What to put in a brew shed?

Hi. I am building an insulated shed at the bottom of the garden with an electric supply just for my home brew. I am planning it now and want to put everything in place that I will need for brewing. As I am still new to brewing I wanted some advise. The shed will be about 4m x 2m. I like lager so will be putting a fridge in for lagering but other than that I was just going to put cupboards and work tops in it.

I am only brewing kits at the moment but am going to start extract brewing next and eventually all grain. I was thinking about putting a sink in but this would be a lot of work and expense so I may not. I use bottled water to brew so the sink may be a wast but would be much harder to put in later.

Any help and advise will be received with thanks

a fridge is a good idea also you need the worktops cupboards ive a freezer in mine for storing hops in also i have a metal bin for my grains stop any critters a sink would be handy ive got one but not fetched it yet as for supply i run a hose down the garden

A bar and a kegerator :thumb:

a TV and a bed then when the other half moans you can just head back into your brewing den!

A sink and water supply if possible.
A fridge to keep your ready to drink brews.
A stereo.
A sackful of French porn.
An alarm system!

Many of the " tips " I've noted and may include them in my garage !
Putting a water supply into a shed at the top of the garden will be very costly, The pipes have to go down deep to stop them freezing. A hose pipe will suffice if your a wimp and can't carry buckets...
A sink with a waste outlet would be handy it could run to a home made soak away.
If your thinking of moving on to AG eventually I would suggest you spend some time in making a good STRONG worktop, full 20-30-40 litre brewpots are very heavy. Work out the best height for it as you might want the boiler on it with room for mash tun and fermenter on floor. Don't use ordinary plastic bins to store grain in, the mice have a canny nack of chewing right through it. A new dustbin from Wikes seems to defeat them with my bird seed ( grain ) the mice by the way find plastic swing bins irresistible but unfortunately can't get back out again.
Try not to store any bottled beer in the shed the temps vary too much and it can get unbearable when we ( if we ) get a hot summer. water can freeze in winter. Find a stable place elsewhere.
Then fill the shed up plenty of shelves etc for all the paraphernalia you will collect. A nice comfy chair a door you can peg back, a garden pond just outside the entrance and you will think your in heaven when having a few tasters.
Get good security on your shed as stated, because when knowledge of your home brewing station gets out, scumbags will visit.
Don't advertise you brew your beer in the shed.

I love the suggestions guys, even the serious ones. The biggest oversight I have made so far is leaving out the space for a comfy chair.

The sink I think I will give a miss to as I can just use the one indoors and save myself a lot of bother.

I will probably put a networked PC down there that should cover TV, Stereo, looking up brewing advise and the French porn.

I am making it more into a garden office type room with double glazing, heating and insulation rather than just a standard shed so I will be putting shelves/cupboards for beer storage.

As for a bed, I will be in a shed full of beer so I wont care where I sleep after a few when I get sent down there by the wife.

I will leave room for a Fridge Freezer so I can use the fridge I have already to brew in and the fridge freezer to keep the finished beers in and the freezer part later on for hops apparently.

I may start a blog thing of the building project and put it in my signature. If I can work out how to do a blog thing. :

Think about your working heights and a split level for bottling also helps. Obviouslyyou'll go BIAB so somewhere for a pulley is a good idea

The Goatreich said:

A sink and water supply if possible.
A fridge to keep your ready to drink brews.
A stereo.
A sackful of French porn.
An alarm system!

Click to expand...

You forgot the tissues

quote.... You forgot the tissues


why should he cry ? :twisted:

SweetMoFo said:

I will probably put a networked PC down there that should cover TV, Stereo, looking up brewing advise and the French porn.

Click to expand...

Run a cable rather than relying on wireless devices, you can have a webcam setup for brew days :)

Northern Brewer said:

[quote="The Goatreich":2l91zw2c]A sink and water supply if possible.
A fridge to keep your ready to drink brews.
A stereo.
A sackful of French porn.
An alarm system!

Click to expand...

You forgot the tissues [/quote:2l91zw2c]

LMAO good one :lol:

dont forget the lock on the INSIDE of the door!
you dont want to be disturbed during those "sparging" moments!

Putting water supply wont be much just get a hose connector then somehow attach it to copper piping then have copper piping leading to sink so when you want water connect hose from outside of house to the copper pipe in shed might work :hmm:

Devonhomebrew said:

Putting water supply wont be much just get a hose connector then somehow attach it to copper piping then have copper piping leading to sink so when you want water connect hose from outside of house to the copper pipe in shed might work :hmm:

Click to expand...

Got an idea use copper for in the shed and on the outside have a tap of the shed on the outside of it then use the house tap to connect to hose pipe then use the tap on the shed to back fill through the tap and then through all copper pipe in shed then you have water connected to your sink/tap inside the shed i f you get what i mean :lol:

Northern Brewer said:

[quote="The Goatreich":25zk0bwa]A sink and water supply if possible.
A fridge to keep your ready to drink brews.
A stereo.
A sackful of French porn.
An alarm system!

Click to expand...

You forgot the tissues [/quote:25zk0bwa]

He said he wanted a PC, one of these will do

How about some guttering to collect rainwater to barrel?
With correct treatment and storage could be a good brew water?
Judging by recent rainfall you could have enough to go commercial!

Devonhomebrew said:

Devonhomebrew said:

Putting water supply wont be much just get a hose connector then somehow attach it to copper piping then have copper piping leading to sink so when you want water connect hose from outside of house to the copper pipe in shed might work :hmm:

Click to expand...

Got an idea use copper for in the shed and on the outside have a tap of the shed on the outside of it then use the house tap to connect to hose pipe then use the tap on the shed to back fill through the tap and then through all copper pipe in shed then you have water connected to your sink/tap inside the shed i f you get what i mean :lol:

Click to expand...

Getting the water in is the easy bit, it's the waste water etc that will just run into the garden and it could be gallons of water with sanitizer in it. I do have an outdoor tap and hose so it Should be ok.

Devonhomebrew said:

Devonhomebrew said:

Putting water supply wont be much just get a hose connector then somehow attach it to copper piping then have copper piping leading to sink so when you want water connect hose from outside of house to the copper pipe in shed might work :hmm:

Click to expand...

Got an idea use copper for in the shed and on the outside have a tap of the shed on the outside of it then use the house tap to connect to hose pipe then use the tap on the shed to back fill through the tap and then through all copper pipe in shed then you have water connected to your sink/tap inside the shed i f you get what i mean :lol:

Click to expand...

thats hat ive done then run the water out the back into a soak away