And so it begins, The "Garage" build.

[verboten]

I have had plans of building a brewery/bar in my house for 10 years, even before I owned a house! I knew I wanted it to be a dedicated space to brew and hang out. Finally, 2 years after buying my house, I have sorted the major projects and am beginning one of the biggest ones yet: Turning the "garage" into said brewery/bar.

The reason I say garage in quotes, is due to the fact that according to some of the original people in my neighborhood, this building was actually the original structure on my property. It's 12x20, and it was the house. Nobody is sure when it was built, because it was here when the neighbors built their house in 1945.

With the story out of the way, lets see what this pile of junk looks like!

the front:

The back:

The structure is about 4 inches below grade, I will be sealing it, and adding drains and gutters all the way around the building. The previous owners (who built the house in 1953) used cinder blocks to keep things out of the water. I plan on building an insulated false floor as well, since this will be a year round use room, and I'm in MI.

The blocks I had to remove:

this was a chore and a half.

Once I got the blocks out of the way I was able to roll my Tool chest in that will house the fermenters. I want to get things set up they way I would like before I start building, so I will know where to install plumbing, outlets and lighting.

I have already procured my cooler, which happens to be a parts collecting surface at the moment:

That is it for now. I will be running a 60A sub panel, all plumbing and drains, insulation, drywall, vaulting the ceiling, and a mini split AC/heat unit in the coming weeks (months????)

 

[MaxStout]

Looks like you have your work cut out for you. Keep the pictures coming, as you develop your brew cave!

 

[verboten]

I definitely have my hands full, but I’m going to keep plugging away at it! I’ll document the progress as much as I remember to.

 

[verboten]

Nothing exciting going on in the last few weeks, unless you think trying to turn a really old building into something useful is exciting. I have been using my fermentation tool chest and the chiller out there, it's keeping up even if the ambient temperature is hitting 100.

I have a Homebrew club Brew day on Sunday, and nobody else is bringing a system, so I put together something with my extra 15 gallon kettle so it could take 2. I tried it out heating up water for my 10g Panela wash. I only have enough for 3 more 10 gallon runs before I have to get another bag. [emoji2369]


I have also picked 8 pounds of cherries and 7 pounds of mulberries for future beverages. I'm starting to collect my cucumbers for my gose as well.

 

[verboten]

I have not had much time to work on the brewery/ taproom, but, I have procured must of the parts I'll need to get it built. The past big part finally arrived!

 

[matt_m]

I think we are just about neighbors...I'm in Monroe too.

 

[verboten]

I'm up in Carleton now, but used to live @ 7th and telegraph.

 

[verboten]

Well, I haven’t done too much in there, but I did put together my tap tower, finally!! It looks like I need a new drip tray, I was hoping for one with a rinser anyway!

 

[verboten]

The "hopyard" is growing in nicely, I have magnum, cashmere, fuggle, crystal, willamette and centennial (? Maybe...)

 

[Dr_Jeff]

Is there going to be any problems with that many varieties growing so close together?

Cross pollination or cross breeding?

 

[verboten]

They should all be female, So, I don't think so. but hey, I'm no expert.

 

[cyberbackpacker]

The issue that you will run into growing these so close together is that as early as next season, you are going to get shoots from say the middle plant popping through near the far left plants planting. This means that when you think you are harvesting your magnum, you could actually be getting a mix of magnum and crystal, or cashmere and fuggle, etc.

Basically when you select bines to grow, and then harvest, you won't know truly know which varieties you are selecting/harvesting.

If it's just for ornamental sake, no problem. If you just plan on brewing a single batch of wet hop harvest ale at harvest time, probably not an issue either. If you plan to actually use these in various recipes over time, you may want to rethink your planting strategy.

 

[verboten]

All shoots are trimmed and I monitor them daily to keep that from happening. Also, the different varieties are separated in the bed, it just looks like it's a single bed, but it's really 5 different beds in one piece. I do understand it can still happen, but I'm working to minimize it.

 

[cyberbackpacker]

@verboten do you have dividers that go down at ~3 feet? If not, you will most certainly have problems in time. The shoots you see will eventually start popping up from below the surface, not right near the crown, and you will not know (without digging) whether they are coming from plant A or plant B.

I am not trying to be difficult, or rain on your parade. I am just trying to save you some aggravation down the line. Having been growing hops for more than a decade, as well as moving homes twice and transplanting hops between locations numerous times, I can tell you that as your hop plants mature, they will grow very deep and then have the ability for shoots in subsequent years pop up feet away from the center of your crown... when you go to trim daily as you mention, you won't know if you are trimming shoots from Plant A or Plant F.

 

[verboten]

I understand, the main varieties I want to use are separated by some space. probably not enough, but I use what I had. it will look cool anyway. Cheers

 

[matt_m]

I can tell you that as your hop plants mature, they will grow very deep and then have the ability for shoots in subsequent years pop up feet away from the center of your crown... when you go to trim daily as you mention, you won't know if you are trimming shoots from Plant A or Plant F.

Interesting. I've thought about doing this mainly to add some screening at the back of our yard since they just built a new house on the empty lot that was there. Does that mean they become invasive over time? Are the neighbors behind me going to hate me? I'd probably just plant all one species.

 

[cyberbackpacker]

About 3 years ago I had bines that had spread ~7, turned 90 degrees around the corner of the house, and went another ~4' and were popping up in the midst of various plant/flower beds.

I believe the typical SOP commercially is to prune around the crown every 4 years to prevent this type of thing, but don't quote me on that.

As for going wild.... over decades if left unchecked, yes they can definitely grow huge. Many "wild" (most likely domesticated species that have been left to their own devices through time) species are huge, growing over utility poles, fence lines, etc.

EDIT: I ended up removing that plant altogether (actually three plants, all of the same variety-- replaced with an heirloom variety). Those plants had roots that went out at least six feet in diameter at the beginning of spring, and one plant had a "spike" root that went down 6-7 feet deep... I considered turning the hole into a swimming pool it was so big. But I wanted to make sure I wasn't leaving any root stock behind that might "taint" my new plantings, i.e. continue to grow and not allow me to know which variety I was actually growing.