SHOW OFF: Basement Brewery cleaning sinks

[sicktght311]

I'm tired of lugging my kettles, fermenters, and hoses upstairs from my basement brewing area to clean in my kitchen.

Show me your basement brewery sink and cleaning areas. Trying to get some ideas

 

[sicktght311]

No one?

 

[6Tap]

A ss Basin with legs, drain and water in. Nothing fancy but works for me.
Good luck with your project! [emoji482]

 

[OG-wan Kenobi]

View attachment 639239
A ss Basin with legs, drain and water in. Nothing fancy but works for me.
Good luck with your project! [emoji482]

Beats the hell out of the 8 sq ft I get to brew in my garage

And that fermenter sure looks fancy sir

Looks like you keep everything nice and clean too very nice

 

[Red Clay]

It won't be here until Monday, but I just purchased this large poly sink for my build.

I had a stainless steel commercial unit with two 24x24x14 inch tubs and a 24" drainboard on order, but I'm canceling it since it was back-ordered until mid-September.

It was almost four times the cost of this simple plastic tub sink, so I think I'll try out the tub-sink first. I need a utility sink for my wife's hydroponics space anyway, so if this doesn't work for me I can shift this over get the stainless one in the future.

To mount on the tub-sink, I've ordered one of the commercial-kitchen sink faucets and ordered a longer pre-rinse hose.

I'll post some pics of it all when it gets in this coming week.

 

[sicktght311]

For those of you who's plumbing stack is above your basement sinks, i'm assuming you're using a pump out. Do you use a standard utility sink/gray water pump? Or are you plumbing it into a full macerator pump designed for a basement toilet/shower/sink since that should be able to handle the hops/grain waste better? I'm trying to plan ahead as my main sewer connections are at chest/head height in my basement, so i'd need a pump to get it up that 4-5 feet into the sewer connection, but a gray water pump isnt really rated for foodwaste

EDIT - googling some previous threads it seems people have gotten away with building their own with a bucket, lid, harbor freight waste pump, piping, and a studor vent. Hmmm interesting

 

[k-os]

Gridmann sink with Webstaurant drainboard.

 

[uSlackr]

These user concrete sinks are prevalent in the northest. Mine cost $30.
I added a Corian backsplash mounted to the sink and the commercial sprayer.
Sink is below sewer level so there's a Liberty Pump 404 enclosed sump below the sink. Drain pipe is on left. (power was temporary in this picture)
I'm looking for a grill grate to cover the left side

As the OP suggested, I no longer haul anything upstairs that doesn't look like finished beer. It's made cleaning faster and more likely to happen during the brewday. And never bring wort into the kitchen saves comments re: sticky floor.

 

[mongoose33]

To me, the only sink that is worth a hoot is one with a sideboard on which I can lay down a kettle or a keg to spray it out and scrub as necessary.

My setup is an old metal sink (salvaged from someone's driveway on junk day!) that was just the perfect thing. I replaced the faucet, had a sprayer added, and it's perfect.

What makes it so is three things: there is a sideboard on the left (which I expanded using some plywood and rubber mat), it has a shallow bowl, and it's raised up so I don't have to bend over to use it.

Some of the examples above have sideboards, which to me would be a must, but I want something I don't have to bend over to use. Had enough of that as a teenager washing dishes in a restaurant.

I have that sink sitting on a 4" lift of concrete I installed before setting the sink on it. The mouth of the sink sits 40" above the floor.

Due to space limitations I added the sort of "L" that goes around the corner, so I can lay a kettle or keg diagonally to the left and work on it in the sink. The sink itself has a metal sideboard to the left, but I needed a bit more room.

BTW, this works well for me because I'm right-handed. I'd reverse it if I were left-handed.

 

[Noob_Brewer]

To me, the only sink that is worth a hoot is one with a sideboard on which I can lay down a kettle or a keg to spray it out and scrub as necessary.

My setup is an old metal sink (salvaged from someone's driveway on junk day!) that was just the perfect thing. I replaced the faucet, had a sprayer added, and it's perfect.

