car shop to brew house conversion

[bluehouse]

When we built our new house, we built a seperate detached 2 car garage for HWMC to work on his project cars. He decided after about 6 months that it was not big enough. So he built a monster garage out in the back acerage and told me we could convert the little garage to a brew house/ project area for me. We are in the process of adding more plumbing, a/c units and other things to improve the building. The photos show that it is very messy as he has not moved all his stuff out yet. Hopefuly it will turn out great. Any input on what not to leave out is appreciated.
So far we have :
1 full bath, thought about a half bath only but decided an extra tub is alway a good spot for fermentors.
small kitchen area for serving.
double utility sink for heavy clean up.
2 seperate a/c units for different areas.
we plan to convert a storage closet into a cold room
have some storage shelvig units picked up from a store closing that will make up some bottle storage for us.
Attic drop down stairs lead to high attic that will be used for out of season storage so can't put anything right under them.
Otherwise we have a pretty big area to work with. Another thing is that we are in the county on 5 acres so we have lots of room outside. I am going to post photos as we go.

 

[bluehouse]

this was the car shop, built to match our house.
https://cdn.homebrewtalk.com/gallery/data/1/medium/importedmay09_018.JPG
this is his new car shop with more room for his toys
https://cdn.homebrewtalk.com/gallery/data/1/medium/importedmay09_008.JPG
open wall to add plumbing for double utility sink for brew area.

 

[Pintodave]

A detached Garage and a detached brewhouse?? Can I just pitch a tent and live in your backyard??

Nice set-up!

 

[bendavanza]

He said pitch a tent....

 

[AiredAle]

Some random ideas:

Do you have a floor drain? If so, tile the bottom 3 feet of the walls, and you can hose down the brewing area afterwards, so spills and splashes will be no big deal.

Will you do gas or electric fired brewing? If you go electric, your ventilation demand is reduced by not having combustion water in the air. It's quieter too. You do need to figure out a good ventilation plan to deal with the moisture from boiling the wort.

If you are going to mill your own grain, do it in a completely separate/enclosed area to keep the grain dust out of the brewing/fermenting room.

Check out EdWort's brewhut thread for some ideas.

You have a lot of space, but you will fill it fast, so don't go crazy with lots of storage and small rooms. Open spaces are more flexible, your brewing habits and processes will change over time, so don't get locked into one way by constraining your self now with walls.

Figure out how to store equipment so it is nearby, ready to grab and use without having to walk ten feet and move three other things for access.

Think about a small "lab" area for pH meters, balances, and delicate instruments like hydrometers, thermometers and refractometers, that has it's own sink and running water.

By the way, I hate you, because I missed an opportunity to do this when I built my barn on a slab instead of on a full basement...so I am still sharing the utility room with my senior management.

 

[Boerderij_Kabouter]

You should definitely put in some dedicated fermentation chambers. I like upright freezers/fridges, but chest freezers work well too.

Plan out the wash down station.

Draw a plan on paper and work out the work flow of an average brewday.

 

[conpewter]

If you are going to mill your own grain, do it in a completely separate/enclosed area to keep the grain dust out of the brewing/fermenting room.

I've been finding now that I grind directly into the mash tun that I don't have nearly the dust I had when I would pour the grain into the mash tun. This is at least another idea to keep the area more sanitary.

 

[Joe C]

Wow, what a cool project! It's awesome that you have so much land that you can build these structures.

What sort of cars does he have?

 

[bluehouse]

Some random ideas:

Do you have a floor drain? If so, tile the bottom 3 feet of the walls, and you can hose down the brewing area afterwards, so spills and splashes will be no big deal.

