1BBL Brewhouse build (garage conversion)

[floydmeddler]

Excellent! Great to see you going for it.

[AdyG]

Looking good there... will keep an eye on progress with interest.

I think we all want to convert our garages into breweries... I just need somewhere to put all my tools, diy stuff, bikes, old car etc!

[fego]

An update.....

First of all, this is the chaos I'm confronted with...



This means constantly shuffling stuff around. It wouldn't be as bad if it were constantly pissing down because I could at least use the drive but as it is I have to keep stepping over stuff.

Anyway, onwards and upwards....


The garage isn't air tight (so to speak) and has eaves which allow air to flow across the roof space. Great for avoiding damp but rubbish for using for brewing in. I therefore need to 'seal' the roof joists to make the temperature more manageable and make it easier to build 'rooms'. The exposed joists look like this and as you can see, its full of crap up there, some of which I'm certain hasn't moved since the day we moved in...



I painted the chipboard before and they're all on the other side of the garage which means moving everything out of their way to get to them...



and to put them up, I need to move the stuff in the way of where they are going, out of the way which means a constant taxiing of stuff from one side to the other...



Now, I'm doing this on my own. There's no one around to even ask for a quick hand. To help me therefore, I improvise a wooden rake which I'll use to hold the boards in place whilst I screw them in. (I've got a workbench somewhere....)



After more shit shuffling, I finally got the first board in place ready to loft a-high...



After dropping it a couple of times knocking everything flying, I finally managed to get the sheet up on my 'rakes'...



Lucky no one was around because they would have wondered what I was up to in the garage. I made so much noise and swore more in half an hour than I have for this year combined. Getting that sheet up on my own was a knackering nightmare caused mostly by the surroundings and small space. However, I got there in the end...



I then moved everything around a lot, got another sheet in, put it up, dropped it, put it up, dropped it again, put it up again and eventually got it to stay. I started hating myself at this point...



I couldn't carry on on the left side because of all the crap still in the loft I need to get out and also because of all the junk in the garage itself. Plus I'll need to build a hatch to get into/out of the loft space which will require better weather for the cutting. So I decided to move to the right hand side (the hot side) and start in there...



Once I had moved everything out of the way again....



... and after relocating a splitter box and cutting a channel for another, things got much easier. This sheet went up almost without drama...



See that ladder? I hate that ladder. I was wearing a long coat and unknown to me, when I came down from that ladder the back of my coat got caught on the top arm. When I jumped off the second step from the bottom, instead of landing on the floor I just got held in suspended animation with flailing arms and dangling legs. There I was, swinging by the neck, legs and body flinching looking and feeling desperately like Saddam Hussain in his final moments. Fortunately, I didn't have a bag over my head or my hands tied behind my bag so a combination of windmill-like arm movements and my coat ripping under the strain meant I crashed to the ground pretty quickly. I was followed by a piece of wood I was using which hit me plumb on the bonce. Ouch.

Drama over, I finished screwing the sheet to the joists and decided to quit whilst I was ahead....





I'm hoping for better weather now because I can't really do much more without the use of outside space. This is what I'll be starting with next time...

[Goosey]

I love it! Proper drama, comedy, everything! Don't stop now!

[floydmeddler]

Great write up. I was really rooting for you when reading... and laughing at times! (sorry)

Keep going man!

[fego]

Some more progress...

There is a small break in the weather meaning I can actually organise things better for the remainder of the ceiling fitting. I figure a plan and move stuff around, get rid of a couple of bikes to the shed and measure up to make sure that I will still be able to move the big boards without destroying anything. As I start to move stuff, I begin seeing some side effects of me (not quite) putting up the boards on my own. There's a few casualties including a heater and a huge chunk of wall. Large bruises are also emerging all over me.





Gradual shifting of stuff reveals a surprisingly large working area and enables me to even move the two spare boards out the way (tucked behind the others). I've positioned the big FV's to act as 'legs' for the remaining boards and I'm promised help from a neighbour to do it but he doesn't show and the weather turns wet again so I can now only concentrate on the loft space...







The loft space will be less accessible after the false ceiling goes up so I need to tidy it up first and to my horror, it's even worse up there than I suspected and much more work...







Before I can do anything, I decide I need a permanent light in the space and wire one in. This is a £3.50 jobby from Wilkos with a £1.25 splitter. You even end up with a free plug...



I then spend the next 4 hours getting the Christmas decs down and filtering out all the pointless crap we have kept but will never use. Why do we think that just because something cost something once that it will always be worth something to us? I leave stuff up that there that I seriously don't care about and throw a load of homemade insulation down on the boards I've already put up. I'll need to buy some proper insulation for the rest.

Once I come down, I then start playing with some of the new stuff that's just arrived. Although I understand every word of the instructions that came with the tattoo power supply, the order in which they are assembled has me stuck so I just laugh at them and work it out for myself. I actually had no trouble getting the solar pump and tattoo power working but pretended to Mrs. Fego that it's all very difficult to avoid doing any more christmas nonsense than I really have to.



