Water line to brewing room - how many outputs?

[deathmatch782]

I'm working on my plumbing plan for my basement brew room and trying to determine how many water outputs I need.
1 hot & cold for sink
1 cold for wort chiller
1 cold for steam condenser
1 cold for RO/DI

Any good suggestions for if more are needed?

 

[Golddiggie]

Why do you have one for the steam condenser? My SCL came with a small pump that feeds the spray nozzle in it. I simply keep water in a tote while it's running. You could use one connection (cold water) for both the wort chiller and steam condenser IMO/IME. Since that's what I'm doing. You could, also, have connections in the sink that you could tie into for cleaning, chilling, and such. Meaning you'll only need feeds for sink and then for the RO.

 

[marc1]

I'm working on my plumbing plan for my basement brew room and trying to determine how many water outputs I need.
1 hot & cold for sink
1 cold for wort chiller
1 cold for steam condenser
1 cold for RO/DI

Any good suggestions for if more are needed?

I have the steam condenser and RO coming off of my sink line, so they can be combined if you want. The tubing they use is pretty easy to run.

 

[hotbeer]

Can't you add them as you need them? Or is this a fully finished basement with everything behind ceiling or wall panels?

If the latter, then I might just consider extending a supply line for hot and cold along any area that might ever need some outlets and then you won't have to tear up your walls or ceiling in the future.

As long as you run the supply lines before everything is covered up, then it shouldn't add much cost. Unless this is additional to what's already been agreed on.

 

[Deadalus]

I put a separate faucet on my utility sink for a dedicated bottle/carboy washer. Something like that can be split off at the supply line valve as well. RO can tee off your sink line too and you will need to consider where the wastewater is going to drain. Same for the wort chiller and the steam condensor if they aren't near the sink drain.

Drains are harder to place because of gravity and the location of the main drain line.

 

[Bobby_M]

Why do you have one for the steam condenser? My SCL came with a small pump that feeds the spray nozzle in it.

Because some steam condensers run off of tap water by design.

 

[Bobby_M]

I'm working on my plumbing plan for my basement brew room and trying to determine how many water outputs I need.
1 hot & cold for sink
1 cold for wort chiller
1 cold for steam condenser
1 cold for RO/DI

Any good suggestions for if more are needed?

I have a QD on my extra cold water outlet and I swap the steam condenser supply out for the chiller because they are not used at the same time.

 

[matt_m]

I have one for a hose for cleaning. I just did one for the chiller but have a Y on that for the steam condenser since both are in about the same spot. I'd probably use QDs but something in our city water corrodes those garden hose QDs and makes them hard to use then leaky in no time.

 

[tracer bullet]

Any good suggestions for if more are needed?

Think of your process, when you pull water, and be sure you're covered.

I'd have the sink be the sink, but for the rest they don't normally run at the same time. Are you planning to have a number of physical points around the room supplying water or something? Maybe just one that has say a quick-disconnect on it and then just swap as needed.

 

[PINbeer]

Great to think about all the sources of water needed and having dedicated connections for each to avoid having to move connections in the middle of the brew day. Even with quick disconnects, it's just more things to move around, hoses to trip over, leak, etc. Assume your RO line goes to a convenient pot filler. Nothing further to suggest except to consider how liquid used for each of these will be taken away from each of these sources - that is either direct drains or hoses from your chiller that route to your drain. Your post made me think about whether I should consider separating the spigot I use as both my pot filler and line to my chiller. Cheers!

 

[tracer bullet]

Even with quick disconnects, it's just more things to move around, hoses to trip over, leak, etc.

This is kind of a good reminder that everyone's setup is different. My indoor / winter brew area is small enough that nothing's actually on the floor and that changing a line is mostly just using my arms, perhaps after a step sideways. If folks have a big enough setup or area that a line is on the floor then yes of course they'd be far more helped by a separate water supply location.

 

[deathmatch782]

Luckily I'm working with an unfinished basement. I installed a floor drain and drain pipe for a sink last weekend.
The room will be 10x13' total with all the plumbing on the 10' wall.

In the attached photo, the kettles will be going in front of the drain and the sink will be to the right of the column.
The rest of the brewing space is behind.

 

[Deadalus]

I just brewed inside for the first time on my system and I was wishing for a floor drain! I wasn't too messy but I had some connection issues with RO system to start. I used to clean my keggles right near the brew stand with a hose and sprayer without much concern for spray over but I had to make changes.

My main waste stack is cast iron like that but has another fitting right above it in the main stack. Was it tough to tie in underneath that fitting? I have to drain my washer and sink into that main stack and need to switch to PVC. I've been reluctant to cut into the floor. There's a fernco donut that I could use to tie into the cast iron fitting to avoid having to jackhammer the floor. I'm also replacing the rest of the house with pvc but debating keeping the cast iron fittings at floor level because I am unsure of what lies beneath. What connects after yours, does it transition to a different type of pipe on the sewer line?

What did you use to cut the trough over to the main stack? It's a pretty clean looking cut, not a jackhammer? The floor drain has a metal trough it looks like. Is there a trap under it or do you have to do anything special to the line to keep it clear?

 

[deathmatch782]

The preexisting floor drain by the washer was backing up. Ended up being clogged with roots between it and the main stack. The main is clear though, we had it scoped during inspection.
Since I was replacing the piping by the washer I decided "what the hell, why don't I just add a floor drain for the brewery at the same time" It definitely added a lot of work, and this took me a few weekends but it turned out well.

I used a masonry blade in my circular saw to cut a 1/2" deep channel so it would be easier and cleaner looking when filling it back in. Then I jackhammered out all the concrete. That sucked and was a lot of work.
Under the metal floor drain is a p-trap. Getting it all to slope properly was hard. But it worked and I'm happy.

 

[Deadalus]

Yeah I am thinking the same thing about the drain since I have to work on the main stack, washer, and sink lines. That was a good idea to keep the line looking clean. I once helped my brother years ago do the drain line in my mom's house but we only used a jackhammer and it was messier looking.

So you didn't have to alter the main stack but tied into the existing floor drain line after cleaning it up if I read that right?

I have a floor drain in the laundry room and one in the garage. The one by the washers actually has a pipe under it but it is clogged. The one in the garage it really looks like they just put the strainer in the concrete floor. It doesn't look like they filled a pipe in with concrete but that there wasn't a pipe there. It's sloped though to the drain. Kind of confusing. My main stack is in the laundry room. I think with the floor drain there, I have yet another fitting just underneath the concrete too. (So 3 stacked on top of one another.) It's easy to connect PVC to cast iron with a coupling on the pipes but getting the donut that fits into a cast iron fitting sized proper is harder. I also have internal cinderblock walls between the garage and the laundry room. So footings under those I expect which I don't know if it is even possible to get through that.

This is all why I mentioned the drains to begin with but you have done the work you needed.