Planning a basement brewery, what are your essential must haves?

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cegan09

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After more than a decade in a crappy apartment I finally bought a house, which means I have some space for a dedicated brew space. And since I haven't used my brew setup in about 2 years I'm looking forward to actually getting back into it. I don't plan on overhauling the brewing equipment much, since what I have does work decently well already. However it was designed to be broken down and stored between uses (because apartment) so now I can give it all a permanent home.

Space overview. The house has a roughly 2/3 full basement and 1/3 crawl space basement. Of the full basement just under half is "finished". The rest is unfinished, and that's where I get to put my brewery. There is a large room, probably 15'x15' give or take. It houses the main breaker panel, the oil tank, and not much else. There is a utility sink already in the room, though it's gross and getting replaced, so there are water hookups. And there is already a decent sump pump setup in the room that the washing machine, utility sink, and well water treatment both drain into. There is another floor drain that I have no idea the state of. It could work fine and dump out into the backyard somewhere, or it could be clogged. The ceiling is a nightmare of water pipes, heating pipes, drains, drier vents, electrical, etc.

Few picture of the room itself. Taken with a wide angle so perspective is a little weird.
20200609_113215.jpg20200609_113229.jpg20200609_113240.jpg

My setup is a fairly simple single vessel electric BIAB system that I'm quite happy with. I don't really want to build it out further, the small footprint suits me fine. So I won't need a ton of space dedicated to the actual brewing parts. I will mention that I have a steam condenser on my kettle, so I have no plans on adding any kind of vent or hood.


So the main point of this thread. What have you found to be essential things in your brewery build? Things I won't have considered coming from an apartment where I always had to break down and store my equipment. I have the following early list of renovation for the room, and details to include in the build out.

Room renovation:
- Epoxy Coat the concrete floor. Was considering some kind of flooring, but don't think I want to go that route. This will never be a 100% finished area so I don't want to go the tile or other flooring route.
- Properly finish the wall where all the brewery stuff will live, including a waterproof back splash of some kind. Potentially finish the walls in the rest of the room depending on budget
- Drop Ceiling for at least half of the room if not the whole thing. I can't do anything too permanent as I will likely need access to the water lines in the future.
- All of the lighting. I loath rooms that can't be lit completely, and basements often fall into that. I will be installing literally all the light.
- Considering building the oil tank into it's own room, but need to educate myself on codes in that regard so I know what's legal and what isn't.
- redo the entire drier vent to better tuck it out of the way.

Brewery Planned details:
- New Utility sink (larger hopefully) with dedicated cleaning tray/side table.
- More work surfaces. I have a couple stainless benches that have been sitting in a storage unit for a while that I can finally put to use. I plan on retaining the existing kettle stand that I built as I like the height, and then putting a work bench next to it for staging ingredients and tools.
- Dedicated Chiller. I've long had the thought of keeping a dedicated chiller in the brewery to use for post boil crashing instead of using the well water, and in the future fermentation control if I decide to upgrade to something shiny and fancy.
- Better storage. I've seen some use tool boxes, others just shelves. Curious what people have found to be the best answer for storing the various brewing tools, ingredients, etc.

What isn't there that should be?
 
You've got some great basics-- lighting, sink, drainage, work surfaces...

I highly suggest Outlets, Outlets, Outlets-- put outlets everywhere. You might not think you have a need for many at the moment, but in the future you will!

If you don't have one already, a fermentation chamber (or two)!


That said, this is a great space to work with! Have fun with it.
 
You've got some great basics-- lighting, sink, drainage, work surfaces...

I highly suggest Outlets, Outlets, Outlets-- put outlets everywhere. You might not think you have a need for many at the moment, but in the future you will!

If you don't have one already, a fermentation chamber (or two)!


That said, this is a great space to work with! Have fun with it.


