My Brewery - looking for suggestions.

Hi Gang,

I have been doing 5 gallon AG batches in my kitchen (the wife hates the sticky floors), and I am hoping to move to 10 gallon, and get out of the kitchen.

I have a single car, insulated garage that would be perfect for the brewery.
I have also acquired 3 sankey kegs for my 'in garage' brew setup, and have recently purchased an 85,000 btu propane cooker.

The question is, should I move forward with propane, or should I delve into the world of eletric brewing? My garage is wired for 220, and I have read that using propane in a closed environment = death.

So, anyone have any direction for me? If you were in my current position, what would you do, and what would you purchase for this project?

Help me make my wife happy...get me out of the kitchen!

Cheers,

Rhino

 

Do you have natural gas service in your house? Is there any chance you could run another gas line to the garage and run off of that?

kvh

 

If you have 220v in your garage and you are comfortable with electricity then that would be the way to go.

I got tired of going through tanks of propane and it really added to the cost of brewing so I converted my HLT and MT into electric. Electricity is quiet, efficient and it makes it easy to automate so you can have your brewery turn on a few hours before you are ready to brew to shave time off your brew day.

Natural Gas is another option but you still have to worry about ventilation, with electricity you only have to worry about venting the steam to prevent mold in the garage.

 

Brewing in the garage with a door open is fine. A fan would add plenty of extra ventilation. I've done it many times.

 

I have a natural gas setup-- I actually brew indoors in a utility room-- I have an exhaust fan, and my CO and combustible gas meter always read "0."

I'd go natural gas if you have the capability. I have used electricity-- takes a bit longer.

 

Natural gas is the way to go if you can do it.
Electricity is slower, and more expensive.
Propane or NG, make sure you have heat shields where approiate.
I brew outdoors and use NG - have a 1/2" id hose to my burner. Also use for brewing and crawfish/crab/shrimp boils.

 

Hopefully, this will complement the thread rather than hi-jack it.

I'm contemplating the same move since I too have 220v in the garage. Question is, what type of electric system would you get...burners? Etc? Any specific devices would be welcome information?

 

I'm in southern Ontario, Canada, and want to brew all year long, so brewing with the garage door open is out of the question.

Natural gas is an interesting option, but it may be difficult to run a line to my garage, guess I'll have to talk to a pro.

Follow up question, is propane and natural gas interchangable? In a year or so, we will be putting a natural gas fireplace in the family room, and the wall that it wil be installed on is also the back wall of the garage. However, I would like to start building my permanent brewing rig this year. If I could build it using propane, and then switch to natural gas when the line is installed, that would be great. Can this be done?

Please keep the info/ideas coming.

Cheers,

Rhino

 

natural gas and Propane are NOT interchangeable. You will need new burners at least.

 

Sure you can, I'm an apartment dweller and I brew year-round. This picture was a -17C brew day with -33C wind chill.



To the OP, I would go for natural gas if for no other reason than not having to worry about an empty propane tank in the middle of a boil (been there, done that!).

 

Propane and NG not interchangable - right.

Friend of mine got the 23 jet burner and it had a sticker that said PROPANE.

Hooked it up and was so hot, it burned some of the jets.

Upon further examination, the jets had the larger holes - for natural gas.

The burner was approx. 1 foot above the ground and he said it was catching the grass on fire - so much fuel being dumped, it was dripping down and lighting the grass on fire.

Hint: small paper clip will fit in NG jet orifice, but will not on the Propane. Check out before you have to call the fire department.

 

My 2cp.... get heating elements in your HLT and run a coil of copper through it and recirculate your mash through that copper pipe to keep the mash at whatever temp you want. GO HERMS!!!! for the boil kettle I've seen a few kettles that have the same style of heating elements that were in their HLT in their boil kettle to heat and boil their wort. The only caution to this is make sure you clean the elements off WELL between uses. It was reported that you get an ash taste if ya don't. Maybe someone else who uses heating elements in their set up can chime in and ramble off some model numbers and their experiences with them.

