Brew Room Drainage Considerations

[Saboral]

We're finally building a home and I'm currently working up my plan details. One piece of planning is surrounding my future brew room. I want a trench drain with a sloping floor. One thought that I've had is where to send this waste water. I think, based on my review of applicable code literature that this would count as a grey water system. For this to be installed to code I would have to seek a waiver from my local State Health Board which I understand isn't too hard to get if you provide all the information. Essentially what I'd like to do is have the trench drain open drain to the exterior as to avoid putting additional stain on my septic during periods such as chilling. I already plan on plumbing my RO waste line to a 300 gallon tank that I can plumb back to my washer and/or to a series of exterior rain barrels for irrigation.

So anyone plumbed a trench drain to greywater? If so did you run into any permitting difficulties? Am I overthinking this, maybe the water in the trench drain wouldn't be perceivable to my septic capacity. If the greywater out isn't an option I do plan to run all the drains in the room to a in floor sediment trap that I can pull a basket out of and clean out regularly to avoid grist or other solids making their way into the septic in the event of a spill or lazy cleaning on my part.

Would love to hear your thoughts as I plan this out. Also installing provisions for a 12" air exhaust line and makeup air for the room to drain all that humidity out.

 

[ITV]

Where I live we are not allowed to put grey water anywhere but the sewer (city).

I am not a big fan of open trenchs as they would need to be washed down after each use, I prefer a floor drain with a trap.

Below grade we use a sealed sump pit which pumps water to the city sewer. Maybe you can do something similar but discharge to the outside or put in a couple manual valves to discharge to the sewer or outside?

 

[matt_m]

I would think your tank would get nasty pretty quick since you are bound to get organic matter like grain and hops in there. I don't have a floor drain but use a string mop and bucket and that water gets pretty gross pretty quick. If I had a floor drain, I'd want to be able to just let rinse water and such go straight to the drain so it would be even worse.

I'd consider skipping the exhaust and look at a steam condenser. They work well and are nice and quiet for indoor use. I put in a hood and virtually never use it now. I send my condensate and chilling water to my sump pump. I might hesitate to suggest sending it to your gray water tank due to some odor.

 

[Saboral]

I might have miscommunicated. The trench drain would be a direct outflow from the home to a swale. The house is essentially on a mountain so everything drains down. I just don't want my chiller flow directed to the septic. I can always run a hose out the door from the chiller, but I love the idea of slapping that thing into the trench and letting her rip.

Also regarding the ventilation, I looked at the steam condensers, but to me those seem to come off as a lot of additional water usage and are suited more for those that either have glycol to chill them, have an unlimited source of water (i.e. not on well), and aren't starting with a clean slate where sufficient ventilation would be difficult to achieve. I also have a sensitivity to dust associated with the malt so I really like the idea of powerful ventilation in the brew room in general. Ideally I'd have a hood (one of which I already own) over my brew system and another above and adjacent to the mill.

 

[ITV]

I might have miscommunicated. The trench drain would be a direct outflow from the home to a swale. The house is essentially on a mountain so everything drains down. I just don't want my chiller flow directed to the septic. I can always run a hose out the door from the chiller, but I love the idea of slapping that thing into the trench and letting her rip.

Wouldn't an open trench allow varmint access to your house?

 

[Saboral]

Wouldn't an open trench allow varmint access to your house?

I mean I would have a trap and cleanout on it. Plus a simple wire cage around the outflow could stop that. If it doesn't I suppose I catch the varmint and make rat beer.

 

[matt_m]

Not sure what size system you have but the steam condenser water usage should be a fraction of what you use for chilling. I use a 9GPH nozzle just because I felt like the effluent might be too hot for my PVC condensate drain line and/or sump pit. Even at 5 it worked great. Some people report catching the water for cleaning but it does have some odor so I aim to get it out of the house as quick as possible. For my situation the biggest advantage is noise level. My brewery is behind the bar in our finished basement. We can watch TV and have a conversation at normal levels while I brew.

With the swale, you are going to get some organic matter out there that might attract critters or give off some odor as it decomposes so I would just be sure to get it as far away from the house as possible.

 

[marc1]

I have a floor drain in the basement that the water softener waste water goes into. It goes into the creek out back. I also run my chiller wastewater into it, as well as my RO wastewater.