It's official starting my own brewing business!

[Boar Beer]

I am with you 100% We brewed for 3 years in a big home brew way before getting our license. Had lots for fun, gave away lots of beer, and learned a lot.
and .....Never borrowed any money.

 

[akthor]

So here is the back yard we are turning into a beer garden. We need another 3 sections of perforated pipe for the drainage ditch. We are having gravel and loam brought in this week to level it out then we will move the hops near the drainage ditch. trellises (sp?) will go up 8 feet then over and up to the house with the goal of making a hop canopy of sorts. Slate pavers will go on the gravel and loam in between with Irish moss planted in it. We hope to get everything except the pavers done this weekend.

You can see how we temporarily planted the hops. There are 5 varieties.

 

[akthor]

Next the walk in. I need to get more insulation for the floor and ceiling. I have the sheathing. Still trying to figure out what to do for a door. I missed out by like 15 mins a guy giving away 3 glass walk in doors on Craigslist

So the plan insulate the floor and ceiling put the sheathing on 3/4" ply for the floor and 3/4 in OSB for the ceiling. Then frame in the wall the door and AC unit go in. Insulate and sheath it. The I will be gluing some 1/4 foam that I got for my wooden hotub project, it's used between the walls and liners in pools, all over the inside. I plane to use that knobby plastic stuff they sell by the 4x8 sheet at Lowes like the stuff they use in walk ins on top of that for the walls and ceiling and put some sort of rubber flooring on the floor.

The space will be about 6' x 6' x 7' I will have some sort of shelving in it to utilize all the space.

 

[Cape Brewing]

Totally agree on the debt piece... we didn't borrow a dime, not even a dollar on a credit card, and we all have our full time jobs.

Good luck on the walk-in. I have the exact same design in my house for my personal bar, although a little but smaller (pics in my gallery). I could offer one bit of advice but I learned that lesson!

Good luck

 

[JUST_BREW_IT]

totally agree on the debt piece... We didn't borrow a dime, not even a dollar on a credit card, and we all have our full time jobs.

Good luck on the walk-in. I have the exact same design in my house for my personal bar, although a little but smaller (pics in my gallery). I could offer one bit of advice but i learned that lesson!

Good luck

lol

 

[akthor]

Sorry I just realized the pics were sideways

 

[Schumed]

unsubscribed

 

[NickTheGreat]

I'd love to do this in the future. Though, I think my smoking and brewing will both need to be stepped up. I will visit this if I'm ever in Maine

 

[akthor]

Actually if you used an AC unit wiring directions would be appreciated

Totally agree on the debt piece... we didn't borrow a dime, not even a dollar on a credit card, and we all have our full time jobs.

Good luck on the walk-in. I have the exact same design in my house for my personal bar, although a little but smaller (pics in my gallery). I could offer one bit of advice but I learned that lesson!

Good luck

 

[Cape Brewing]

Actually if you used an AC unit wiring directions would be appreciated

For mine (only saying that becuase I'm not 100% positive this will translate to whatever AC unit you get/have)...

When I popped the front off the front of my AC unit, I could tell where the hots were to both the fan speed dial (on/off/lowfan/high fan) as well as the "thermostat" which was nothing more than a radial dial from low to high...

I simply disconnected the hot from the "thermostat" and wired that through a temp controller that I could bring down to 40 degrees accurately and plugged that in totally separately.

I then kept the on/off/etc switch wired as-is and plugged that in... creating two separate plugs; one for on/off and one for the actual temp controller.

I leave my AC fan on 24/7/365. I had an ancient unit I did this with first and that fan ran 24/7/365 for a few years and then I replaced the unit with a brand new one about 9 months ago and that fan has been running 24/7. The reason you keep the fan going is that, when temp warms up and the compressor kicks on, you WILL get at least some level of frost on the coils... hopefully the AC unit will chill the space quickly, the compressor will kick off, and if the fan is going, it'll, very quickly defrost the coils.

It simply helps the AC unit from freezing up (you're number one issue with walk-ins like this).

Another solution is buying a Chill-bot... I've heard really good things about them but they are a bit pricey. I've never used one.

The other thing is... and I think you said you were going to do it... but you NEED to put as air-tight a vapor barrier as you can in that thing. I lined mine with 6mm plastic and made it as air tight as possible. If you don't the walk-in will draw moisture right through the wood and your AC unit will freeze up on you constantly (I learned that the hard way).

