Mead and other Brewing Commentary

Thanks brenco20
It did develop over time.

The first were the Mr Beer type kits on the stove.
I quickly moved outdoors onto the grill and DME (dry malt extract kits)
That moved to a Turkey Fryer setup with a cooler mash tun and began all grain brewing
A began growing my own Cascade hops in the garden. Vacuum sealer included.
Next was the same thing but on the first three tier setup.
Added a kegerator with two taps to eliminate bottles
Then another burner added to the three tier so that I could heat the sparge water and boil on seperate burners.

Out to the shed. Converted a poorly used storage shed to the brew shed.
Built a fermentation chamber (for two conicals)  in the shed to augment the single bucket chamber built into my bar
Still using the three tier propane system inside the shed (with ventilation and a co detector of course)
Bought a grain mill to mill my own which means I needed to store grain.
Recently moved to an all in one electric system with the three system in reserve.

I now have the three tier propane cooler mash tun system, an electric all in one system, a refrigerated fermentation chamber with two conical Fast Ferment fermenters mounted inside. Extra carboy fermenters. Stored rarely used bottles, a 5 gallon sour cooler for kettle sours.
An air conditioned brew shed with grain storage (a variety of small and large bins). A grain mill, A two tap kegerator in the house with a bar that can host a third fermenter. Lots of Cascade hops grown each year vacuum sealed for later use.

Never enough beer to go around. I try to keep something in the pipeline but I usually fall short and only overlap two taps for a short time.
Been brewing mostly pale ales lately. Typically on the hoppy end. I prefer pale ale, IPA, and California Commons and the occasional sour. Only brew brown ales for a nephew (rarely) and a couple times for rvstauff. Nothing darker.

Check out my profile to find the Metal Shed Brewing site to see it over time. I can no longer update the website. Instagram has more recent pics. (I don't follow anyone so don't get upset when I don't follow you)

That photo looks familiar.....
It may have three tiers but it sure didn't make it easier

Really without a heat source for the top tier, I see no reason to use one Unless you are fly sparging. Before I built my first tiered stand I would heat mash and sparge water at ground level and simply pour it into the cooler and then drain into the kettle sitting on the burner. With the first runnings held in bucket to free up the kettle I could use it to heat the sparge water.

Required moving kettles or hot sparge water and wort around depending on what kettles or buckets I had at the time.
Here is the progression leaving of the small canning pot on the grill side burner.

Moving stuff around with only one kettle                                     This stayed here for a while.                                                           This one shows the sparge cooler too low. Reason is the old burner was to go on top next.


With new boil kettle & burner and moved old burner to the top tier for heating mash & Sparge.                      Then the All In One electric Klarstein.

Stuff keeps getting moved around in the small shed to accomodate new uses. 
The Fermentation chambers take up nearly half of the right side wall along with a couple large bins for base grain and the mill (now stored on the right side. I take it out to the deck to mill)
The rear wall houses a book shelf with some equipment, Stove type hood vent, The Klarstein and the three tier stored in the corner. Still use the white bucket you see on the right when chilling.
The left side has a kitchen island cart now turned along the side with another short shelf that holds smaller bins of specialty grains and smaller amounts of base grain all under a 47" tv for some reason.
The door has a fan mounted that swings down to ventilate the shed much like yours hanging at the garage door or horizontal like a ceiling fan.
A lot of stuff crammed in a small space.
The outside has the two level deck large enough to place the three tier and still have plenty of room to work.

Great to see another homebrewer here. We have a couple others. You may be the only other All Grain Brewer.

I thought that might be the case. I have always batch sparged. I tend to go with keeping it simple when there is a choice that does not impact the end results.
One less piece of equipment I had to construct as I accumulated what I needed. I did consider it initially but decided against it after much reading.

The electric system interested me and had a similar method as BIAB except that the bag is metal.(though I do use a paint strainer inside the metal grain strainer)
No more worry about keeping a spare tank of propane and carbon monoxide in the shed.

I tried a couple methods for maintaining fermentation temps.

The swamp cooler (sitting the carboy in a bucket of water and adding ice packs on schedule or as needed (sometimes a wet cloth over the carboy as well)
It was a little messy. The water would get yucky, drips and slime. Judging the temp was difficult with the carboy in another bucket.

The best and easiest was when I built my 2nd bar. I added a chamber that was insulated with foam with a smaller chamber above to place frozen bottles.
It was easy to keep the chamber and fermentation bucket at a proper temp. I could vary the amount of ice as fermentation ramped up and when fermentation was ending to keep a desired temp.
Even had a pan and drain to control the condensation water that developed. Being inside the home made it convenient and utilized the indoor temps to maintain a level temp.
Having it in a piece of furniture that was already in the house made all that easy.

When I went to the Fast Ferment Conicals they would no longer fit the chamber so a new one was built in the shed. I rotated the compresser in a small dorm fridge and attached it to the bottom of the insulated chamber. A temp controller turns on and off the fridge and heating element as well as a fan to circulate when cooling. It is too small to keep it cool at the height of summer but I can keep the shed cool with the ac and augment the fridge with the occassional ice bottle and maintain temps in the fermenters when it gets really hot.

Sure. You wouldn't have to rotate the compressor since you will not need to lay it on a side. I have read about exactly what you are planning.

I sealed off the unused portion of the fridge to make the volume needed to be chilled that much less.

It's empty right now so I turned it on for the pics. When it is cold I wrap the plastic sheet heater you see mounted behind the fermenters directly on the fermenter.

I wish I hadn't checked the boards before turning in for the night. Now I'm going to bed craving a beer.