Indoor brew rooms and water management

[kcinpdx]

Hi all - long time brewer but relatively new to electric and indoor brewing. I'm curious to how people keep their indoor spaces relatively clean and dry. I'm brewing in a large garage bay and have gotten into the habit of simply hosing out the bay and fermenting fridges for cleaning, letting the wastewater travel down the driveway. Although I live in Portland where water is plentiful, I would like to use less water, have a drier space and avoid the ire of the neighborhood association. I suppose I could go through the expensive process of digging a floor drain, but I would prefer something a little less expensive. How are others managing indoor brewing spaces? I've seen some very fancy ones and although I am sure they are staged for the pictures, they look like they are clean and dry!

 

[burdbrew]

Where inside can you brew? I'm a basement guy. If you can see a drain, you can pump to it. I have a sink hooked up to the pump in the link. Works great. I have a mop sink in a different part of my basement that I use for mopping up any mess or moisture left over from brew day. Between this practice and using an oversized exhaust fan, I keep things pretty clean and dry in my brew room.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001DEOFLW/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

 

[kcinpdx]

I'm currently in the garage and am fine with staying there, but I could go to the basement and access drainage a bit easier. But then I would have to run about 50ft of 6 gauge line to get the 50a plug where I need it.

 

[SanPancho]

get a mop/utility sink. you can plumb it right into your existing drain lines pretty easily, or drain it into a basin with a pump towards a drain. depending on your brew size, you should be able to dump kettle/tuns/etc into it pretty easily.

but as far as just hosing stuff down that's pretty much out of the question, or at least you'd have to scale it way back. there's just not really any way to do that without having a very large catch basin (like the size of a kiddie pool), or lifting it all up off the floor so you can drain to an existing line.

 

[Yooper]

I brew in my first floor laundry room. Clean is more difficult- no hosing down here! But I use my utility sink and it's fine.

 

[burdbrew]

Don't make a mess and there isn't much to clean. I've had to earn this wisdom.

 

[kcinpdx]

Don't make a mess and there isn't much to clean. I've had to earn this wisdom.

I've struggled w that all my life. I'm just messy when I cook, brew, even clean!