Outlets is a good point. I need to figure out how many spots are left in my breaker panel, and how much is already on the basement circuit. I know what I'll need to setup my existing equipment, but more outlets are more better, great point. I do already have a fermentation chamber, old dorm fridge converted, that will get a home in a corner somewhere.

240v power (maybe several outlets/circuits?)
Vent hood
floor drains
bar (serving) area

The drier plug is on the same wall as the sink, so adding a plug on the same circuit is possible, just have to be conscious of not running one with the other. For someone starting fresh I fully agree go 240V, but I'm probably sticking to my 120V setup for now to stem the spending a little. Maybe down the road I can convert to 240V.

Personally, I'm not going to make a bar area in the basement. The main floor of the house is already an amazing hosting area and I have plans to custom build a hidden kegorator up there to complement the bar. Just the reality of this house compared to others. By buddy has a great finished basement with his brewing stuff and a living space and his kegorater, works awesome in that layout.
 
For lighting, check out LED strip fixtures. I bought a 4-pack of the units linked below and they light up my 1-car garage brewery really well. Super lightweight and super easy to install, you can hard wire them but they also come with standard 110v plug for convenience. I plugged mine into a switched light bulb socket as I still rent and wanted something I could easily take with me.

https://amzn.to/2MLxQYs
 
The tank is very much still in use. New home means all kinds of new systems to me. Oil burning furnace, well water, radon mitigation, all kinds of fun. But unfortunately no reclaiming that space.
 
I have a warehouse sized rack that I store my brewing goods on. Bottles, fermenters, kegs, and grains. It's 8' wide x 7' tall x 32" wide. I store base grains in retired brewing buckets, heavily used speciality grains in cambros, and lightly used grains in various coffee cans, glass jars, etc. I am stuck in this section of rack with all the canning jars and half the year a big fat window AC unit. I have a couple of small plastic drawers for keg parts and a flat tote for bigger stuff.

I recommend a good sized rack.
 
Don’t skimp on the sink, given that brewing for me seems to be 1% drinking, 9% brewing, and 90% cleaning/sanitizing! I found a sink like this at a local restaurant supply place for $500 when I renovated our basement for my electric brewery. It was expensive, but I absolutely do not regret it:

https://www.amazon.com/Double-Compartment-Floor-Service-Sink/dp/B005C4IX26
Having a stainless-steel table next to the sink is also very helpful. Again, I got mine at a local place (Smith Restaurant Supply in Syracuse) but there are a bunch of options here to suit space and budget:

https://www.webstaurantstore.com/st...undershelf-and-galvanized-legs/522SG3060.html
Craig’s list is also a good option.
 
For your sink an overhead industrial/restaurant sprayer is an absolute must. I have one for my brewing area and will never brew without it. It make such a difference.
 
I think he actually means what is referred to as a "pre-rinser". Pre-Rinser for sink

That said, I actually DON'T recommend these... they are expensive, and IMO a bit of a pain for brewing needs.

I suggest some sort of quick change fitting on your sink faucet (Quick Disconnect, Cam-Lock, Tri-Clamp) and then a length of hose with a mating fittings, cut to your specs (length), and fitted with an insulated Garden Nozzle like one of these on the other end of the hose: Nozzle 1 Nozzle 2

IME this is the best way to go. Save a ton of money, and it is a much more flexible (literally and figuratively) tool to use and offers all the same benefits of the pre-rinse, plus some!
 
I love my sprayer like that. I can put my fermenters and kegs in the sink and the sprayer makes quick work of the mechanical cleaning. But even for washing glasses and the like I think its great. I have a hose too but just cold water. I'd probably hate having to attach it to the faucet.

My sprayer was an open box buy B&K on ebay that I practically stole.

I do love the garden hose quick connects. I use them for water supply for my chiller and outside in the yard for everything garden hose. Wish they were better quality, have to replace every few years due to corrosion issues. For the hose itself, if you plan to use a hose for hot water make sure its rated for that purpose. Most aren't. My brewery hose is actually a 10' washing machine hose which is rugged, just the right length, and looks cool in braided stainless to boot. You will need a male-male adapter for the nozzle end and Lowes has those.
 
