I am about to start building a brew shed that will have the following:
Walk in cooler for serving beer and storing ingredients
Ferm chamber that will be cooled by fans attached located in the wall separating the ferm chamber from the walk in.
single tier brew stand
big sink for washing stuff like brew pots
various shelves, tables etc for storage
It will be either 8' x 16' or 10' x 16' - not yet decided.
It will be attached (so to speak) to the existing detached garage
I am concerned about ventilation while brewing since I brew with propane. I live in Los Angeles so weather and cold isn't really a factor. I was planning on having a large portion of the wall behind the brew stand flip up and get supported by drop down legs that attach to the exterior wall. Think of the window on a roach coach (aka food truck). This will also allow me to easily scoop spent grains into my yard trimmings bin by just wheeling the bin next to the mash tun.
I have cold water already there in the form of a hose bib. I can probably live without hot water for now. If it seems to fit without much hassle, I thought of putting a small water heater back there in the when budget permits.
I have part of a 20 amp circuit that covers the whole back yard that is already in place there - a gfi outlet is on the back garage wall - I plan on taping into that for a few plugs to drive pumps and the window a/c unit. At some point in the future, I may upgrade this to something much bigger so I can convert to electric brewing.
Drains are a big deal - I don't have any close by and it would be major digging to get to them. I have been reading about "french drains" and this seems like it might work given how often I'll use the drains. My understanding is that a french drain is a fairly large piece of pipe with holes in it buried a few feet below ground in a trench filled with gravel. It seems like this might work pretty well if I don't try using a garbage disposal and get on of those filters for the bottoms of the drain. Anyone ever do this?
I would also like to put a floor drain under the brew stand, in the ferm chamber and in the walk-in for easy clean up.
I plan on putting some inexpensive tile down for flooring. I'll also use tile up the sides of the walls a few inches and perhaps a sort of back splash in back of the brew stand for the portion that does not flip up.
For lighting - I plan on over head lights - whatever is on sale at the time.
I will install my simple carbon water filter I have in place already. I'll plump a water line directly above the mash tun and hlt.
The serving kegs will have beer line running through the wall to the garage. I plan on putting some kind of wall mounted tap system with a drip tray that drains to the french drain.
I will use a plastic conical fermenter and buckets to ferment in. I already have these but I have only used the conical a few times as I don't have any temp control for it. I use a chest freezer with a ranco to ferment in buckets right now.
I would like to use a stainless immersion coil for the fermenters like some have documented here already. Since I will have the ferm chamber temp controlled (probably keep it in the low 60s), it shouldn't have to work too hard. I may just try putting a bucket of glycol or even water in the walk-in with a pump to cool the fermenter below the temp of the ferm chamber. I can also adjust the ferm chamber temp if I'm doing a lager or something that needs a lower temp. This way the coil doesn't have to cool as much.
I want to control the walk in, ferm chamber and two fermenter coils with my bcs.
I don't mean to ramble but I wanted to try and list everything out and see if anyone had a suggestion for something I missed.
I have a simple diagram of what I'm thinking of so you can visualize the layout.
Thanks
Walk in cooler for serving beer and storing ingredients
Ferm chamber that will be cooled by fans attached located in the wall separating the ferm chamber from the walk in.
single tier brew stand
big sink for washing stuff like brew pots
various shelves, tables etc for storage
It will be either 8' x 16' or 10' x 16' - not yet decided.
It will be attached (so to speak) to the existing detached garage
I am concerned about ventilation while brewing since I brew with propane. I live in Los Angeles so weather and cold isn't really a factor. I was planning on having a large portion of the wall behind the brew stand flip up and get supported by drop down legs that attach to the exterior wall. Think of the window on a roach coach (aka food truck). This will also allow me to easily scoop spent grains into my yard trimmings bin by just wheeling the bin next to the mash tun.
I have cold water already there in the form of a hose bib. I can probably live without hot water for now. If it seems to fit without much hassle, I thought of putting a small water heater back there in the when budget permits.
I have part of a 20 amp circuit that covers the whole back yard that is already in place there - a gfi outlet is on the back garage wall - I plan on taping into that for a few plugs to drive pumps and the window a/c unit. At some point in the future, I may upgrade this to something much bigger so I can convert to electric brewing.
Drains are a big deal - I don't have any close by and it would be major digging to get to them. I have been reading about "french drains" and this seems like it might work given how often I'll use the drains. My understanding is that a french drain is a fairly large piece of pipe with holes in it buried a few feet below ground in a trench filled with gravel. It seems like this might work pretty well if I don't try using a garbage disposal and get on of those filters for the bottoms of the drain. Anyone ever do this?
I would also like to put a floor drain under the brew stand, in the ferm chamber and in the walk-in for easy clean up.
I plan on putting some inexpensive tile down for flooring. I'll also use tile up the sides of the walls a few inches and perhaps a sort of back splash in back of the brew stand for the portion that does not flip up.
For lighting - I plan on over head lights - whatever is on sale at the time.
I will install my simple carbon water filter I have in place already. I'll plump a water line directly above the mash tun and hlt.
The serving kegs will have beer line running through the wall to the garage. I plan on putting some kind of wall mounted tap system with a drip tray that drains to the french drain.
I will use a plastic conical fermenter and buckets to ferment in. I already have these but I have only used the conical a few times as I don't have any temp control for it. I use a chest freezer with a ranco to ferment in buckets right now.
I would like to use a stainless immersion coil for the fermenters like some have documented here already. Since I will have the ferm chamber temp controlled (probably keep it in the low 60s), it shouldn't have to work too hard. I may just try putting a bucket of glycol or even water in the walk-in with a pump to cool the fermenter below the temp of the ferm chamber. I can also adjust the ferm chamber temp if I'm doing a lager or something that needs a lower temp. This way the coil doesn't have to cool as much.
I want to control the walk in, ferm chamber and two fermenter coils with my bcs.
I don't mean to ramble but I wanted to try and list everything out and see if anyone had a suggestion for something I missed.
I have a simple diagram of what I'm thinking of so you can visualize the layout.
Thanks