Brew Room Organization

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Iowa Brewer

Iowa Brewer

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Hey all,

How do you organize your brew rooms? Looking for tips & tricks on anything from how to best keep essentials ready-at-hand to storing everything from big items to those little widgets & thingamajigs that add up and can easily get misplaced.

Any strategies & pictures you can share would be great. Photos or stories of brew-room disorganization are also more than welcome ;)
 
Slat walls with bins, hooks and shelves for me. Base grains in roll around bins and specialty grains in air-tight tupperware type containers.

This is my third brew room so far and one thing I know for sure is that something that works well in one space may not be good in another. Do you have a Pic of your space?
 
I put a fair bit of money into organizing my brew space. Not California Closets type money, but if I found something that was messy, I found a spot/solution for it. This included big stainless dual-tub sink with sprayer nozzle, racks, and various stainless tables. After the initial hurdle of getting stuff tucked away into all these spots, it helps a ton. Brew day is so much smoother, brew prep is easy, clean-up is easier, etc.

I started with racks. I got several plastic multi-shelf racks from Home Depot because they could handle being wet and getting wet stuff stacked on them and letting water drip through. Those had fixed shelf heights that didn't work for taller stuff, so I also bought some Regency epoxy-painted wire racks from Webstaurantstore.com. I could then set the shelf height to what I needed exactly. The shelving with the slots are also key for hanging hoses so they can drip dry.

Then on some of the table space, on some shelves, and inside some existing metal cabinets I bought Sterlite drawer units of various sizes. These work great for little things like fittings, o-rings, clamps, and they're also good for storing various manuals.

I have a lot of gear because I do a lot of reviews and constantly have things coming in & out So I found a disorganized space was a nightmare. Now with everything having a spot, it makes life so much easier. I've also included a picture of a table where I concluded I need another set of drawers because that pile of "stuff" has gotten too big...
 

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What is this "brew room" that you speak of? ;)

But I really like the heavy duty metal shelves you got from Home Depot. The kind that are rated for 1200 lbs or something crazy.

The wire rack ones are nice too, but can be flimsy. Having something like this on casters is nice, but may not necessary if you have an actual room.
 
Dr_Jeff said:
Shelves, pegboard, storage totes
I was given a metal file cabinet from where I used to work, vacuum packed bags of grain store in there great and are "mouse proof"
Click to expand...
Cheers, Dr. Jeff! Yes, mice-proofing is a must. My room is in the basement, and our cat can only do so much.
 
NickTheGreat said:
What is this "brew room" that you speak of? ;)

But I really like the heavy duty metal shelves you got from Home Depot. The kind that are rated for 1200 lbs or something crazy.

The wire rack ones are nice too, but can be flimsy. Having something like this on casters is nice, but may not necessary if you have an actual room.
Click to expand...

Ha! yes.
I'm gong to have to look into those HD shelves. Was thinking of building some of my own, but with so many projects going right now, including this new room...
 
FloppyKnockers said:
Slat walls with bins, hooks and shelves for me. Base grains in roll around bins and specialty grains in air-tight tupperware type containers.

This is my third brew room so far and one thing I know for sure is that something that works well in one space may not be good in another. Do you have a Pic of your space?
Click to expand...


Great point!
I don't have photos just yet, it's all under construction. We're redoing the basement and this is one of the perks of that project. I'll take a few when I get back from work, but they'll need a bit of explaining. Cheers!
 
If your brew room is in a different location than the place where you actually brew, I would recommend making a single, small (enough to handle), container that has everything you normally shuttle back and forth to get. That way you can just pick it up on brewday and start. Over the years I've paired down enough of what I need for brewing, cleaning, fermentation, and kegging into one container. All of the other items are either located close to where I brew or are in a different container. I find that it's best to keep "showstopper" items in that container, for example "where are my alligator clips, I have to clamp down my hop bag" or "where did I place that long-stem lighter for my burner" or "where's my gram scale for measuring water additions" etc...you can probably imagine some of the scavenger hunts I've had on brewday that have led me to this. One of my worst was losing a bazooka screen for my mash tun, only to find out that it was separated from the bulkhead hardware and missing the clamp that held it in place. If it would have broken apart inside my handy container, I would have known where to look for it.

