condo loft brewery conversion

Well, I don't have a garage or basement like some of you luckies out there but I do have a loft in my condo that wasn't really being used for anything meaningful. So... perfect candidate for a brewery. You will see that most of my inspiration comes from theelectricbrewery.com. If you haven't visited the site, I would recommend it. I would have never started this build without it. That being said, there will be a few minor changes to the design that will cut down the cost without impacting functionality.

But first things first. The room needed a lot of work. There was a gas fireplace on the back wall that needed to go. It was never used and basically in the way. As a bonus, I have a natural gas supply should I ever need it although I intend to go all electric. There was a window looking down into the master bedroom that was previously covered by a bookshelf that needed to be framed along with the front wall to turn the space into an actual room rather than a loft that overlooks the living room.

I'm posting from my phone so I'll just dump some photos and let those tell the story. More pics to come in the next post.

 

More pics...

 

Looking very nice! I'm jealous. Love the SS. Are you going to put a hood over your stand for ventilation?

 

What an awesome spot to make a home brewery, I look forward to see what it turns into

 

The control panel should arrive today. I'll post pics of the build to keep you guys updated. Thanks to everyone one here giving me inspiration and ideas. My wife hates you all.

As you can see, I went with 15.5 gallon bayou classic kettles. They are much cheaper than some of the alternatives. I intend to stick with 5 gallon batches to be able to brew more often with more opportunity to dial in recipes. I will use the stainless counterflow chiller to maintain mash temps and for chilling the wort post boil. This negates having to install a coil in the HLT as you would for a conventional HERMS. I went with stainless for cleanability over efficiency. I intend to recirculate post boil until the temp gets to about 110 using tap water and then recirculate ice water using a sump pump to get down to pitching temps. I live in san diego, so chilling to pitching temps on a single pass using tap water is impossible even in the "winter". I also dont want to use a pre-chiller. Ive done that before and find its easier for me to chill by recirculation than babysitting flowrates on a single pass counterflow chiller with a pre chiller. I dont mind the extra time if it's easier for me.

 

Thank you! Yeah.. 700 dollars for a stainless hood is a little too much. I bought the tables, sink and kettles for under 900 bucks if that puts it into perspective. The freezer was 100 bucks on CL. The vent hood will need to be wood unless I find a great deal which is unlikely.

 

Congrats on the build, looks like fun, I just hope you plan on staying put for many years to come with all the work going into this.

Cheers

 

This means you are doing it right

 

Don't you need ventilation? It looks so awesome.
I have tons of extra space in my house, maybe I'll do this!

 

Yes. It's a work in progress. I'll be installing a vent hood in the near future.

 

Do have a nice South facing wall, that might not be very visible to the neighbors or Condo entrants?

I ask because you could make a "solar chimney", and let the heat of the Sun provide your "draw" for your ventilation / exhaust outlet.........Provided you brew when the Sun's out............Nice build!

 

Very cool to see this fit into a pretty compact work space. The project looks like it's already coming along quite nicely!

Are you planning on building a Kal-Clone panel or do you have other plans for the electric kettles? I'm working on building mine right now, so it'll be cool to see how you finish your space.

 

The room is 10 x 12.5 so its not large, but the pictures make it seem much more compact. It will be much like Kal's minus the volt/amp meters. It should save money and space for more useful applications. Most of the internal components in Kal's build are for the volt/amp meters. I'll also run wiring in and out of the control box through conduit and have outlets closer to the point of use rather than have everything plug into the bottom of the box. I think this will look cleaner and will be more favorable to future modifications since all of the holes will be standard conduit sizes and there will be fewer of them.

I also won't initially install a timer although I'll leave room in case I change my mind down the road. There are just too many free apps to justify the expense at this point.

 

This is looking like an awesome project. Can't wait to see it done. Nice job.

 

Looks like a nice sized brewing room - not too big, not too small. Good luck!

Kal

 

I would like to suggest either replacing the drywall behind the system with a green board or else putting a thin back splash behind the brew system.
there is going be a lot of moisture in there and those walls will need to be protected. That and a hood vent over the system will protect that room from the amount of moisture you are going be putting in the air.

Great build by the way

 

Your condo association is going to let you poke holes through the wall/ceiling for ventilation?
Nice build! I love the SS.

 

I love this so far, it is much tidier than my garage is. Shoot me a message if you want to borrow some tools or need some help. I live down in Chula Vista and just completed my build. A thread will follow once I get back from sea.

 

Still not "done" but getting there. Like most projects it will be a continuous work in progress.

 

Mash tun and HLT. I put a float switch in the HLT to protect the heating element.

 

So incredibly jealous! Awesome setup!

 

nice work.

 

I went with a pretty simple method for inserting the TCs. While a little janky, its cheap, simple, and works really well.

 

Thank you. I didnt have to poke any holes in any extetior walls or roof. The adjacent room houses the HVAC system and all the other vents for the bathrooms and dryer. There were already a few large roof vents in that room to use.