Small Apartment Brewing

Over the last year and a half, i've been brewing at my buddy's house. Recently, he informed me that his roommate doesn't want me to brewing there anymore. Now i'm stuck without a reliable place to brew.

My apartment is very small and has one of those regular sized sinks that is split into two sections. The biggest problem i see with brewing here is having enough room for an ice bath. I suppose the first fix to this problem would be to create an immersion cooler. Question 1: do you generally use an immersion cooler in conjunction with an ice bath or is it sufficient by itself?

The second problem is having enough room fill and clean carboys. The only place this would be possible is in the bathtub but it's still too short to fit the carboy completely under the faucet. Does anyone in a similar situation have some tips for this? How well do the homemade hoses that connect to your kitchen sink work?

I do brew in my small apartment. My sink is too small for an icebath. I bought a big 20+/- gal tub from walmart or something for a few bucks and I use that for my ice bath. If I had an immersion chiller, I would use them both.

Filling and cleaning carboys is a PITA. I fill water jugs then empty into carboy. Not the most convenient place to brew but I've got no other choice right now.

I live in an apartment also so I have some experience with this. I bought a wort chiller with the faucet adapter from Northern Brewer and it works like a champ. I don't even mess with ice any more, trust me you won't go back. If you can afford the $50 it will be well worth it and I haven't had any leaks, just make sure to tighten the hose clamps before your first use.

I clean everything I have in the bathtub. I have to angle the carboys under the faucet but I can get enough water in there to get things cleaned out. Let me know if you have any more questions.

I used to live in an apartment when I started brewing. I basically turned my apartment into a nano brewery which was also secondarily used as my living quarters.

I'm in an apartment too, but ive always used a wort chiller. Just go with that and a prechiller.

i use two pots in the bathtub method .. just split the wort into two pots .. fill the tub up to the level of the wort with cold water and sit them in there .. then 15 or so mins later .. emty the water and refill the tub .. and this time use ice .. you can cool 4 or so gallons down to pitching temp in less than 45 mins that way .. good luck

I just held my carboys at an angle in the tub. They fill, but not quickly.

Thanks for the advice! 45 minutes seems like a long time compared to the 15-20min i am used to. I believe i will go with a wort chiller and maybe a bucket for an ice bath. What is this prechiller you mention?

Don't use a prechiller it is a waste of money. The general idea is having ANOTHER chiller that you immerse in ice water that the water flows through before going through the wort chiller in the BK.

Instead, if you want to do something extra get a small submersible fountain or pond pump and put it directly in the ice water, and pump the ice water through your wort chiller. If you do that while gently stirring the wort in the BK you will cool your stuff down quickly.

Rafae said:

Thanks for the advice! 45 minutes seems like a long time compared to the 15-20min i am used to. I believe i will go with a wort chiller and maybe a bucket for an ice bath. What is this prechiller you mention?

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you could probably chill it quicker with the two pots in the tub method .. it just depends on how much ice you want to buy .. i just use what i have in the fridge and about 5 frozen water bottles ... i dont mind the 45 mins tho ... thats usually when I have a beer and get a bunch of stuff cleaned up .. whats really good to do with the time is bottle a batch and then pitch the new beer onto that cake ... I've done that a few times too .. good luck ..

I live in NYC....very small apt space to brew.

My chilling solution:
1. make chiller- 25 ft-o-copper, 3/8 in high temp tubing for inlet/outlet.
2. get submersible pump (520 gpm). Put pump in bucket with ice, pump ice water through chiller and into kitchen sink.
3. get smaller submersible pump (20 gmp). Put this pump in the sink, fill sink with ice, pump "reclaimed" water from chiller back into the bucket.

Doing it this way i can use 2-3 bags of ice and only waste 5 gallons of water.

My solution for carboy cleaning is:
1. take larger pump, attach a copper fitting with 2 ft of 3/8 in copper pipe that i drilled holes in- about 30 very small holes- and capped the top.
2. cut bucket lid to allow pipe to come out and have a place for the carboy to sit.
3. put pump in bucket with sanitizer.
4. rinse carboy with water from tub.
5. put carboy on pipe and turn on pump.
6. rotate and move carboy around until clean.

Total cost:
1. 520 gpm pump- $20 @ harbor frieght.
2. 20 gpm pump- $9 @ home depot (in the power saw department- its used for cooling blades)
3. tubing- $1.50 per ft.
4. copper fitting, pipe, and cap- $11 @ home depot
5. lid was an extra.

Hope this helps.