What makes it so is three things: there is a sideboard on the left (which I expanded using some plywood and rubber mat), it has a shallow bowl, and it's raised up so I don't have to bend over to use it.

Some of the examples above have sideboards, which to me would be a must, but I want something I don't have to bend over to use. Had enough of that as a teenager washing dishes in a restaurant.

I have that sink sitting on a 4" lift of concrete I installed before setting the sink on it. The mouth of the sink sits 40" above the floor.

Due to space limitations I added the sort of "L" that goes around the corner, so I can lay a kettle or keg diagonally to the left and work on it in the sink. The sink itself has a metal sideboard to the left, but I needed a bit more room.

BTW, this works well for me because I'm right-handed. I'd reverse it if I were left-handed.

View attachment 639681 View attachment 639682

Mongoose - The rotary phone makes this space extra special. Envisioning a nice story with that artifact. lol

 

[johngg123]

Rotary microwave too! I’m guessing for dissolving gelatin in 150 f ? And reheating coffee of course.

On topic, a standard sewer ejection pump is a couple hundred bucks and I’m guessing it would be worth it especially if a bathroom on the same floor.

 

[petemoss]

Dude, nice setup. I wish I had a sink in my brew area. I do have to say though that I have never seen so many spray bottles next to a hot pink thermapen.

 

[Lesta80]

I was stoked to find a plumbing stack in the bottom of the wall and water supply hoses just above this spot... There was even an exhaust vent (bought an in-line fan and hooked to the existing duct).
Small, cheap laundry tub from Home Depot, but it works for me as I do smaller batches (2.5 gallon kegs / SS Mini Brewbuckets / 5.5 gallon kettle on 120v induction plate).
Workbench fitted perfectly and so did the secondhand fermenting fridge - Everything just fell into place!

 

[mongoose33]

Mongoose - The rotary phone makes this space extra special. Envisioning a nice story with that artifact. lol

Our local university was expanding parking and bought some houses adjacent to the property. They were demo'ing the houses, but I got a chance to go in one before the wrecking ball hit, and I salvaged that old phone from it.

I knew where it was going in my house.

One day a friend stopped by with his 4-year-old son. He was showing his son the old phone, asked if the son knew how it worked. All the child could do was poke his fingers in the holes, sort of like a push-button phone. No conception of what the dial was for. We had a good laugh about that.

My mother-in-law has a very old desktop rotary phone. It's the most hideous pink color you can imagine. She wants me to get rid of it, but I won't do it. It just sits in her basement, but what an interesting piece of Americana.

 

[mongoose33]

Dude, nice setup. I wish I had a sink in my brew area. I do have to say though that I have never seen so many spray bottles next to a hot pink thermapen.

It's actually a red Themapen with a silicone boot covering it. But you can think of it as hot pink if you like.


Early on in my brewing career I had spray bottles for two things: star-san, and water to cool down boilovers before they happened. Green for star-san, and the blue ones, for obvious reasons, were the water.

After a while, though, for whatever reason, the star-san solution gummed up the spray mechanisms of the green bottles. I went to buy a few more--these are $1 in the samples aisle at China Mart--but they no longer had the nice flat-bottomed bottles. So I bought pink and purple ones, so I could use the sprayer mechanisms from those with my nice green bottle bodies.

Along the way I stopped using my tap water to make up star-san solution and started using RO water. Guess what? The gumming up of the spray mechanisms ceased.

But I still have the pink and purple ones.

Those little bottles are great--I have one down in the basement by my keezer for spraying QDs and keg posts, and a couple in my brewing area.

 

[petemoss]

@mongoose33 haha, I got ya. I've been through a bunch of bottles too, which is bad since I only keep two around, one for StarSan and one for Iodophor. I like your RO water for spray bottles idea. I'll have to try that out. Thanks..

 

[mongoose33]

Rotary microwave too! I’m guessing for dissolving gelatin in 150 f ? And reheating coffee of course.

On topic, a standard sewer ejection pump is a couple hundred bucks and I’m guessing it would be worth it especially if a bathroom on the same floor.

