The apartment brewery

Living in NYC provides a lot of challenges for brewing, most of them space related. After going all grain a few years back, I decided to upgrade to a HERMS system, which again, with space restrictions, was tricky. The entire system is designed to be completely packed into the mash tun after use, which then goes into my closet, under the shirts. Recirculated by a march pump through a 50' 1/2" coil, which sits in another cooler that has a 1500W element installed in the bottom. All the temps are controlled by a PID in the "control panel", with the probe which regulates the activity of the element in the smaller cooler. With a slow flow rate this system will hold the mash temp within 0.5 degrees. I'll follow up with some pics of the fermentation chamber and kegerator as well.

 

For NYC that looks like a pretty massive kitchen. Very cool though. I really like your HERMS cooler!

Do you use your stove to pre-heat the water?

 

Pretty cool, bmick! Maybe I missed something obvious, but what do you do for your boil kettle? Also electric?

How long does it take to get your strike water heated with a 1500w element in that 5 gallon cooler?

I'm currently trying to build a 120v countertop system, and I'm weighing out options and designs. I like the look of this one!

 

subscribed to hear answers to those questions.

 

I love this, and I really love how it works like the nesting dolls and all fits inside the big mash tun.

 

Very cool, first of it's type that I have seen. Kinda wish I had seen it back in my apt. dwelling days!

 

I love reading about these small setups. Looks awesome!


My wife would **** if I had all that in the kitchen.

 

awesome idea bro, great job with it!

 

Wow that's awesome!

If you have the time could you run down like the parts list? I'm not planning on getting a house any time soon and would love to go with larger brews than one gallon.

 

That's sweet. Looks great.

 

I'll post more pics when I'm back from my honeymoon (first stop Russian River before wine country, woop). For the kettle I have a 10 gallon SS pot that I fire on the gas stove, which is supplemented by a 1500W heatstick. It takes very little to maintain a boil, and the stick gets me up to about 214 in roughly 30 minutes, firing the kettle and using the stick as I sparge. I'll list parts as well, and a shot of the panel guts.

 

I currently live in 925 sq ft in Boston. This system is duly noted. Great work!

 

I am currently thinking of making a HERMS cooler myself and this design looks like just what I need! Awesome setup! Thanks for posting and I look forward to seeing the picks of your control unit and the answers to other questions.

 

Same here, 800 sf. And even tho i just recently started, and plan on staying in extract for a bit, its nice to look at this and dream.

What I would give for a proper kitchen hood.

 

Not that your setup doesn't look sweet, but if you're trying to keep it small...BIAB?

 

Annnnd I'm back. So a few more pics here (a well as my sampler from Russian River). First few are the breakfast bar/fermentation chamber, then you can see the whole setup stuck into its tiny closet, with the kettle. Kettle is a SS 10 gallon job from a restaurant supply shop in Chinatown. To someone's earlier note, this is actually a big kitchen for NYC (especially compared to some prior ones I had, where you could literally pee and cook simultaneously), but it's still small, and gets up to about 95F during a summer brew day due to lack of ventilation.

 

That's pretty clever on how you hide the chest freezer.

Where did you get your tasting glasses in the bottom pic? Did you buy or make the flight paddle?

 

Those are actually the flight boards at Russian River. Great design; tapered glasses with the holes cut to fit the middle of the taper, so you can place them in, lift to carry, then drop it down in front of the sampler.

 

Awesome job. Gotta love the innovation of home brewers.

 

I really connect with this. Small (1200 sqft) in Atlanta and while I still only do partial mashes, I have a small closet where I have to store everything (Buckets, Brew Kettle, Supplies, Keg-A-Cooler, Spare kegs, etc). I also have a Mini-Fridge Kegerator just outside of that closet and a nice wine fridge for a ferm chamber which looks nice enough to sit in the corner of the dining room without the SWMBO flipping out.

The ferm chamber is only large enough for a bucket and 2 Mr. Beer ferms and I just recently got 3 more buckets to start doing more 5 gallon batches to fill all of my new kegs. I realized this morning that in the other corner of the dining room is an old antique Liquor cabinet that can hold at least 2 buckets... SO I am going to home depot to find some foam paneling and line the inside of that guy up to make another ferm chamber.

Point being... I like you brew setup. I just electric stove heat my 5 gallon kettle for boils and cool it in the sink cycling ice and water allowing a slow leak in the stopper. Need more info on your equipment!

 

Just saw this one. Actually I fill the HERMS cooler with my hot water from the tap (which is VERY hot to start), and then put the probe into the water and turn the system on. This way it'll heat the water in the HERMS cooler to the mash temp, so when I move the probe to the mash tun after mashing in, it'll be able to get it to that temp quickly once I start recirculating (assuming I get close with my strike water when I mash in, usually do). Takes about 10 minutes to get it the 30-40 degrees from tap temp to mash temp, usually set it up while I'm measuring/heating my strike water, which happens on the stove. Next brew day I'll post a pic series that walks through the whole process.

 

Just thought I'd throw in another NYC view. The 10 gal pot on the bottom covers both burners on a mini city stove. I've hidden all of my gear behind a room dividing curtain and while SWMBO has veto'd a few purchase requests, she hasn't asked me to minimize yet!

 

I love the photo's guys! Have to say that cheeky fermentation fridge in the side table was epic! I'm currently brewing in a small apartment in Yangzhou, China. Got a small 4gal (can push 5 but not easily), set up. Built mostly from parts online and a few extras I found locally. Temp control is a nightmare, currently rocking a waterbath and frozen soda bottles, maintaining a fairly even 64* temp. It's a challenge after having a massive double garage, with all the gear back in New Zealand. But, as a homebrewer every challenge is an adventure, and I'm really happy to try apartment brewing! Limitations can breed creativity, in all shapes and forms.

 

If we are not men of our word, we are not men at all. Here are some of the pics with more process, as promised. You can see a few more shots of the mash set up, then the heatstick that helps out the stove to get to a boil (from a thread here on HBT), the kettle, and then the chilling setup. The chilling setup is interesting, the plate chiller has to be below the kettle to get the pump primed, but then once it's recirculating I'll take it and move it to the sink, so the water can run through without any additional hoses. In the summer months the HEX is also used during chilling to cool my ground water to aid with chilling.

 

Quick question,

where did you get those toggle switches at and what are they called i have been looking for those types of toggles but can find them. any help would be great

 

Auberins.com has those switches.

 

awesome thanks

 

Hey on your Selector Switches, are there 2 positives, and a negative? iim waiting for mine to get in but i kinda want to create a diagram so i can get a head start.

if you have a wiring diagram of how you set yours up so i can get a feel that would be epic.

Thanks