still need to add another set of switches to the PID controllers. I didn't expect that they would automatically start once they powered on. Right now I am just flipping the breakers to accomplish the same thing.

Process
I wanted to design a system that had excellent controllability and repeatability. Ideally this would be fully automated, but in the end couldn't justify the extra cost of controllers, sensors and valves. I'm putting that on the 5-10 year roadmap.

My P&ID:


Hose schematic


HLT: From experience I knew temperature stratification was real and substantial. I considered approaching the problem either by using a mechanical stirrer, or recirculation. In the end I choose to recirc because i couldn't find a suitable stirring device.

MLT: I settled on a RIMs system because it can step temperatures quicker and I could control the HLT and RIMS separately.

BK: The BK is capable of recirculation for the cooling cycle. My normal process is to recirculate through my plate chiller and return it until the temperature is low enough that i can run it out to the fermenter in a single pass.


Equipment

Lots of stainless and lots of valves from Bobby at BrewHardare. Fully decked out with quick disconnects, and full 1/2" ID on nearly everything (few exceptions). Man does this thing move liquid compared to my old QDs!


During this build I had issues with every vendor I purchased from. I had bad valves from BrewHardware. Abhorrent enclosure cutting from Auber. Bad welds, a bad thermometer and galled threads (even though I used thread compound) from Blichmann. BrewHardware was the only vendor I dealt with that made everything right. Blichmann wouldn't warrant the galled threads. Stuff happens but it's all about how you deal with them. Bobby is a top notch guy and I can't recommend him enough. Shame, shame, shame on Auber. I still owe them a thread on their poor customer service. Blichmann was rapid to fix the weld, slow with the thermometer and non-existent with the threads. For as much Blichmann bling as I have I expected better service.

Plate chiller decked out with male cam lock quick disconnects from Bobby.


Pump head design. I put a drain valve on the pump so I can drain hoses out before disconnecting them. Great addition! This thread discusses the evolution of this design.


Inside the boil kettle with the boil coil, Hop Stopper from Kal, and recirc arm I built from standard fittings rather than some of the other solutions out there that have a smaller diameter. This thing can really whirlpool! Hop Stopper does a great job at filtering but clogs easily and loses the siphon too easily at the end. Both well documented problems. So I have mixed feelings about it.


My RIMS Rocket mount. Not real thrilled with this but it works. I think if i had a stainless pump head I'd be fine just letting it hang, but that is a big moment arm on a plastic pump head.


And here it is:


And a plug for my Quad Stir Plate.

Ventilation

First the design that was an epic failure:


And the HBT inspired final solution (in standby mode):


And in operational mode:



Speed control on the wall switch:


And finally, not taking any chance in case I back vent the water heater or HVAC:

Nice. Does your dimmer switch actually work on your vortex? I tried 3 different ones and they only work on high/off.

Roadie said:

Nice. Does your dimmer switch actually work on your vortex? I tried 3 different ones and they only work on high/off.

Click to expand...

The first one I bought was capacitor/resistor based (Lutron FSQ series) and only worked on high (no resistor/capacitor in circuit).

This one is a triac and it does work. However, it was a waste of $12 because it needs to run full blast anyways. It is a Lutron FS-5FH-DK.

schematix said:

I determined the "right" way to do the drain was to dig up the slab and replace the p-trap under the floor with a Wye and 2 p-traps and also tie these to a vent. Cutting the slab wasn't an option, and venting was also difficult to come by, so I made the best I could with what i had. I made my modifications easily reversible in the event we move again.

I cut the washing machine's cast iron stand pipe off and built a new stack for the washer and another channel for the sink drain.

Click to expand...

First, I wanted to say really nice build! I am about to embark on a similar journey though I won't be able to have my sink as close to the brew area. Plan to put my brew items on a wheel stand so I can move it to the sink when it's time.

I see you talk about the right way to vent, but unless I am missing something it looks like you didn't end up venting at all? What it looks like you created are 2 wet vents? Where does that stack go?

I am trying to learn all about this stuff and it is somewhat confusing

brettwasbtd said:

First, I wanted to say really nice build! I am about to embark on a similar journey though I won't be able to have my sink as close to the brew area. Plan to put my be items on a wheel stand so I can move it to the sink when it's time.

I see you talk about the right way to vent, but unless I am missing something it looks like you didn't end up venting at all? What it looks like you created are 2 wet vents? Where does that stack go?

I am trying to learn all about this stuff and it is somewhat confusing

Click to expand...

This is quite the gray area. I am in reality venting either through the washer stack pipe, or the air admittance valve i put on the sink drain. This "works" but an inspector might disagree that its kosher. Washer stand pipes have special exceptions with their venting since they deal with "gray" water and are naturally open to the atmosphere. A new house would likely have venting included, but this house was built in '73, before such standards were common and when they still used aluminum wire (f me).

There is a p-trap beneath the floor. After that i assume that then connects to the main drain line and is thus vented through one of the other drains.

So far no issues with drainage or sewer gas.