 

[akthor]

Yeah I dont have any interest in a cool bot either. My plan was to rewire it and either build a temp controller or use a johnston controller like on my keezer. I had planned on having some sort of fan running 24/7 because I have read about the cois freezing. Your solution of wiring the fan separately and keeping the fan in the AC on is one I haven't read about and is pretty ingenious. I have three AC's to choose from and one of them is not digital and has knobs so I will try this with that one. Thanks!

I am with you on air tightness. I actually think I will also paint the entire inside with this insulating paint stuff we used on the interior and exterior of the house. Ceramic stuff you add to the paint. Worked wonders on the tightness of the house. So paint, foam, then the plastic sheathing with all the seams and corners caulked should be pretty airtight.

What did you do for a door? That's the last real thing I need to figure out. I keep searching for an actual walk in cooler door. No luck yet.

 

[Cape Brewing]

just framed in a simple door and got it as tight as I could into the framing... and then used weather stripping around the entire frame when it closes, it closes air tight. Seems to have worked fine.

 

[MMBB]

This is a great thread. Also, I love Maine! I haven't been for a few years but the itch to go is coming back.

 

[wherestheyeast]

Good luck to you! I appreciate your willingness to continue to share.

This has been an enjoyable read. Please keep it up!

-WTY

 

[two_one_seven]

Here is the deal I think you set the readers expectations wrong. If you had started with the I am building a large scale home brewery and then worked into the nano brewery business then I would have loved the thread. As it is I am disappointed with the progress. I wish you luck but honestly it doesn't look like you will make it to the commercial stage. You lack of dealing with regulatory issues will be your undoing. Sorry to be so blunt but it's the truth.

 

[bluenose]

Could you use a door from a standup freezer? It's already built for the purpose, even though it's not a full size mandoor

 

[techbrewie]

just finished reading all 42 pages. holy moly this is awesome! good luck man!

One thought. where I live we havea place that does 42 beers on tap, 5 different burgers, chips and fries. they only serve beer and hard cider. what ended up happening was that the burgers turned out to be so damn good people would come just for the food.

Their solution was to serve craft rootbeer (1818) on tap which is hands down the best root beer ive ever had. just an idea to keep any clientele happy that love the food and atmo but for some reason need to stay sober. plus a craft rootbeer would probably be super fun to do imo.

Just saying again, this is totally awesome.

 

[Erroneous]

just finished reading all 42 pages. holy moly this is awesome! good luck man!

One thought. where I live we havea place that does 42 beers on tap, 5 different burgers, chips and fries. they only serve beer and hard cider. what ended up happening was that the burgers turned out to be so damn good people would come just for the food.

Their solution was to serve craft rootbeer (1818) on tap which is hands down the best root beer ive ever had. just an idea to keep any clientele happy that love the food and atmo but for some reason need to stay sober. plus a craft rootbeer would probably be super fun to do imo.

Just saying again, this is totally awesome.

Serving homemade sodas is also great for customers with kids if you want to allow for that. I think as a camp ground it is something to consider.

 

[akthor]

Sorry if my progress is slower than folks would like. Time and money constraints are what they are. I work overnites which means I live like a vampire and work is limited to weekends. My 22 yr old son and his GF needed to move in with me recently. AND I had some car repair issues that drained the cash. What can I say life happens.

I will be getting the insulation for the rest of the cooler this weekend.

That is a great idea of using a stand up freezer door, or even a refrigerator door if big enough. When I go to get my insulation I will make a trip to the city dumps along the way and see if I can score one.

We do make root beer, using the syrup, sugar and water in a keg. Made some just recently for my GF's grad party from nursing school. It goes fast. Thinking of trying the recipe and adding beer yeast and letting it ferment out before kegging it to try and make some "hard root beer".


Our hop planting project has zoomed out of control. This is my GF's baby. I just wanted to grow hops and then this "beer garden" idea came up. Turns out my GF has always dreamed of having a German beer garden. So what was gonna be planting hops and running twine up the back of the house has turned into an 8' x 28' hop bed with 10" of gravel, 15" of loam (soil, dirt) and mulch on top not sure how much of that she wants. By the way this is all thanks to BobbyM's you tube videos that she found inspiration in. Also involves 10' steel poles, steel cables, etc. She has spent $400 in gravel loam and mulch alone, luckily we have friends in the dirt business who gave us deals. Also a waddle fence to enclose the raised bed which if you are not familiar with involves cutting down hundreds of saplings and trimming the branches off and weaving them between stakes.

