Hunter's Basement E-Brewery Build

[hunter306]

Well, good news, I found a local shop that will be fabbing up the vent hood at a reasonable price, so that is on order. I expect that should be ready in about a week, so in the interim, I worked on putting together another one of the probe cables AND installed some lighting.

Started with an 8ft section of track and cut it in half to mount the two sections over the brew area, and then another over the cleaning area:

Wired up a switch since the previous light was just a simple pull-cord base light.

First section lit up. I used 3 LED Spots for each of the Kettles, and 2 CFLs of matching color temperature for fill light:

Second Section up and Lit, using 2 larger CFLs and 1 Fill CFL in the center:

The Area Lit:

And, last I got another one of the probe cables together. Just one to finish and then I'll have the temperature probes ready to install into the fitted kettles!

More to come in the next couple of days. I expect the Vent-Hood might be done by this coming weekend, which would be a major step towards finishing the brew-space!

 

[Feurhund]

If you don't mind me asking, what is the hood going to cost? I have mine made from foam board and want to do it right. Thanks.

 

[hunter306]

If you don't mind me asking, what is the hood going to cost? I have mine made from foam board and want to do it right. Thanks.

The cheapest shop I could find quoted me @ 600 dollars.

 

[Roadie]

Good price! Mine was $650.

 

[Setesh]

That's an great price, and an excellent idea to check fab shops. I started looking for a full sized hood with drain online and couldn't find one for less than 1200, except at places that looked shady. I will check shops around me to see what I can find. To pick your brain, is there a reason not to go with something like this:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00146KBT4/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

The bling factor is obviously gone, but it should move enough air at ~450CFM, and is cheaper at ~$420. I'm sorry, I don't mean to hijack your thread at all, it just looks like you've done your homework and would have a valuable opinion.

 

[Roadie]

That hood is only 36" wide. I went for 60" to go over all the kettles.

 

[steveoatley]

Hunter,

Really nice build thread.
Looks great ! Very Very nice !
I can't wait to start mine.

Do you have any concerns about the ceiling - the actual first floor joists - from water vapor ?
Or do you think your fan & hood will keep enough water vaopr away from the wood ?

And do you have a plan to vent in 'clean outside air' to make up for the air you are moving out with the steam vapor ?

Keep up the good work ! When do you think you will be brewing in the basment ?

Steve

 

[hunter306]

@steve

Thanks for the kudos! I don't think the steam should cause any trouble with the open joists. If I were going for a small/make shift condensate hood I might have more concerns, but I've got a 460cfm blower and a 60x20 Vent Hood on order that should completely evacuate the damp air. The vent hood is actually the same size as the brew table, so all 3 pots will be served when I flip it on.

I do have a make up air vent running in the end of the brewery (over the sink area). This is simply a vent line that is open to the outside and should allow air to replace the steam evacuated by the hood.

I'm hoping to have my first brew day in Mid-February at the current pace of assembly. I got confirmation that the hood parts were on order today, but that doesn't take into account the Fab time.

 

[Roadie]

Hunter do you have a damper on the vent line? How big is it? Is your brewing space sealed off from the rest of your basement? I will ask HVAC guy on Wednesday about a makeup air vent as I continue to waffle on the installation of one. It gets cold here so definitely would need a damper.

 

[hunter306]

@Roadie

Good question, I do NOT have a damper installed in my make-up air vent. If I stand under it on a cool day, I can feel that cool air coming into the brewspace. It also serves as a continual vent for my two natural gas fired appliances down in the same area (Furnace/Hot Water Heater) so I'm not sure (in my case) that it would be wise to close it off.

The brew space right now is open to the rest of the basement. Eventually I would like to build a wall on the kettle end of the space which closes it off to the front/recreational part of our basement space.

 

[hunter306]

That's an great price, and an excellent idea to check fab shops. I started looking for a full sized hood with drain online and couldn't find one for less than 1200, except at places that looked shady. I will check shops around me to see what I can find. To pick your brain, is there a reason not to go with something like this:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00146KBT4/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

The bling factor is obviously gone, but it should move enough air at ~450CFM, and is cheaper at ~$420. I'm sorry, I don't mean to hijack your thread at all, it just looks like you've done your homework and would have a valuable opinion.