Nice job schematix!!

schematix said:

This is quite the gray area. I am in reality venting either through the washer stack pipe, or the air admittance valve i put on the sink drain. This "works" but an inspector might disagree that its kosher. Washer stand pipes have special exceptions with their venting since they deal with "gray" water and are naturally open to the atmosphere. A new house would likely have venting included, but this house was built in '73, before such standards were common and when they still used aluminum wire (f me).

There is a p-trap beneath the floor. After that i assume that then connects to the main drain line and is thus vented through one of the other drains.

So far no issues with drainage or sewer gas.

Click to expand...

Gotya, ya I didnt see that you put an air admittance valve on the sink. That makes sense. For others knowledge, If schematix hadn't added the aav there is the possibility the laundry could dispense so fast that it siphons out the trap on the sink then leaving it open to the waste fumes.

I really like the two cold line idea I may need to do that. Did you get the faucet with the sink or separate?

brettwasbtd said:

Gotya, ya I didnt see that you put an air admittance valve on the sink. That makes sense. For others knowledge, If schematix hadn't added the aav there is the possibility the laundry could dispense so fast that it siphons out the trap on the sink then leaving it open to the waste fumes.

I really like the two cold line idea I may need to do that. Did you get the faucet with the sink or separate?

Click to expand...

Realistically the p-trap on my sink is pointless - the washer stand pipe is open to the atmosphere so any gas above the floor trap could come out from there. The AAV is more for smooth drainage. I even question if that was necessary. I added it because i didn't want to redo it if it didn't work.

The sink and faucet were a la carte from WEBstaurant. The sink is a # 600S12323 and the faucet is #510B133AF12B. The faucet is fantastic. Superb quality. Wish i would have bought a bigger sink though. I had to orient the on/off valve off center to get my 20G Blichmann kettles in the sink.

I'll add a picture of what i used the 2nd cold water line for. Ultimate goal is to replace the carbon filter with R/O. I ran out of time earlier to post everything.

Very nice!

Beautiful

Nice looking build - i'm envious! I've used PEX in some homeowner plumbing projects. Any reason to use - or not use - PEX versus copper?

Looks great!

Excellent build. Hope it stays this clean!

Looks great! Great use of space! I like the first post, its like those 'find the differences' picture games.

aces-n-eights said:

Nice looking build - i'm envious! I've used PEX in some homeowner plumbing projects. Any reason to use - or not use - PEX versus copper?

Click to expand...

PEX is a great choice for new construction because it saves a ton of labor. The pipe is cheap and easy to route. The fittings are very pricey though, but you're talking about it taking seconds vs many minutes to install each one.

I went with copper mainly for the aesthetics, and second cost. I had existing copper in the same area so adding red and blue PEX would look out of place. For the small length of pipe I needed, but large number of fittings, copper was actually cheaper.

Added another 10 pictures or so. I think that's everything now.

What's the vertical distance from the top of your kettle to the vent good? And how big diameter is the hood?

dcbw said:

What's the vertical distance from the top of your kettle to the vent good? And how big diameter is the hood?

Click to expand...

Vertical distance is about 14". Kettle is about 20". Hood is about 22". 449CFM vortex. It works great at full speed but if I turn it down even a little bit some steam escapes around the edges of the hood.

schematix said:

PEX is a great choice for new construction because it saves a ton of labor. The pipe is cheap and easy to route. The fittings are very pricey though, but you're talking about it taking seconds vs many minutes to install each one.

I went with copper mainly for the aesthetics, and second cost. I had existing copper in the same area so adding red and blue PEX would look out of place. For the small length of pipe I needed, but large number of fittings, copper was actually cheaper.

Click to expand...

Thanks, good call! Looks great

Looks great.

I concur, what an excellent system. I am in the process of converting my 10 gal system to electric and found this page - couldn't be more timely. I bought an Allen Bradley Micro830 PLC and a Blichmann boil coil but haven't pulled the trigger on a Rims Rocket yet. I am debating on buying the hops/heater combo. Do you have a photo of the internals of your Mash Tun you would share ?

The inside of the mash tun isn't real special. It's just a 15G BoilerMaker with the Blichmann False bottom. The only modification I made was to add 2 inlet ball valves at the top to bring sparge water and wort recirc back into the top of the grain bed. I did 2 valves instead of 1 so I didn't have to disconnect the hose to switch from mash recirc to sparge since it can be messy. I only put 1 knock out in the kettle and just used a tee.

The RIMS rocket gets mounted to Pump #2 directly so its external to the MLT. My Boil Coils are in the HLT and BK.

I'm still not sure I like the RIMS Rocket. Main reason is that its very difficult to mount and it holds a huge volume of wort. It works though, just be sure to use thread compound on the clamp or you'll gall the threads immediately.

Do you use the Blichmann auto sparge ? If so how well does that work with RIMS system?

preinke said:

Do you use the Blichmann auto sparge ? If so how well does that work with RIMS system?

Click to expand...

