Kal's basement/HT/bar/brewery build 2.0

[kal]

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Hi everyone!

We moved in 2011 so a new basement/bar/brewery was required. The design has now been finalized and construction starts tomorrow and is expected to take approximately 3 months. We are using a local design/build firm that only does basements (http://www.justbasementsottawa.com/). Tell Norm that Kal sent you!

The brewery will continue to use everything I had in my existing brewery as documented on this website. Nothing is changing. What I'm gaining however is more space for both the bar and brewery.

The new brewery will hold:

- Two serving keezers (8 beers on tap)
- A freezer to hold yeast and hops that will also serve as a glycol chiller for the tap tower
- A work table to the left of the sink so that I can more easily clean the MLT while boiling
- Grain storage, more storage in general
- Possibly room for fermentation tanks/conicals

The Home Theater will not be changing much. (The previous one can be seen here). I'll be using mostly the same equipment (for now) other than the projector. It'll likely be a JVC RS45 or RS55 (yes, digital - gulp!) with a 17'9" throw to put it over the second row of seats. Still deciding between the two. We'll see how much money I have left at the end of all this.

Seating will be the same 2 rows of 3 I used previously (Jaymar 56000 series) with the fronts of the seats at 9' and 16' from the screen. That puts the heads about 11' and 18' from the screen. A 12" high riser will be used for the second row. The screen will remain 96x54".

The sound will be 5.1 but I'll pre-wire to do 7.1 for an extra set of rear surrounds. I won't be using conduit for the speaker wire but will be using it for the projector.

There will be a room behind the screen to allow for a possible future 2.35:1 accoustically transparent screen. For now the extra wall is nice as it'll help reduce mechanical noise from the furnace/hot water tank/HRV. It will also allow easy access for the wiring.

The equipment rack will be set in the wall behind the screen just outside the bathroom.

DVD/Blu-ray storage is done by two rows of 7' wide, floor to ceiling shelves shown in the pictures below between the sauna and the mechnical room (unfinished area).

I'll post pictures as things progress. Here are a few to kick things off:











What it looks like today:



A shot of the bar/brewery area today:



----------

Note: Ordering the products listed above (or any other product) using our links helps support our site at no extra cost to you. We thank you!

Kal

[kal]

Register to remove this ad. It's free!

Note: Ordering the products listed below (or any other product) using our links helps support our site at no extra cost to you. We thank you!

--------------

Hi everyone!

We moved in 2011 so a new basement/bar/brewery was required. The design has now been finalized and construction starts tomorrow and is expected to take approximately 3 months. We are using a local design/build firm that only does basements (http://www.justbasementsottawa.com/). Tell Norm that Kal sent you!

The brewery will continue to use everything I had in my existing brewery as documented on this website. Nothing is changing. What I'm gaining however is more space for both the bar and brewery.

The new brewery will hold:

- Two serving keezers (8 beers on tap)
- A freezer to hold yeast and hops that will also serve as a glycol chiller for the tap tower
- A work table to the left of the sink so that I can more easily clean the MLT while boiling
- Grain storage, more storage in general
- Possibly room for fermentation tanks/conicals

The Home Theater will not be changing much. (The previous one can be seen here). I'll be using mostly the same equipment (for now) other than the projector. It'll likely be a JVC RS45 or RS55 (yes, digital - gulp!) with a 17'9" throw to put it over the second row of seats. Still deciding between the two. We'll see how much money I have left at the end of all this.

Seating will be the same 2 rows of 3 I used previously (Jaymar 56000 series) with the fronts of the seats at 9' and 16' from the screen. That puts the heads about 11' and 18' from the screen. A 12" high riser will be used for the second row. The screen will remain 96x54".

The sound will be 5.1 but I'll pre-wire to do 7.1 for an extra set of rear surrounds. I won't be using conduit for the speaker wire but will be using it for the projector.

There will be a room behind the screen to allow for a possible future 2.35:1 accoustically transparent screen. For now the extra wall is nice as it'll help reduce mechanical noise from the furnace/hot water tank/HRV. It will also allow easy access for the wiring.

The equipment rack will be set in the wall behind the screen just outside the bathroom.

DVD/Blu-ray storage is done by two rows of 7' wide, floor to ceiling shelves shown in the pictures below between the sauna and the mechnical room (unfinished area).