Sorry Setesh, missed your post.

To answer, if you do go that route I'd go for a bit larger hood unless you're planning on reconfiguring the kettles. Theoretically, you could put your HLT and Boil kettle next to each other and those would be the main generators of steam (the Mash Tun shouldn't be a major steam source, from my reading). That way, you could probably make a 40" hood work pretty well.

With that being said, the amazon link you provided seems to have a 42" option for only 10 dollars more (419.00) I think that could be a very viable alternative if you don't find a fab shop to build it for you custom.

The steam hood seems like a place where you can come up with a lot of great working solutions. Doesn't have to be Stainless Steel to do the job, I've browsed a couple of threads on here and looked at FRP Built hoods, wood frame/foam hoods, and bowl hoods. All could work, just a matter of your budget.

 

[kzimmer0817]

Hunter,
I'm sure you answered this, but I couldn't find it in this thread.
1. Which PIDs? Are these the Auber 2352?
2. Which Thermometer? I've been thinking thru a SSVR-based controller (no PID in 1st iteration), but it would be nice to be able to monitor the temps. With no element in your MT, of course you don't need a PID, but it's great that you've included a means to monitor the temp in your mashtun.

Thanks,
Keith

 

[hunter306]

@Keith

I used the SYL-2352's from auberins.com for my PIDS (Boil, HLT)
and I chose the smaller SYL-1512A for the thermometer probe.

Realistically, the SYL-1512 can still perform as a less complex PID, but knowing that the Tun didn't require control of the element, I saved myself a few dollars.

 

[hunter306]

Just a quick update from this evening. I finished building all 3 of the probe cables, and finally assembled all of the process/transfer hoses.

I chose blue cable sleeving for all of my cables, I figured this way, they're interchangeable if I disconnect them and move them around. I will likely flag them with the label maker with a unique identifier on the panel end just for clarity once I set everything up.

And, I fitted all the camlocks to the hoses this evening. I made 4x 4ft lengths and 1x 6ft like the Electric Brewery Page suggested, but I also made 1x 6ft with a camlock male barb on one end, which will allow me to attach to the water filter while filling the HLT.

 

[Roadie]

Damn, looks great.

 

[kzimmer0817]

@Keith

I used the SYL-2352's from auberins.com for my PIDS (Boil, HLT)
and I chose the smaller SYL-1512A for the thermometer probe.

Thank you, Hunter. I'm going to study your build of your "space" more carefully. I have an unfinished area of appr 14' x 42' at the end of my basement (remainder of basement is finished). The rear end has a single garage door. I hope to install my pipe organ into the front 16 - 18 ft. In the remainder, I want to put the brew area along one wall and workshop along the opposite.

Most of one long wall is out of ground with 4 windows, but I do have about 30 linear feet of poured concrete around the front end which is below grade. I wish to insulate that area. It's quite dry, so I don't know if I will need the foam board you used or not. I don't think there is any between the concrete wall and the treated studs in the other finished part of the basement.

Thanks, again, for the answer. I look forward to following your build further.
Keith

 

[dbkdev]

So I gotta ask. What's your estimated total cost for this project. I'm about to move into a house that would have the perfect space for something like this . the wife might think otherwise though ^^

 

[ImNoExpert]

Nice build!

 

[Hoppopotomus]

Great work....super clean and well organized. Congrats man!

 

[hunter306]

Thanks for the kudos guys. Hard to tell what I have into it money wise, I'd estimate 4-5k for the brewing setup. Finishing the area cost me materials and time, so that adds up in other ways. It's been really cool to build.

Good news on that front, the Vent Hood was supposed to be finished today (way ahead of schedule). Unfortunately, the fab shop is quite a ways away, so I may not be able to pick it up until the end of the week. I am planning on getting it installed this weekend though!

