Xmas Present - Help Required!

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Munchkin88

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So Xmas is coming up and I thought that it would be a great idea if I converted our shed into a "Brew Shed" as a present for my boyfriend. The problem is I know nothing about brewing, well at least I didn't until I found this forum!

It can't solely be a brew shed as it needs to store some camping stuff, random gardening stuff (including a lawnmower) and a tumble dryer. But I've tidied this stuff up so it takes up as little space as possible, chucked out the **** we didn't need and now have a reasonable space left for the brew setup.

He's made a few kits before so he has the basics but he's really interested in moving on from kits. Partly because of price and partly because he's not done too much brewing, I'm intending on setting up a BIAB setup but at the same time trying to keep options open assuming he'll want to progress to the all grain shiny brewing at some point in the future.

I have the BIAB starter kit from HBC which should have all the equipment he needs to get started. I've got as far as painting the walls with a white gloss paint (hoping it means condensation will run off rather than soak into the wood), I did consider insulation and board but it worked out pretty expensive. It's always an upgrade he can make later. I've also put down some lino so if he spills it won't soak into the wooden floor and I've built a shelving unit along the back wall where the countertop is in two halves and each half can be removed so that he can choose whether to use the worktop space or whether to remove it and run tubing to a vessel on the bottom shelf. If he moves to 3 vessel I figured he can add an extra tier over the half where he removed the worktop.

The shed is just about ready to setup the kit and that's where I'm struggling...

I have the copper wort chiller and I have a garden hose. Can you guys recommend the best way to connect the chiller to the hose? I intend to drill a couple holes in the wall of the shed and run the hose from the outside tap to inside the shed and to have another hose hooked up on the outside of the shed which he can unravel and lay to the nearest drain. Is there a certain type of hose I need to use and which connectors work best?

My other query is regarding electrics. The shed has electricity in the form of a 4 socket extension which is wired directly into the fuse box on the main supply. It's too far from the kettle for the cable to stretch so I'm looking at using a cable connector and an additional section of cable to run the wire around the shed to the socket. Given it's an element I'm assuming it'll be power hungry and I'm slightly wary of DIY electricity work. Have any of you guys split the cable of an element or can you think of any alternatives to my problem.

Apologies for the ramblings and (possibly stupid) questions but I think I've got in way over my head but I'd like to avoid giving him a half finished shed for Xmas. Your help would be much appreciated!!
 
What a cracking present. Someone is going to be happy. Not sure if I can answer all your questions but will try.

With the chiller you can use normal hose pipe but if he is also using the same water source to fill the vessels you may want to get food safe pipe, the blue pipe. Any cheap hose connectors will work. Hozepipe are good but more expensive and you will need ptfe tape to make it all fit.

I am not good at electrics but I know my HBC boiler trips one of my extension leads.
 
So Xmas is coming up and I thought that it would be a great idea if I converted our shed into a "Brew Shed" as a present for my boyfriend. The problem is I know nothing about brewing, well at least I didn't until I found this forum!

It can't solely be a brew shed as it needs to store some camping stuff, random gardening stuff (including a lawnmower) and a tumble dryer. But I've tidied this stuff up so it takes up as little space as possible, chucked out the **** we didn't need and now have a reasonable space left for the brew setup.

He's made a few kits before so he has the basics but he's really interested in moving on from kits. Partly because of price and partly because he's not done too much brewing, I'm intending on setting up a BIAB setup but at the same time trying to keep options open assuming he'll want to progress to the all grain shiny brewing at some point in the future.

I have the BIAB starter kit from HBC which should have all the equipment he needs to get started. I've got as far as painting the walls with a white gloss paint (hoping it means condensation will run off rather than soak into the wood), I did consider insulation and board but it worked out pretty expensive. It's always an upgrade he can make later. I've also put down some lino so if he spills it won't soak into the wooden floor and I've built a shelving unit along the back wall where the countertop is in two halves and each half can be removed so that he can choose whether to use the worktop space or whether to remove it and run tubing to a vessel on the bottom shelf. If he moves to 3 vessel I figured he can add an extra tier over the half where he removed the worktop.

The shed is just about ready to setup the kit and that's where I'm struggling...

I have the copper wort chiller and I have a garden hose. Can you guys recommend the best way to connect the chiller to the hose? I intend to drill a couple holes in the wall of the shed and run the hose from the outside tap to inside the shed and to have another hose hooked up on the outside of the shed which he can unravel and lay to the nearest drain. Is there a certain type of hose I need to use and which connectors work best?

