AkBrew907 Electric Basement Build

AkBrew907 · Feb 1, 2016

Decided to start a thread to gather some thoughts, post a couple pictures of what I have to work with and track the progress over this summer as things come together.

Bought a new to us place in December and was thrilled when I realized it had a room in the basement that already has 240V wired (use to be a hot tub room). If this wasn't a sign to switch to electric I don't know what is.

Below are a couple pictures of the room in it's current state. Well kinda, it's full of shipping boxes and totes but this was before we moved all that crap in there.

Plan to rip the shelves they had in there out, replace the trim and build a custom bench, stand, storage etc along with a freezer for fermentation control and another one I will convert into a keezer.

I have a google sketchup drawing of my anticipated design I will load up once home. Looking for input on layout and flow.

AkBrew907 · Feb 1, 2016

Been looking at different sites and electric panels.

I have an idea for a two vessel system that I believe should work out well. I will have a Mash Tun with a false bottom and an electric element under the false bottom. I will use this to heat the mash water and will recirculate the mash and use the heating element to control mash temps. Will then have my BK with a heating element in it for the boil.

My question is can I get away with a panel that is classified as a BIAB system that only has one element? My thought is each vessel will have it's own heating element and temp probe and I can just unplug the cords from one vessel and plug in the other. Will this work or should I just spend the money and get a panel designed for two elements?

Thanks!

cdubbaya · Feb 1, 2016

Nice space! And bonus for being wired already, anxious to see what you do with it.

AkBrew907 · Feb 1, 2016

Actually found my rendering on my Dropbox. The room with the wood flooring next to it will be an adult game room. We usually have a poker game every other weekend so will build another poker table for this area. Also punch a hole through the wall into the brew room to have a small bar with taps from the keezer.

The freezer that to the right of the brew pots is going to be a sink. I have another version that shows that but not sure where it's saved. Not sure how I will get water plumbed into this room yet but will figure something out.

phug · Feb 1, 2016

And it's already tiled to handle splashes. Though I am surprised it's not already plumbed for water.

jcav · Feb 1, 2016

Nice brew room, with a great view too! Good luck on the build and keep us updated with pics.......

John

BrunDog · Feb 1, 2016

This is gonna be awesome!!

Regarding your question, I think you should build a two element panel. Switching plugs would not do that room justice. You can use a switch to select elements if the circuit is 30A, or run both of it is 50A.

Also, I am a fan of two vessel brewing, but you will either need to go no sparge or modified sparge a la poptarts.

rappell · Feb 1, 2016

Questions: where is your water supply and where will waste water go? And, how will you vent during boil? Great room though. I'm jelly!

doug293cz · Feb 1, 2016

I think you would quickly tire of plugging and unplugging, and the extra handling of your probe wires and connectors could shorten their lives.

Brew on :mug:

AkBrew907 · Feb 2, 2016

cdubbaya said:
Nice space! And bonus for being wired already, anxious to see what you do with it.

phug said:
And it's already tiled to handle splashes. Though I am surprised it's not already plumbed for water.

ya. not sure what it will take to get plumbing in there.

jcav said:
Nice brew room, with a great view too! Good luck on the build and keep us updated with pics.......

John

the view is one of the deciding factors when we bought the house

BrunDog said:
This is gonna be awesome!!

Regarding your question, I think you should build a two element panel. Switching plugs would not do that room justice. You can use a switch to select elements if the circuit is 30A, or run both of it is 50A.

Also, I am a fan of two vessel brewing, but you will either need to go no sparge or modified sparge a la poptarts.

ya I kinda figured. Going to have everything else exactly how I want it, why skimp on the panel? With two elements, especially if I go 50amp i can use the BK to heat sparge water. Actually now that I think about it being able to run both elements at the same time would be ideal.

rappell said:
Questions: where is your water supply and where will waste water go? And, how will you vent during boil? Great room though. I'm jelly!

Water is still not figured out. I have been doing distilled water and adding additions so I could still do that but I would love a sink to clean everything in that room. Worse case scenario I can put a utility sink in the utility room downstairs and will just have to bring the pots and gear into there.

