Where do you folks put your beer?

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devilishprune

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As I stand in my kitchen, making sure my first starter doesn't boil over, I realize that in a short few months I will be faced with a terrible dilemma.

I'm going to be moving into an apartment with my future SWMBO in about a month and a half. The problem is that, even though she is fully supportive of my hobby (she bought me all my equipment) she is none too happy with the prospect of our apartment being stuffed full of jugs of foamy amber liquid. Granted, I agree with her, but that still doesn't solve my problem.

My question to you, fellow homebrewers, is what do those of you who live in small apartments do with all your fermenting beer? Is there some kind of clever cabinet that I can construct to discreetly continue with my newfound hobby, or am I doomed to a year of commercial brews as I patiently bide my time until we find a new apartment (one with a designated brew closet)?
 
I put mine at the foot of my bed. Sure makes my room smell interesting when fermentation is going strong but I am the only one that has to deal with it. If you have a spare bathroom you could put them in the bathtub.
 
You may be able to compromise and only have 1 fermenter going at a time, in exchange for her dedicating half a closet floor (you can still hang stuff over it) or under the kitchen table (if it's pushed against a wall, keeping a fermenter against the wall may be workable) or something as the space for it to go.

Bottled beer is a little easier to deal with--under the bed, top shelves, whatever. But in a small apartment, you're not going to be able to keep as much in fermenters or in bottles as if you're in a house with a full basement.
 
When we had only one bedroom apartment (and bottled) beer was in the walk-in master closet, hall closet, and the end tables next to couches, half the regular refrigerator, and the beer fridge next to the couch.

Now that we moved apartments to fit more equipment. I have the entire floor to ceiling of the 2nd bedroom walk in closet, the mini fridge kegerator, and the utility closet. Switching to kegs and being organized with lots of sturdy shelving finally allowed me to compact my stuff.

The end tables idea was a good one. Got two cheapo desks from ikea, fit a plywood to the bottom, and covered the opening with bamboo. Each one fit 6 cases of beer and they were perfect height for the couch.
 
I told her that I would put a shirt on it and leave it in the living room while we pretended that it was a person that we didn't talk to.



She had none of that.
 
There was a guy on here that built a nice looking armoire to sit in the corner of the foyer of his house that held a crazy amount of carboys (and ice buckets to keep temps nice and cool.

You might be able to find an armoire or wardrobe that is large enough for you to use and nice looking enough for SWMBO to not complain about.

edit: http://www.ivgstores.com/IVG2/Y/ProductID-52461-.htm
 
Hall Closet for little gear and fermenting, my daughter who is only here in the summer's bedroom for conditioning, the garage for big gear.
I am going to have a big problem with storage during the summer...
 
devilishprune said:
I'm going to be moving into an apartment with my future SWMBO in about a month and a half. The problem is that, even though she is fully supportive of my hobby (she bought me all my equipment) she is none too happy with the prospect of our apartment being stuffed full of jugs of foamy amber liquid.
Click to expand...

I find the biggest problem is beer storage space. A 6 gallon fermentor fits in a closet, and everything else can hide away in cabinets. But once you've bottled it you'll have to store it somewhere; even with a garage we're running out of space. (Admittedly I make too much beer.)
 
I use my storage unit. It's a lifesaver. There is no power in there but it stays a steady 63F most of the year. If I didn't have the storage unit, I'd have to give up the hobby.
 
Yeah, something like that cabinet/armoire would probably be the best option here. If it had some sturdy shelves then that would be even better. The problem is its a 1 bed 1 bath apartment, so there's no extra bathrub/bedroom/closet space unfortunately.
 
jmo88 said:
I use my storage unit. It's a lifesaver. There is no power in there but it stays a steady 63F most of the year. If I didn't have the storage unit, I'd have to give up the hobby.
Click to expand...

So instead of going to the beer/liquor store you go shop in your storage unit. That's classic.
 
SWMBO told me I could take over a corner of the basement for brewing whatnots. I think I'm up to about 1/2 the basement now. :mug:

Before the house though I'd shove fermenters and bottles anywhere I could. Closets, cabinets, behind the couch, in corners, under the bed (bottles, not fermenters) It gets crazy pretty quick.
 
GRHunter said:
Skip the apartment and just rent a house. :D
Click to expand...

Now, that would be a viable option if I weren't on a student budget.

I think that I'll just have to flex some creative muscle here and do what I can. Maybe I'll cut a few holes in the wall, fill them with beer, and patch them back up to cellar them...
 