My other query is regarding electrics. The shed has electricity in the form of a 4 socket extension which is wired directly into the fuse box on the main supply. It's too far from the kettle for the cable to stretch so I'm looking at using a cable connector and an additional section of cable to run the wire around the shed to the socket. Given it's an element I'm assuming it'll be power hungry and I'm slightly wary of DIY electricity work. Have any of you guys split the cable of an element or can you think of any alternatives to my problem.

Apologies for the ramblings and (possibly stupid) questions but I think I've got in way over my head but I'd like to avoid giving him a half finished shed for Xmas. Your help would be much appreciated!!
you could consider a gas burner instead but someway of venting steam out of shed is advisable.
 
I have the copper wort chiller and I have a garden hose. Can you guys recommend the best way to connect the chiller to the hose? I intend to drill a couple holes in the wall of the shed and run the hose from the outside tap to inside the shed and to have another hose hooked up on the outside of the shed which he can unravel and lay to the nearest drain. Is there a certain type of hose I need to use and which connectors work best?*

You should be able to connect hose to the water chiller with a couple of jubilee clips, if your hose is going straight on to the copper pipe. Normal garden hose pipe will be fine.

My other query is regarding electrics. The shed has electricity in the form of a 4 socket extension which is wired directly into the fuse box on the main supply. It's too far from the kettle for the cable to stretch so I'm looking at using a cable connector and an additional section of cable to run the wire around the shed to the socket. Given it's an element I'm assuming it'll be power hungry and I'm slightly wary of DIY electricity work. Have any of you guys split the cable of an element or can you think of any alternatives to my problem.*

What wattage is the element. Whatever it is, divide it by 240 (your voltage) and that will tell you how much current it draws (2.4kW element for instance = 10 amps). Could you get a single socket extension cable from your existing extension lead to run the kettle? It isn't best practice tbh but it sounds like the only alternatives are longer existing cable from fuse box to shed, or redesign shed! Whatever you do, don't overload the circuit and if in doubt get a qualified electrician to give advice/help out.
 
I am not a electrician but if your supply comes direct from the consumer unit then it should be rated at 13 amp, you would need to check this is the case.
If so this will run a single element, but if you add an extension lead then get one with the same rating. Some have thermal cut outs and will not run a boiler element.
As said if you are not sure then get an expert advice.
You will need to look at ventilation as there will be quite a bit of steam. Might not be a problem in good weather as you can have the door open but it is not always nice weather.
 
I have nothing to add other than, what a lovely present and if you decide you'd rather live with a pot bellied, middle aged, short sighted, accident prone walking disaster, and would like to make him a brew shed, then I'm all ears.
 
Thanks for all the tips! I got hold of some garden hose and jubilee clips as well as a standard hose connector and it looks like that's going to work - thanks!

I didn't risk cutting the electrics cable. I managed to find a 13a rated single socket extension so I've tacked that around the shed so the kettle can now plug in.

Haha Bevvied, if things ever go **** up I'll keep you in mind! :)
 
Yes, sounds like a fantastic gift. We'd love to see how it turns out.
 
Sure, I'll take some pics when I'm out there this weekend. Should hopefully have it finished by then! :)
 
I finally got around to taking some pictures yesterday. It took longer than I thought to get it finished (well nearly). Just some curtains to string up to cover the tumble dryer and the **** stored in the corner under the unit. Also for the window... just to make it look pretty!

I drilled a couple holes in the wall to run the hose through, as you can see there is now essentially and "in" and an "out" so the wort chiller can be attached. The hook stores the hose that can be unrolled and run down to the drain at the end of the house. I tested it yesterday and it works - no leaks!

The unit is in parts so that he can adapt it to a tiered system if he needs to. There is a tub underneath the hose connectors in case they leak and also to use as a basin if he needs to clean and sterilise anything.

Being a girl I couldn't resist the finishing touches so there's a periodic table of beer style poster hanging on the back wall. There's also a shelving unit with tubs and containers for storing various items. They're not too big so they'll likely be for speciality grains and he can get a larger container for the bulk grain.

Only 5 days left of making the tumble dryer trips because he's not allowed in the shed - Xmas can't come quick enough!!

I'd love to get your comments on the setup and any suggestions for changes to improve the the shed would be great.

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Blast its not my shed either, so can I offer myself as an alternative to bevvied?

Seriously now though, he is one lucky fella, what a sweetheart you are, I hope he appreciates it!
 
Good effort, and I hope your present from him is as impressive and well considered. You certainly deserve it!

MM
 
Very impressive. You can be proud of that. I hope you gets you something you deserve would love to know more about that poster
I got the poster on Amazon. I'm not sure I can post the link but if you search for "Periodic table of beers" on the site it comes up :)

Here's a close up picture of it. I have no idea what any of the numbers mean but I'm sure it'll make sense to you!

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