Munchkin88
New Member
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 crap 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!!
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 crap 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!!