It was one of those great "I got it free" deals. Needed some serious cleaning, but once that was done...

I use it for heating water to dissolve gelatin, and to boil a beaker of water to sanitize my oxygen aeration stone.

 

[murphyslaw]

Good idea for a thread.

I'm planning a renovation of my brew space and I'm hung up on the sink. I love the ss sinks with drain boards but man, they're expensive!

 

[uSlackr]

Good idea for a thread.

I'm planning a renovation of my brew space and I'm hung up on the sink. I love the ss sinks with drain boards but man, they're expensive!

I was too for a long time. Then I decided the sink wouldn't make better beer. Hence the concrete one. (Of course I put a $130 sprayer on it, so...)

 

[mongoose33]

Good idea for a thread.

I'm planning a renovation of my brew space and I'm hung up on the sink. I love the ss sinks with drain boards but man, they're expensive!

If I were going to refit a new space, here's what I'd do:

I'd get a longish base cabinet--probably 8 feet, but it would depend on what they had on clearance, damaged, whatever at the home store. I'd drop in a 2-bowl stainless sink in the countertop. The beauty of this is that there will be a ton of storage, drawers and cabinets, in that base. I'd set it up so that the countertop and sink height would be about 40".

Further, I'd add a lever-action faucet with a sprayer, and have a longer hose on that sprayer if possible. And finally, i'd add a second faucet that would connect to a potable water hose that I could use to fill my conical and my kettle with hot cleaning water.

Here's my version of that, spraying out and rinsing from my current sink. I can attach a garden-hose connect to the faucet and connect the hose to that, and I do, but I wish I had a dedicated faucet just for that.

 

[Ki-ri-n]

OK, TOTALLY OFF TOPIC but....

Our local university was expanding parking and bought some houses adjacent to the property. They were demo'ing the houses, but I got a chance to go in one before the wrecking ball hit, and I salvaged that old phone from it.

I knew where it was going in my house.

One day a friend stopped by with his 4-year-old son. He was showing his son the old phone, asked if the son knew how it worked. All the child could do was poke his fingers in the holes, sort of like a push-button phone. No conception of what the dial was for. We had a good laugh about that.

My mother-in-law has a very old desktop rotary phone. It's the most hideous pink color you can imagine. She wants me to get rid of it, but I won't do it. It just sits in her basement, but what an interesting piece of Americana.

It's no longer "working"-right? If you still have a land-line, it's no longer compatible with the phone system or?

I have an rotary phone from my grandfather just to keep as a remembrance of him (plus the oddity coolness). Just wish it would function in modern times. Quick dial 9-1-1.....OK...how do you do THAT?!

 

[mongoose33]

OK, TOTALLY OFF TOPIC but....


It's no longer "working"-right? If you still have a land-line, it's no longer compatible with the phone system or?

I have an rotary phone from my grandfather just to keep as a remembrance of him (plus the oddity coolness). Just wish it would function in modern times. Quick dial 9-1-1.....OK...how do you do THAT?!

It's still compatible. I do have a landline. We live in a kind of cell-hell, where reception is iffy. The rotary phone works. I haven't tried dialing out on it (I'll try that later for fun), but it receives calls just fine.

 

[Metzen]

Here's mine. Shallow stainless sink with added pull out faucets for filtered and cold tap water. Main faucet used for hot water and cleaning.

 

[Ki-ri-n]

It's still compatible. I do have a landline. We live in a kind of cell-hell, where reception is iffy. The rotary phone works. I haven't tried dialing out on it (I'll try that later for fun), but it receives calls just fine.

We use our cable provider for Phone. Our rotary will not work at all.
If you can receive calls, you will not be able to dial out. I believe all phone providers use a tone dialing system now. The pulse system that the rotary used is obsolete.

 

[mongoose33]

We use our cable provider for Phone. Our rotary will not work at all.
If you can receive calls, you will not be able to dial out. I believe all phone providers use a tone dialing system now. The pulse system that the rotary used is obsolete.

