Building a brew room

[Harry482]

The fan is up and the hood has been ordered.

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1488754312.839980.jpg

 

[mongoose33]

I'm trying to convince my wife that we should build one more house. Guess what I'm hoping to include?

Curious about one thing: my water is terrible for brewing unless I want to do a stout (which i don't, I don't care for them). So I use RO water with perhaps a gallon or so of tap water.

You have your hose bibs over where the HLT will go. Is your water particularly good for brewing that you can do this? If so, I'm very jealous. If we build, we'll need a well which will have very hard water.

 

[Harry482]

I'm trying to convince my wife that we should build one more house. Guess what I'm hoping to include?

Curious about one thing: my water is terrible for brewing unless I want to do a stout (which i don't, I don't care for them). So I use RO water with perhaps a gallon or so of tap water.

You have your hose bibs over where the HLT will go. Is your water particularly good for brewing that you can do this? If so, I'm very jealous. If we build, we'll need a well which will have very hard water.

I'm very lucky that the municipal water in my area is great for brewing. The only thing I normally do is remove chloramine with a campden tablet. I debated installing a wall mounted carbon filter, but decided against it since my water is a non issue.

 

[Harry482]

The ceiling and lighting is going up! I ordered the hood from fast kitchen and they said it should ship out on Friday. I should be brewing in a few weeks.

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1488902071.061838.jpg

 

[FrankAbagnale]

I bet you're getting pretty pumped! It's looking good.

 

[HAHB]

Subbed, while feeling an awesome mix of jealousy and motivation for the future.

 

[jimmykx250]

Wow. Thats a really sweet set up you will have. Nice tile work by the way.

 

[AdamEltro]

This looks incredible

 

[Harry482]

Thanks for the compliments. I hope it does serve as motivation to many. Anyone can do this with the right tools and time.

 

[cubalz]

Subbed

 

[mongoose33]

Subbed

Just so you know--you can sub to any thread by using the Thread Tools just above the top post on a page--one of the options is "subscribe to this thread."

You don't have to post to subscribe to a thread, and this helps prevent people clicking on a thread with a new post only to find that post is only a "subbed" post.

 

[IslandLizard]

Amazing project, very nicely and neatly done!

One question, shouldn't your wall receptacles be GFCI?

 

[Harry482]

Amazing project, very nicely and neatly done!

One question, shouldn't your wall receptacles be GFCI?

Yes, good observation. I overlooked posting that they are on a 20a gfci breaker. At 30$ for the breaker, it ended up being cheaper than buying that many gfci outlets.

 

[IslandLizard]

Yes, good observation. I overlooked posting that they are on a 20a gfci breaker. At 30$ for the breaker, it ended up being cheaper than buying that many gfci outlets.

You thought of everything, good planning!

FWIW, a whole circuit can be protected by a single GFCI outlet.

 

[Harry482]

You thought of everything, good planning!



FWIW, a whole circuit can be protected by a single GFCI outlet.

Some of the outlets were already there. Instead of finding the first outlet on the run, I opted to go the breaker route and be done with it. I'm no electrician and know little of the trade, but whoever wired the house labeled my panel way too generally, which added to the fun. The panel is in the garage out of sight of the project. There have been many days of my wife and I on cell phones while I flip breakers with her relaying what turns off.

 

[jcav]

Wow excellent job! That is a nice cigar too by the way!

John

 

[Jdowell]

You really did think of everything. Subbed!

 

[Calfj60]

Can I ask your overall dimensions? Looking to close up part of my garage

 

[Harry482]

Can I ask your overall dimensions? Looking to close up part of my garage

The room is 16' by 13'. Time to get those 2x4's!

 

[Harry482]

I finished the drop ceiling Friday night. I ended up putting in another recessed can to even out the light spacing the best I could. The truth is - drop ceilings are mostly junk. The materials are like IKEA furniture. They're not cheap, but only continue to look good if you never touch it - ever. It's hard enough to cut the ceiling tiles without the white coating flaking off. It seems like if you ever have to take a tile down, then you always end up screwing up the tile in some way. I would have preferred drywall and it would have been cheaper, but plumbing for a bathroom and the kitchen is above. Rant over.

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1489326332.444436.jpg

I decided to go with a countertop disposal switch for controlling the exhaust fan. I'll be building a shroud above the hood to conceal the ductwork and fan. The plan is to mount the switch in the shroud low enough to be easily reached. I thought about speed control, but decided against it.

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1489326731.013206.jpg

I installed an outlet for the switch controller.

