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Jhedrick83

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Ol' Rocky Top
Last Christmas, my then Fiancee pushed me down the home brew slope. It's been a ton of fun and I've absolutely learned a lot (and have a lot more to learn). We wrapped up a major remodel/addition to our house in July and part of that was to move our laundry space elsewhere in the new addition. So, in the space which was the laundry room is what my wife wants to be the "Drop Zone" for shoes, backpacks, purses, keys, etc. and has no use for hot/cold water lines, plumbing drains and a 240v outlet... The old laundry space shared a wall with a bump out in my garage. You know where this is going.... I've already demoed a bunch of old metal shelving and rusted storage that was in the space and removed the pegboard for the plumber to make the plumbing changes.


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The space itself is roughly 7' by 10'6". First thing is there's foam tiles going to for ease of cleaning and making standing more comfortable. I'll have a 33" sink located on the right next to the water heater once the plumbing is moved. The sink will have a faucet with a detachable sprayer for ease of cleaning as well as a hose bib mounted up high for connecting things like a steam slayer and the I.C.. I have an electrician coming to flip my 240v dryer outlet in to the space and change the plug to one that my induction plate will work with. The electrician will also be adding outlets on the back wall and the wall to the left. The back wall gets a pair of 30"x36" wall cabinets left over from the old laundry space. Below those are a pair of old kitchen cabinets and laminate counter top left over from a kitchen demo last year. There will also be a fermentation fridge on that wall (the white freezer in the photo currently chilling an Altbier. I'll have a 3 foot walk space between those back cabinets and a rolling island I'll build that will be home to more storage as we as the induction plate I'll be brewing on. Keeping the island mobile means I can move things around as necessary and makes it easier if I ever had to replace the water heater. It may take a bit to get all the work done but I'm extremely excited to have my own little brew space and I think my wife is excited for me to get all my brewing equipment out of the kitchen.
 
think my wife is excited for me to get all my brewing equipment out of the kitchen.

That's the most important part to her.

I made mess ONCE in the kitchen on the stove (it was explained to me that was her stove, wtf, lol) and was told, "this needs to stop or do it somewhere else".

I was already in the process of moving from extract to all grain, so it only put a pause in my brewing for a couple of weeks as I collected what I needed to do all grain.
 
A little progress tonight. Swapped the insufficient bulb hanging over the space with this thing:

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It’s bright. Really bright. Maybe too bright. We will see…

I also got down one of the 7 packs of tiles in ordered. Home Depot has lost the other 6. It’s enough to get the cabinets set.

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Not the prettiest or nicest but they were all free and I can upgrade as I go. Fermentation fridge will end up to the left of the left side cabinet and the old laminate top will get cut out for my corona mill bucket to rest in making a grain milling station between the cabinets.

Plumbing will be done Thursday morning and then I’ll only be waiting on the electrician. If I can get the rest of my floor tiles soon, I’ll get the sink and island spaces built. Of course, I could build them now but I also have honey do projects to not get behind on too.
 
A bit more progress. Plumber came today and got the hot/cold/drain flipped and moved and split off a hose bib for the IC and Steam Slayer.

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Tomorrow is probably spent all honey do, may be next week before I get more done in the brew space.
 
16,000 lumens IS really bright and in terms of wattage 160 watts is a lot for LEDs and 6000-6500K is bright white light as far as lights go. I don't know how old you are but if you are familiar with incandescent wattages, a 60 Watt bulb is about 800 lumens. I have a ceiling fan in a 10x11' room that only takes 2 bulbs, candalabras no less and I find that if the LEDs are under 800 lumens, that light is insufficient for working. The room is in an office. Now my wife doesn't like fluorescent lighting and I have found she likes light in the house to be about 2800K which has a yellow sort of color to it. I can get away with the brighter whites in the basement where the garage and storage rooms are 3-4000K but if I put in a 6000K bulb I'd never hear the end of it!.

Funny though, 160 Watts is not far from two 75Watt bulbs, could have easily been a dozen of those bulbs in the hose before fluorescents and LEDs! LEDs are about 7-12 watts.
 
Yeah, I’m not quite digging the color temperature. I may check and see if I can get once closer to 3000k. I showed my wife and her response was “holy ****, it’s like a laboratory torture chamber”. 🤣

I didn’t check the color temp when I grabbed it. I’m fine with the brightness as it is a darker corner just the color temp is awful.

