About to convert my Garage

[LILJONNYWV]

I bought my first house back in April of '09 and have this tiny garage that is built back into the hillside. Right now I'm just using it to store junk in but I been trying to figure out what to do with it, because its not big enough to work in if you askl me. I am a manager of a body shop so when I think a bout a garage they are several thousand square feet lol... Any way, I finally decided its going to be my man cave. I am saving up and going to get me a good brewing setup and make it a little brewery and get out of doing it in my kitchen. So if any of you have any good ideas of what I need for a really good setup let me know. Right now I just have a beginner kit and by summer I want to be doing All Grain.

 

[david_42]

When I added a new garage to my place, I converted the old one. I took out the garage door and walled it in, but retained the concrete floor. I can brew in there in cold weather or when the yellow jackets are in force. Or I can roll the rig onto the patio. Approximately 1/3 of the room is a cool room with its own A/C. Inside that, I also have my fermentation fridge, my conditioning cabinet and the kezzer (plus a chest freezer). If I want to do multiple fermentations, I can lower the temperature of the whole room.

Insulation is a homebrewer's third best friend.

 

[smmcdermott]

I would like to see some pics for proof....

 

[iron_city_ap]

I'd think about temperature control. Not too hot in the summer and not too cold in the winter. I'm guessing you will let the beer ferment out there. Get the heavy/big stuff done first. All the best equipment in the world isn't going to do too much good if the beer freezes or gets too hot. Some good insulation too.

 

[LILJONNYWV]

It stays a nice temp in there year round since its built into the hill side.

 

[iron_city_ap]

As long as you can keep the beer at the proper temperature, that's great.

Have you looked up 'home brewery' pics on here or google yet? I'd say try that and watching some brewing videos on youtube just to see what kind of setups some people use. I've seen some that look mind bogglingly complex and others that really look nice. What do you have out there for a water supply? It would be a pain in the ass to have to lug water out there or lug equipment to the house to clean.

I hope to be upgrading to a bigger house soon and the new one is going to have a brewery room in it, so I've slowly been trying to get a rough idea myself.

 

[RonRock]

First thing to consider is water supply then drain. Those are two must haves that should be in before any finish work is done. JMHO of course.

 

[david_42]

It stays a nice temp in there year round since its built into the hill side.

That's great! I looked into digging a brewing cellar, but it is so wet here in the winter I ditched the idea.

 

[IrregularPulse]

I'd say start AG with a cooler mashtun and everything as cheap as you can and brew for a season or so. This will let you figure out what you'd really like in a brew system instead of just building something someone else has to find out out you spent a lot of money on something that doesn't really work for you. Then design the shed for that. You looking a t propane, NG, or electric power?

 

[LILJONNYWV]

I have a water supply and drains so I'm good there.

 

[lschiavo]

I love my man cave! I have a 16x24 garage that I am setting up for brewing. I put in a laundry sink and plumbed the garage with pex to a hose connection on the outside. When I need water I just run an RV hose to the house. It gets cold here so sometimes I need to keep the water running a bit so the hose wont freeze but all in all it works quite well.

I was able to just stub the drain from the sink through the outside wall. The ground slopes away well on that side of the garage so I just let the water go on the ground. I have a 20ft piece of 4in drain pipe that I slip over the drain stub to get the water further away from the garage.

If you are thinking electric brewery get a good size feed to the garage. I wasn't originally planning the garage to be a brewery so I only ran a 20A 240V feed. Now I need to upgrade! I will probably go a full 100A in the spring.

Have fun! I have never enjoyed a project more than my Man Cave/Brewery!

 

[showtime24]

I have a 3 car garage that is my "man cave" its 40x24. before I started brewing I just had two black leather couches, a big screen, a fridge, and a workout area in there. but since I started brewing I have turned one whole side of it into my brewing area. IMHO, I think all men should have a dedicated space to do their thing.

 

[geebert74]

Sounds great! Hope you don't have to use much fuel to keep it warm in there.

 

[lschiavo]

Wood stove for me. Lots of free wood around here. Plus I can preheat my water on top.

 

[LILJONNYWV]

What do you all think about these compaired to the stainless fermentors? minibrew.com

 

[LILJONNYWV]

I am digging in to everything I can trying to see whats going to be best for me. I want to get a nice setup that I wont have to upgrade later on.

 

[iron_city_ap]

It sounds like you have a pretty sweet start on things. I have a feeling that no matter what, there will always be some amount of upgrading. Sometimes because you need better equipment and other times because the equipment you have doesn't work for how you get things done.

Not to get off topic for a second, but do you hunt by any chance? If so, you might want to set aside a little space for meat (smoking, freezing, processing). And a grill. It makes my mouth water thinking about eating something you shot and washing it down with something you brewed.

 

[LILJONNYWV]

Yes I hunt, and I already on small smoker about 31/2 feet tall by 11/2 square, plus a smoking pit with a fire box that has about 2000 square inches of cooking space.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

One of the nicest things about my garage brewspace is that my garage is built up 8 inches on a concrete stem wall.

Why is this nice?

Because I can be as sloppy as I need to be with water and wort or chemicals because I know that I can just hose down the floor after the brewday is done then squeegee (or broom) the water out the door. I have the cleanest garage floor of the neighborhood.

So, if it can be done I suggest you waterproof the first 6 to 8 inches of the wall above the brew space floors.

 

[DRoyLenz]

It's threads like this that infuriate me for deciding to buy a tiny a$$ condo in the city.

Then again, I'm single, so the whole place is my man cave. When I get married, however, I think a man cave of some nature is going to be required. I've always imagined the basement, but whatever.

I've done some thinking about this too. I imagine two spaces, connected to each other, the first one, just like Gila's recommendation, I was thinking of stainless steel counters and appliances. Poured concrete floors, and sturdy tiled walls would allow me to just spray it down when I'm done, and squeegee the water out. I also envision a cold room for controlling fermentation temps as well as refrigeration of my kegs/lines. This would be my brew space.

The second, adjoining room, would have a tap set up/bar area. Some nice, warm lighting, soft leather couches, poker table, dartboard, and the biggest MFing flat screen on the market.

Sigh.... these are the day dreams that keep me awake at night....

 

[iron_city_ap]

Yes I hunt, and I already on small smoker about 31/2 feet tall by 11/2 square, plus a smoking pit with a fire box that has about 2000 square inches of cooking space.

a little jerky or some summer sausage with a nice wheat on a beautiful late summer evening.....:rockin: I'm envious.