For shelving I originally bought some Walmart Origami Shelving which is supposed to be easy to fold up and unfold as needed. It's really easy to unfold/assemble, but once I opened it I've never folded it back up again :D. The thought process was that I would move it around for brewing but it became a permanent storage solution. It would probably be a lot cheaper to build one of those hardware store shelving units like you mentioned.
 
Teromous said:
If your brew room is in a different location than the place where you actually brew…

For shelving I ...
Click to expand...

Fantastic, Teromous! Thanks for this. I’ll brew in the same room, but I’m gonna put a box like that together forever when I brew with mates across town. Cheers!
 
It seems like I am constantly upgrading how I organize stuff in order to make the flow more efficient. Part of it is getting rid of the stuff that I don't use, or storing items away from the brew space that need to be backups for tools that are used regularly. I don't have a perfect picture of everything stored, because of rearranging things for guests on July 4th, but (from the door to the camera):
IMG_0258.JPG

1. a rolling plastic tool cart that has a water-tight top shelf for bottling day and shelving underneath for barrels.
2. tabletop (homemade from leftover lumber) for induction burners + kettles and mash tun, underneath are water filter, and other large stuff.
3. SS tables for new fermentations up top, aging fermentations down below, and the,
3a. file cabinet for spare parts (in tool boxes or tackle boxes), electronics like stir plate, extra hoses and kegging parts.
5. wire rack/drawer shelf with soon-to-be-finished homemade glycol chiller on top and drawers holding towels, mineral salts, tubs of specialty malts, bottling materials
6. opposite the setup between the pantry fridge (partially stuffed with hops and yeast) and the washer/dryer (water hookup for filter/chiller) is the keezer.

It ain't pretty, but it does the job and no one complains about my little sliver of sunshine in the garage.

Reevesie

As seen from the other side:
IMG_0257.JPG
 
I would have to clean up all the clutter to take a new picture, but here is my area. I claimed an unused section of my "basement" (it is mostly above ground) for my brew supplies. I mostly brew on my back patio, which is just off to the left of this picture. It is mostly all just unused storage equipment from around the house. It is great having "a place for everything" (mostly). The addition of the makeshift workbench was a huge upgrade. I usually have a bar stool around the table so I can relax while measuring hops, taking a pH reading, etc.

20200203_215709.jpg
 
JAReeves said:
It seems like I am constantly upgrading how I organize stuff in order to make the flow more efficient. Part of it is getting rid of the stuff that I don't use, or storing items away from the brew space that need to be backups for tools that are used regularly. I don't have a perfect picture of everything stored, because of rearranging things for guests on July 4th, but (from the door to the camera):

1. a rolling plastic tool cart that has a water-tight top shelf for bottling day and shelving underneath for barrels.
2. tabletop (homemade from leftover lumber) for induction burners + kettles and mash tun, underneath are water filter, and other large stuff.
3. SS tables for new fermentations up top, aging fermentations down below, and the,
3a. file cabinet for spare parts (in tool boxes or tackle boxes), electronics like stir plate, extra hoses and kegging parts.
5. wire rack/drawer shelf with soon-to-be-finished homemade glycol chiller on top and drawers holding towels, mineral salts, tubs of specialty malts, bottling materials
6. opposite the setup between the pantry fridge (partially stuffed with hops and yeast) and the washer/dryer (water hookup for filter/chiller) is the keezer.

It ain't pretty, but it does the job and no one complains about my little sliver of sunshine in the garage.

Reevesie
Click to expand...

