Thinking of starting to brew my own, questions.

dole21 · 01-22-2009, 12:19 AM

Hello everyone first time poster here wanting to get into this.

First off how much room do you say is required to brew at home successfully?

I live in a apt and dont have room for a dedicated fridge for such as a lager as of now.

From what ive been reading after making it, the biggest thing is just having a place to keep it while it ferments etc before bottling fora few weeks.

How many of you do this with a electric stove? I'm worried about boiling such a large amount of water on this stove as its not the best in the world.

Ive been looking at the kits on midwestsupplies
The intermediate kit is what i was thinking to get started with.

Brewing Intermediate Kit w/Two 5 Gallon Glass Carboys :: Midwest Supplies Homebrewing and Winemaking Supplies

Any other suggestions for me or things Im overlooking in my quest to take my beer addiction to the next level?

Thanks.

Vic_Sinclair · 01-22-2009, 12:29 AM

Depends on the size of your operation. The things that really take up space are fermenters and bottle storage. Many people here use a corner of a closet. Don't worry about not being able to lager. You can brew tons of ales that don't require cold storage (until you want to drink them!).
I have been using my electric stove but finally broke down and bought a propane burner. Electric stoves are not ideal and you may have reason to worry about the weight of the water resting on the element. I'll assume you will start with extract brewing, so you can do partial boils. That's where you only boil about two gallons of wort and then top up with cold water. Can your stove handle boiling two gallons?

Parker36 · 01-22-2009, 12:32 AM

That is a good kit - same one I started with. As far as space goes, you basically need one coat closet or something similarly sized (you can probably even still keep coats in there, but I wouldn't recommend it).

Electric stoves aren't terrible, especially when you are doing partial boils. On big advantage of electric over gas is you can wrap some insulation around the pot to get a good, strong boil going

stephelton · 01-22-2009, 04:18 AM

You'll get by with an electric stove. Make sure you've got a nice, quiet, dark spot for the beer to ferment for a while. Be forwarned, though, this can be an expensive hobby.

Best of luck.

davesrose · 01-22-2009, 04:25 AM

I started brewing in an apartment....it's totally doable! You start needing a lot more space when you get into AG....but with extracts, you only need a stove and space for storing your fermenting beer and beer in bottles. My apartment was too small to put my carboy in a closet, so I would keep it in the corner of my kitchen (and you can block out light by putting an oversized shirt over it).

Looks like the kit you're looking at is just equipment....that might be a good thing to start off with. Looking back on my first kit, I think they also did a good job of assembling things. It even came with Charlie Papazian's Complete Joy of Homebrewing. The only negative thing about it was that they also included a very generic ingredient kit.....might be fun to get a good ingredient kit seperately.

JMSetzler · 01-22-2009, 04:54 AM

When I started home brewing, I was in an apartment also. I did my first few batches on the stove top and I kept my fermenters on the floor in a closet out of sight and out of the way. My kitchen counter top had enough room to do everything I needed to do. Apartment storage is a creative effort

My apartment had a closet in the back of my walk-in bedroom closet where the hot water heater was located. It had some extra space, so I kept my empty bottles in boxes in that space. I would also keep some full bottles in boxes in that area too.

**Mutilated1** · 01-22-2009, 05:02 AM

It does kind of take up a lot of room. It wouldn't seem like it would have too, but once you start brewing your own sooner or later you're going to add an extra fermenter or two, get a couple of secondarys, you'll want some kegs, you'll accumulate stacks of empty beer bottles, you'll want an extra fridge for beer before you know it, you'll end up with Mason Jars of yeast cultures in your refridgerator, bags of hops in your freezer, cans of malt extract and bags of grain tucked away in the pantry... you get the idea.

While you can get started brewing with not too much money and equipment it doesn't stop there.

dwf137 · 01-22-2009, 05:12 AM

i'm in an apartment with an electric stove and have had no issues.

granted, more space and a propane burner would be nice, it's by no means a requirement.

i keep my fermenter wrapped in a towel in a closet. Not a big deal. What seems to take the most room, is the process of bottling.

newbeerpig · 01-22-2009, 05:15 AM

First off welcome to the hobby, it can be very consuming so I think the 2 bucket kit is a good buy, I have already moved on to three fermenting buckets and 2 carboys within a few batches and could easily expand again. As for storage everyone is right in just needing a little bit of space in the corner of a room or in a coat closet. I keep mine under the stairs with a space heater to keep the area close to 70*.

With the electric stove you might have to do smaller boils but that is not a big problem as I do a 3 gallon boil and then top off with boiled water to get to the five gallon mark. It looks like that kit comes with most everything you need and I agree that getting a nicer ingredient kit will go further than a generic kit that often comes with starter set-ups. One thing it looks like you might want to get a few more airlocks so that way you can have more rotation on your fermenting buckets and get better production rather than waiting to start your next batch because you have your airlocks all used up. I also use small basins to set the fermenting buckets and carboys in so that there is less chance of a mess when things spill and try to make a mess. Happens to all home-brewers, sometimes your bucket overflows and the mini buckets help catch it. Just a little something to keep SWMBO happy.

The other thing I did was get a 20 gallon rubbermaid container with lid to store all of my brewing supplies when not in use. That way everything is together when I need it and I can control what the tools are used for. I keep my capper, caps, bottle brushes, 5 gal pot, wort chiller, long spoons, hydrometer, thermometers, sanitizer, brushes, airlocks and everything else that I need. Again keeps wifey happy because my ish is not all over the place and I can find what I need quickly.

The last tip I would throw out there to the new homebrewer is to use Star-san sanitizer Star San- 8 oz , took a lot of the guess work and fear out of brewing. Just needs 10 seconds and you don't have to worry about everything drying out before using it. Great product and I can't wait till we can buy again in California dang EPA. I also suggest the bottle sanitizer Bottle Rinser- Sulfiter as it makes bottling so much faster but again it is up to you. For me it was well worth the money but does take up more space. (Still fits in my Bucket!)

Hope you enjoy your first brews!

**jyda** · 01-22-2009, 05:32 AM

Just because you are in an apartment and on an electric stove doesn't mean you can't make great beer.

Using DeathBrewer as an example (sorry DeathBrewer!) you can even work your way up to more advanced brewing styles to open up more options.

See these posts for inspiration:
Easy Partial Mash Brewing
and
Stovetop All-Grain Brewing

Your only limitations are your imagination!