Basement brewing?

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BearBrew

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Welp.... I had bid on a condo and it won!!! The forecasted closing date is September 27th, so I probably won't be doing any brewing until I'm into the new place. It's cool tho, I have enough beer to get me through until then.

Here's the only catch. It has a small one car garage, not big enough to have a full brewing setup. I want to have a work bench so I can let gravity do the work with fly-sparging, moving to the kettle, etc and there's no room in the garage for a bench. Also, for chilling, the utility tub is in the basement. I can't just let the water from the chiller flow into the yard, as it's a condo and we're not allowed to water the lawn. I can mash and sparge in the basement, get it into the keggle, carry it up the stairs, boil outside, take the keggle back downstairs, then cool the wort and rack it there. That sounds like a beotch.

The second option is to do everything in the basement, including the boil. I'm just scared the evaporation from the boil would affect the floorboards above. The basement has block windows, so I can't rig a ventilation system. Is anyone doing full boils in a basement? Any input would be appreciated.
 
Seems like a one car garage would be plenty big enough to brew in ... unless you plan on doing something crazy like put a car in there. I do all my brewing in my basement, you won't have any issues with your floorboards. If you are doing electric boils you should be just fine. If you plan on using gas to boil without any ventilation then there's a good chance you'll be dead.
 
I wouldn't worry about the floor boards. Its not like the steam is going to be directly on them. The steam will condense or mix with the atmosphere within a couple feet of the boil pot. It really is no worse than taking a hot shower. Now if you brewed for hours on end every day without a break, then you might have an issue. Otherwise the boards will not be affected.
 
a) The excess moisture in the basement would be my concern, leading to mold.
b) I would not want to carry 5 gallons of boiling wort down a flight of steps. I get worried about carrying a room temp glass carboy down steps.
c) Why not cool in the kitchen sink... or the bath tub? I use the sink myself. My 5 gallon kettle fits in just fine... or build a CFC.
 
Yeah, I've been looking at a CFC. Hmmm... I may give it a try. Or just buy one off Ebay for $70.
 
I'd brew in the garage. Set up a small footprint gravity brewstand and maybe run garden hose to the garage and then back down into the tub to drain. Put a shutoff on the end in the garage of course. Without seeing the garage I'd guess this would be feasible.

I think I could store all of my equipment in a space about 3'W x 5'L x 8'T And I have a few extra pieces. Buckets can stack until brew day, and some kettles too. Then place a bunch of the smaller items in the top bucket. I have most of my small items in a cool tool box. Get a small folding table that you can hang on the wall to brew on. Get shelves to put stuff on so it's up out of the way. Heck, anything to make brewing possible!
 
I would love to have a one car garage to brew in. I currently have my "rig" for brewing 10 gallon batches on a 8' x 4' apartment patio that already has 2 bikes on it.
 
i brew 100% inside an apartment. i'm sure i'm breaking a ton of "rules". pardon my bluntness, but..man up and brew that s***!
 
Personally I would not brew in a basement (or any enclosed area) with NO ventilation. I also wouldn't carry boiling liquid up and down the stairs.

I brew on my stove top and run a garden hose in through my window to run my immersion chiller... where there's a will there's a way I guess.

Could you use a folding table or something you could break down/store for a temporary "workbench"?
 
Yeah, I'm going to look into building a bench hinged to the wall I think. Other than that, I can use a bucket with my chiller, or run a house to a drain. I'm manning up damnit!
 
Yeah, I'm going to look into building a bench hinged to the wall I think. Other than that, I can use a bucket with my chiller, or run a house to a drain. I'm manning up damnit!

Way to go! Let us know what you come up with, it might help out some other people in similar situations.
 
One car garage could be big enough if you want to make it work. I have brewed on a 4X12 4th floor apartment patio. Where there is a will there is a way .......... And this is beer we are talking about.
 
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