This is brilliant! Thanks so much, JAReeves! I bet no one complains, eh?
 
CascadesBrewer said:
I would have to clean up all the clutter to take a new picture, but here is my area. I claimed an unused section of my "basement" (it is mostly above ground) for my brew supplies. I mostly brew on my back patio, which is just off to the left of this picture. It is mostly all just unused storage equipment from around the house. It is great having "a place for everything" (mostly). The addition of the makeshift workbench was a huge upgrade. I usually have a bar stool around the table so I can relax while measuring hops, taking a pH reading, etc.
Click to expand...

Very nice setup, CascadesBrewer! That photo gives me some good ideas!
 
I love these threads BTW. To me it's not so much organizing my brew room, but keeping it organized. I'll spend an afternoon tidying and organizing, and 3 weeks later there is crap everywhere!

Edit -
One thing I'm trying to do is reduce the number of specialty grains and adjuncts I have on hand. I like to brew different recipes all the time, but it's left me with part pounds of about 20-25 different specialty malts.

I'm going to try to pare it down to a limited number, and keep larger amounts of them.
 
Last edited:
@micraftbeer love the decant note on the stirrer. Above my kettle on the peg wall is written in red and circled Campden. My plate chiller says flush on it now.

I'm only half way there. My fermenter fridge is right across the isle from the brew bench and the keezer is right next to that. so I have the option of pumping not lifting if I throw out my back or someday get old-older and can't lift.

I used the adjustable shelves from the converted fermenter fridge it is enough space for measuring brewing salts and hops during brew and stores my salts sanitizers, refractometer, hydrometer, scales. Basically the stuff used during brew is always on the bench. The laptop is just there because I was setting the brewpiless temp profile during the brew. I mounted the old ipad to wall for Brewfather. since the picture was taken I have added hooks/holders to the peg board for brewday hoses, scissors, clamps, ph meter all at eye level.

I use a steel cabinet for the seldom and no longer used equipment(spares?). The sometimes used fittings, tools, extra bags, hose, clamps, extra measuring containers, cleanup supplies are on a rolling wire rack.

Don't be afraid to sell or discard the stuff you know you won't use again. Garage sales and Dumpsters will set you free!
 

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elproducto said:
I love these threads BTW. To me it's not so much organizing my brew room, but keeping it organized. I'll spend an afternoon tidying and organizing, and 3 weeks later there is crap everywhere!

Edit -
One thing I'm trying to do is reduce the number of specialty grains and adjuncts I have on hand. I like to brew different recipes all the time, but it's left me with part pounds of about 20-25 different specialty malts.

I'm going to try to pare it down to a limited number, and keep larger amounts of them.
Click to expand...

So glad you're enjoying the threads, elproducto! Yes, that's a great point about keeping down on adjuncts. Once my brewroom is built and finished, I'm going to focus on SMaSH brewing to better educate myself on grain & hops profiles, so that should stem that issue a bit, but the problem is real, eh?
 
gello22 said:
@micraftbeer
Don't be afraid to sell or discard the stuff you know you won't use again. Garage sales and Dumpsters will set you free!
Click to expand...

Great points and the advice on paring down is top notch! I'm moving from all-grain to eBIAB. I'll keep my Coleman-cooler mash tun and old kettle for the occasional small batches, but will pass on other stuff to those who can use it. SO excited to get cranking my 10gal-producing system :p
 
Dr_Jeff said:
Shelves, pegboard, storage totes
I was given a metal file cabinet from where I used to work, vacuum packed bags of grain store in there great and are "mouse proof"
Click to expand...
Thanks for your post. I have two metal file cabinets that I considered disposing of. I like your idea of using file cabinets for grain storage etc. Maybe, just maybe I can store stuff in those and my wife will be nun the wiser. She never looks at those things and I don't suspect she would have a clue I was hiding beer ingredients there. She insist I reduce my beer making inventory. How would one do that?
 

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