 

Switching to electricity is cheap and it is more efficient then gas or propane. I got 240v 1500W elements at Home Depot for about $8 each. There is more work involved in converting but once it is done it is easy to automate since a simple Ranco controller can be used to maintain temps.

 

Can you post some pictures or give some website links to electronic burners or elements? I don't have a 220v spare line but I am interested in what is involved.

thanks.

 

All I have is a link to my brewery...

http://s59.photobucket.com/albums/g309/BelgianBrewer/

 

That's July, right?

Just kidding. I've been from BC to Quebec several times.

I would recommend staying away from electric because it is not as controllable as gas.

Of course, if you go propane then you would not have to buy (or get one donated) a stove. But...I will tell you that I have my own brew kitchen in the basement and when the AC is on upstairs (and on holidays/family get togethers) my wife will also cook downstairs. This may come in handy in the summer time when you don't want to get the AC part of the house all hot.

Just a thought.

 

Why do you say that? There are many indoor homebrewers that use electricity. I switch to electricity in my HLT and MT because it is MORE controllable.

 

Definitely easier to automate temperature control w/ electric.

 

Although I haven't done it yet, I think it would kick Axs to brew outside on a cold winters day with some coffee.

 

Propane and NG are not interchangable in both directions any time you want but I assume you're saying you'd like to start with propane with the option to convert to NG. That you CAN do. If you go with multi jet burners, the propane orifices are a bit smaller... run propane all you like. When you have the NG line run out to that area, simply drill the orifices out to NG size. However, you may find that running NG on a propane orifice provides just the right flame anyway, just a slightly lower BTU. The 23 tip on NG is insanely hot. I could never run it full bore.

 

Coffee is a must. When I was brewing at 10F, my beer froze before I could finish it. It was the first time that I had to use a beer cozy to keep a beer warm! I do have to say that hovering over your steamy warm brewpot in the dead of winter is an exilerating experience. Keep in mind that you will burn through that propane pretty quick, especially if it breezy, or snowing, or sleeting, or...

 

I like a nice imperial stout myself. I've had some brews where it was snowing so much you couldn't see the driveway in that picture. Talk about fun in the winter; I loved it! I think there are some pictures of me on a lawn chair next to the burner in the snow. I love brewing.

I definitely burned through the propane faster until I started using that big collar you see in the image. I use it in the summer as well as a wind screen.

 

You forgot a word

And I'm sure those brutal Honolulu winters are a bitch

 

I brew with electricty and have not experiecned this "ash" taste. I wouldn't say I'm overly zealous with cleaning the elements in my boiler either. I just clean the hops and break material off them with clean water and it's good to go.

/Phil.

 

Bah. I brew in my garage year- round, with the door open. It gets pretty cold here too. Put on your Carharts and go outside and enjoy the day.

I do that all the time in winter. When I'm ice fishing, the can warmers are imperative. Yes I drink BMC when ice fishing, don't flame me........

 

Another data point:
I brewed with propane for 6 years and last winter converted to electric. There is no way I would ever go back to propane. I have a 15 gallon system. I had a 50 amp, 240 vac gfi breaker installed in my load center and an outlet wired in my garage. Going from 10 gallons to 15 gallons significantly increases your equipment costs because you need 50 amps instead of 30 amps. Wire and all the hardware is heavier duty and more expensive. I have two 4500 watt elements in both my boil kettle and HLT. I have a HERMS system with my heat exchange coil in the HLT.
If you are making a 10 gallon system, 30 amps is adequate. You can put one 4500 watt element in both the boil kettle and HLT. You can make a HERMS if you want to but it is not necessary.
Three important suggestions if you decide to go electric:
1. Make sure your garage's 240 vac outlet has a gfi breaker.
2. Ground everything - when in doubt, ground it.
3. Have someone knowledgeable about wiring review everything before you build it and before you turn it on.