I will build a hood and run a vent out to the exterior wall

doug293cz said:
I think you would quickly tire of plugging and unplugging, and the extra handling of your probe wires and connectors could shorten their lives.

Brew on

ya I have to agree. Trying to pinch pennies. Will just wait till i can get everything exactly how I want it.

another option for water is taking it from outside. The black caps were what they used to vent the hot tub...and maybe to fill it? they both are access to the outside of the house. I could run a hose from the water spigot inside through one and drain out the other to the yard.

cod3ck · Feb 2, 2016

With that sweet of a setup... There's gotta be a way to plumb water into that room -- even if that means you can only tap into a cold line.

phug · Feb 2, 2016

AkBrew907 said:
ya. not sure what it will take to get plumbing in there.

the view is one of the deciding factors when we bought the house

View attachment 334737

ya I kinda figured. Going to have everything else exactly how I want it, why skimp on the panel? With two elements, especially if I go 50amp i can use the BK to heat sparge water. Actually now that I think about it being able to run both elements at the same time would be ideal.

Water is still not figured out. I have been doing distilled water and adding additions so I could still do that but I would love a sink to clean everything in that room. Worse case scenario I can put a utility sink in the utility room downstairs and will just have to bring the pots and gear into there.

I will build a hood and run a vent out to the exterior wall

ya I have to agree. Trying to pinch pennies. Will just wait till i can get everything exactly how I want it.

another option for water is taking it from outside. The black caps were what they used to vent the hot tub...and maybe to fill it? they both are access to the outside of the house. I could run a hose from the water spigot inside through one and drain out the other to the yard.

Yeah that's probably what they did. Any chance of pipes freezing in the winter?

AkBrew907 · Feb 2, 2016

phug said:
Yeah that's probably what they did. Any chance of pipes freezing in the winter?

If they are inside the walls they are well insulated and house heat keeps anything from freezing.

Was rocking my daughter to sleep last night in the living room and put two and two together that my kitchen is directly above the brew room. I'm no plumber but I would imagine it wouldn't be to difficult to tap into the hot and cold pipes from above and run down into the brew room.

Still doesn't solve how it's going to drain though.

itsnotrequired · Feb 2, 2016

for a drain, you could set a sump box in a cabinet below the kettles. drain the sink into the box and then pump up/out. no need to bust up the floor.

BrunDog · Feb 2, 2016

Yup. You would run hot, cold, and drain lines. Use a "lift" as INR pointed out.

DurtyChemist · Feb 2, 2016

I'm going to take a guess and say you're in Wasilla. The wife thinks she identified pioneer peak on the left.

How do you plan to run the lines from your chest freezer to your tap handles? Are you running them through the wall?

AkBrew907 · Feb 2, 2016

itsnotrequired said:
for a drain, you could set a sump box in a cabinet below the kettles. drain the sink into the box and then pump up/out. no need to bust up the floor.

BrunDog said:
Yup. You would run hot, cold, and drain lines. Use a "lift" as INR pointed out.

Did a Google search, something like this? That seems easy enough. Looks like it's just plumbed inline of the sink drain
http://bigfrogsupply.com/products/404?utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=googlepla&variant=8998909315

DurtyChemist said:
I'm going to take a guess and say you're in Wasilla. The wife thinks she identified pioneer peak on the left.

How do you plan to run the lines from your chest freezer to your tap handles? Are you running them through the wall?

Ha yup. Born and raised out here.

Will either run them through the wall or build a little enclosed route up to the taps. The freezer will probably end up being directly under the taps so I can keep the beer lines as short as possible

itsnotrequired · Feb 2, 2016

AkBrew907 said:
Did a Google search, something like this? That seems easy enough. Looks like it's just plumbed inline of the sink drain
http://bigfrogsupply.com/products/404?utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=googlepla&variant=8998909315

yup. make sure it has enough capacity to handle the biggest volume of water you plan on dumping in the sink. the one you linked should be fine, unless you plan on having some crazy 3" sink drain or something like that.

any thoughts on dumping whole hops, some spent grains, etc. down the sink? consider a disposal or a macerator pump. you'd really have to be dumping a lot of solids though.