 

[Roadie]

Sweet, sooner is better! My hood was connected today. Found out my fan speed controller doesn't work (only on high not other two slower settings) so I'll have to install/try another.

 

[Docbruw]

As I am still gathering parts to start my build I have a question. Why did you build the probe cables instead of getting the pre-built ones from Auber? The price difference seems to be a wash. BTW the cables you made look great.

 

[hunter306]

@Docubruw

I went with the KIT from Kal's website: http://www.theelectricbrewery.com/custom-temperature-probes

After assembling all 3, it was one of my least favorite tasks of the build so far. If money is no object, I'd actually strongly recommend buying them fully assembled. Using the expandable sleeving was a huge pain.

 

[HoppedupDad]

Great work!
I love how all of it is photo documented!
Very helpful. Have some new ideas now thanks

 

[Docbruw]

@Docubruw

I went with the KIT from Kal's website: http://www.theelectricbrewery.com/custom-temperature-probes

After assembling all 3, it was one of my least favorite tasks of the build so far. If money is no object, I'd actually strongly recommend buying them fully assembled. Using the expandable sleeving was a huge pain.

Ahh ok. When I ordered my PIDs and temp probes I upgraded to the deluxe cables.
http://www.auberins.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=20_15&products_id=249

Your panel is almost exactly what I have planned to build. If I remember right you mentioned you didn't use a schematic?

Did you use any fuses to protect your PIDs?

Sorry for all the questions. Really enjoying your build.

 

[hunter306]

Deluxe cable looks very nice as well, I think you made a wise choice.


The 120v (B) leg in my panel (affectionately referred to as the B leg) is on a 15amp circuit breaker. I did not fuse the pids individually, no. I'm not sure I saw the reasoning behind needing the 7amp fuse that Kal built into his, but the panel design he used is quite different (relative) to how I built mine.

I did use ebrewsupplies schematic as my starting point, but I made changes I thought were more logical to protecting the panel and incorporated a 3rd 'pid' (the thermometer) which was not on the schematic. I should probably do an updated schematic with my design and submit it for critique as I'm sure SOMEONE would love to find the faults in mine!

 

[Itsott]

I'd loved to see the schematic. Not to critique but to follow lol. I am going to start ordering my parts soon.

 

[Heffe53]

I'd loved to see the schematic. Not to critique but to follow lol. I am going to start ordering my parts soon.

I second this. All my panel parts are on my front porch right now and I'll be starting the build this weekend. I already have the heating elements built and the panel sealed. Just have to get to the wiring poetion....

 

[ChocolateMaltyBalls]

Deluxe cable looks very nice as well, I think you made a wise choice.


The 120v (B) leg in my panel (affectionately referred to as the B leg) is on a 15amp circuit breaker. I did not fuse the pids individually, no. I'm not sure I saw the reasoning behind needing the 7amp fuse that Kal built into his, but the panel design he used is quite different (relative) to how I built mine.

I did use ebrewsupplies schematic as my starting point, but I made changes I thought were more logical to protecting the panel and incorporated a 3rd 'pid' (the thermometer) which was not on the schematic. I should probably do an updated schematic with my design and submit it for critique as I'm sure SOMEONE would love to find the faults in mine!

I believe Kal put in the fuse to protect all the 14AWG wire, probably the same reason you have that 15amp breaker, in his design 7amp is plenty, the 120v stuff doesn't draw much current, and inline fuse holders are cheap.

BTW I used the Deluxe cable as well, and I have no complaints. It does what it's supposed to and I didn't have to do any soldering, other than fixing a wire I accidentally broke off a pin on the panel connector.

 

[Woodbrews]

BTW I used the Deluxe cable as well, and I have no complaints. It does what it's supposed to and I didn't have to do any soldering, other than fixing a wire I accidentally broke off a pin on the panel connector.

Does the deluxe cable include the panel connector, or do you have to buy a panel connector separately? I didn't see a separate panel connector on Auber's site, so I assumed that the cable include the connector. I hope I'm right!