TheZymurgist
Well-Known Member
Mellon.
Grossy's Garage Brew Pub Build
- Thread starter Grossy
- Start date
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Mellon.
TheZymurgist
Well-Known Member
Fabulous thread. Thanks for sharing your great build and the ideas. Look forward to seeing more. Best of luck going forward mellon.
sudbuddy
Hang on, I had something for this
wow this is awesome. You've got a friend in Chicago if you ever need a homebrew
MaddBaggins
cervisiam vitae
Very nice Grossy. I may have to find myself on the northwest side sometime.
You would be welcome.
My hope is that everything required to brew is done in two months, it's been a long time since I could brew anything. Then I will tackle making the rest of the garage look pretty.
My hope is that everything required to brew is done in two months, it's been a long time since I could brew anything. Then I will tackle making the rest of the garage look pretty.
Sweet build. Best of luck in getting it completed to your satisfaction.
sandyeggoxj
Well-Known Member
Hey neighbor! Awesome build. I'd love to cruise by and check it out.
Nice!
The brew stand is "progressing".
At the rate I lay bricks I can say one thing for certain: I would have been fired from the job site on the first day.
Here are some pics of what I have accomplished over the last three weekends.
At the rate I lay bricks I can say one thing for certain: I would have been fired from the job site on the first day.
Here are some pics of what I have accomplished over the last three weekends.
SmokingGunn
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I've played around with the idea of doing something similar. How do you plan to vent?
thumpersk_a
Well-Known Member
Very nice setup and build. I'm impressed. No screwing around, I like it.
I have brewed in the garage for 3 years. Just a fan blowing fresh air in is all that was needed. But for this build I will have 2 exhaust fans that will take the fumes up and to the left, and then out a vent on the side of the house.
Calfj60
Well-Known Member
Your build is amazing! I just couldn't give up my garage.
One of the design requirements for this build, is that my wife's car would still be able to park in the garage. That will be done. As for me? I dont think I will be able to get my truck in.
But a Mini Cooper? That could fit.
Calfj60
Well-Known Member
fourtunetly my wife is ok with not using the garage, 13 years so far. I've got a three car and with all my tools, not getting a car in there
cjokrap
Well-Known Member
This is awesome! Sub'd
The brick work is "rising" about 4 score a day.
Here are some pics of the water distribution manifold, this build is also discussed in it's own thread: 5-Tap copper water manifold, with swivel pot filler
A simple way to fill all my kettles with any type of water.
I hate hooking up and disconnecting hoses, why not just bring the right type of water to where you need it.
From left to right the manifold can deliver:
Here are some pics of the water distribution manifold, this build is also discussed in it's own thread: 5-Tap copper water manifold, with swivel pot filler
A simple way to fill all my kettles with any type of water.
I hate hooking up and disconnecting hoses, why not just bring the right type of water to where you need it.
From left to right the manifold can deliver:
Tap 1: Tap water
Tap 2: Filtered water
Tap 3: RO Water
Tap 4: Hot tap Water
Tap 5: Sparge water from the HLT.
Tap 2: Filtered water
Tap 3: RO Water
Tap 4: Hot tap Water
Tap 5: Sparge water from the HLT.
Calfj60
Well-Known Member
Awesome!!
After 3 months (working every week end), the brick work is finally complete. Here are some pictures of the finale product.
Next up will be:
Next up will be:
The burners under the brew stand.
The oak vent soffit above the brick (which will hide the vent duct work).
Completion of the fermentation chamber to the right.
The Grain Chute.
That will complete the brewery, as for the rest of the garage:The oak vent soffit above the brick (which will hide the vent duct work).
Completion of the fermentation chamber to the right.
The Grain Chute.
Venetian plaster the walls
Oak wainscoting on the walls.
Clean In Place system for the fermentor,
Plumbing run to the evaporative cooler.
Oak wainscoting on the walls.
Clean In Place system for the fermentor,
Plumbing run to the evaporative cooler.