No we don't have floor drains but we are thinking of doing the walls in that plastic sheeting they use inn resturant bathrooms

Will you do gas or electric fired brewing? If you go electric, your ventilation demand is reduced by not having combustion water in the air. It's quieter too. You do need to figure out a good ventilation plan to deal with the moisture from boiling the wort.
I am planning on having an electric option for inside brewing & a seperate rig gas rig for outdoor brewing. We have a 250 gallon propane tank so I usualy brew outdoors but will have the option of indoors also.
If you are going to mill your own grain, do it in a completely separate/enclosed area to keep the grain dust out of the brewing/fermenting room. Hadn't even thought about the grain milling things, thanks that is something to keep in mind.
Check out EdWort's brewhut thread for some ideas.

You have a lot of space, but you will fill it fast, so don't go crazy with lots of storage and small rooms. Open spaces are more flexible, your brewing habits and processes will change over time, so don't get locked into one way by constraining your self now with walls.

Figure out how to store equipment so it is nearby, ready to grab and use without having to walk ten feet and move three other things for access.

Think about a small "lab" area for pH meters, balances, and delicate instruments like hydrometers, thermometers and refractometers, that has it's own sink and running water. Well I have a big double utility sink in the big room and a seperate standard double bowl kitchen sink in the other room with some cabinet storage in there. I plan to assign one upper cabinet to those types of items.
By the way, I hate you, because I missed an opportunity to do this when I built my barn on a slab instead of on a full basement...so I am still sharing the utility room with my senior management.

Belive me I am floored that HWMBC finally broke down & gave in on this project. We are getting it down a little at a time but he says I can have ANYTHING so I don't mind going slow so we can get it right.

 

[bluehouse]

You should definitely put in some dedicated fermentation chambers. I like upright freezers/fridges, but chest freezers work well too.
Yes I agree that upright freezers are great for saving floor space I haven't even got to the buying more equipment yet. We are still plumbing & wiring & painting & flooring.

Plan out the wash down station. I have only one wall where it is accessable to tie into the main drain for my new sink so we are rather limited to place the sink. I do get what you mean about planning it out. Husband is a plumber so he won't just jackleg it in, it has to be perfect so that is a limitation that I am just going to have to deal with. On the upside the side of the building faces our back yard and he is going to pour me a concrete porch and plumb me a hot water hose bibb to do wash outs on the outdoor stuff which will be nice.
Draw a plan on paper and work out the work flow of an average brewday.

Great suggestion. Thanks

 

[bluehouse]

Wow, what a cool project! It's awesome that you have so much land that you can build these structures.

What sort of cars does he have?

He mostly collects 50's cars but we have some other ones. He has bought & sold some 30's cars and 40's cars. When we were younger we usualy could only have one hot rod at a time, now he has dedicated himself to so many project cars, I really don't keep track. "My" cars are a 57 Nomad and a 80 Merceds convertable but he keeps them up and messes with them so they are really his projects.

 

[MMW]

I think you need one of these: Walk in Cooler :rockin:

 

[Joe C]

He mostly collects 50's cars but we have some other ones. He has bought & sold some 30's cars and 40's cars. When we were younger we usualy could only have one hot rod at a time, now he has dedicated himself to so many project cars, I really don't keep track. "My" cars are a 57 Nomad and a 80 Merceds convertable but he keeps them up and messes with them so they are really his projects.

Very cool. My dad and I have a 1963 Merc Colony Park "woodie" wagon, as well as a 1968 chrysler 300 that we are currently restoring. I'm always curious when I hear about projects!

 

[david_42]

I use my old garage for brewing. Has a nasty old deep sink that needs replacing. About half of the floor space is a cool room, I keep it around 70F in the summer. That makes it easier to keep the conditioning cabinet around 55F.

Would have been nice to start with bare walls, but the cool room was partitioned by a former renter as an extra bedroom and it would be a major pain to tear out. I just added an A/C.

 

[bluehouse]

There is a large closet about 4' x 8' that was used for tool storage that I am going to try to repurpose as a walk in cooler. That's a long way off though just getting the car parts & everything else out and the electrical & plumbing set up is taking up our time right now.