I'll post pictures as things progress. Here are a few to kick things off:











What it looks like today:



A shot of the bar/brewery area today:



----------

Note: Ordering the products listed above (or any other product) using our links helps support our site at no extra cost to you. We thank you!

Kal

[perogi]

Looks so sweet!

Need any new friends?

[kal]

Note: Ordering the products listed below (or any other product) using our links helps support our site at no extra cost to you. We thank you!

-------------

I've also ordered the necessary components for the bar tap setup, which includes:

This T-Tower:



Link: http://www.micromatic.com/draft-keg-beer/towers-pid-METRO-T-8PSSKR.html?affId=70238

I did a lot of research into towers and went through 2 or 3 designs before settling on this T-design mostly for the narrow width. There are many sellers/manufacturers of towers. Most use vinyl line inside the towers for the beer, which I don't like. This one has stainless product lines and copper glycol lines. The beer will only ever be in contact with barrier tubing or stainless. No vinyl at all. The shanks are stainless too (most others are brass). The copper glycol lines mean more efficient cooling of the shanks, though all towers seem to use copper.

The faucet handles have to be ordered separately and can be found here:
http://www.micromatic.com/draft-keg-beer/tap-handles-pid-4301-CHP.html?affId=70238

I won't be using the stainless faucets it comes with. Instead, I'm using forward sealing Perlick faucets for 6 of the faucets:

Link: http://morebeer.com/view_product/6495//Perlick_Faucet_-_Stainless?a_aid=theelectricbrewery

Homebrewers really need to use forward sealing faucets. Normal faucets get gummed up and stick as we don't pour beer 8 hrs/day like bars do. It's not uncommon for bar owners to have to squirt water into their 'regular' taps at the start of the shift to get them unstuck. That problem doesn't exist with these taps. I've been using them since about 2004 and they're fantastic. These Perlicks are stainless as well.

I'm also be adding two stout faucets:



Link: http://www.micromatic.com/draft-keg-beer/taps-faucets-pid-JESF-4.html?affId=70238

These are also stainless. Micromatic seems to have the only stainless (not chrome) stout faucets available. Stout faucets, by the nature of their design, are already 'forward sealing' so sticking shouldn't be a problem.

These faucets will be used to serve something that mimics somewhat flat english style beer. Think Boddingtons or an ESB with a nice creamy head, or of course, Guinness. You basically keg the beer flat and then push with a 75/25 blend of Nitrogen/C02 (called beer gas) instead of only C02. The 75/25 blend has so little C02 that it doesn't carbonate the beer over time (which is what we want). The beer will only have the residual carbonation in it from fermentation, but pushing it through the restrictor plate in the stout faucet knocks out most of the remaning C02 and gives the beer a nice creamy (Guinness style) head and next to no carbonic bite. I will need new stout faucets and a regulator + tank (not yet ordered - I can get them locally).

In front of the tower will sit this drip tray with glass rinser:



Link: http://www.micromatic.com/draft-keg-beer/drip-trays-pid-DP-MET-T-24GR.html?affId=70238


Beer pours better in a wet glass and the rinser is also great when someone wants to sample 2-3 beers. You can rinse in between. The added bonus is that the rinser cleans out the drip tray. On my old setup I'd have to get out the brush and scrub the dried beer build-up out of the drip tray once every few weeks. By having a rinser it's easy to clean and will likely happen just by the fact of using it.

The tower is less than 15 feet from the serving keezer so 1/4" ID beer lines (not bigger) are more than adequate. 1/4" ID beer line is good to about 50' so for home use it'll be rare that anyone needs larger diameter beer line. The smaller diameter line the better, as then chilling it is easier too. A trunk line (ie: a bundle of product + 2 glycol lines) like this is going to be used:



Link: http://www.micromatic.com/draft-keg-beer/glycol-pid-CDI842.html?affId=70238


From my research, these guys make the best trunk lines. They're incredibly robust and well sealed to keep in the cool as you run glycol through them continuously.

In my previous setup I used BevSeal product line and made my own trunk line with 4 beer lines and 2 copper glycol lines. That was somewhat of a pain to make and then wrap with pipe insulation. It worked, but the result wasn't pretty. Given all the time and labour required, this time around I want to go with the 'professional' solution. The cost is not that much more.

Speaking of glycol, I don't actually use it - I'll use the same stuff as on my old bar setup which is RV/cottage antifreeze. It's a liquid that you're supposed to pour into your toilets in the RV or cottage for the winter to stop them from freezing. It's drain safe.