Looking good Grossy!
Bobcatbrewing42
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Grossy: Nice build. Please tell us what your wife thinks about all this. If I did that build, it would cost 100 grand in new clothes.
This is the one I bought:
http://www.steambrite.com/karcher-degree-brass-swivel-4000psi-87124620-p-14762.html
I also found these other ones:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/90-Hose-Ree...I-Priority-2-3-Busines-Day-Ship-/271602386173
http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200381400_200381400
They are not cheap: $50 bucks for one elbow fitting!!!
I have said many times the only way you can get away with this is if your wife like your beer as much as you do.
She is fully on board with this, of course I have not quite divulged the full dollar value that this has cost so far, I'm not stupid.
I just finished the RO water system hook up, and that should complete all my plumbing. 2 years of plumbing!!! Hated every minute of it.
With that out of the way, now I get to make the rest of the garage pretty, lots more oak and wood working, I'll love every minute of that.
There is a whole lot more to come. Pictures coming soon.
Thanks!
Northern Tool is close by. Too bad its not in stock in stores. I guess its expensive, but it sure fills a need nicely. So its worth it to me anyway!
I was not a 100% certain of the brass in the brass swivel. I switched this out to 1/2" stainless steel.
https://www.kleen-ritecorp.com/p-224...-f-swivel.aspx
"This product has been certified by a third party to be compliant with the Safe Drinking Water Act requirements for low lead in potable (human consumption - drinking and cooking) and non-potable water applications (non-human consumption)."
This product by Mosmatic, is 100% stainless steel.
http://www.powerwashstore.com/P/2341...lSwivelFPTXMPT
https://www.kleen-ritecorp.com/p-224...-f-swivel.aspx
"This product has been certified by a third party to be compliant with the Safe Drinking Water Act requirements for low lead in potable (human consumption - drinking and cooking) and non-potable water applications (non-human consumption)."
This product by Mosmatic, is 100% stainless steel.
http://www.powerwashstore.com/P/2341...lSwivelFPTXMPT
This project has taken a whole lot longer than I originally thought, and a few things went terribly wrong.
The chest freezer in the keezer died, this meant completely rebuilding the keezer from the ground up.
The wort chiller/fermentation chamber did not work well. This required a step back, and a reevaluation of how to accomplish both chilling the wort, and a chamber to chill the fermentation.
The result: a lot of loss time and money.
As a consequence of this 2/3 of the brewery was rebuilt. And now I am back on track.
I’ll be posting the new progress on the build going forward.
The chest freezer in the keezer died, this meant completely rebuilding the keezer from the ground up.
The wort chiller/fermentation chamber did not work well. This required a step back, and a reevaluation of how to accomplish both chilling the wort, and a chamber to chill the fermentation.
The result: a lot of loss time and money.
As a consequence of this 2/3 of the brewery was rebuilt. And now I am back on track.
I’ll be posting the new progress on the build going forward.
Lets start with the New and Improved “Grossy Wort Chiller/Fermentation Chamber 3000” (patent pending)
Which now features the amazing ability to cool fermentation all year round. The previous model only worked in winter.
Ok. Seriously. The original design had a fatal flaw, it could not handle the summer heat. It could barely handle winter here in Tucson, Arizona.
The reason was that the chest freezer could not keep up with the heat generated by the fermentation. The 33 degree water in the chest freezer heated up to about 49 degrees.
After a lot of trial and error I finally said to myself “make ice, lots of ice”. I left the chest freezer on for a week and made 20 gallons of solid ice in the chest freezer, leaving 80 gallons of 33 degree water. This worked perfectly, except for one thing.
All the pipes are located right next to the edge of the freezer, they were frozen solid. Once I thawed them out the chest freezer only increased 1 degree.
So I rebuilt the whole thing to put the pipes in the middle where the water was not frozen. That was the ticket, everything works perfectly
As of this writing I fermenting 20 gallons of IPA in the summer (125 degrees in the garage) and the chest freezer is actually making too much ice. I have to turn it off every now and then.
