You guys are not going to believe this...
- Thread starter movet22
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movet22
Well-Known Member
Hello everyone... again! After many months of life taking over, my lovely better half and I have completely finished a total renovation of our new house. This included needing a new roof- that we did not plan for- which sapped most of my reserve for this build. I must also admit that I have an equally addicting watch hobby, which means that not only the roof, but a beautiful in house Frederique Constant and a vintage c. 1960's Wittnauer Chronograph have kept me from rebuilding my funds for this build.
With all of that said, I sit here, typing to you with real progress being made. I have started by modifying and re-positioning an existing workbench in my basement into a usable table for the brewery. I have polyurethaned the entire piece for ease of cleaning and added some plastic sheets above where I will be brewing (so no crap falls into anything on brew day).
I also have on order lots of sight glasses and fitting from Bobby and a shiny new 15 gal BK. I am still debating on how to work out my control panel, but have been in contact with Ryan from ebrewsupply about that. I have looked long and hard into P-J's diagram, but I am really concerned about may lack of ability to make it look nice and my complete lack of any sort of electrical knowledge.
Also worth noting is that my lovely lady has said that she would be OK with me spending more on the whole set up if I could get pre-made parts in which all of the wiring was done for me. with that in mind, I will probably be pulling the trigger on Kal's pre-assembled 2 element kit shortly after the panel has been bought.
Obviously, the central theme of this thread being a 'budget build' has kind of gone by the way side, but I will still be documenting it nonetheless. I hope everyone enjoys as much as I will, this has been quite a while in the making for me!
Below are some pictures of the workbench as I have it configured and in its final resting place. The window to the left will be where I vent out the BK. I also used the remaining plastic from the ceiling cover to make a nice cover to drape over the rig in between batches to ward off dust and nasties (it is neatly folded on the table)
With all of that said, I sit here, typing to you with real progress being made. I have started by modifying and re-positioning an existing workbench in my basement into a usable table for the brewery. I have polyurethaned the entire piece for ease of cleaning and added some plastic sheets above where I will be brewing (so no crap falls into anything on brew day).
I also have on order lots of sight glasses and fitting from Bobby and a shiny new 15 gal BK. I am still debating on how to work out my control panel, but have been in contact with Ryan from ebrewsupply about that. I have looked long and hard into P-J's diagram, but I am really concerned about may lack of ability to make it look nice and my complete lack of any sort of electrical knowledge.
Also worth noting is that my lovely lady has said that she would be OK with me spending more on the whole set up if I could get pre-made parts in which all of the wiring was done for me. with that in mind, I will probably be pulling the trigger on Kal's pre-assembled 2 element kit shortly after the panel has been bought.
Obviously, the central theme of this thread being a 'budget build' has kind of gone by the way side, but I will still be documenting it nonetheless. I hope everyone enjoys as much as I will, this has been quite a while in the making for me!
Below are some pictures of the workbench as I have it configured and in its final resting place. The window to the left will be where I vent out the BK. I also used the remaining plastic from the ceiling cover to make a nice cover to drape over the rig in between batches to ward off dust and nasties (it is neatly folded on the table)
rockinmarty
Big Member
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I too had problems with crap falling from the ceiling; since its a hundred year old house that's not surprising. So I got some Zinsser zero VOC primer and low VOC semigloss and painted the ceiling joists and subfloor above my brewing area.. Looks a lot better than plastic and makes the whole area brighter too. Takes maybe a few days including drying time and great results.
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movet22
Well-Known Member
dcbw- My brother in law is a painter and we were originally going to have him paint the whole basement ceiling in that same style you mentioned, but at the moment he needs to finish the upstairs. From there I don't know how much my basement ceiling is on his radar The plastic will have to do for me at this current time.
In build news, I am going to be stopping at Lowe's after work to check out the ventilation solutions and perhaps pull the trigger on something and start to get that set up. Will post pics if I wrangle something in.
The plastic will have to do for me at this current time.In build news, I am going to be stopping at Lowe's after work to check out the ventilation solutions and perhaps pull the trigger on something and start to get that set up. Will post pics if I wrangle something in.
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movet22
Well-Known Member
What you are about to see is disgusting. I am hardly a handy person and this was my first foray into duct work (as noted by the poorly rigged hanging solution), so bare with me.
I know that my stock 6'' inline fan will barely get the job done, but it was cheap. On top of that, having never even been down the ducting isle of home depot before, I didn't want any parts to be expensive b/c I assumed I would butcher them (I was kinda right!)
I am going to take a night off I think tonight, and will hopefully have my kettles and fittings by the weekend. I have also talked to Ryan from ebrewsupply and should be honing in on a decision soon as well. More to come... Cheers!
I know that my stock 6'' inline fan will barely get the job done, but it was cheap. On top of that, having never even been down the ducting isle of home depot before, I didn't want any parts to be expensive b/c I assumed I would butcher them (I was kinda right!)
I am going to take a night off I think tonight, and will hopefully have my kettles and fittings by the weekend. I have also talked to Ryan from ebrewsupply and should be honing in on a decision soon as well. More to come... Cheers!
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movet22
Well-Known Member
A quick update on the biuld progress: I have installed the water filter and have it set up with my [extremely ugly] stand to be able to fill my HLT. I have an order of parts in to Bobby and hope to be step-bit-drilling soon!
I also received the false bottom and sparge arm MT upgrade that I wanted! I'd say, all in, I am about 70% done. Heating elements should be in the pots relatively soon and my father in law is installing my GFCI 50a 240v outlet within the week (or so I hope).
I will post some pics this evening. This is getting exciting!
I also received the false bottom and sparge arm MT upgrade that I wanted! I'd say, all in, I am about 70% done. Heating elements should be in the pots relatively soon and my father in law is installing my GFCI 50a 240v outlet within the week (or so I hope).
I will post some pics this evening. This is getting exciting!
