What to do for the apartment brewer?

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Schlomo

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So I've been following the electric brewing threads for a while now, and have been jealous of everyone's setups with RIMS and what not.

I've just been given 2 half b kegs from a friend and i wanted to know what I could do to get some sort of use out of them. Just looking for ideas, im not sure what everyone has done. If i had the space, i'd set them up for a full AG brew setup, and i cant use propane around here either. Im stuck with good ol electricity.

I dont have a 220v outlet and wondered also who has had great success with the 120v heating elements? Boil times?

Just looking for more info for my situation.

Thanks,
Dave
 
If you have two 20 amp 120v circuits, put two 2000w elements in one keggle. If you only have 15 amp circuits, use two 1500w elements on GFI outlets of course.. This is a low budget ghetto approach. Search around, people do this and are satisfied. 4000w is plenty to power a keggle and will return reasonable heating times. 3000w might be a little light. but will likely still work especially if you insulate.
 
I briefly read up on the 2, 1500w elements. I'm not sure about the amperage of the circuits, i'll have to check when i get home. I havent read anything on this yet, but is it possible to do BIAB in a keggle? Grain Bag would have to not touch the elements im assuming, but is it possible?

And yes it has an electric range, but i've opted to use my Induction cooktop with my 5gal kettle for now. Only doing partial boil extract brewing right now. want to get into BIAB..
 
Ah yeah i didnt even think about that.. Right now im looking at Braumeister. VERY pricey but looks pretty sick. Wondering what it would run me to make my own :cross:
 
I brew in my apartment all of the time. I just my electric stove top and a 5 gallon brew pot. Unfortunately I have do extract brews because my stove top can't handle an 8-10 gallon pot. It's cramped no doubt but the beer tastes great every time.
 
I briefly read up on the 2, 1500w elements. I'm not sure about the amperage of the circuits, i'll have to check when i get home. I havent read anything on this yet, but is it possible to do BIAB in a keggle? Grain Bag would have to not touch the elements im assuming, but is it possible?

And yes it has an electric range, but i've opted to use my Induction cooktop with my 5gal kettle for now. Only doing partial boil extract brewing right now. want to get into BIAB..

I do for my 3 gallon batches 4 stainless 1/4-20 bolts 31/2 long to a aluminum pizza pan (has 1/8 holes all over it at the dollar store) keeps the bag off the element.
 
Haha refference your avatar. My Conure LOVES my beer! but I get yelled at every time I get caught letting him lick the glass.
 
I brew in my kitchen all the time. I use a 28L electric urn and maxi-BIAB for 5 gallon batches and more (I do a kind of partigyle hybrid to make an IPA of 8 liters and a Stout/porter of 15 liters from the same mash).
Electric urns are more popular here in Europe from what I gather, and I cannot recommend the combination with BIAB enough. Simple and smart.

There is even a Danish company that sells a kit for this practice:
Nimbus270.jpg


But of course these are made for 230v and 1800W.

The urn itself:
elgryde.jpg


This is a PoorMansBraumeister ;)
 
......... but is it possible to do BIAB in a keggle? Grain Bag would have to not touch the elements im assuming, but is it possible?
..

Yes! Not only possible but not hard at all and works well! While you can certainly build something to keep the bag off the element(s)....there really is no proven need to fire the element with the bag in the pot...skipping the mashout is fine IMHO.
If you need to raise temp a bit, simply add a quart of boiling water from the tea kettle....done and simple....once you have a little experience, this won't likely be needed or an issue IME.
 
I brew in the kitchen all the time on an electric stove. I used to brew extract but all grain now. i currently have 8 gal boiling. 10 gal mega pot. It takes a little longer to get up to temp but works just fine as long as you leave the cover on until boil. without the cover it will never get there. also recommend getting a different burner that is made for canning. i was using the standard burner and crushed it from the weight. canning ones are re-enforced to handle the weight. canning burner was about $15 on ebay
 
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