Electric Basement Build

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movet22

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Joined
Sep 26, 2011
Messages
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Location
Haddon Heights
Hey guys, I have recently decided to take the time to find a more (semi)permanent home for my brewing endeavors. Being a mere 23yrs old and living with my parents has presented some issues to my build, mainly in the budget and design department. Disclaimer: This is going to be a modest build, but I am posting it b/c I hope some of the ideas shared here can inspire others on a smallish budget in a tight space. That said, I have a few criteria for this build:
(1) It has to be able to be moved out. I plan on moving out sooner rather than later, and when I do, I do not want to have left much behind in the way of a permanent investment.
(2) It has to be electric. I want the ability to brew in the house in the winter and like the idea of being able to go downstairs and brew whenever I have the urge to do so.
(3) I want it to be upgrade-able. This won't be too much of a concern, seeing as I don't want to spend a ton of money now, but will want to add here and there as I go.

I have found a nice little area behind the bar in my basement, so I think I am going to set up shop there. I am a new AG'er, so my equipment is going to start limited and grow as does my salary :D Right now I am using a 10Gal rubermaid cooler as a MLT and am looking to buy and build a 8-10gal ss stock pot for my HLT/BK.

I am not only going to post the progress of this build, but will be looking for rolling input as I go. If anyone has any ideas and advice for how to make something better/cheaper (though I know they normally do not go hand in hand), post it!

I look forward to working on this build, and will be posting pics of the bar and eventual brew area
 
Here are a few pics of the basement and bar. I have no idea how to post pics without the link, so if someone knows how, I would appreciate the help :mug:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/68257800@N07/6211660498/ The bar...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/68257800@N07/6211660046/ The Keggerator (built all myself :ban:)...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/68257800@N07/6211660882/ The eventual brewery (currently cluttered with loads-o-junk)...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/68257800@N07/6211659188/ More shots of the soon to be cleaned space, what you can't see is the window above the space, a little to the left (for ventilation)...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/68257800@N07/6211659500/ and one more angle. Note the breaker, I am going to try a 2000w 120v element, and if that doesn't work, at least I am in a good spot to add a 240v :D

just a little more info on my brewing specs: I plan to do 5 gal batches (no real aspirations to go any bigger than that) and will be batch sparging for the foreseeable future. I will probably run a gravity style set up until the need for march Pumps overwhelms me.

I have a great study-as-hell steel rack that is prob ~6ft tall, that I am going to try and break down into two side-by-side tables.

The phillies are on tonight, so my cleanup and rack configuration will have to take a back seat until tonight.

Go Phils!
 
sounds similar to my situation. renting space till I can move to a more permanent location. Also space is an issue. living with six other people that all enjoy the outdoors with skis and bikes leaves little room in the basement or anywhere else for that matter. Good luck. I will be following. I also live in northern MN so electric brewing indoors would be very nice.

My dream set up would be three tier stand with a cooler for an hlt, cooler mash tun and electric boil kettle. one pump to transfer strike water from boil kettle to HLT and MT
 
Ok, so I got the space clear and my big rack broken into two tables. I have some random brew stuff on them as of now, but hope to have my modest tiers built whenever I can finally find a pot to turn into my HLT/BK. Will post pictures in the morning.
 
movet22: Host your pictures on Photobucket.com. When your pictures are on there there will be four tags below it for various uses. I believe it is the bottom tag is an IMG code. Copy that and paste it here and you should be able to get rid of your links.
tom
 
Isn't there some post-count threshold that has to be reached before this site allows images to be hot-linked?

Anyway...Think about how you're going to get the boiled-off water vapor out of that basement on brew days. I usually lose almost a gallon while boiling towards the ~5.5 gallons that ends up in the fermenter. That's a lot of humidity in an enclosed space looking for somewhere to condense and cause some wicked mold problems...

Cheers!
 
I have a electric setup in my parents basement too. Yours seems a little easier to work with though for ventilation. Just pick up a cheap rangehood and exhaust out the window. Are you able to open and close it though? I know some new homes in our area have basement windows that don't open.
 
yeah, the window can be opened. I'm going to look into a range hood this weekend. How do you vent without a window? Or, I should ask, how is yours set up?
 
I have a window. Unfortunately mine is located about 2 meters away from my hood fan. Meaning the extra distance my fan has to force air/vapor outside is a lot greater, which meant me buying a better exhaust fan. So if you can have your brew setup so the exhaust has to travel as little distance as possible, a standard range hood would be perfect.
 

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