Completed Brew Room

[NickDoubleyew]

Hey everyone,
I’m not sure if this is the right place to share or not, as I’m new to actually posting in the forum. I’ve popped in over the years to get ideas but haven’t really posted. I just wanted to share some pics of my mostly finished indoor electric HERMS brew room. I’m pretty pleased with how it turned out, and I hope it may inspire someone to build their own setup. Any questions, let me know and I’ll do my best to answer.

 

[PCABrewing]

That is very nice. Love the slop-sink.
What is the greenish light from in the one picture?

 

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Dang - that's beautiful. Congrats.

 

[NickDoubleyew]

That is very nice. Love the slop-sink.
What is the greenish light from in the one picture?

I have a color changing LED light strip around the inside of the vent hood, it must have cycled to green when I took the picture.

 

[franknbeans]

looks awesome! i'm very jelly

 

[RNDTCLK]

Excellent job, nicely done!

 

[Transamguy77]

Wow man excellent!!

 

[Bassman2003]

Looks nice. Congratulations. Very cool.

 

[bracconiere]

better pick up on the drinking so that mo'fo pays for it's self!

 

[hout17]

Very nice! Happy brewing..

 

[KyBeer]

Excellent! Is that a vent hood over the BK?
The last thing I added to my electric system was a set of hooks to hang my hoses on to drain after cleaning them. You need to post pictures about every year to show the add-ons as you brew. I guess I built mine in a shared space with the laundry room and tried to get the most system for the buck!
Your sytem look great!

 

[passedpawn]

What motor did you connect to that mill?

 

[superiorsat]

Very nice looking set up! I would advise on finding an alternate method of priming your pump heads as the Blichmann pull rings are a hot mess waiting to happen and your 220 volt outlet is probably in range of there spray. Part of the reason I sent mine back on top of the fact they impeller problems at the time.

 

[NickDoubleyew]

Excellent! Is that a vent hood over the BK?
The last thing I added to my electric system was a set of hooks to hang my hoses on to drain after cleaning them. You need to post pictures about every year to show the add-ons as you brew. I guess I built mine in a shared space with the laundry room and tried to get the most system for the buck!
Your sytem look great!

Yeah, that is a DIY vent hood I built. The lighting makes it’s look like some monstrosity of a light fixture though. I did add a towel hanging bar to hang my hoses from the other day too.

 

[NickDoubleyew]

What motor did you connect to that mill?

It’s just a Harbor Freight low speed high tourque 1/2” drill. They have it on clearance right now for $32. I detailed the whole build in the motorized grain mill forum.

 

[NickDoubleyew]

Very nice looking set up! I would advise on finding an alternate method of priming your pump heads as the Blichmann pull rings are a hot mess waiting to happen and your 220 volt outlet is probably in range of there spray. Part of the reason I sent mine back on top of the fact they impeller problems at the time.

Thanks for the advice. I just cup up a plastic container from the Dollar Tree that fits around the priming valve to catch the liquid. I did learn pretty quick that I really had to shorten my hoses from my kettle outputs to the pump inlets to easily get a prime. I love how easy the Riptides are to prime but I wish the weren’t such a mess.

 

[Bassman2003]

Can you tell us which room you converted in your house? Probably a portion of the basement? I do not have a basement here in Texas and it seems like a bridge too far to convert a "normal" room into a brew room. So I just stay in the hope phase and continue to brew in the garage!

 

[NickDoubleyew]

Can you tell us which room you converted in your house? Probably a portion of the basement? I do not have a basement here in Texas and it seems like a bridge too far to convert a "normal" room into a brew room. So I just stay in the hope phase and continue to brew in the garage!

So it wasn’t a conversion at all. We designed this space into our house plan when we were designing our home that we built. It’s on the main floor in between our laundry room and stairs leading to our bonus room. Knowing that we were going to have it ahead of time allowed us to set it up for ventilation, the proper power, and water where we needed it.

 

[NickTheGreat]

Looks almost too nice to brew in!

 

[Bassman2003]

Very cool! Thanks for your reply.

 

[Silly Yak]

Where’d you get that stainless shelf? I just installed a stainless sink and I’m looking for something exactly like those shelves you’ve got on the right side.

 

[NickDoubleyew]

Where’d you get that stainless shelf? I just installed a stainless sink and I’m looking for something exactly like those shelves you’ve got on the right side.

They’re from IKEA, as well as all of the little hooks and the magnetic bar for the small containers

 

[superiorsat]

So have you got to use it yet and if so are you satisfied or would you have changed anything? Like a floor drain for example.

 

[NickDoubleyew]

So have you got to use it yet and if so are you satisfied or would you have changed anything? Like a floor drain for example.

I’ve only ran it through testing with water to check for leaks and learn the process so far, first brew day will be this week. I would have loved a floor drain, and specifically one that is tied into our gutter downspout lines that run off onto the hillside so we wouldn’t dump anything into the septic, but it wasn’t in the cards according to building codes, at least that’s what our contractor said. I’m just learning small things that I need to change, like lengths of hoses for my particular setup, needing to purchase a large drip pan for the floor since I don’t have a floor drain, adding a tee with another ball valve to the input of my pumps to aid in priming due the short distance between them and the kettles, things like that. Overall I’m happy with the setup and the workflow of using it, but I’m sure I’ll figure out improvements and adjustments along the way. It is definitely more complex than my old gravity fed cooler setup or the many all in ones that are out there, but for me I really appreciate the three vessel process and the aesthetics of the setup, like brewing in general, it’s equal parts art and science and I feel like I’ve accomplished that.

