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Modular brewery floors?

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  • Modular brewery floors?

    I have unsloped concrete floors that are ok, but require squeegee to hell and back. Is there some sort of flooring that comes pre sloped with drains a la chemical pallets that I can just put my brewhouse on top of?

  • #2
    Originally posted by ForgeBW View Post
    I have unsloped concrete floors that are ok, but require squeegee to hell and back. Is there some sort of flooring that comes pre sloped with drains a la chemical pallets that I can just put my brewhouse on top of?
    You've probably seen this post:
    No one realizes how important a good brewery floor is until they have to deal with a bad brewery floor and all that comes with it.


    I've been looking into this. There are a few companies that build steel framed decks; the steel comes pre-cut to length, and you assemble it with bolts and tek screws. The company should provide engineering drawings for local planning departments, but I haven't found one that does something exactly like I have in mind. However, with extra steel framing carrying the load to the concrete below heavy items like the brewhouse or a fermenter, it seems like a fairly easy solution.

    The expensive part is the deck plates. I'm thinking of FRP deck plates, which come in various sizes (I'd use 4x8 foot) and have a non-skid surface, but they're pricey. I've found some Chinese suppliers though, that are much cheaper, but there's the problem of shipping. But I think it's a viable solution for cases like yours. I was originally intending to put this on top of an existing concrete floor, but have also been investigating it as the floor structure for a small standalone steel building. It's fairly standard practice around here for small buildings (e.g. Tuff Shed) to use steel floor joists. Extra footings would be needed under the FV's and at one end I want a barrel rack...a dozen barrels stacked up weigh a surprisingly large amount.

    Down the centerline of the deck, you would space two joists wide enough to fit a pre-manufactured trench drain, which drains to a sump with an automatic trash pump. You could also drain to a poly holding tank, for pH neutralization before pumping, but I'd be concerned with smells. In your case, you may have a floor drain already that you can use--in my situation, there isn't. I'd have to pump to the nearest sewer connection, 20 feet or so away.

    Anyway, it may be worth looking at for you.

    Regards,
    Mike Sharp

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    • #3
      One of the breweries I have been associated with purchased a large wet and dry vacuum cleaner. He pipes most discharge direct to drain via a long hose, and spillages / cleaning down he uses the vac system - brilliantly simple. Shame he couldn't afford epoxy resin or tiled floors, but this system does seem to be keeping the painted (gritted - for grip specialist paint of some sort - I haven't enquired of the make) in decent condition.
      dick

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