I'm in the same situation, living with my SO now (not sure what the abbreviation used in the sticky or the OP means?) and I plan on just keeping the fermenter in the guest bathroom shower since we don't usually have people over. The beer will probably all be stacked in my walk-in closet.
 
I had a spot in the hallway that I put my fermenters in when I lived in an apartment. I was also able to pack all my equipment and about 6 cases in to the bottom of the spare bedroom closet. My SWMBO didn't mind until I put the kegerator in the living room :)
 
Fermenting beer is in my Igloo cube-style cooler in the living room (sitting against the wall). After fermentation, it sits on a kitchen counter under a t-shirt or towel.

My bottled beers, kegs, equipment, etc. take up half of our office.
 
A shelf will do wonders. It's amazing how much more space you'll realize you have when you build a few good shelves. Just make sure you get one that's deep enough and can support some serious weight. Other than that, you might have to sacrifice a little and not have as many batches going at the same time.
 
i live in a small house. i've been building shelves and such in places that weren't designed for it.
i built a set of shelves bolted to an entire wall in our living room with dual track hardware. the bottom shelf is 26" from the floor and has room to store about a dozen fermenters or carboys, or twice as many cases of wine or beer.
next up is a window bench seat that is four feet long with a padded top seat that will lift off.
our bed is an old queen waterbed frame that we have memory foam in. it originally had a pedestal nine inches high. i made six 3" x 3" posts go up through the base plywood and that are bolted to the walls or the bed with carriage bolts. they raised the bed so that we can slide large ikea storage bins under it, vertical clearance of 21". we're currently storing camping gear and winter blankets in it, but it has uh - lessee, 70 cubic feet = 523 gallons(not including space between the bottles)
 
I live in a 450 square foot HOUSE. Yeah, you read that right, a house. 450 sq ft. So space is very limited. The house is tiny but the yard is big for my Diesel F350 and my 2 fishing boats. =P It is a temporary situation until my fiance finds a local job.

Anyway, I digress. I think as long as you're organized, it'll work out. I just keep my carboys (I've had up to 4 going at once) in the living room neatly side by side with matching pillowcases fit over top of them. I just bought 4 matching pillow cases from a discount store and cut a lil' hole in the top to slide the airlock through. It really doesn't take up much of a footprint, and with the pillowcases matching the surroundings, it's hardly noticeable. When I want cooler temps, I throw them underneath my kitchen table. As for storing beer, I actually moved to kegging. I found it's easier to have a small kegerator, or now my keezer (which provides extra countertop space)...



....which works as storage, carbonation, chilling, and serving... all in one location.
 
Quan said:
I live in a 450 square foot HOUSE. Yeah, you read that right, a house. 450 sq ft. So space is very limited. The house is tiny but the yard is big for my Diesel F350 and my 2 fishing boats. =P It is a temporary situation until my fiance finds a local job.

Anyway, I digress. I think as long as you're organized, it'll work out. I just keep my carboys (I've had up to 4 going at once) in the living room neatly side by side with matching pillowcases fit over top of them. I just bought 4 matching pillow cases from a discount store and cut a lil' hole in the top to slide the airlock through. It really doesn't take up much of a footprint, and with the pillowcases matching the surroundings, it's hardly noticeable. When I want cooler temps, I throw them underneath my kitchen table. As for storing beer, I actually moved to kegging. I found it's easier to have a small kegerator, or now my keezer (which provides extra countertop space)...



....which works as storage, carbonation, chilling, and serving... all in one location.
Click to expand...

A 450 square foot house and four taps. That is legendary. And kudos for having a fiance that agrees to that. :mug:
 
Get a simple wardrobe from Ikea or, if you're on a tight budget, Craigslist or local consignment store. It won't look out of place in a bedroom or office space and will give you enough room for a couple carboys and storage for bottles above.
 
devilishprune said:
Now, that would be a viable option if I weren't on a student budget.

I think that I'll just have to flex some creative muscle here and do what I can. Maybe I'll cut a few holes in the wall, fill them with beer, and patch them back up to cellar them...
Click to expand...

FWIW, I went from renting an apartment to renting a small single family, and my rent went down. And now I have a basement.
 
I build this "fermentation cabinet" for my carboys. It cost me ~$20 ($10 plywood cut for free at Lowe's, ~$10 spray paint, drywall screws, corner braces [I threw these on cuz I had a few laying around, you prolly don't need them]). It's in the corner of my bedroom and does a good job of both hiding my carboys and keeping the curious cats at bay. My apartment is low on space (both me and SWMBO have way too much crap) so I had to get creative. The "cabinet" more or less contains the fermentation smell, which is nice. I'm considering putting a shelf in just above it for some bonus usable space, but idk, may look weird.

