[Bob357]

I'm over 70 and have  prosthetic shoulder implant, so lifting and reaching aren't without consequences. Here's what I did to stay in the game:

https://www.brewersfriend.com/forum/threads/emiab-2-vessel-system.11338/

[coolman26]

Going back to 5 gallon batches would make the day easier.  Using a bag in the MT and adding pumps would be the 2 thing I dig.

[joe_meadmaker]

The thing that most helps my brew day go easier is when I'm able to convince a friend to come by and assist.  I like to brew in my garage, which causes a lot of running back and forth between the garage and the kitchen.  Having an extra set of hands makes things so much easier.

[Mike-Ale]

I too made my garage my brewery. Everything I need is in there with the exception of my salts and ph materials. When we started we would carry glass carboys through the house and down the basement stairs. Not the best idea. The garage is now insulated and heated for our Buffalo winters but like I said, everything is out there. Going with a three vessel electric setup has been a nice addition too.


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[soymateofeo]

I’ve learned to brew when my wife isn’t around so I’m not inundated with honey do’s during the critical phases of the process

What many think but never say.

[Richard]

The thing that most helps my brew day go easier is when I'm able to convince a friend to come by and assist.  I like to brew in my garage, which causes a lot of running back and forth between the garage and the kitchen.  Having an extra set of hands makes things so much easier.

I have the opposite problem because there is no water or sink in my garage. I store everything in the garage and brew (electric) in the kitchen, so I spend the first half of the day bringing everything from the garage into the kitchen and the second half putting everything back. I generally brew on days when my wife works, so I start after she finishes breakfast and my goal is to have the kitchen cleaned up so that by the time she gets home the only way she can tell that I brewed beer is by the smell. This week I couldn't find anyone else to help so I brewed on her day off and she helped me. It gave her a renewed appreciation for what is involved, especially in the cleaning up.

[BrewBama]

The thing that most helps my brew day go easier is when I'm able to convince a friend to come by and assist.  I like to brew in my garage, which causes a lot of running back and forth between the garage and the kitchen.  Having an extra set of hands makes things so much easier.

I have the opposite problem because there is no water or sink in my garage. I store everything in the garage and brew (electric) in the kitchen, so I spend the first half of the day bringing everything from the garage into the kitchen and the second half putting everything back. I generally brew on days when my wife works, so I start after she finishes breakfast and my goal is to have the kitchen cleaned up so that by the time she gets home the only way she can tell that I brewed beer is by the smell. This week I couldn't find anyone else to help so I brewed on her day off and she helped me. It gave her a renewed appreciation for what is involved, especially in the cleaning up.

I used to lug everything up from the basement to the deck, brew, clean, then lug everything back. It was a pain and I began to dread brewday. So, I negotiated a small niche in the laundry room and moved in. Everything is right there along with a sink for cooling and cleaning.

I start early so by the time she’s awake I can tend to her easily without interrupting a critical process.


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[Slowbrew]

I’ve learned to brew when my wife isn’t around so I’m not inundated with honey do’s during the critical phases of the process

What many think but never say.

My wife realized a long time ago that when I'm brewing, I'm busy.  She only shows up in the brewery to ask if I'm going eat lunch with the family or for emergencies she and the kids can't handle.  Brewing time is Dad's time, leave him alone.

I do the same for her as much as possible. 

"Give what you would like to get" has worked for me over the last 32 years of marriage and a lot of other situations.

I use furniture dollies to move my boil kettle around. 
Setup my brew area and treat the water the night before and start early.  I always brew 2 batches each time I brew since getting time is difficult.
My shop/brewery is a walkout basement with a large storage room so everything is on the same set of shelves.

Lots of little things add up to a smooth, repeatable process.  Someday I may move inside completely and dedicate a space but for now it works well for me.

Paul

[Visor]

   I brew upstairs cuz the gas cooktop is in the upstairs kitchen, but I store most of the equipment and do all the cellaring downstairs so every brew involves a butt-load of trips up and down the stairs. When I have my excrement assembled I can minimize the trips by taking one thing back down the stairs when I'm fetching some other thing from down yonder. When my poop isn't well grouped I make a lot of unnecessary trips. The worst trip is always the one packing 7 gallons of beer down a VERY steep stairway the has a 180* a third of the way down.
   As for honey-do interruptions, my wife fortunately decided to stop being my wife about 25 years ago, so I'm excellent in that regard. That also means I don't have to beg/negotiate for space of equipment :-), it also means I can listen to whatever I want, as loud as I want.
   Like a lot of the others I measure and mill grain and bring up as much equipment as possible the evening before brew day, but brew day still is never less than 5 hours, for a double batch of very high gravity/ high % adjunct beers brew day can last 16 hours or more. On those day I'm REALLY gald when I finally finish and can crack a bottle.