Awesome space, Tobor! I’m just glad to carve out a little corner to start with and upgrade the finishes as I go. What matters most to me is to just have a dedicated space. Super excited for that.

I may punt the foam floor tiles. Home Depot is killing me. The lost the other 6 packages of them. I was told they were on a truck and would be in Tuesday or Wednesday at the latest. Today they told me they had to be reordered and who know when. So, I may just return them when they come in (they won’t let me cancel it now) and just get restaurant mats for the areas I will stand in most.
 
Progress today. The electricians just left. I’ve got my 240v plug for the Induction plate flipped to the garage and a pair of double gangs of outlets for accessories around the space. Probably going to start building out the island and sink area at the start of next week.

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I may punt the foam floor tiles. Home Depot is killing me. The lost the other 6 packages of them. I was told they were on a truck and would be in Tuesday or Wednesday at the latest. Today they told me they had to be reordered and who know when. So, I may just return them when they come in (they won’t let me cancel it now) and just get restaurant mats for the areas I will stand in most.

Having worked for both Home Depot and Lowes, I wouldn't rely on them unless it's something they physically have in-stock at the store. Your orders can and will be lost, broken, forgotten, etc. And 90% of the time, it's not the fault of the store or anyone working there, they're just left holding the bag when the supplier, DC, or shipping company messed up.

Best to go to a lumberyard or supply house for any special orders.
 
It’s like that all over the garage. It was like that all over the house as well wherever the guy tried to hang a picture or anything on the walls. I bought the house from an estate. A little sad. Apparently the previous owner was getting dementia. The house it was a cosmetic nightmare when I purchased it. Complete remodel inside over the past two years. That’s where I’ve gotten the majority of my supplies for the brew space.
 

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It’s like that all over the garage. It was like that all over the house as well wherever the guy tried to hang a picture or anything on the walls. I bought the house from an estate. A little sad. Apparently the previous owner was getting dementia. The house it was a cosmetic nightmare when I purchased it. Complete remodel inside over the past two years. That’s where I’ve gotten the majority of my supplies for the brew space.

Yeah, I get it. I hung some new cabinets in my previous house and the walls behind the old ones looked like that. Done by supposed "professional." It just blows my mind when you can usually get pretty close to the stud by just knocking on the wall.
 
Got some progress today.

I got the island mostly framed up. Left side will have the induction plate and some storage underneath. The right side will be all storage with some shelves in the middle of one side. Obviously, I still have to get the sheeting on the sides and the top. Once this is done, on to the sink area.
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Sorry, I missed that in your earlier post. I ask because I am putting ventilation in the area that I’m remodeling. I went back and forth on ventilation vs steam slayer. I figured it is pretty cheap to do now before I drywall, and can always pick up a steam slayer later if I’m not moving enough air.
 
If I was doing more remodeling in the garage, I would have gone with more typical ventilation. I saw the cost of the steam slayer as much easier to swallow at this point than more intense remodeling in the garage.
 
A safety message from Matt Groening...
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Though I feel bad that the former owner was a Dementia victim...

Awesome progress... will be a nice space.

Had an idea, maybe a bit late since your electrician has been thru...

For the rolling island with induction burner you might consider a short twist lock plug drop at the center ceiling, and a short extension cord up from the island, maybe also put an outlet in the side of the island? That way, you could jack the island into power, without having an extension cord crossing the floor. Would have to find a placement/length where you won't be bonking your head on it, when it's not in use.
 
I had a similar thought once the electrician left. I may eventually do that but the simplicity of the fact that the 240 was in the wall and just needed to be flipped and the plug changed make it an easier sell when discussing the costs of doing this space. Originally, when I was going to do the foam flooring as well, I had planned to put a cord protector over the cord and have it the same depth as the foam flooring. I'm still planning on the cord protector and we will see how it works out. I have it all laid out so I'll never be carrying anything near where the cord is.
 
What induction plate do you use? I use induction stove and am interested in moving my brewing to the basement and had been thinking about an upgrade to all in one but an induction plate would be nice and simple and I could easily add a 240 outlet.
Cool project, best of luck!
 
