Getting started with Homebrew
So, where does one get started with homebrewewing beer? It may seem daunting at first, expensive, sounds like it is easy to go wrong, possibly even dangerous - but it really is not. If you are able to follow relatively easy cleaning and sanitation procedures, and know your way around a kitchen, you are off to a good start. And, you can brew some great beer for much less than you buy it. I can easily stay under a dollar a bottle - and could probably cut that almost in half buying ingredients in bulk.
Basement Brewery
Pictures soon...
This past weekend we got most of the area cleaned out a much as needed - and hoping to wrap that up this weekend and with a little bit of luck get the lumber we need dropped off so we can get started.
Design is mostly decided on. Along the back wall will be a 6 foot section, with a lower roll-away base on the far left end - this will be for the filled fermenter, to roll it down to the fermentation chamber. On the right end we are going to have the smaller sink right in the corner, and from there it will extend out into the basement. From here we have one of two options. It will either end there, out 9 feet from the back wall, or alternatively it will wrap back around in a horseshoe shape. Possibly just a 4 foot section.
Or my third option is to move the the opposite wall and set up so that with your back to the front wall the work area follows the wall to your left side, out the same 8 feet, then turns into the room for 8 feet again. Benefit to this is we would have a window behind the work area, and it is more out of the way. Also closer to the electric panel. Downsides are that water, drainage, and ventilation would need to run all the way across the basement. But it would be a "cleaner" work area as far as obstructions go, and it could theoretically morph into a brew/bar area.... Decisions, decisions.