Which now features the amazing ability to cool fermentation all year round. The previous model only worked in winter.
Ok. Seriously. The original design had a fatal flaw, it could not handle the summer heat. It could barely handle winter here in Tucson, Arizona.
The reason was that the chest freezer could not keep up with the heat generated by the fermentation. The 33 degree water in the chest freezer heated up to about 49 degrees.
After a lot of trial and error I finally said to myself “make ice, lots of ice”. I left the chest freezer on for a week and made 20 gallons of solid ice in the chest freezer, leaving 80 gallons of 33 degree water. This worked perfectly, except for one thing.
All the pipes are located right next to the edge of the freezer, they were frozen solid. Once I thawed them out the chest freezer only increased 1 degree.
So I rebuilt the whole thing to put the pipes in the middle where the water was not frozen. That was the ticket, everything works perfectly
As of this writing I fermenting 20 gallons of IPA in the summer (125 degrees in the garage) and the chest freezer is actually making too much ice. I have to turn it off every now and then.
Here are some pictures:
The picture with the green float, shows all the pipes in the middle and the 20 gallon "Ice Torus" that forms around the top of the freezer. This acts a thermal mass that can absorb a lot of heat. (The phase change from ice-to-water requires a lot of energy)
The last picture show the temperature in the fermentation chamber (left), the temperature in the wort (right)
I'll be adding the bottom doors soon. and everything will be covered up.
The picture with the green float, shows all the pipes in the middle and the 20 gallon "Ice Torus" that forms around the top of the freezer. This acts a thermal mass that can absorb a lot of heat. (The phase change from ice-to-water requires a lot of energy)
The last picture show the temperature in the fermentation chamber (left), the temperature in the wort (right)
I'll be adding the bottom doors soon. and everything will be covered up.
Sub'd
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I built a fermentation chamber around a donor fridge. Not nearly as finished as your project, but I had the same problem when the donor unit crapped out. Turns out, fridges that are the same size, aren't. A lot of custom-fit woodwork became irrelevant in a hurry. Time passed, and I was given a 1hp glycol chiller.
A light bulb went off in my head when I figured out that I could use that chilled glycol in a heat exchanger to both cool the carcase of the fermentation chamber, and I could also drop a chiller coil directly into a conical.
Right now I am using carboys, which are a bit of a ***** to chill with a coil. Over time, I am going to upgrade to s.s. conicals, which lend themselves to immersion cooling.
I'm not at all sure how far along you are in your planning, but a glycol chiller with a nice big reservoir might reduce your dependence on an exact dimension for a replacement chest freezer.
You might also think about filling your chest freezer with glycol. It can get to a much lower temperature without freezing, and may alleviate some of your Tucson summer problems.
A light bulb went off in my head when I figured out that I could use that chilled glycol in a heat exchanger to both cool the carcase of the fermentation chamber, and I could also drop a chiller coil directly into a conical.
Right now I am using carboys, which are a bit of a ***** to chill with a coil. Over time, I am going to upgrade to s.s. conicals, which lend themselves to immersion cooling.
I'm not at all sure how far along you are in your planning, but a glycol chiller with a nice big reservoir might reduce your dependence on an exact dimension for a replacement chest freezer.
You might also think about filling your chest freezer with glycol. It can get to a much lower temperature without freezing, and may alleviate some of your Tucson summer problems.
Senormac
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That's amazing !! And awesome..... And waaay more work that I would do to brew beer. You are not far off from a local pub I think
Thanks Senormac.
While I will not be opening a brew pub for business, I really wanted a brew pub in my garage.
I can tell you that this project has gone way past my initial expectations on work. R&D is expensive and time consuming, and quite a lot of the things that I have done are all original. But my last few brew days have been amazing, so much work that I used to do manually is now done by the system.
Grossy