[Robert]

   I brew upstairs cuz the gas cooktop is in the upstairs kitchen, but I store most of the equipment and do all the cellaring downstairs so every brew involves a butt-load of trips up and down the stairs. When I have my excrement assembled I can minimize the trips by taking one thing back down the stairs when I'm fetching some other thing from down yonder. When my poop isn't well grouped I make a lot of unnecessary trips. The worst trip is always the one packing 7 gallons of beer down a VERY steep stairway the has a 180* a third of the way down.
   As for honey-do interruptions, my wife fortunately decided to stop being my wife about 25 years ago, so I'm excellent in that regard. That also means I don't have to beg/negotiate for space of equipment :-), it also means I can listen to whatever I want, as loud as I want.
   Like a lot of the others I measure and mill grain and bring up as much equipment as possible the evening before brew day, but brew day still is never less than 5 hours, for a double batch of very high gravity/ high % adjunct beers brew day can last 16 hours or more. On those day I'm REALLY gald when I finally finish and can crack a bottle.

Man, our situations and strategies sound almost identical.  I'm not even considering changing my arrangement though.  All the up and down -- as I say, beer is my exercise program!

[ynotbrusum]

All is done in my garage with the exception of turning on the water to the garage at the basement sink (the line to the garage was an afterthought - PEX line that has a garden hose QDC).  The garage is a second garage and virtually dedicated (8 months of the year) as my brewery and brew pub.  In the winter months I rearrange it so I can put my truck inside.  I occasionally brew 5 gallon ales, which I will lug into the house or basement to ferment.

[goose]

   I brew upstairs cuz the gas cooktop is in the upstairs kitchen, but I store most of the equipment and do all the cellaring downstairs so every brew involves a butt-load of trips up and down the stairs. When I have my excrement assembled I can minimize the trips by taking one thing back down the stairs when I'm fetching some other thing from down yonder. When my poop isn't well grouped I make a lot of unnecessary trips. The worst trip is always the one packing 7 gallons of beer down a VERY steep stairway the has a 180* a third of the way down.
   As for honey-do interruptions, my wife fortunately decided to stop being my wife about 25 years ago, so I'm excellent in that regard. That also means I don't have to beg/negotiate for space of equipment :-), it also means I can listen to whatever I want, as loud as I want.
   Like a lot of the others I measure and mill grain and bring up as much equipment as possible the evening before brew day, but brew day still is never less than 5 hours, for a double batch of very high gravity/ high % adjunct beers brew day can last 16 hours or more. On those day I'm REALLY gald when I finally finish and can crack a bottle.

Man, our situations and strategies sound almost identical.  I'm not even considering changing my arrangement though.  All the up and down -- as I say, beer is my exercise program!

I guess I am lucky.  We added a new garage to the house about 15 years ago and closed in to old garage so we could have a bigger bedroom that could accommodate a crib for future grandkids that came along almost 8 years ago (planning ahead, ya know).  Although I do get inundated with honey-do projects, my wife, Sue, felt sorry for me having to haul water 250 feet to the barn, brew the beer while freezing my proverbial backside off in the winter, hauling 10 gallons of wort back to the house and down the basement steps to my fermenter and clean up with cold water from a 250 foot long garden hose in both summer and winter months.  She told me I could have a small area in the old closed in garage as my brewery with hot and cold running water and a walk-in cooler (I love this lady).  She pretty much leaves me to my devices on brew days except for asking the repeated question "when are you brewing my Amarillo IPA and/or when will it be ready to drink?"

[Visor]

   Other than the up/down stuff I'm pretty happy with my set-up, a lot of folks have it far worse. A couple changes I need to make are making room somewhere to get the grain storage out of the fermentation room, and get an exhaust fan installed in the kitchen before next winter. After a marathon the batch weekend in sub-zero weather last winter I spent most of a day washing wort condensate off the walls upstairs and the stairwell, where the condensate was really bad.
   I have a nice finished garage with heating and cooling, but even if it did have sewer and running water there's no way in hell I'd convert it to a brewery, that's my wood shop and it's every bit as sacrosanct as the brewery is .

[Richard]

The humidity changes from a brewery would wreak havoc on a woodworking shop. They definitely are not compatible.

[Visor]

The humidity changes from a brewery would wreak havoc on a woodworking shop. They definitely are not compatible.

   Humidity in these parts is a very transient phenomenon, but the dust from a woodshop would be disastrous for the brewery.