We must have a different system, because I just tried it and it calls out just fine. The system to my house is fiber, but the conversion box must have some mechanism for converting the pulses to tones.

 

[Jako]

i will have a mop sink with tile backslash in my brewery. told the plumber i want a sprayer. should be enough we will see.

 

[Tartan1]

My small brewery, still under construction (explains the mess) the idea is to build a tippy dump for the boil kettle into the sink and the mash tun, pitching into a large garbage pail. Anyway this is my sink, 12"D x 23"L X 18"W sitting on a raised tiled counter top 2 1/2" thick so I dont have to bend over to clean stuff.

 

[Tallgrass]

For those brewing under the drain line, this pump has worked great for me. It's a huge pump for such a small vessel but the engineer must know what they're doing. No problems with hops and trub when cleaning out fermenter. A big step up from a home depot bucket and pond pump.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0009TCDZ2?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title

 

[Soulshine2]

It won't be here until Monday, but I just purchased this large poly sink for my build.

I had a stainless steel commercial unit with two 24x24x14 inch tubs and a 24" drainboard on order, but I'm canceling it since it was back-ordered until mid-September.

It was almost four times the cost of this simple plastic tub sink, so I think I'll try out the tub-sink first. I need a utility sink for my wife's hydroponics space anyway, so if this doesn't work for me I can shift this over get the stainless one in the future.

To mount on the tub-sink, I've ordered one of the commercial-kitchen sink faucets and ordered a longer pre-rinse hose.

I'll post some pics of it all when it gets in this coming week.

I sure like that faucet...
My son is reducing an old house trailer he got free to scrap and he removed a typical double bowl stainless sink . First thing I thought of was,hey I can use that in my brew spot. and that faucet would be nice to have .

 

[Imhoppy]

In my "Britchen" (short for Brew Kitchen). Note the extra water faucet (cold) that can be used for cooling water, thus freeing up the main faucet for normal use.

 

[jojacques]

My setup - regular laundry tub does it for me
Just need to get myself a decent faucet and Im good!

 

[IslandLizard]

In my "Britchen" (short for Brew Kitchen). Note the extra water faucet (cold) that can be used for cooling water, thus freeing up the main faucet for normal use.View attachment 641722

I really like your setup, especially the 2nd faucet for "utility" use, by simply connecting or clamping a hose to it.

 

[AkTom]

In my "Britchen" (short for Brew Kitchen). Note the extra water faucet (cold) that can be used for cooling water, thus freeing up the main faucet for normal use.View attachment 641722

Do have more pics? I’d like to see the rest of your britchen.

 

[Imhoppy]

Here are a few more of my galley-style basement britchen. Cooktop has 2 large elements, 3000w and 3200w. I have been using the 3000w and it works great on high setting when the 20-quart brew pot is filled with 4 gallons of wort at the start of the boil.

Do have more pics? I’d like to see the rest of your britchen.

Lots of cabinets and drawers to store brewing equipment and supplies. And a walk-in pantry for even more. It's used exclusively for brewing and serving beer. The wife has her own "kitchen" all to herself and now we are both happy! [emoji481]

 

[eric19312]

brew sink in my garage

• eric19312
• Sep 16, 2015

1930s cast iron farmhouse double basin sink

Garage not basement but I guess I can show it here.

 

[AkTom]

It's used exclusively for brewing and serving beer. The wife has her own "kitchen" all to herself and now we are both happy!

Thanks

 

[Jako]

https://photos.app.goo.gl/WjPMyuT63C1EHbb47

Let's see if this works.

 

[Tobor_8thMan]

I know, I know, not real sexy, but it works.

 

[501irishred]

I know, I know, not real sexy, but it works.

View attachment 652829

Not sexy? I’d say down right sultry!

 

[cubsfan16]

I’ve been happy with this setup. I added an additional hose bib connection (cold line) for my chiller and added a Y with a QD so I can run my steam condenser and chiller while keeping my sink free. I also added a QD to the faucet so I can run hot water for cleaning to my kettle. This has made brew days so much much smoother.