My total run is under 15 feet so a container in the serving keezer with a simple little pond pump will be used to recirculate.

The keezer set to above freezing doesn't actually chill the antifreeze enough so a loop of copper will be placed in a freezer that's well below freezing to allow it to chill adequately as it recirculates. This is the same freezer that I'll be using to store hops and yeast. It'll a very small freezer.

This is the pond pump that I used before on my previous setup and will continue to use:



Link: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00002N8GS/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=theelectricbrewery-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00002N8GS

Since my line length is only 15' I don't need a massively powerful pond pump. The one above worked fine before with a similar length of 1/4" glycol line plus about 20 feet of copper coil in the freezer. This time I'm going to use bigger 3/8" line so there should be even less restriction. The pump ran for 5+ years straight, 24 hours/day, 365 days a year. That's what they're meant to do. No issues.

To get the antifreeze to and from this freezer, the glycol tubes in the main trunk are cut and spliced to a second line with only the glycol shooting off to a freezer. So I ordered 10 feet of this glycol only trunk line:



Link: http://www.micromatic.com/part-pid-CDI-GLY-2.html?affId=70238

Normally bars would use a glycol power pack like this to both chill and pump the glycol:



Link: http://www.micromatic.com/draft-keg-beer/glycol-pid-MMPP4300-SF.html?affId=70238

In my case, the distance between the taps and the kegs was designed to be as short as possible, only about 10-15 feet (one of the design goals of the basement) so a "real" glycol chiller isn't required. I wanted to avoid using a real glycol chiller because:

- They're loud
- They run hot
- They use a lot of power
- They're expensive (around $1000 instead of $40-$100 for a pond pump)

In my case, with a short run I'll be able to use a simple $50 pond pump to push glycol through a 3/8" ID copper coil in the freezer. This is what I did in the old bar setup and it worked very well. So well in fact that in humid months condensation would form on the taps:



This is only a taste of what's to come. I'll be documenting the whole thing with detailed pictures/instructions/etc, similar to what's been done with the previous brewery build for anyone that wants to steal ideas.

-----------

Note: Ordering the products listed above (or any other product) using our links helps support our site at no extra cost to you. We thank you!

Kal

[kal]

Note: Ordering the products listed below (or any other product) using our links helps support our site at no extra cost to you. We thank you!

-------------

I've also ordered the necessary components for the bar tap setup, which includes:

This T-Tower:



Link: http://www.micromatic.com/draft-keg-beer/towers-pid-METRO-T-8PSSKR.html?affId=70238

I did a lot of research into towers and went through 2 or 3 designs before settling on this T-design mostly for the narrow width. There are many sellers/manufacturers of towers. Most use vinyl line inside the towers for the beer, which I don't like. This one has stainless product lines and copper glycol lines. The beer will only ever be in contact with barrier tubing or stainless. No vinyl at all. The shanks are stainless too (most others are brass). The copper glycol lines mean more efficient cooling of the shanks, though all towers seem to use copper.

The faucet handles have to be ordered separately and can be found here:
http://www.micromatic.com/draft-keg-beer/tap-handles-pid-4301-CHP.html?affId=70238

I won't be using the stainless faucets it comes with. Instead, I'm using forward sealing Perlick faucets for 6 of the faucets:

Link: http://morebeer.com/view_product/6495//Perlick_Faucet_-_Stainless?a_aid=theelectricbrewery

Homebrewers really need to use forward sealing faucets. Normal faucets get gummed up and stick as we don't pour beer 8 hrs/day like bars do. It's not uncommon for bar owners to have to squirt water into their 'regular' taps at the start of the shift to get them unstuck. That problem doesn't exist with these taps. I've been using them since about 2004 and they're fantastic. These Perlicks are stainless as well.

I'm also be adding two stout faucets:



Link: http://www.micromatic.com/draft-keg-beer/taps-faucets-pid-JESF-4.html?affId=70238

These are also stainless. Micromatic seems to have the only stainless (not chrome) stout faucets available. Stout faucets, by the nature of their design, are already 'forward sealing' so sticking shouldn't be a problem.