 

[superiorsat]

Whishful Acres Farm & Brewery in Lena Illinois puts all the brewery waste water in the septic and apparently has no problems. He gave us a nice brewery tour and we ask a lot of questions as we are always gathering intel before we open our brewery. I asked if he ran it on the ground and he said there is nothing in PBW or Starsan that would cause any problems for his septic. Possible retro fit if you ever came to the same conclusion. I'm a messy mofo spraying stuff out in the current back garage brewery that has no drain but I wish it did.

 

[NickDoubleyew]

Whishful Acres Farm & Brewery in Lena Illinois puts all the brewery waste water in the septic and apparently has no problems. He gave us a nice brewery tour and we ask a lot of questions as we are always gathering intel before we open our brewery. I asked if he ran it on the ground and he said there is nothing in PBW or Starsan that would cause any problems for his septic. Possible retro fit if you ever came to the same conclusion. I'm a messy mofo spraying stuff out in the current back garage brewery that has no drain but I wish it did.

Thanks for the reply, I recently came to the same conclusion regarding dumping into the septic after some research. It sounds like especially on a small homebrew scale that even 5 gallons of StarSan solution into 1200 gallons of effluent will not even be noticed by the system. I’ve also read that yeast and trub may even be beneficial. I still definitely wish I had the floor drain, regardless of where it dumps.

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

Thanks for the reply, I recently came to the same conclusion regarding dumping into the septic after some research. It sounds like especially on a small homebrew scale that even 5 gallons of StarSan solution into 1200 gallons of effluent will not even be noticed by the system. I’ve also read that yeast and trub may even be beneficial. I still definitely wish I had the floor drain, regardless of where it dumps.

I regularly pour dry bakers yeast in my septic system through the stools, a plumber said it helps

 

[day_trippr]

^hahahaha!^

 

[GoodTruble]

I don't often envy things or people, but you have registered envy.

Congrats, and carpe brew'em!!

 

[Bluekat]

Fantastic set up. You did a great job!!!

 

[T Murph]

Thanks @NickDoubleyew for posting pics and explaining your set up. I just purchased a home out in the country surrounded by horse ranches. Before moving in we are going to remodel the house to suit our needs. I had a decent brewery in the basement of our former home but the new house is a singe level structure. Coincidentally it comes with a 10 ft by 24 ft concrete slab in the yard. I plan to build a brewery on that slab and was concerned if 10 ft wide would be sufficient for my 3v herms setup plus all the kegs, fermenters and other equipment. Judging from your floor plan I believe a 10 ft by 12 ft brewery would be plenty large enough. My build plan includes an out door bar on the other half of the 10 x 24 slab all under one continuous roof. I really like your ss sink and shelf. I'll be copying those as they will work perfectly with my existing ss table and brewery stand. My biggest concern is the slab was not set up for a floor drain. I guess I'll have to drill a hole and fish a drain line to the septic line. Can't wait to get the structure built and the equipment set back up. I'll post pictures along the way once I get started. My wife is funny she thinks remodeling the house is more important than the brewery. Silly woman.

 

[NickDoubleyew]

I don't often envy things or people, but you have registered envy.

Congrats, and carpe brew'em!!

LOL, and thank you. That’s high praise.

 

[NickDoubleyew]

Thanks @NickDoubleyew for posting pics and explaining your set up. I just purchased a home out in the country surrounded by horse ranches. Before moving in we are going to remodel the house to suit our needs. I had a decent brewery in the basement of our former home but the new house is a singe level structure. Coincidentally it comes with a 10 ft by 24 ft concrete slab in the yard. I plan to build a brewery on that slab and was concerned if 10 ft wide would be sufficient for my 3v herms setup plus all the kegs, fermenters and other equipment. Judging from your floor plan I believe a 10 ft by 12 ft brewery would be plenty large enough. My build plan includes an out door bar on the other half of the 10 x 24 slab all under one continuous roof. I really like your ss sink and shelf. I'll be copying those as they will work perfectly with my existing ss table and brewery stand. My biggest concern is the slab was not set up for a floor drain. I guess I'll have to drill a hole and fish a drain line to the septic line. Can't wait to get the structure built and the equipment set back up. I'll post pictures along the way once I get started. My wife is funny she thinks remodeling the house is more important than the brewery. Silly woman.

That’s exciting, I’ll be watching for your progress. Your wife needs to get her priorities in order LOL.

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

Nice job, I'll be adding that same layout to my 10x16 brew shed, thanks for the look

 

[NickDoubleyew]

Nice job, I'll be adding that same layout to my 10x16 brew shed, thanks for the look

Thanks and happy brewing!

 

[OakIslandBrewery]

Thanks @NickDoubleyew for posting pics and explaining your set up. I just purchased a home out in the country surrounded by horse ranches. Before moving in we are going to remodel the house to suit our needs. I had a decent brewery in the basement of our former home but the new house is a singe level structure. Coincidentally it comes with a 10 ft by 24 ft concrete slab in the yard. I plan to build a brewery on that slab and was concerned if 10 ft wide would be sufficient for my 3v herms setup plus all the kegs, fermenters and other equipment. Judging from your floor plan I believe a 10 ft by 12 ft brewery would be plenty large enough. My build plan includes an out door bar on the other half of the 10 x 24 slab all under one continuous roof. I really like your ss sink and shelf. I'll be copying those as they will work perfectly with my existing ss table and brewery stand. My biggest concern is the slab was not set up for a floor drain. I guess I'll have to drill a hole and fish a drain line to the septic line. Can't wait to get the structure built and the equipment set back up. I'll post pictures along the way once I get started. My wife is funny she thinks remodeling the house is more important than the brewery. Silly woman.

You'll never regret having your own brewing area, especially your own building. Having an outdoor area connected is even better yet. Can't wait to see your ideas and build progress! Good Luck!!