1BBL Brewhouse build (garage conversion)

[fego]

More done.

Ive added some insulation (75mm) to the top two halves...



...and sealed it up



...and then did the same for the bottom half...



Then I worked out a floor from breeze blocks cutting them into the hole...



I added some insulation and used a couple of old settee feet to fill an awkward gap (knew they'd come in handy one day).



I then managed to squash the insulation enough to screw down the base...



..which created just the right space to fit my brew fridge in. I had originally planned to use this for cooling but I cant be brave enough to take the risk of it not working well enough or having to find a way to exclude the motor from the cupboard to avoid heat build up/conflicts. I'll therefore use it as an occasional fermenter/conditioner/hop and yeast store. I've got a Maxi chiller and I'll add another tube heater and control the ferments with them. That will mean designing a tube route, a place for the Maxi and a place for the PID controller, leads and sensor.



This is the tidiest I can make it...



Next up;
- Finish the cupboard (the door will be interesting)
- get the electrics done; switches, lighting and plugs on a dedicated ECB
- set the hotside up permanently in place
- measure/test the tubing and pumps to make sure its all going to work
- fill the 'gap' between the hot and cold sides
- mastic the gaps between roof sheets and screw them down where necessary and then insulate
- fit draught excluder to the garage doors
- tidy up

Meantime, the good news is that I've found a reliable sparks who is coming to do the work in the next week or so. The bad news (for the brewery at least) is that I've also found a new job so will have less free time to dedicate to the fit out. I won't stop though....

[Belter]

Congrats in the new job

[fego]

Started the electrics at last...

I still need to work out the exact position of the pots but for wiring in, this'll do...



...and then getting on with the installation of the various switches and things...



wiring it all back to a dedicated circuit breaker...



Still lots to do but getting there.

[Bopper]

Great pics, keep them coming!

[Highlander]

sorry edited, because I re-read what you had planned, build looks great.

[fego]

Progress....

Finding a local trade willing to do a smallish job is a nightmare. People either aren't interested at all (but aren't brave enough to tell you so just let you down) or stupidly over price the job to make it worth their while. This is what I've suffered trying to get someone to help me finish off the electrics so I've been hampered big time. Anyone can connect cables and hang up switches, but when it comes to calculating switch loads and getting comfort in a safe design plus making sure the final connection to the main fuse box in the house, there's no way I'd take the risk so I've chosen to suffer the pain of getting someone in. I was lucky enough to eventually convince a family member of a neighbour to help out but even that took four visits and hassle galore. "Sorry, I've forgotten a fuse but I'll bring it round tomorrow" turned into two weeks of waiting etc etc etc. Anyway, the good news is that the electrics are finally in and after a quick test, I'm pleased to say that everything apart from the strip light works. That needs a new bulb which is on its way.

Now that the electrics are done, I can get to the next step which is to get the pots in their place. I've decided to raise the pots on plinths made from breeze blocks 'wrapped' in chipboard. Whilst I'm moving stuff around, I have a sudden change of mind and decide to place the pots differently to my original design. I'm going to put the HLT and Mash Tun next to each other along the right hand wall and although it's tight, it actually turns out to be a really good use of the space but it will mean moving one of the plugs I've only just put in.

This is the rough layout...



First up is the boiler's plinth. A bit of measuring and cutting and it's there...



And this is it after being screwed together and sanding but it will need painting...







Then onto the other plinth. As I said, I decided to put the HLT and MT together on one plinth. As it turns out, I had exactly the right number of breeze blocks which stacked to make the perfect stand. I only had to make two tiny cuts....



But it meant moving one of the plugs...





Before shuttering the plinth, I moved it as close as I could get to the wall to maximise the space. This means I'll have a lot of working space and probably enough room to put a chair in to have a sit if needs be...



Bit by bit I cut the skins for the plinth and put them together....



It was all a bit awkward given the proximity of the wall but with a few blocks stuffed down the back and some tight hammer action, I got there in the end... (note the shambles in the other side still...)





Still loads to do and quite a way off the pilot brew. I need to finish off the brew cupboard and build a few more shelves and other things to support the process as planned (e.g. a cupboard for the fuse box), but I'm so glad the electrics are done and the pots are in place now so I can finally get tidied up and start putting things in their place. My day job means progress is slower than I'd like but my determination is as high as ever.

[Belter]

Result. Most companies are like that. My boss usually turns down work like that but like you say if they're persistent he just added a few noughts on the end. When you hear stories like this it makes me think at least i'll never be out of a job and no-one seems to be able to find an electrician.

[themadhippy]

Finding a local trade willing to do a smallish job is a nightmare. People either aren't interested at all (but aren't brave enough to tell you so just let you down) or stupidly over price the job to make it worth their while.

dont blame the sparkys,blame the goverbent for the introduction of part p

[fego]

A tad more progress...

Built a cupboard for the fuse box....

This is half way there...



and this is it all done...



I've still got to put some sealant around the edge but it'll do for now. I intended to put some hinges on and have a door but in all the mess, I couldn't find them so it's screwed shut for now.

The rest of this morning was spent tidying up (where I found the hinges) and I've got to say it's such a relief having a clean space again. It should make the last jobs much easier but spare time will be scarce for at least the next two weeks unfortunately.

[fego]

Two weeks travelling for work and lots of storm broken fences means that progress on the build has stalled. Things are tidier but I'm nowhere near finishing the last of the building jobs, in particular the brew cupboard.
However, as the electrics are all done and the pots are in their place, I decided (without planning) to have a pilot brew day today. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a major balls ache rather than the fun I anticipated.