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1489326800.626923.jpg

I tested the fan for the first time. This thing is a beast! It sort of sounds like a jet engine slowly winding up to full speed. I didn't mount it on any kind of vibration dampening bushings so the noise is quite loud - especially in the kitchen above. Oh well, my wife will only have to listen to it for 60-90 minutes on average. I'll be sure to link a YouTube video of it in action once the hood is up.

I installed the obligatory fire extinguisher. What can go wrong?

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1489327611.559861.jpg

I hope the hood is here next weekend. Meanwhile, it's time to start tackling the residual adhesive on the floor in preparation for the sealer.

Everyone is probably a bit tired of the Bob Villa show, as am I. Brew porn is near.

 

[max384]

Looking great! Keep it coming!

 

[mongoose33]

Everyone is probably a bit tired of the Bob Villa show, as am I. Brew porn is near.

Nonsense. There's a strategy one can use on internet forums, a strategy often overlooked by people who don't like what they're reading:

Don't read it!

If people don't want to follow you, they can simply....not do it.

I hope that someday I might be able to do such a brew room, so I have appreciated being able to follow along. And FWIW, when I finished my basement I used a drop ceiling for exactly the same reason as you: plumbing above.

 

[Stealthcruiser]

Buy yourself a big CO2 extinguisher.
I promise, you won't like the cleanup from a dry chemical, 'specially in a brew / cooking area.

 

[woo_pig]

Nawice

 

[Harry482]

I spent all day yesterday scrubbing the floor with simple green - trying to get that adhesive off to no avail. Eventually, I gave in to using muriatic acid to etch the concrete, which eliminates the plan to acid stain. At least I know that the sealer will penetrate. This acid is nasty stuff, which made me glad my fan is operational. Im going to neutralize it with baking soda and shop vac up the water/concrete dust tonight.

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1489408560.674834.jpg

 

[TenaCJed]

Looking very good!!! Did you consider just painting the ceiling instead of the drop ceiling? I did that in my basement, painted it black. It looks really good and I really like it over a drop ceiling!!!

 

[IslandLizard]

I spent all day yesterday scrubbing the floor with simple green - trying to get that adhesive off to no avail. Eventually, I gave in to using muriatic acid to etch the concrete, which eliminates the plan to acid stain. At least I know that the sealer will penetrate. This acid is nasty stuff, which made me glad my fan is operational. Im going to neutralize it with baking soda and shop vac up the water/concrete dust tonight.

Glue from stick on tiles or old linoleum needs to be dissolved using Strypeeze or so, or if it's really hard, abraded away, best with some liquid so you don't create, spread, and breathe the dust, which can contain lots of bad things. Like asbestos. I've used chisels, scrapers, and sharp putty blades.

Looks like yours is pretty clean and smooth and ready to go. I'd use washing soda (sodium carbonate, usually sold as "laundry booster") over baking soda to neutralize the HCl. Much stronger, and it has its own cleaning capabilities.

 

[John Paul Stoddard]

Have you ever stained and sealed concrete before?
I love stained concrete.

 

[lschiavo]

Iron sulphate is the cheapest concrete stain if you like the color.

 

[Harry482]

After hours of shop vacuuming and flushing the floor with baking soda, this is what it looks like after drying out.

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1489707492.503459.jpg

I knew the tile lines were not going to go away, but I didn't think it would look this bad! I'm guessing the efflorescence wicked in a higher concentration along the cracks of the stick tiles, which resulted in this pattern after etching. Both this appearance and the fact that the acid stripped most of the surface minerals, led me to believe acid staining was out of the question.

I decided to go with a semitransparent concrete stain from Behr. This product is really just a very watered down paint that soaks into the concrete. It's important to not apply it too thick. I applied a very thin coat of a charcoal color. It didn't do much to hide the hideous tile pattern so I added a second coat of it. To my dismay, the floor ended up black. After sleeping on it, I decided to feather in a lighter color gray over it in a random pattern. This is what I ended up with.

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1489707954.617046.jpg

I topped it off with one coat of Behr high gloss concrete sealer, which I have had positive results with in the past. I could see the concrete darken as it was going down - so I'm quite sure it absorbed into the concrete for good adhesion.

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1489708380.566360.jpg

I also hung my tv/monitor.

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1489708499.663854.jpg

Overall, I'm happy with the way the floor turned out. There are some things that I would have done differently, but hindsight is 20/20. Only time will tell how durable it ends up being.

Sunday, I should be able to begin installing the sink and pre-rinse faucet. I'm still waiting on the hood to ship, but it should be here soon. I'm really close to the first brew!