I do not use the auto sparge. This false bottom drains like a champ so its very simple to equalize the inflow vs outflow. After using it a few times i know approximately where the valve handles go, and if i'm off a little i'll adjust it and check again in a few minutes. One less thing to clean, maintain, or have go wrong too.

You were right about the plumbing stuff being time consuming! I just did everything for my sink and laundry machine yesterday...phew. Glad that is over with. I didn't install an extra line on the cold side cause I didnt want to run pipe along the wall 20' to where my brewstand is. I guess I will have to see how much a pain hoses are and how fast the faucet can flow. I may have to add another shutoff in at the very least and dedicate it to chilling.

How is your system working?

brettwasbtd said:

How is your system working?

Click to expand...

40G in kegs so far. About 10G of that has made its way to my belly and it has all been fantastic. Overall it's working really well, although I have a few enhancements planned.

1. Addition of rotameters on each pump assembly to more accurately measure flow rates (I also have an idea to make this into a minimum flow sensor for the RIMS PID). Right now I do it all by eye. Also, I have a number of issues with the RIMS temp control. The PID is really only tuned to a specific flow rate, so when i'm not at the rate it's designed to run at, it's either undershooting or overshooting. If i can tune it for a specific flow rate, and know i'm at that rate, i expect i can optimize that part of the system better. This will make balancing sparge levels much easier too.

2. Oxygen stone - Right now I have an inline set up i've been using since day 1. Now that there are better wand solutions on the market i'm going to consider moving to one of those. The main driver of this is that it takes a LOT of effort to get wort cold (e.g. 45F), but its really easy to get it cool (e.g. 80F). I'd like to use my chest freezers to bring it down the last 20-40 degrees, then oxygenate, then pitch. This could potentially also eliminate the need for recirculating chilling, which causes me a lot of plugging trouble when I use a lot of hops.

What is the quad stainless piece for? I didn't see it anywhere

TungstenBeer said:

What is the quad stainless piece for? I didn't see it anywhere

Click to expand...

Is this what you're referring to? I use it to split the wort and oxygenate.

Oh, very cool. I never even thought of that.

schematix said:

And here it is:
View attachment 255021

Click to expand...

Great build! I was wondering where you got the table from? I didn't see it in the posts.

It's just a stainless steel prep table like what is used in commercial kitchens. This particular one is from Webstaurant, model #600TS2460S. Just about every restaurant supply store sells something like it.

It came heavily scratched from the way it was packaging during shipment and Webstaurant wouldn't honor a warranty claim due to what they considered aesthetics. Also many of the bolts that secure the top to the frame weren't properly tighened.

They sell cheap stuff, but they don't stand behind it. I bought a sink from them too that was extremely lacking in quality, and their solution was to drop another $75 on leg braces to straighten the crooked legs out. Buyer beware.

schematix said:

Pump head design. I put a drain valve on the pump so I can drain hoses out before disconnecting them. Great addition! This thread discusses the evolution of this design.

Click to expand...

I was just thinking to myself the other day, there has to be a better way to clear my pump lines than doing a quick disconnect over a bucket.

IowaHomeBrewer said:

I was just thinking to myself the other day, there has to be a better way to clear my pump lines than doing a quick disconnect over a bucket.

Click to expand...

In hindsight another additional I would have added is a low point drain valve. This is implemented easily with another valve and a few fittings. The benefit is that you can drain everything above it easily.

The valve on the outlet does help tremendously with draining, but it's purpose was really more for ease of priming, although it's 95% effective as a drain.

This is one of the best build threads I've seen

Thanks so much for all the work and clear photos, diagrams, explanations. Brilliant stuff.

Will be referring to this in years to come when I do my own build. Nothing planned other than I'm mentally planning on having an electric setup someday.

Excellent build thread! Really top notch! I also really like your neat idea of using that quad wort spliter into the two fermenters!

John

schematix said:

It's just a stainless steel prep table like what is used in commercial kitchens. This particular one is from Webstaurant, model #600TS2460S. Just about every restaurant supply store sells something like it.

It came heavily scratched from the way it was packaging during shipment and Webstaurant wouldn't honor a warranty claim due to what they considered aesthetics. Also many of the bolts that secure the top to the frame weren't properly tighened.

They sell cheap stuff, but they don't stand behind it. I bought a sink from them too that was extremely lacking in quality, and their solution was to drop another $75 on leg braces to straighten the crooked legs out. Buyer beware.

Click to expand...

To be fair in the intended restaurant environment the tables usually get scratches to hell in the first couple days...Thats kinda the idea behind the stainless to stand up to the hard use. hence their outlook on the cosmetics of the product.
I worked as the maint man in a large restaurant for 15 years... Many stainless sinks and tables came with different support options too depending on setup stronger legs arent always needed.. Sometimes the legs where bolted to the floor to keep them in place or the table wedged in a corner... So the stronger setup/braces for extra is kind of typical for many restaurant supply places. Theres a huge price gap in the good stuff vs cheap stuff..

Sorry if I missed it earlier but I'm curious what outlets and plugs you used for your heating elements. I'm building now and don't like the big bulky options I see others using.