Apartment Brewing Concerns

I just about to start brewing my first batch, and being only a lad of 22, i live in an apartment... should i be concerned with any...lingering beer odors or anything else i havnt really considered.

im cool with the apartment smelling like beer and mary jane for a couple days buuuut....the land lord may not like that very much.

also id like to know how to control alcohol content, i see a 20 proof dopplebock in my future

If your apartment is small, the CO2 levels can get high enough to cause headaches.

The brewday smells will linger for the day. If you're using steeping grains, make sure to take them out to the trash immediately after you brew. This will cut down on the smell retained and if you don't take them out for a few days they will stink to high heaven.

As for the CO2, I can't say too much because my apartment is pretty large. I've got my carboys in a closet and only notice the smell upon opening it up. Shouldn't be anything a fan couldn't help remedy if it becomes an issue.

I used to brew in a 1 bedroom apartment and space was somewhat tight. At the time I used canned kits and did some steeping. I'm not sure w hat kind of square footage you have, but as long as you keep your setup simple (all grain might not be practical) you should be fine.

There was no propane allowed in my building so I had to use stove top boiling which worked ok.

I had a storage closet I used for fermenting / bottling / empties. All in all it worked pretty well, but I will definitely say I bought my first place with brewing in mind (unfinished basement, cold storage, dedicated space for brewing, etc).

Also, I had absolutely no issues with CO2.

Good luck!

I brew AG BIAB in my 2 Bedroom / 2 Bath apartment with no problems. I use a 15 gallon pot on my electric stove, span it on two burners, and can maintain mash and boil temps with no problems.

The brewing smell doesn't really linger unless you spill a lot of beer and don't clean it up. Sometimes the airlock can put out a funky aroma, but I have it in my shower in the guest bathroom and never have an issue with it. Luckily, my wife loves the smell of brewing even though she doesn't drink beer.

I also brew indoors and the wonderful "bread baking" smell of my wort seems to disappear in a day or two. Bummer...

I live in a pretty small apartment too and I have never had a problem with my wine/beer alchemical practices. I use a spare closet for fermentation and that works just fine. You should be ok!

good good, thanks for your input guys, ive got an unused closet i can spare and my apt is pretty big for being one bedroom (not sure of the square footage)

jbrookeiv - will you detail your AG BIAB process?

I used to brew in two different apartments. The smell sticks around for a day or two then disappears. You shouldn't have any problems with your landlord unless you start using a propane burner where the lease/city ordinances prohibit it or you are using unsafe electrical equipment that would violate your lease. If you are just stovetop brewing you should be fine.

ultravista said:

jbrookeiv - will you detail your AG BIAB process?

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I'm actually just working out the kinks of it right now.

As you probably know, with no sparge BIAB, you mash with all of your water already in the kettle. You have to take into account grain absorption and boil off, and also have to realize that you won't be sparging.. On BIABrewer.info, there is an AWESOME spreadsheet for calculating this. You can also sparge if you are so inclined, but I'm going to try no sparge on my first batch and see how my efficiency works out. I got my grain double crushed since you can't have a stuck sparge with BIAB, so my efficiency should be fine.

Basically, I'll put all my water in my brew pot, heat it up to strike temp, drop my grains in within a mesh bag and mash. My brew pot maintains temperature fairly well, and if it starts dropping I can always just fire the heat up. I did a trial run with a partial mash brew this weekend and it went well.

After the mash is done, you can mash out at 170F if you'd like, or you can just pull the grains out. Let 'em drain and start boiling. It's a simple as that. I don't have space to have a separate mash tun and HLT, so I decided to try this. I have a 15 gallon pot that I bought from Home Depot for $40, so my equipment upgrade costs were nominal. We'll see how it works out.

I do extract/steeping brewing in a 520 square foot 1 bedroom apartment. Smells aren't a big deal -- when I'm actually brewing it's strong, sure, but I keep the window cracked and by the next day everything's back to normal. I also keep the bedroom door shut because I don't think my girlfriend really wants to wake up to the smell of wort. My fermenters are in a closed closet, so the smell doesn't really come out of there.

Agree w/ taking out the trash with any used-up grains or hops that were in a sack. It's not an awful smell but it's not great either, at least after a few days.

I brew in a small apartment as well, and I will echo the suggestions to take out the trash ASAP. The grain smells really good for a short perod of time, then it gets pretty nasty. If you use pellet hops and strain the wort before adding to the fermenter: those get nastier, quicker.

A word of warning when taking out the grains, don't trust a plastic garbage bag to hold the weight of the grain. I once had a bag rip in the entrance hall to my building... not fun to clean up.

I brew in a 1BR/1BA and I do all grain with a cooler and whatnot. Hasn't been an issue for me. Smells from fermentation don't leave the closet, and the brew smell dissipates after a few days.

I just go dump my cooler outside while the boil is heating up, that way I don't have to worry about stinking up the trash.

I used to brew in my old 1 BR apt with no problem. 700 sq. ft. and never held a brewing smell. I wouldn't be worried.

FYI - Chances are, it's illegal for you to bring a propane tank inside. Use your stovetop; there's a reason propane tanks are illegal indoors (or in any attached building, like a garage, or within so many feet of a home's foundation as well).

DJKartoffelSalat said:

I just about to start brewing my first batch, and being only a lad of 22, i live in an apartment... should i be concerned with any...lingering beer odors or anything else i havnt really considered.

im cool with the apartment smelling like beer and mary jane for a couple days buuuut....the land lord may not like that very much.

also id like to know how to control alcohol content, i see a 20 proof dopplebock in my future

Click to expand...

What heat source do you use for your boil? I would be hesitant to use propane in an apartment building. You are taking on a lot of responsibility. IE, liability.

Gammon N Beer said:

What heat source do you use for your boil? I would be hesitant to use propane in an apartment building. You are taking on a lot of responsibility. IE, liability.

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I would be way more than hesitant. He should be fine on a stovetop... no WAY should someone use propane indoors.

I don't live in an apartment; but, I hate brewing outside when it's below freezing. My gas stove doesn't have enough poop to boil 5 gal of water; so, I made a heatstick to assist with the boil. Used it for the first time last week; works great & I get to keep my fingers warm! As others have said, a propane tank indoors is not a good idea.

^Heatstick is a good idea...or a new stove!

Glad to hear people aren't using propane indoors...I got worried there for a minute.

I'm brewing in an apartment. Waiting for some supplies so that I can go AG on my next batch. (Jumbo grain bags and a weldless valve kit so that I don't have to pick my 8 gallon pot up off the stove until it's empty.) I'm also going to pick up a second pot for heating sparge water.
I plan on picking up a propane burner at some point but I've got a huge balcony, so that shouldn't be a problem.
For me the big issue is storage. It's me, my wife and our baby in a 2br/1bath apt, so figuring out where to keep a few fermenters, a couple of large brewpots, various other gear and a whole bunch of finished beer is challenging. Especially since we're both musicians and have plenty of instruments and recording gear, too.
When we look for our next place I'll definitely be factoring in the brewing and the storage of brewing stuff.

yeah, I've been brewing in my apt for over two years, it's all good. I just do extract with a partial boil, and I've made some great beers!