My new electric brewery, maiden voyage!

[Dgonza9]

Well, thanks to all the smart, cool people on this board I was able to put together a working electric brewery in my basement. Again, thanks to everyone who helped, and you are many. Here are some pics. I brewed up 10 gallons of Belgian Wit.

Here's my brew station. I have an 8" inline fan to remove the steam. I vented it thru some rigid foam insulation in the window. 700 CFM. No problem there and I got the fan for $86.

Here I am mashing away.

Going Brutus, so here's the recirculation port. I went with Macmaster Carr Quick connects.

Here's my homemade CFC. Thanks Bobby for the tutorial. Took 11 gallons down to 72 degrees in half an hour.

Saved the best for last. My chill out chair and the waste port.

The waste port really makes this easy. I have a cleanout in the stack behind that wall. I just drilled a cap, inserted a length of hose and screw it on when I want to brew. I have everything set up with quick connects from a water line and hose I installed in the ceiling. Cleanup was a breeze. I just sprayed off my heat sticks and scrubbed them gently. I sprayed out the keggle and removed hop spider. Then I filled up the keggle with 5 gallons of water and star san and rain it through the Pump and chiller assembly and into the waste port.

Sure is nice to have a decent setup. Thanks for the help everyone. Brew on!

 

[BrewCityBeerBuffs]

Very Nice man, I think I need to go electric, seems to be a light less messing around than propane

 

[AmandaK]

Jealous. I'd like to go all electric when I get the money for it.

 

[iijakii]

Would you please give us a cost breakdown of what was involved in your build?

 

[Dgonza9]

Cost breakdown:

Electrical

100' of 12 gauge bx cable------$90
Electrical boxes----------------$10
Clamps------------------------$5
2 20 amp tandem breakers------$20
4 20 amp gfci receptacles-------$60
4 20 amp switches.-------------$20

Electrical $200. Depends on what your situation is. I ran four 20 amp circuits. I put each into its own box and put a gfci outlet with a switch in each box. This way I can control the heat sticks with the switch in each box.

Heat Sticks

2000 watt element ----------$12
12 Gauge electrical cord------$16
20 amp plug----------------$12
JB Weld----------------------$5
Chrome extension-------------$6
PVC Extension----------------$4
Chrome slip nuts--------------$5 (got 'em at Macmaster carr)
PVC Cap---------------------$1

About $60 per heat stick. I made three. So we're talking $180.

Ventilation

Active Air 8" inline fan by Hydrofarm ---$86
8" ducting straight --------------------$14
8" 90 Degree Bend---------------------$7
Rigid Foam insulation-------------------$6
Metal faced duct tape-----------------$8

$121 Total.

Brew rig

I mostly used leftovers, but made a small table on wheels for the keggle. About $10-15 in 2x4.

March pump -----------$150
Hoses and quick connects------About $75. I got four from Macmaster Carr 1/2 QC. Then a bunch of hose quick connects.

Water Supply

I teed into an existing water line. I had almost all of the parts laying around, but a new ball valve and some copper tubing (3/4" for me) could run you $20-30. Here's a quick tip for teeing in. Cut out enough space for the tee and like 6" of pipe more. Then buy a pipe coupling without a stop. Clean and flux the pipe and coupling. You can slide the coupling all the way in on one end so the coupling ends where the pipe ends. The bring the new tee fitting with the pipe sweated onto it parallel. You can then slide the coupling over the other pipe and it will be inserted fully in both pipes. A second quick tip is to use some bread shoved in one end of the pipe to absorb any water in them that didn't drain. The bread will break apart and come out in the water lines without clogging.

That's pretty much it, I think. I made the CFC from an old 3/8" IC I had laying around. So spent about $15 on a rubber hose and I had a lot of copper fittings around.

Total Cost = $750

You could trim that significantly depending on your electrical needs. If you're not a big electrical guy, start slow, but honestly, it's pretty easy to learn to wire outlets and add fuses to your main panel, with a little bit of guidance. I'm sure my costs were a bit higher as I ruined an electrical cord (bought a 240v by mistake) and had some other mishaps as I learned. But hey, it's part of the fun. You learn best from your mistakes.

Electric brewing sure was fun.

Let me know if I can help with anything! Cheers.

 

[Dgonza9]

I forgot. I also used an 8x10" increaser for the ventilation. Probably $5 or so. Figured I'd mention it for planning more than cost.