kal
Well-Known Member
To close the loop: Thanks to all those who posted pictures and ideas.
My new basement brew room is now at the stage where I'd call it 'complete' and having brewed in it about half a dozen times or so now I'm happy to report that I like the added space compared to what I had before.
Before I used to only make wort in the 'brewery' and left milling, grain storage, fermenting, and conditioning/serving to other parts of the basement (mostly the furnace room). Now these have all been combined into one room. It's nice to have everything in one spot - no running around the house.
Milling and fermenting in the same room can sometimes be a concern with dust getting into the fermentation and causing infections, but I always mill the night before brewing, my mill sits on top of a round MDF board that completely covers the grain bucket, and by the time I pitch the yeast ~24 hours later the room vent hood's been running a long time exchausting the air in the room many times over (fresh air is drawn from the outside through a vent I open when I run the fan).
Some pictures:
Waiting for the boil to finish (watched wort still boils):
Conditioning fridge and grain shelves:
The conditioning fridge holds 6 kegs that are on CO2 (5lb tank). When a keg in the keezer blows, I grab another from here and it's all ready to go. There's some room for overflow beer and other things too:
Keezer on the right holds the 8 kegs that are being served on tap while the freezer on the left is run as an actual freezer (0 F) for hops, yeast, and a copper chilling coil to cool the tap tower coolant:
(It's an older picture - the beer line hoses are not hooked up yet)
You can see into the brewery from the bar (dimmable spot lights on the kettles and other shiny stuff can be left on if people are hanging around the bar):
Kal
My new basement brew room is now at the stage where I'd call it 'complete' and having brewed in it about half a dozen times or so now I'm happy to report that I like the added space compared to what I had before.
Before I used to only make wort in the 'brewery' and left milling, grain storage, fermenting, and conditioning/serving to other parts of the basement (mostly the furnace room). Now these have all been combined into one room. It's nice to have everything in one spot - no running around the house.
Milling and fermenting in the same room can sometimes be a concern with dust getting into the fermentation and causing infections, but I always mill the night before brewing, my mill sits on top of a round MDF board that completely covers the grain bucket, and by the time I pitch the yeast ~24 hours later the room vent hood's been running a long time exchausting the air in the room many times over (fresh air is drawn from the outside through a vent I open when I run the fan).
Some pictures:
Waiting for the boil to finish (watched wort still boils):
Conditioning fridge and grain shelves:
The conditioning fridge holds 6 kegs that are on CO2 (5lb tank). When a keg in the keezer blows, I grab another from here and it's all ready to go. There's some room for overflow beer and other things too:
Keezer on the right holds the 8 kegs that are being served on tap while the freezer on the left is run as an actual freezer (0 F) for hops, yeast, and a copper chilling coil to cool the tap tower coolant:
(It's an older picture - the beer line hoses are not hooked up yet)
You can see into the brewery from the bar (dimmable spot lights on the kettles and other shiny stuff can be left on if people are hanging around the bar):
Kal