20100328140422.jpg


20100328140452.jpg


The one flaw is that I forgot to include space for a 1gal blowoff container... in the future I'll just use a 1 liter bottle, that should fit between the two carboys just fine.

The dresser we have in the bedroom is black so it actually looks like it matches perfectly. When SWMBO's parents visited, they didn't even notice that it was an extremely cheap hunk of plywood.
 
I have nothing to add except to note that, judging by the fact that you wrote to us for advice, the term "future SWMBO" is a contradiction in terms!
 
I misread the title of this as "Where do your folks put your beer?" And I was going to answer that my dad and my father in law both manage to put quite a bit in their stomachs when they visit :)
 
I'm in a one bedroom apartment as well - space is a challenge, especially if you don't want your entire living space to look like a shrine to malted barley. Fortunately I have a small eat-in kitchen and since I don't actually eat in it anyway I promised myself that I'd confine all brewing equipment to that room. Crossing into the rest of the apartment would be like crossing the Rubicon.

Tough to give advice for your situation without knowing the exact layout, but keep in mind that carboys don't need to accessed while they're fermenting so they're ideal to go under tables, into the corner of closets, etc. Shelving suggestions above are great, but do your back a favor and keep the carboys on the bottom shelf if you go that route.
 
If your talking carboys, in a corner, under table, in a closet, etc. Bottles, any spot you can find. If you use small (12 oz) bottles, see how much room you have under the bed. Maybe you can get some stands which will raise the bed high enough to fit the bottles or brewing supplies.

I love this answer!
devilishprune said:
I told her that I would put a shirt on it and leave it in the living room while we pretended that it was a person that we didn't talk to.

She had none of that.
Click to expand...
 
ThirdGen said:
I'm in the same situation, living with my SO now (not sure what the abbreviation used in the sticky or the OP means?)
Click to expand...

COME ON!!! Nobody took this and ran? I am disappointed.

On topic. I am amazed and salute all the clever solutions. I waited until I bought a house with a full basement to restart brewing. Of course in the winter I had to hear " Why is the beer upstairs in the closet?" Hello...we don't heat the basement and ale don't like 52 degress so much. At least I have won her around with the taste.
 
When brewing in my college dorm, I just stuck the box the carboy came in over the carboy in the corner. Despite the smell when brewing and comments heard outside the dorm kitchen such as "What's that smell?" and "It smell like cakes and dirty gym socks" or "Wow! are you making brownies? (no...)" I was never caught. And if people didn't see the empty bottles stuck in every corner (or heard a muffled "blub, blub blub"), no one would have guessed what I was doing.
So..perhaps just hide it with a box and a tablecloth...perhaps a picture frame?
 
I put my fermenters inside my spare bath room. No one every uses it since its just the gf and I, so it seemed like a good spot. Not to mention the temp in their is always stable. :mug:
 
Thanks for all of the suggestions, guys.

Based on some of your advice, and some other research, I think that I will either try to fit a carboy/bucket into a kitchen cabinet somewhere. Either that, or I'll build a cabinet similar to what Bovineblitz constructed.

As far as the bottles are concerned. I found a thread that showed someone using a filing cabinet as bottle storage for 240 bottles. So not only would it look semi-professional (as if that were important), it would be functional as well.


frazier said:
I have nothing to add except to note that, judging by the fact that you wrote to us for advice, the term "future SWMBO" is a contradiction in terms!
Click to expand...

Touche.

She's trying to work with me on this one, because she knows how much I've gotten into the hobby lately. I want her to keep giving me that support, especially when I continue to spend large amounts of money on beer and beer ingredients in the future.
 
The support of SHMBO is rather important... I successfully converted mine from a wine snob to a beer snob. She's now convinced that beer is much more interesting due to the wider flavorscape and creativity involved :)
 
devilishprune said:
As far as the bottles are concerned. I found a thread that showed someone using a filing cabinet as bottle storage for 240 bottles. So not only would it look semi-professional (as if that were important), it would be functional as well.
Click to expand...

that might have been me. i have 3 or 4 filing cabinet drawers that have beer in them. a standard filing cabinet drawer holds 4 six packs.

as for your gf, find a beer she likes and make some. she says she doesn't like beer? start with a framboise and see where that leads.
 

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