This may sound like not big project but when all of this has to dug and moved by hand it is a lot of work. As my and my sons back arms and shoulders can attest. So this is the work so far. You can see the piles of gravel dirt and loam we are working with. We hope to have the bed and waddle done this weekend. Then we need to go to Vermont to pick up slate tiles that we are using for pavers with Irish moss in between them that will go between the house and hop bed. More gravel will have to be hauled in to level out the ground first

Hope to have finished pics of the hop bed and the completed shell of my cooler by the end of the weekend up.

 

[akthor]

Grrr having trouble posting photos.

 

[mattd2]

Grrr having trouble posting photos.

I was going to say where are the pics, but then I read the last line and thought we'd have to wait till the weekend

 

[akthor]

It's only letting me do them one at a time.

 

[akthor]

The dirt

 

[akthor]

We are getting those propane tanks moved.

All 10 of our hop rhizomes sprouted and have a foot or more of vine going so they are ready to go.

 

[akthor]

Waddle, will go up as high as the posts same with the loam and mulch. We got a few more inches of loam then whatever is left in mulch to the top.

 

[akthor]

Better view

 

[buzzno]

The German Beer Garden sounds awesome! Keep the dream alive brother.

 

[honreth]

Fan-freaking-tastic. Best of Luck. Glad to see this work in progress is going on. Keep it up man.. might have to make my first official personal road trip into the Yankee states.. But don't tell my southern family I said that.

 

[ahaley]

The German Beer Garden sounds awesome! Keep the dream alive brother.

When I move I may have to try this!

 

[Blackmuse]

akthor - You have all the right ideas man! A German Beer Garden is a great idea: especially if people can sit and enjoy beer out there! Keep rocking this project man! Don't listen to nay-sayers as you are DOING what most of us DREAM about.

You're right, life happens. It's not like you quite your job to focus on this full-time. It is what it is and eventually it will all come to fruition as long as you keep the dream alive man.

I live in Southern Maine and will totally be up to see this once it is complete! I can totally support a local nano-brew!

 

[RoughandReadyRanch]

2 days of reading off and on and all I can say is "wow...." I have so many questions but I feel you would be insulted, defensive or just ignore them so I will save my breath. Good luck.

 

[user 103238]

Kind of a dick move, don't you think? If you want to ask questions and engage in dialogue with this particular thread, then do so. If you're just going to hop on the bandwagon and make trolling comments, you should kindly move on.

2 days of reading off and on and all I can say is "wow...." I have so many questions but I feel you would be insulted, defensive or just ignore them so I will save my breath. Good luck.

 

[alpha224]

Kind of a dick move, don't you think? If you want to ask questions and engage in dialogue with this particular thread, then do so. If you're just going to hop on the bandwagon and make trolling comments, you should kindly move on.

Agreed, if it is a legitimate question (like what varieties of hops he is growing) then why not ask? But I am curious which hops you planted, akthor. And where you can find the rhizomes to plant.

 

[ahaley]

Agreed, if it is a legitimate question (like what varieties of hops he is growing) then why not ask? But I am curious which hops you planted, akthor. And where you can find the rhizomes to plant.

Thats something im quite curious about is hops growing in texas where im moving... do hops like hot?

 

[two_one_seven]

Check the hops board. They grow hops in Texas....if I remember right there is even a Texas hop picture thread. In general no they don't like hot but there are some that tolerate better.

 

[barrooze]

Thats something im quite curious about is hops growing in texas where im moving... do hops like hot?

Texas is quite diverse in climates. Where in TX are you moving?

 

[Trillium]

Sweet I wish I could quit my day job and make beer full time.

 

[ahaley]

Texas is quite diverse in climates. Where in TX are you moving?

Somewhere near the fort bliss area. Im not sure where im "allowed" to live.

 

[rpcvsam]

Good luck!

 

[JSahrle]

Any update on your progress. Enjoying your story thus far. Look forward to more status updates.