AkBrew907 · Feb 2, 2016

itsnotrequired said:
yup. make sure it has enough capacity to handle the biggest volume of water you plan on dumping in the sink. the one you linked should be fine, unless you plan on having some crazy 3" sink drain or something like that.

any thoughts on dumping hops, some spent grains, etc. down the sink? consider a disposal or a macerator pump. you'd really have to be dumping a lot of solids though.

I'll look more into the pumps, that was just the first that came up in a search. Does look like it would fit the bill though.

I have a home made hop spider so shouldn't have any need to dump that in the drain. Same with spent grains. I usually drain into BK and then dump the spent grains into a large trash can.

There really shouldn't be much of any solids going down the drain.

I just need to plant that money tree now. Only been in the house a month. I want to do it all overnight but my bank account says F-that.

AkBrew907 · Feb 23, 2016

Got some more items moved into to the room. Will just use the propane burner for now till I have the funds to switch to electric. I have two big windows and a giant fan so ventilation shouldn't be an issue but will probably end up building my vent hood first to make sure I have no issues.

Need to clean and paint my freezer also. For the price I paid it can't be beat but it's not the prettiest thing to look at.

My son helping put things together

Enjoying a stout as I work

Done for now.

Need to remove my plate chiller and pump and mount to the bench. Want to order all new hoses and get some QD.

AkBrew907 · Mar 30, 2016

Got pump and chiller mounted, got new hoses and some clamps and got everything pretty much how I want it till I make the switch to electric. I fired up the propane burner last night and even with all the windows open, door open in the adjacent room to the outdoors and fans going I don't think I will be using the burner indoors. I had a CO2 detector next to me at all times but I just didn't feel comfortable. For now I will do my boil outside. I have a port through the wall from the previous owner that had the hot tub in the room that I can run a hose through and use my pump to move water from my kettle to mash tun and back to the kettle for boil. Not ideal but will be more than ok till I go electric. I keep eyeing the grainfather and am really considering going that direction in the future.

Also got my fast fermenter mounted up. Pretty sure I can fit a second one in there on the right if I move it down a little and maybe even a big mouth on the bottom if I want to get crazy.

Also got a false bottom for mash tun so no more mesh tube.

Also scored a wine chiller for free.

Some pics.

AkBrew907 · Apr 22, 2016

So electric is happening

the more I read about the grain father the more I liked it. Hopefully ships soon.

Will keep my Anvil Kettle and get an induction heat plate to heat sparge water

Now I need to start building my counters and everything else

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Pantherjon · Apr 22, 2016

LOL...Great minds must think alike! Because I just ordered my GF yesterday!

AkBrew907 · May 5, 2016

Got things moved into the brew room. The stand will work for now till I get the time and money to start building shelves and counters and my bar

AkBrew907 · May 12, 2016

Scored this for free from the in-laws. New home for my kegs!

Pantherjon · May 12, 2016

And a FANCY home to boot!

You will be hard pressed to drill holes in that for the gas line and taps! I know I would be..I would be like 'nope, that's too pretty of a fridge to be punching holes in it!!'...LOL

AkBrew907 · May 13, 2016

We shall see. It's free cause they said the freezer stopped working but fridge still got cold. I had it on its side when I brought it over so I let it sit over night and just now plugged it in. I set both fridge and freezer to max. Will see what they read in the morning. Chances are $20_$50 in parts and I can fix anything that's worn out and broken.

AkBrew907 · May 13, 2016

So cleaned up a little and moved everything around.

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AkBrew907 · May 19, 2016

Going to start building a fermentation chamber this weekend. Here is a rough idea of what I want it to look like. Will insulate it with foam boards and line the inside with vinyl sheets. Will tear the cooling unit out of my stand up freezer and use BrewPi to control temps.

Was thinking of putting a divider in the middle and a small heater on one side so I can lager and do ales and such..

GrainFather will be on the right of the work area on the floor.

AkBrew907 Electric Basement Build

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