That'll be a cool little space. I do kinda wish I'd seen the thread earlier - I would have recomended getting rid of the pegboard all around and replace it with vinyl walls or something like that. Even with a steam slayer, there's a lot of moisture flying around, and it looked in that first pic that the insulation where you'd taken out the pegboard was moldy already.
 
What induction plate do you use? I use induction stove and am interested in moving my brewing to the basement and had been thinking about an upgrade to all in one but an induction plate would be nice and simple and I could easily add a 240 outlet.
Cool project, best of luck!


I managed to score an Avantco IC3500 from a member here who had one they were not using.
 
That'll be a cool little space. I do kinda wish I'd seen the thread earlier - I would have recomended getting rid of the pegboard all around and replace it with vinyl walls or something like that. Even with a steam slayer, there's a lot of moisture flying around, and it looked in that first pic that the insulation where you'd taken out the pegboard was moldy already.


I noticed that too and treated them before putting the pegboard back up. I couldn't tell if it was moldy or just dirty from 40 years of the original owner smoking and welding out there and 40 years of garage dirt. The black spots were limited to the holes in the pegboard. Replacing it all is another project for another day.
 
Today’s progress, I got the pulley brace in, finished the rest of the frame and got it mostly skinned.

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The cement board on the top will be tiled. Instead of trying to get on cabinet doors and getting a decent seal on them, I may just run Velcro strips around the openings and cut large pieces of felt to make cloth doors. The other benefit is I don’t have door swings in the walk space. Not 100% set on that yet. The island rolls really well though. I’m hoping to get my sink area put together Friday and hopefully some finishing touches as well. Tile may have to wait until next week.
 
I got a bit more done this morning before heading off to work. Cut out the old countertop to seat my "Ugly Corona Mill" bucket. I may widen that hole a bit but that has the drive bolt at a comfortable height for me when I'm holding the drill and running the mill.

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I also got the sink framed up and the hole for the sink cut out. I can't set the sink until I get the tile done but at least that's a step checked off. The sink is pretty high. The issue is that the old drain line can only go so low as it is run on the interior of the house which is at a different level than the garage. So the counter top is up at 41" as I had to leave sufficient space for the sink drain/p-trap. I may end up getting a small step stool for that area that I can tuck away when not in use. I used left over 2x8s for the bottom ring as the extra weight will help keep it from getting too tippy. I'll add a bottom shelf there too when I get a chance.

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Slowly coming together. Once I get the tiling done, the rest should go quickly. I'll have to unpack some of my new toys, drill out a kettle let and get the steam slayer put together. I'll have to unpack some of my storage totes into the cabinets. Paint the Bag hoist and island sides so that if I get wort splatter it is easy to clean. Clean up the epic mess I've made in our garage (very patient wife) and then obviously make some beer!

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It’s like that all over the garage. It was like that all over the house as well wherever the guy tried to hang a picture or anything on the walls. I bought the house from an estate. A little sad. Apparently the previous owner was getting dementia. The house it was a cosmetic nightmare when I purchased it. Complete remodel inside over the past two years. That’s where I’ve gotten the majority of my supplies for the brew space.
Previous owner did this under paneling I took down...all the way around the room. Studs are 16" OC could you skip over a foot at least please!
 
If you were to roll/spray some white exterior paint on the pegboard, it would brighten things up.

Not a bad idea. The only concern I have is that the light I put in is crazy bright and at night it almost feels like an operating room. I actually have a commercial grade paint sprayer I purchased when I painted the exterior…


Previous owner did this under paneling I took down...all the way around the room. Studs are 16" OC could you skip over a foot at least please!


My first thought when I saw parts of the house was “did they have a pet woodpecker!?”
 
I foresee a dimmer switch in your future.

I do too. I put them in basically every room in the house. My wife loves having dimmers. The trick is the light I put in just screws into the socket like a normal bulb. So if I just add a dimmer. The other normal bulbs in the garage will be way too dim. So if I add a dimmer, I should probably put the same lights in the other sockets. Of course, it wasn’t the cheapest light I ever bought. Joys of project creep…
 
Got all the tile and grout done as well as the painting.

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Either tomorrow or friday I'll get the sink and faucet mounted, "doors" on the storage part of the island and some of my gear unpacked and stashed. I can't wait to actually brew in the space hopefully sometime next week.
 
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