Basement Brew Area Build

[jdowling]

I would be really interested to see what you end up with if you use strut to make your stand, where you source parts, and so on.

I was thinking about doing the same for what I'll put together. It'll take me a while to get there though.

 

[soccerRef]

i think you will be MUCH happier with a sculpture than you would be with the stove. it'll be a little more work, but worth it! lots of guys here have their cooler MLT on their sculpture, so you may want to take a look at that, but i can't imagine life as a brewer without a pump now that i have one. especially as an allgrain guy.

When I get to actually designing the sculpture I may or may not add a section to place the cooler MLT on ( will depend on space possibly ... like I said Im doing a single tier regardless, with the idea in the future pump(s) will be added. Using the uni-strut will allow me to build now, and add on pretty much as many sections /stuff as I want. A pump is in my future, but more than likely at least a year out, just having the space and dedicated areas for things will be a huge improvement over the rolling cart in the middle of the kitchen!

I can 100% guarantee a pump will be that thing that once i have I won't be able to remember living with out it! ( like a DVR with my cable!)

One thing I failed to mention previously that is also driving some of this / causing me to hold out on certain parts etc is the fact my parents ( father mainly) is a decent size maple producer, and its actually amazing how much equipment involved in the maple syrup process can be ported over to beer, so there is a positional for some of this equipment to come my way has he grows bigger and bigger... BUT he is already sort of large, so size of things and what not may cause slight major change in how much I brew etc... so I don't want to throw a ton of time/money into a change now, just to make another change in a year/2 etc... so this move really is to just make my current process easier, and out of the kitchen.

Im still looking for some expert advice on the idea to use the cement backer board ( tile stuff) to sheidl heat around the stand? like I said I read it somewhere and am simply looking to see if anyone has done/seen this before?

 

[soccerRef]

So finally a little headway was made... and I mean little! I have been making measurements, drawing up idea plans, and what not... and looking for materials and what not to get things moving... but that crazy thing called work has seemed to get in the way of actually getting stuff done!

I did however finally get the support "shelf" built into my fridge that will be my kegerator. I currently only have a single keg, with picnic tap for dispensing, and it was sitting in my fridge with the CO2 tank.. but the bottom of the fridge was not level, and I was never a fan of how unbalanced it all sat. I had some wood laying around from other projects, so I built a quick support while I was waiting for bottles to sanitize in the dishwasher.

 

[soccerRef]

The shelf makes it so much more stable! Its simple supported in the back by the higher part of the fridge bottom.

It will hold 4 corny's with the co2 inside easily, with room to actually run all necessary beer and air lines comfortably. I plan on adding 4 taps to the front of the fridge.

the keg is currently full with HopNog 2012, which will hopefully get bottled from the keg tonight to make room for another brew thats ready to keg carb!

also attached is the cider I bottled up after this project was done. Its a caramel apple cider.

Hopefully soon Ill get my plans more finalized, and get to actually make some progress on the entire build!

 

[soccerRef]

So I received most of the parts to complete the kegerator piece of the brew/beer area. attached are the pictures of the shanks and faucets. [ these will hopefully be installed later today]

I built a gas manifold, which is also pictured. I built it myself, I did this because it was a few $$ cheaper, but more so because it will be easier to expand in the future. I plan to add regulators to each branch, as well as possible a 5/6 lines to carb beers ( going to stick with 4 taps ), the fridge has space to cram in 5 or 6, but 4 is enough, if I need more I will go to a keezer.

I also received 3 more cornies, so I have a full kegerator! ( once I get some more brew done!!)

 

[WPStrassburg]

Looks like you finished your manifold, but wanted to make sure you and the other Rochester guys knew about Rochester Store Fixtures.

http://www.rochesterstorefixture.com/images/Page_25.pdf

They've got all the keg stuff you could ever need and some kitchen stuff that I use while brewing. I got my perlicks there when they were cheaper than the chrome faucets like you've got!

 

[reynolds5520]

Thanks Walter, I had forgotten about them.

 

[soccerRef]

So its been a while ( almost 2 years I think) since I made a post to this build thread .... the project never went away, it simply was moved to the back of the line behind a bathroom build in the basement, a bathroom remodel upstairs ( both done diy),having our first child and the rest of "real life" ... during that time bits and pieces were collected and the final plan was finally firmed up.... so finally some progress to show, and the hope that progress moves at a faster pace moving forward!

I ended up scoring a perlick keg fridge from a resale store for dirt cheap, it was missing the compressor, but for the price I wouldn't have been able to build any stand or ferm chamber for less, so I jumped on it. I ended up taking apart the mini fridge I was going to use for the ferm chamber anyways, which took more steps now because I had to actually cut the copper ( drain the refrigerant), mount it on the side of the cooler, and then re-connect the copper and replace the refrigerant. I added a paint can light bulb heater for the heat side, and of course a st-1000 to control the ferm chamber. This chamber will also serve as the brew stand for the single tier setup.

This past week I ordered everything to complete the kegs themselves, weld-less fittings, site glasses, elements, more valves, tubing, more camlocks, PID's, temp probes, electric wire, switches, lights, etc etc.... so like I said, ,time to get back to business and finish this thing!

The final plan after 2 years of thinking about it is a single tier, with 2 pumps, for now the Mash tun will still be my cooler, it works great so why change right now... Everything will sit on the ferm chamber as a brew stand. It has its own little space in the basement, and will be an all electric setup. I plan to have 5000W elements in each keggle, running off a new 240V supply. I will be running a 60A spa panel from my main panel, which will feed my control panel thus feeding my 2 keggles, and pump box ( still to build)... current plan is to stick to 5 gallon batches with the plan of being able to just change the MLT in the future to up to 10G batches if I want. Everything will be controlled by PID's, with the option of auto or manual mode of course.

Pictures to follow, as I know I always love looking at pictures of everyones builds!

 

[soccerRef]

some pictures of the progress.... I promise less than 2 years before the next update!!!

 

[soccerRef]

a picture of the space itself. This area once complete will hold the ferm chamber / brew stand, and directly behind it will be shelving for grain storage / parts storage / bottle storage / and anything else

also nearby will be the eventual lager chamber being built out of an old chest freezer and stc-1000 controller.