Recent content by Steve-H

Ok guys...No real progress in posting - but progress is being made...Kinda! As the pics show above, there were some serious 4" cast iron radiator pipes right in the first 1/3rd of the room, and they'd go right through the brew area. The thing is - they were needed when the house was first...

Im tossed here. I would enjoy making my own glycol chiller - but am unsure if I can make one good enough to cold crash in the fermenter. Should have no issues w/the bottom dump.

Ok guys - sorry I missed last Sunday's update....I had to take an early flight out for the week. Here's where we stand: The framing is complete! I wound up going w/the false floor, but with the joists on the floor (for the most part - I gave a few degrees of tilt towards the drain). Speaking...

So....its late in the day; perhaps my math is bad...but: The brew area is 106"x29", and figure a min depth of 6". So that gives us 18,444cu/in. 1 cu/yd is 46,656 cu/in. I figured an additional 25% or so for the gradient. In terms of bonding, I would use masonry screws in a grid pattern every...

Thanks for the info. The challenge I have is I need an elevated surface such that I can put my drain into. I have no desire to cut into the slab - and I also do not want to open pandora's box in dealing with the cast iron plumbing that already exists. So, to your earlier point, my only other...

For the false floor I was going to use 2x4 stringers...so there would be an airspace under it. As the floor and basin will be tiled I can assure it is waterproof. Fair point though - I'll make sure that there is ventilation to the back side. The floor tile is non-slip, but will most likely use...

Well....had a significant layout change. I decided to pull the trigger on a jacketed fermenter - which will require a bit more room than the current layout can afford. So here's what we're looking at. I gain about 21" more brewing space length and about 8" more in height. I also gained about...

That is awesome - nice work! How thick of an epoxy layer did you do?

Thanks guys - been slowly collecting more supplies. This area will be for brewing; but I'll also put a small table down there to hang out while I brew. Relative to the floor drain - I am intending on installing one in the area where the kettles will be. Unfortunately nothing is as easy as it...

Well..that's no good. Looks like there are issues w/the permissions in Picasa? I had to save and attach.

Saved for future use...

Perhaps I should back up.... Now that I am ready to dedicate some time back to brewing, I've decided to go with an eHERMS setup, using 1/2BBL MT, HLT, and insulated MT from Stout. Im leaning towards making my own PID setup; but will need to do some further research there. In the meantime...

And the toilet and some unwanted plumbing needed to go. Unfortunately it wasn't as easy as it should have been - being cast iron. Thankfully my googlefu was strong and I realized that the flange was 'soldered' onto the pipe. A bit of MAP gas and it was gone I'll then put a rubber coupler...

All, Well its been quite some time since I've been active here....Lots of changes since! I started out extract brewing about 10 years ago; made the jump over to grain shortly there after, and was pretty active for a few years. Life just got in the way. Graduation, house, demanding...

How would I explain that to a potential buyer down the road though ? "Victorian with real charm ! 12' ceilings, 8' windows, hardwood floors through out. 3/4 basement with step down beer cave...."