When I next looked in on the shed, a month or so of crappy winter weather later I discovered the roof and window were both leaking - everything inside was damp and covered in mildew. Yuck.
I ripped the old felt off the roof and put nice new stuff up, and the window frame was so rotten it wasn't exactly hard to remove it - it just fell apart - here's the bits....
I built a new frame in place and shuttered it with wood - and that was the shed watertight once more.
With the shed watertight, and everything inside treated to a generous dose of bleach, it was once again left to it's own devices as other things took priority, but after doing a brew in my kitchen and spending ages mopping all the condensation off the walls, I decided it was time to get the shed sorted.
I turfed a load of stuff out and made space to brew with my plastic fantastic gear - of course, the condensation was even worse in the shed as it was winter, cold and dark...
So, before my next brew I fitted an extractor fan and ducting, and got rid of the pathetic single lightbulb and fitted a great big fluorescent light so I could actually see what I was doing.
I decided at this point to get serious about the stainless steel brewery I've been gradually accumulating bits for. My mash tun came from Andy Mac off this forum probably a good 3 or 4 years back, and I was given a 100L stainless steel pot as a Christmas present - so it needed the tap and sight glass fitted - Kev lent me the required cutters (from Jed) and I set about firstly making the cutters fit for use...
Sorted
On with the cutting
bits fitted and good to go
I bought the burner ring, a solar pump, various hoses and connectors, and the setup was going to look like this :
But.... well, there wasn't much workspace, and I didn't fancy carrying the big pots in and out of the house to wash them etc, so I stuck a request on my local freecycle, and a couple of days later I had a kitchen sink, worktops, tap, and drainage gubbins, all free.
I've got a stack of wood that is all 'waste' wood that was reclaimed from a variety of sources - so the framework and shelving could all be built from that stock of free wood.
First though, time to empty everything out
Now, you're probably thinking - GOD! I hope he paints over that crappy pink... Well, nope, sorry, couldn't be arsed! Figure it'll mostly be covered up by the worktops....
Turns out it's only partially covered. Ah well. It's meant to be functional, not pretty!
Getting there...
Notice that with the boiler in place, the electric sockets are in entirely the wrong place....
First though, some extra shelf space would be handy...
I then moved the sockets, and added two more for good measure, and got the plumbing sorted.
The water is supplied to the shed by the garden hose - just disconnect when done, let the water drain out, and no burst pipes in the winter
Drainage is simply straight out the side, and it drains from there into a drain already fitted in the pathway.
Next was to create some kind of heat shield for under the gas burner - Kev confirmed it does get hellish hot under the burner and I wasn't keen on my nice worktop getting melted, even if it was free!
A trip to the scrap yard netted me a nice solid sheet of steel that just needed cut to size and some holes drilled to take the bolt legs, which then stand on high density polyprop feet to protect the worksurface.
The air gap created is all that's needed to keep the extreme heat of the burner from damaging the worktop
And there we are - that was the shed completed last night, and I was ready to brew this morning