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Here's my solution to get the best of both worlds. I have a sink with a pre-rinser on it (I agree with @matt_m and @dnye that it's great for mechanical cleaning) and then a three-way valve on the water supply into my filter. The three-way valve can either send the regular water to the quick disconnect on the left for e.g. filling buckets containing star san, or through the water filter on the right that has a carbon block in it when I'm filling my HLT.
 

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Lot of good suggestions so far. I just set up a brew space in my unfinished part of the basement. One thing I didn't see is that you REALLY want a fan out to dump all that moisture outside the house. I set up my brew kettle right under the window and got an hvac fan to vent it out.

Sink wise, I bought Regency 16 Gauge Stainless Steel One Compartment Commercial Sink with Galvanized Steel Legs and 1 Drainboard - 23" x 23" x 12" Bowl and I did get one of the pre-rinse sprayers. I find it's great - high pressure hot water is great for cleaning beer crud. Be sure you get a real faucet as well, the sprayers are a lot less water.

I agree with adding outlets, and since your breaker box is there, adding another 220 is easy at some point. I had to run wire to the opposite end of the house. I'm using that IC3500 linked above. ;)
 
You said you already have an electric rig with steam hood, so you're good there - but at least an exhaust fan wouldn't be a bad idea - are those windows in the wall (the blue rectangles?)
Other than that, (repeating what others have said, Outlets. More than you might possibly need. At least 3 on each of the long walls, 2 on the short - don't forget GFCI.
You said you're replacing the slop sink. Make sure there's water outs to get to the brew area. either a T-connection at the sink or the faucet reaches.
You said you're doing lighting.
It wouldn't hurt to have an additional heating appliance - if you're sticking with 120V, the IC3500 mentioned above has a little brother, the IC1800 that is 120V. (the 3500 is 240.)
Dry storage, secure from bugs and animals, for grain. Wouldn't hurt to have a small fridge for yeast, hops and brew day beverages (can double as extra food storage) besides the fermentation fridge.
 
When you epoxy, avoid the speckles for color...yes it looks nice but makes it harder to get grunge down over to the drain...
Ask me how I know...
You can get clear shredded rubber to make the floor not sticky but still cleanable... We have it in our backyard and it works great.
 
I just went with Spartan Epoxy for the floors. Great customer service. I had one issue in installation, that was not their fault, but it only affected the aesthetic. The floor is TOUGH and smooth. I"d do it again in a heartbeat!
IMG_20200604_233342_MP.jpg
 
sweet! That floor looks perfect for a brewery!
I'd bet a hose bibb may come in handy as well...not sure how u run your chiller...
I decided against a sink due to space constraints and just have two hose bibbs, one with a connection to my carbon block and one with a RV hose and sprayer that's for cleaning and chilling...
the RV hose hangs on the wall behind my portable brewery cart as does my carbon block with food grade PE tubing that will not lend any vinyl flavors...
for me I wanted to have to not keep disconnecting the hose from the bibb so I mounted two so I can draw brewing liquor even while cleaning.
my "floor drain" is otherwise known as my driveway... ;)
 
Here's my solution to get the best of both worlds. I have a sink with a pre-rinser on it (I agree with @matt_m and @dnye that it's great for mechanical cleaning) and then a three-way valve on the water supply into my filter. The three-way valve can either send the regular water to the quick disconnect on the left for e.g. filling buckets containing star san, or through the water filter on the right that has a carbon block in it when I'm filling my HLT.
I have the poor man's version of this!
I use garden hose quick disconnects at the deep tub faucet, and use a 4' RV hose for a sprayer. The end of the hose is cut off, so I just squeeze to get the spray I need. I also have the same water filter with quick disconnects I use to fill my pot.
Very easy to clean everything!
 
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