It's mostly my fault because;
- I didn't have a recipe ready
- I had to clean the elements (the sparky kindly 'dry tested' them and burned them black)
- I didn't have the right connectors for the hose and chiller so had to bodge some
- I didn't have any means of measuring the volume of water particularly well
- I hadn't measured and planned my water treatment in advance
- I couldn't find hardly anything I needed because everything is still disorganised.

So all in all, it was probably my worst brew day ever. I ended up making a lager but basically guessed at a recipe based on what I had left and guessed the liquor volumes in the pots To make it worse, i was so focused on cleaning the copper's elements that i somehow managed to forget to put the hop filter plate in so when I chilled into the fermenter, the pumps got blocked meaning lots of stripping down and unblocking pipes etc. i havent got a fixed water supply either yet meaning constant toing and froing into the back garden to turn the hose on and off all day. And not being used to the pipes and connectors meant constant spills so the floor was very wet and sticky all day, as was I.

In all, the brew day took 11 hours and I haven't even tidied up yet!!!! And it was knackering. Everything is so much heavier on this scale and doing it all on your own was such hard work. And I only brewed about 110 litres.

On the positive side, apart from the pumps, the equipment was awesome and the layout/design was great. It meant I could have the garage door closed most of the day and just sit and look. The mash held temperature better than I expected and didn't require any recirculating at all, the wort ran clear first jug. I over sparged predicting lots of dead space but actually I got an amazing run off. During the boil, the steam wasn't too bad but I still needed a fan which worked perfectly. And the wort going into the fermenter was pretty good and nice and cold so the chiller did its thing very well.

I had to change pumps during the chill because the one I was using just gave up. It must have a connection issue that I'll look into. However, the consequence is that the other pump wasn't as sterilised as I merely ran hot wort through it a few times. I got to that 'don't give a shit anymore' point but I hope the beer is clean enough because an infection after all that effort will really hurt.

I'll put some pictures up of the day soon. Glad it's over and glad it all, or at least most of it, works...

[floydmeddler]

Well done sir! Main thing is, your equipment works perfectly!

[tallpaul1982]

I've really enjoyed ready this thread and the progress to date. Although not a perfect brew at least you've christened it now and things (hopefully) can only get better.

[fego]

To say that life for me has been hectic since my last update is a massive understatement. I have been here there and bleeding everywhere since Christmas and either still ferrying family around or going on trips for work abroad. I've had little time to continue the build and haven't really got the time now to update this thread but I'm treating myself so here goes...

First up, I haven't done anything else to the build. Nothing at all. In fact, chaos has slowly crept back in as we've filled up the garage space with odds and sods due to a lack of available shelving and the chipboards which are still in the way. I keep pretending I'll finish off soon but the reality is I need to plan ahead and set the time aside. In the meantime, I promised to share some pictures of the first brewday which are below.

This is the hot side before I started...





And this is me trying to clean the filthy boiler elements.



No matter how hard I tried, the wire brush wouldn't cure it so I had to use acid...



I left that to soak and started testing the pumps by moving some liquor to preheat the Mash Tun...



I then got my bag of grains ready, all 25 kilos...



and when I was happy with the mash liquor temperature, I started doughing in. This worked well with the pizza spoon.



And then got on with sparging. The arm was noisy so I squirted it with a touch of olive oil and it shut up. The lid wasn't a very good fit though so I had to put cloths around it to stop getting sprayed...



Whilst that was going on, I started cleaning and sanitising the fermentor, the pumps and the plate chiller. The chiller had slug-like goo come out of it so I was super crazy cleaning that. I used starsan and let it circ for about 45 mins.



The boil revved up nice and quick and hit the roll much sooner than I expected using 2x3KW elements.



The steam wasn't too bad but it was a freezing night so to reduce condensation I plugged in a fan and blew the steam out the door. This worked great.



As is my style, I got the last 30 mins of the boil really rocking and then connected the chiller and pumps after a long while butchering various hose connectors. It was here that I started to wish I had planned this better. As the first of the wort started to run off into the fermentor, I noticed how much hop detritus was being pulled through making me think how rubbish the hop filter plate was. i stopped cursing when I saw the plate near the boiler and not in the boiler and at that precise time, the pump blocked up and shut down. I tried to insert the hop filter plate but only managed to burn myself so was resigned to pumping through the gunge. This is where the photos stopped and where things got real bad. I had to keep stripping the pumps down and although I eventually got the cooled wort into fermentors, I wasn't convinced it would be germ free but pitched the yeast nonetheless.



As I haven't finished the FV cupboard yet, one fermentor went in my brewfridge and the other had to fend for itself although the ambient temperature was helpful for that. I then did nothing for 6 or 7 weeks and I'm sad to say that the FV left to its own devices was infected and had to be thrown away (grrrr - 100 litres!). The other one however smells and looks amazing but I haven't racked it off yet. This means either the FV wasn't sanitised enough or that I introduced dirt when stripping down (by which time the now successful FV already had wort in it). Either way, I'll be glad to recover any beer from what was an absolutely shit brewday to be honest. I'll not be brewing again until have properly sorted the rest of the build out and got everything ready and in its place. As I do that, I'll continue to update it here...

[Frothy]

Very smart, sorry to hear about your spoilt batch.
What is the type of red hose that you are you using?

cheers

[brewzone]

I'm enjoying seeing one of My original 1bbl systems still going strong some 3+yrs later.

If I can help in any way please drop Me a line.

BZ