These faucets will be used to serve something that mimics somewhat flat english style beer. Think Boddingtons or an ESB with a nice creamy head, or of course, Guinness. You basically keg the beer flat and then push with a 75/25 blend of Nitrogen/C02 (called beer gas) instead of only C02. The 75/25 blend has so little C02 that it doesn't carbonate the beer over time (which is what we want). The beer will only have the residual carbonation in it from fermentation, but pushing it through the restrictor plate in the stout faucet knocks out most of the remaning C02 and gives the beer a nice creamy (Guinness style) head and next to no carbonic bite. I will need new stout faucets and a regulator + tank (not yet ordered - I can get them locally).

In front of the tower will sit this drip tray with glass rinser:



Link: http://www.micromatic.com/draft-keg-beer/drip-trays-pid-DP-MET-T-24GR.html?affId=70238


Beer pours better in a wet glass and the rinser is also great when someone wants to sample 2-3 beers. You can rinse in between. The added bonus is that the rinser cleans out the drip tray. On my old setup I'd have to get out the brush and scrub the dried beer build-up out of the drip tray once every few weeks. By having a rinser it's easy to clean and will likely happen just by the fact of using it.

The tower is less than 15 feet from the serving keezer so 1/4" ID beer lines (not bigger) are more than adequate. 1/4" ID beer line is good to about 50' so for home use it'll be rare that anyone needs larger diameter beer line. The smaller diameter line the better, as then chilling it is easier too. A trunk line (ie: a bundle of product + 2 glycol lines) like this is going to be used:



Link: http://www.micromatic.com/draft-keg-beer/glycol-pid-CDI842.html?affId=70238


From my research, these guys make the best trunk lines. They're incredibly robust and well sealed to keep in the cool as you run glycol through them continuously.

In my previous setup I used BevSeal product line and made my own trunk line with 4 beer lines and 2 copper glycol lines. That was somewhat of a pain to make and then wrap with pipe insulation. It worked, but the result wasn't pretty. Given all the time and labour required, this time around I want to go with the 'professional' solution. The cost is not that much more.

Speaking of glycol, I don't actually use it - I'll use the same stuff as on my old bar setup which is RV/cottage antifreeze. It's a liquid that you're supposed to pour into your toilets in the RV or cottage for the winter to stop them from freezing. It's drain safe.

My total run is under 15 feet so a container in the serving keezer with a simple little pond pump will be used to recirculate.

The keezer set to above freezing doesn't actually chill the antifreeze enough so a loop of copper will be placed in a freezer that's well below freezing to allow it to chill adequately as it recirculates. This is the same freezer that I'll be using to store hops and yeast. It'll a very small freezer.

This is the pond pump that I used before on my previous setup and will continue to use:



Link: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00002N8GS/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=theelectricbrewery-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00002N8GS

Since my line length is only 15' I don't need a massively powerful pond pump. The one above worked fine before with a similar length of 1/4" glycol line plus about 20 feet of copper coil in the freezer. This time I'm going to use bigger 3/8" line so there should be even less restriction. The pump ran for 5+ years straight, 24 hours/day, 365 days a year. That's what they're meant to do. No issues.

To get the antifreeze to and from this freezer, the glycol tubes in the main trunk are cut and spliced to a second line with only the glycol shooting off to a freezer. So I ordered 10 feet of this glycol only trunk line:



Link: http://www.micromatic.com/part-pid-CDI-GLY-2.html?affId=70238

Normally bars would use a glycol power pack like this to both chill and pump the glycol:



Link: http://www.micromatic.com/draft-keg-beer/glycol-pid-MMPP4300-SF.html?affId=70238

In my case, the distance between the taps and the kegs was designed to be as short as possible, only about 10-15 feet (one of the design goals of the basement) so a "real" glycol chiller isn't required. I wanted to avoid using a real glycol chiller because:

- They're loud
- They run hot
- They use a lot of power
- They're expensive (around $1000 instead of $40-$100 for a pond pump)

In my case, with a short run I'll be able to use a simple $50 pond pump to push glycol through a 3/8" ID copper coil in the freezer. This is what I did in the old bar setup and it worked very well. So well in fact that in humid months condensation would form on the taps:



This is only a taste of what's to come. I'll be documenting the whole thing with detailed pictures/instructions/etc, similar to what's been done with the previous brewery build for anyone that wants to steal ideas.

-----------

Note: Ordering the products listed above (or any other product) using our links helps support our site at no extra cost to you. We thank you!

Kal

[kellzey]

Finally, we get to see what all of those Amazon links are paying for.

I'm kidding!

Looks awesome!