I'm starting to get a bit frustrated because this is taking alot of effort and time and I don't look anywhere near brewing yet. Also, I'm busy all week this week and am off to Cornwall at the weekend so things wont change for a while yet.

Still on the list...

- Finish the ceiling including building a 'loft latch' into the loft space (that should be fun)
- get the sparks off their arses to give me final quotes for getting cable laid
- build the fermenting room and butcher the 'fridge to help with temperature control
- build some shelving to hold various things such as the maxi chiller, bottling gear etc
- get the main brewing vessels in place, measure up hose routes etc and then build plinths to sit them on
- plumb a connection from the outside tap around corners, up walls, over joists and into the brewhouse
- figure out a way of connecting to the drain rather than just spilling onto the drive (my best guess so far is to pump up to the garage's gutter)

It's still a major project...

[scotia]

Have you taken into consideration on how much weight you are going to put up there? Trusses nowadays are engineered to a lot less load bearing than yesteryear, you may want to conside doubling up the span between walls before you go much further.

[fego]

Had thought of that and thanks for your concern. I've removed more weight (in the form of unnecessary crap) than I am adding. Also, the utility room I built supports the joists from the floor so I should be ok.

[DeGarre]

...
The garage isn't air tight (so to speak) and has eaves which allow air to flow across the roof space. Great for avoiding damp but rubbish for using for brewing in. ...

The mice will love this feature ie openness of the eaves. When the weather turns cold those little buggers will start looking for the warmer climes...

[Upright_Man]

hi - am about to start a garage conversion myself. Main room is also partially finished with half boarded/painted and half bricks (I plan to use some leftover bath/kitchen paint for the already boarded areas).

Assuming it's cheaper than boarding over, what do you use to seal and paint the brick and cement blocks? Any brick sealant and waterproof paint or something more specialized? Also - same question for the floor, which is cement. I sealed the other half of garage already with garage floor sealer but not really good enough for brewery me thinks, am now thinking of putting down some cheap non-slip vinyl lino...

[fego]

...
The garage isn't air tight (so to speak) and has eaves which allow air to flow across the roof space. Great for avoiding damp but rubbish for using for brewing in. ...

The mice will love this feature ie openness of the eaves. When the weather turns cold those little buggers will start looking for the warmer climes...

Been brewing out there for four years without any infestation or issue and by having a sealed brew area beneath the eaves, the risk should be reduced further still. The air movement is just the lack of seal from the plastic alcove meaning air gets in. The roof tiles aren't exactly pinned down either and sometimes let wind blow under them.

hi - am about to start a garage conversion myself. Main room is also partially finished with half boarded/painted and half bricks (I plan to use some leftover bath/kitchen paint for the already boarded areas).

Assuming it's cheaper than boarding over, what do you use to seal and paint the brick and cement blocks? Any brick sealant and waterproof paint or something more specialized? Also - same question for the floor, which is cement. I sealed the other half of garage already with garage floor sealer but not really good enough for brewery me thinks, am now thinking of putting down some cheap non-slip vinyl lino...

Well, I can tell you what I've done but I can't tell you if it's right yet because I don't know. I've covered all the brickwork, plasterboard walls and cement floor in PVA glue and then painted it all with a gloss emulsion. I then applied another coat of PVA and two further coats of gloss emulsion. The ceiling sheets were sealed in PVA then painted once with the emulsion. I will giving the hot side a final covering of garage floor paint with some silicone addition. Haven't quite worked out what yet but I've got a mate who says he knows what I need so will call on him when the time comes. I was at a hospital yesterday and couldn't help look at their vinyl flooring thinking..."yes....that'd work"

Edit: the walls 'feel' right in that I have thrown water at them and it has just run off. There doesnt appear to be any moisture retention issue. My main intention for the walls and floor really is to avoid any dust however. I will have good ventilation so think I will be able to manage any issues there.

[Upright_Man]

thanks - much easier painting brick than trying board over them so will go with that and will go with flooring. How are you planning to deal with ventilation? I am on look out for giant extraction hood (i'll punch hole in ceiling and run it out to side of garage) but no luck so far....

[steambrew]

Well done we would all like your set up , pity it's not in Cornwall watching with interest

[fego]

How are you planning to deal with ventilation.

I'm going to play it by ear. Obviously I have the full garage door to open which should lose most of the steam, but that will put me on display to the neighbours. I've had a quick look at door curtains which might be useful, but as I say, I'll play it by ear first. There is a convenient wall in the hot side which could host a window or a vent fan but i'll look to solve that problem when I know what it is...

[asd]

Did you have to get planning permission for this garage brewery ?

This was what I got:

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=45763&start=45#p529797

Which I thought was very helpful. However, in the end, the stuff I have had built wouldn't fit, so I have rented a barn at a local farm.