Basement Brew Room Build

[sredz]

We moved into a new home almost a year ago. Of course, I made sure to find a home with a nice space for a dedicated brew room. I have a fairly simple electric setup and my goal was to set up an all-inclusive room with sink, ferm chamber, malt mill, storage, brew stand and workbench - pretty much everything I need in one area. The home we moved into has a nice 16’ X 12’ storage room in the basement – unfinished with poured cement walls and a concrete floor. There was no floor drain, but the room has a waste stack and easy access to plumbing for a sink install. So after about 8 months of work, the room has been transformed into a dedicated brew room. I took some pictures of the build and will do my best to document it here.

To help keep costs down, I decided to paint the unfinished ceiling, poured walls and concrete floor of the room. In the end, I’ve been happy with this. It makes for easy cleanup and really gives the room a nice industrial look.

First, I sprayed the ceiling with a flat black dry fall. This stuff worked remarkably well. The overspray dries into a dust that can be cleaned up pretty easily. Because I was also painting the walls and ceiling, I made sure to cover them up well.

Next I painted the walls with a tinted water blocking primer. This was kind of a chore and it took about 3 coats to get a good solid covering. I really like how this turned out and the walls can be easily cleaned if necessary.

Finally, I painted the floor with an enamel and then sealed it with a concrete sealer. We’ll see how this holds up in the long run. The color certainly livens up the room

More to come!

 

[sredz]

I framed in the waste stack. The sink will be placed just to the left of this. This is the only area of the room that will be drywalled.

Next I installed some new lights on the ceiling.

Then I ran some wire and installed a few outlets. For my control panel, I had to run 75 feet of 6 gauge wire to the 50amp GFCI breaker in my main panel. (Unfortunately, the main panel is on the opposite end of the basement).

After that, I hung my control panel and my Ranco temp controller. The brew stand will be just to the left of the control panel and I have an upright freezer for fermentation control that will be placed next to the Ranco.

 

[sredz]

I built some shelving out of some extra 2x4’s I had laying around.

There was an old solid maple door in sitting in the room that was no longer being used (must have weighed 50 lbs!) It’s a really nice piece of wood so I decided to use it as a bench top for my workbench. This turned out really nice and is super solid!

Also, I had an extra wall mount pot rack that came out of the kitchen of our old house. We didn’t need it for the new house, so I opted to hang it in the brewery for hose and miscellaneous storage.

 

[sredz]

I built a hood out of wood and FRP panel. I framed the hood with 1x12 pine and used 1/4" birch plywood for the top. Glued the FRP on the interior with panel adhesive and caulked all of the seams with silicon. Then I stained it and finished it with a couple coats of spar urethane (same finish I used on the workbench).

 

[sredz]

I have an Active Air 6” 400cfm inline fan. I mounted this on the ceiling directly above the hood. It’s a short run (about 2’) to the exterior of the house with just one elbow. The fan sits right over my boil kettle.

Here’s some shots of the hood mounted. I’ve brewed a couple of times now with this set up and with the fan sitting directly above the BK, I’m getting some condensation dripping straight down into the kettle. This is something I’ll have to figure out. For now, I simply cover the BK while I chill.

 

[sredz]

I purchased a stainless sink off a local auction for $100 - also scored a nice piece of stainless steel sheet from a relative that conveniently fits perfectly behind the sink. Found the sprayer on ebay used for $70. I had a plumber install the waste stubout for me, but I ran the water lines and did all the hookups myself.

 

[sredz]

In the end, I am really pleased with the room. I have brewed in it twice so far (only once with the new sink). There will undoubtedly be some continued tweaking and additions, but for now, I’m up and running and can finally focus on brewing! Here are some shots of the finished room:

 

[kevo342]

This looks great! I'm currently apartment hopping, so I like to look at everyone else's brew spaces and dream about when I can have my own!

 

[sredz]

Thanks, I did a lot of looking before I put this together too. There are some great builds on this forum!

 

[brewbama]

Very clean looking built. How do you think you will solve the condensation issue with your exhaust hood?

 

[woodstone]

Well done sredz, well done.

 

[sredz]

Thanks for the comments. I'm not sure yet how I will rectify the condensation problem. I think the problem is with the orientation of the fan being directly above the brew kettle. I may ultimately have to move the fan. I'm brewing a batch this weekend and hope to get a better feel for what I can do to fix it. I guess it's really not a huge issue as long as I keep the BK covered while I am chilling.

 

[atjsparty]

Can you add some L or U channel somehow to your hood? Love the build. Any chance you can provide an overhead drawing (with dimensions) of your spacr? Trying to map out my shed or laundry room brewery.
Cheers!

 

[oldstyle69]

I've had the same problem with hoods at work. The last time I drilled a hole in the corner and put in a 90° elbow in an ran a small pipe away from my soup kettle.

 

[masskrug]

Wow. That kicks ass. I'm jealous. No basement brewing in Florida. Wort takes forever to chill. No growing hops. But at least I don't have to scrape ice off my car windows.

 

[sredz]

Atjsparty- I’ve thought of adding some L or U channel to the hood, but I’m not sure this will solve the problem. The fan is oriented vertically and the opening is literally directly above the BK so it’s dripping string down from inside the fan. There hasn’t been any condensation collecting in the hood itself.

Oldstyle69- I may try and drill a small hole in the elbow above the fan, I suspect there may be some condensation pooling here and then dripping back down.

Thanks masskrug. Be happy your in Florida, it’s going to be 40 below zero with the wind chill in my neck of the woods today!