Building a Home Brewing Shed With a Purpose
Updated: Jan 22, 2022
Before we could make the mead, brew the beer, and crunch the numbers – we had to build the shed. Here’s how it’s going:
Day 1 – It Begins
As Philip is the only one of us with a house AND a backyard, it seemed fitting to invade his private space by building a shed. Thanks dude! After getting the shed in (which was a whole big thing and took longer than any of us wanted to wait), Philip and I tackled un-packaging, organizing, and hopelessly staring at the obscene amount of parts and pieces we’d have to put together. Needless to say, we didn’t get very far the first day and were left with only a very unimpressive frame on the ground to show for our work. But hey, It was a start!
Philip laying out the frame
Patrick doing absolutely nothing useful
Day 2 – Enter John
Let me tell you a story about John – I was a squad leader, and John was one of my soldiers. One day, our unit was called out for a domestic mission. This involved real weapons, live ammo, and military vehicles – it was not a drill. Before mounting up in our vehicles to hit the streets, I lined up my squadmates and double-checked their gear. When I got to John (Specialist Carter), I noticed he had no water in his Camelback – bone dry. I yelled, “Carter! I told you to get your water source!” … To which he replied, “Roger Sergeant, but you didn’t tell me to fill it up.”
And you know what…he was right.
So John joined us for the second day of construction. Of all days for it to be hurricane force winds outside, that day was probably the worst for it. The flimsy sheet metal walls with little to no support would have crumpled if not being held up by someone. The whole day moved slow because we had two people just holding stuff up while the third put stuff together.
John
It’s Mardi Gras season down here in New Orleans. So of course, we have been getting ready for the parades with Abita’s Mardi Gras Bock and a few of our other favorite Carnival season brews. Power tools and beer…what could go wrong?!
You eye’n my Mardi Gras Bock bro?!
Day 3 – Danger Strikes
It was time to put up the roof and start building the floor. Blue skies, no wind, and all three of us to get the job done….It was all going so well.
Philip and I were working on the inside of the shed when we hear John from the other outside of the shed say, “guys…I think I need to go to the hospital”.
Now let’s be honest – when guys say that, it means one of two things…either there’s absolutely nothing wrong and it was just a joke, OR, stuff just got real. Well, when John came around the corner, eyes watering, and holding a clinched fist, I figured it wasn’t a joke. Sure enough, when he opened his hand, you could see all the way to the bone on his finger where the sheet metal had sliced.
All three of us are 68 Whiskey’s, so the site of blood didn’t faze any of us. Philip grabbed a first aid kit and put a dressing on it while I hurried up to support the pieces of shed that weren’t stable yet without someone holding them. One hospital trip and eight stitches later the work day was all but over. And with a unanimous vote, “Danger Shed Ales and Mead” became the official name of our project.
Day 4 – Floored
After a little healing time, we went back to work on the floor. It was just John and I – and only three working hands between the two of us.
John makes an epic return with a perfect-form super hero landing
We managed to get the floor frame built, laid down some plastic moisture barrier, and got the first few sheets screwed down.