[kal]

[kal]

[kal]

[kal]

[Holter]

Glass rinser. Sick. I would love to have one of those as well. I wish we had basements in California, all us guys get are garages. Sadly I have neither!

Looking forward to reading this thread as it develops!

[wubears71]

You really suck!!!!! I'm so jealous of your entire basement as it will have everything I want except for a wood working shop.

I cannot wait to see the final product. Having that extra space will be so nice. The tanks/conicals will be a nice addition.

[huaco]

Congrats on the new house and the new expansion... You won't know what to do with all that room in your brewery! Looked like the last one was quite cramped. I like that movie that is showing in the theater...

[perogi]

Yeah but are you going to be getting a keg droid?
http://www.engadget.com/2012/04/30/kegdroid-beer-xoom-tablet-nfc/

[benoitbo]

Oh wow Kal right on time. I will soon be starting my bar (as soon as I get the brewery done.. yea I know taking forever) but the basement is in the plan as well. I already have bunch of material laying in the basement waiting for my time.. I also work from home but odd hours and long shift.. (Joy of managing Outsourcing..) so I end up never having time to work on the build .. Your basement is really sick Beside the Monster Lounge and the awesome home theater. The Windows between the Bar and the Brewhouse is going to be spectacular. Since I`ve used your links for all my build and live only 3 hours from you, I`m looking forward to sip a beer at your bar and have a long chat on how amazing this whole adventure is.

I'll be looking forward to learn more on your Glycol system and having both CO2 and Nitrogene. I'm probably going to try to clone your bar I also wanted exactly 8 taps.. Coincidence?

btw, what tool did you used for your 3D modeling? pretty neat.

Cheers

Ben

[kal]

[kal]

[randbrewer1010]

Nice plans Kal. I was just going to ask how you did them. I have been using Sketchup to design some things. It is a nice tool, a little fiddly at times.

[KES]

So...When do we get our invitations to the grand opening party?!

[huaco]

[kal]

It's a bit early.

You guys can come and help shovel out the chunks of cement floor they're currently jackhammering out directly below my office. Had to dig out my earplugs.

Kal

[kal]

It's a bit early.

You guys can come and help shovel out the chunks of cement floor they're currently jackhammering out directly below my office. Had to dig out my earplugs.

Kal

[kal]

Concrete removed today for the shower and toilet plumbing. The existing toilet drain in the pictures is being moved to the right to make room for a urinal.

The shower will be walk-in (flush with the regular bathroom tiled floor) with a linear drain, hence the reason the floor needed to be broken for entire shower area.





Kal

[kal]

Concrete removed today for the shower and toilet plumbing. The existing toilet drain in the pictures is being moved to the right to make room for a urinal.

The shower will be walk-in (flush with the regular bathroom tiled floor) with a linear drain, hence the reason the floor needed to be broken for entire shower area.





Kal

[foomench]

Very nice looking plans, and thanks for posting. My mental plans have gone through many iterations, and will probably go through a few more, but hopefully I'll be building out this year. At one point I had the glass window into the brewery idea. That was set aside when I realized I wanted a walk-in cooler, however, and at first that was going to be located between the brewery and the lounge/bar area. Now the brewery may get moved to a corner so we can fit an extra room, but the walk-in may end up being even bigger in a different area. No glycol needed in my current thinking--taps will be on the outside wall of the walk-in.

[perogi]

"right to make room for a urinal." oh bless your heart - I would LOVE to have a urinal when I finally build a mancave!

[kal]

Yup, the windows make it a bit hard since you can't use any high things (like fridges) backing against them in the brewery. No point in having windows if all you're going to see is a fridge evaporation coils. So I'm kinda of stuck to using keezers or low bar fridges or similar.

I'd love to have something like this 5-keg back bar stainless commercial fridge but that's likely not to happen in this lifetime:



Link: http://www.micromatic.com/refrigerators/back-bar-pid-MBB94S.html?affId=70238

Kal

[kal]

Yup, the windows make it a bit hard since you can't use any high things (like fridges) backing against them in the brewery. No point in having windows if all you're going to see is a fridge evaporation coils. So I'm kinda of stuck to using keezers or low bar fridges or similar.

I'd love to have something like this 5-keg back bar stainless commercial fridge but that's likely not to happen in this lifetime:



Link: http://www.micromatic.com/refrigerators/back-bar-pid-MBB94S.html?affId=70238

Kal