Anyone here live in the city and brew all grain?

So I've been kicking around the idea of going all grain, but the problem is that I live in the city in a town house. I don't have a yard, or any grass really, it's cement everywhere. There's no room in the driveway either because it's filled with cars. The brew in a bag methods might be something I'll get into, but I'm talking about full boils with a turkey fryer.

I'm curious, is there anyone on here that brews all grain in the cement jungle? Where would you put your equipment and how do you dispose of your grain and trub?

I have done AG brewing in my apartment for years using a cooler MLT on the kitchen table. Some of the grain I will save to make dog biscuits for friends, and bread for myself. The rest goes in the trash. I talked to the management here about trying to compost it in the many flowerbeds around the building or by setting up a separate container, but they didn't like the idea.

Trub goes down the garbage disposal.

Yeah, I live in the city. I do have a backyard, and do full boils, BIAB, with a turkey fryer. If you have a place you can grill, it'll work for BIAB.

weirdboy said:

I have done AG brewing in my apartment for years using a cooler MLT on the kitchen table. Some of the grain I will save to make dog biscuits for friends, and bread for myself. The rest goes in the trash. I talked to the management here about trying to compost it in the many flowerbeds around the building or by setting up a separate container, but they didn't like the idea.

Trub goes down the garbage disposal.

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Wait, you mean that you can actually make stuff with the used grain? That's interesting.

jbolling said:

Wait, you mean that you can actually make stuff with the used grain? That's interesting.

Click to expand...

My girlfriends mom actually makes beer bread with the spent specialty grains I brew with. It's actually really good.

I brew all Electric in the basement of my townhouse. Around here, its about the only way I can brew in the winter. I do a full 3 tier using HLT/MLT Coolers and an Electric kettle. All together, my brewstand is built into a 48" countertop with a shelf above for the HLT so it is pretty compact.

As far as spent grains, you could look into a place that might take them as compost many cities have municipal compost heaps too.

Spent grains out to the dumpster immediately, and all trub and hop residue in the toilet prior to washing out primary. Roaches looooove anything associated with beer.

You could always park a car somewhere else for the day while you're brewing.

Search for Apartment brewing. Lots of us are doing it. I have no place outside I can brew. My car is parked on the street and it's a hill, so that's not an option. My kitchen is TINY. I still get it done....

Grains I throw outside in the front "garden" area. Trub goes down the bathtub drain.... or sink, or toilet.

I have a small townhouse with no yard also. I either brew on my small balcony (not often anymore), or directly outside my front door. I have a walkway from my door to the street that is about 6-7 long. I manage everything fine in that space, then move inside for cooling. When it's too windy, raining, or cold, I do the unthinkable and move my burner just inside my front door. My CO Alarm has never twitched once.

I do all grain in my 650 SF condo using a 10 gallon cooler tun, a 5 gallon HLT pot, and an 8 gallon boil pot. Everything is heated on the stove which is electric and actually pretty powerful. I boil 7.5 gallons pretty easily and use Fermcap to prevent boil overs. For big beers (like barley wines) I typically split the boil into two pots. Grain gets dumped in the dumpster.

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