Brewing in condo

[Daniel_veal]

Hello all,

I am new brewing. It’s just been a year since I started brewing. I used to brew beer in my garage. But my wife is not a great fan of brewing, but still, I want to.

But the problem is that recently we purchased a condo from Scarborough condos. Soon, we'll be moving into a condo and my biggest fear is that I will not be able to brew like I used to. Currently, I brew on a gas range, and I can achieve boil with 6 gallons without any problem. My new place only has an electric range. And yes, I did check for the open flame on the balcony. But there seems to be none

And yes, I did think of building my own heat stick after I saw some posts on Heat Sticks. But, just not sure exactly what they are or how to build them.

Any suggestion to get me out of the situation?

 

[archthered]

I don't do it but there is a whole forum dedicated to all electric brewing and it seems like that may be your best bet.

 

[mirthfuldragon]

And yes, I did think of building my own heat stick after I saw some posts on Heat Sticks. But, just not sure exactly what they are or how to build them. Any suggestion to get me out of the situation?

A heat stick is a stand-alone electric heating element. Basically, you stick the element in the water, plug it in, and it gets hot. There are a several different versions and multiple applications (mounted in the pot, submersible, others) depending on what and how you want to do it. Between a heat stick and your stove, I expect you will have enough power to boil without major issue.

 

[Jtk78]

I would go to https://www.brewhardware.com and search hot rod. They have pre-made elements that are ready to plug in and use, or kits that you put together. They also have a video to walk you through putting it together if you go that route. I would use that along with the electric range and you should be able to boil the volume of water you need. I do not have any experience with the hot rod, but a few club members use them and really like them.

 

[flars]

What type of electric range? Some glass top ranges will not boil a large volume of water, if at all, in a reasonable time because heating is intermittent. Total weight of the boil kettle is also a consideration for glass top ranges. Have you considered a free standing unit like the Gigawort or Grainfather? The price of a Grainfather or similar units might be a problem with a wife that objects to brewing.

 

[bpgreen]

What type of electric range? Some glass top ranges will not boil a large volume of water, if at all, in a reasonable time because heating is intermittent. Total weight of the boil kettle is also a consideration for glass top ranges. Have you considered a free standing unit like the Gigawort or Grainfather? The price of a Grainfather or similar units might be a problem with a wife that objects to brewing.

A Robo-brew or Mash & Boil would be significantly less expensive (but with fewer bells and whistles).

 

[Daniel_veal]

There are a several different versions and multiple applications (mounted in the pot, submersible, others) depending on what and how you want to do it.

Will check those different versions, thanks

I would go to https://www.brewhardware.com and search hot rod. They have pre-made elements that are ready to plug in and use, or kits that you put together.

Sure... I'll check those before starting the brewing... Thanks so much...

Have you considered a free standing unit like the Gigawort or Grainfather? The price of a Grainfather or similar units might be a problem with a wife that objects to brewing.

Will look into it too...

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

Small space brewing is (obviously) different from large space / garage brewing. What's interesting is that many people figure out how to brew five gallon BAIB in these small spaces. They were not afraid of changing their brewing process from how they previously brewed, they adjust their brewing equipment and batch sizes to enjoy their hobby.

The Stack Exchange homebrew forum did a series of posts a while back on small space brewing.

If I were to move back to a small space, I would start by 1) finding a good fermentation temperature control solution and 2) a solution to short term storage for the beer. This will help determine the batch sizes (plural) that I can effectively and usefully brew. Batch sizes that result in 6-packs (1 gallon carboy), 12-packs (1.5 or 2.0 gal containers), and 24-packs (3 gallon carboy) after bottling may be the most interesting sizes. Techniques to boil the wort are likely easier to evaluate after one knows the batch sizes that are being brewed.

If you're determined to brew five gallon batches, there are approaches (both traditional and nontraditional) that people have written about.

 

[Daniel_veal]

Thanks @BrewnWKopperKat Will check those threads too...

 

[ircbrewing]

I just moved to an apartment from a townhouse. I started doing partial mashes. I have an electric glass top stove (worst thing ever).

In the town house I did full volume 5 gallon BIAB with a 13 gallon kettle. I can’t do that anymore. So I scaled things down. Thought “how can I do a boil in a 5 gallon stock pot without resorting to full extract to preserve creativity in using mashable grains?” The answer? Partial mash BIAB. How? Easy.

Lets take a golden blonde ale. Shooting for 1.045 OG. Its 3 pounds of DME and 3 pounds of 2 row, .5 pounds of carapils, .25 of crystal 10 and .25 of Vienna. That’s 4 pounds of total grain weight. I take my total grain weight and divide by 3.2 to get a total mash volume of 1.25 gallons. So add 1.25 gallons to the kettle. Heat to 163, add bag, add grain and mash for 30-45 minutes. Since its such a small grain weight and lighter grains it doesn’t take a full hour to 90 minutes to convert.

After mash pull the grains, lauter as much into the kettle then add the bag of grains to another stock pot with a strainer sitting on top/inside. I use a traditional pasta strainer. Nothing fancy. The grains will continue to lauter into the second stock pot. Grab a gallon of water and rinse/sparge the grains. You can heat the water to 170 or just do room temp water. I have done both with similar efficiency so I don’t heat the water anymore. One less step. Remove the strainer with grains and Add the gallon or so of sort from secondary pot to the main kettle and crank up the temp to a boil. You will have about a gallon after mash and you’ll add back another 1.25 gallons or so from the sparge for a boil volume of around 2-2.25 gallons.

Once boiling add DME. Add hops. Boil. Do your santizing now and get ready.

Once boil is complete you will have about 1.50-1.75 of highly concentrated wort. Get a 10 pound bag of ice from the store. This ice is sanitized, distilled water and ok to add. Add about 7-8 pounds of it to the wort to cool it down in mere seconds. Don’t add too much or it’ll be too cold for yeast. 10 pounds of ice is generally a gallon. Now you have about 3 gallons or so in the kettle. Add wort to bucket. Add two more gallons of distilled water from the store (again it’s sanitized).

Now you have 5 gallons of wort! Yay! All done in a measly 5 gallon pot and you were still able to express yourself with a partial mash!

Be sure to stir the wort to mix/oxygenate and take a quick hydrometer reading, pitch yeast. Done!

Also, you may be asking “how to do fermentation control in an apartment without a big heavy fridge? The answer is a brew jacket. Compact, quiet and precise.

That’s how you brew damn good beer in a small space without a big kettle and fermentation chamber without giving up all creativity.

Hope this helps!

 

[Staticsouls]

I would say it depends on your brewing style and batch size wants and needs. If you plan on 5 gallons or smaller there are plenty of turn key options available. For the DIYer, like me, stainless steel heating elements work great. I have two 2000w elements in my boil kettle, similar to the heat sticks, and they work great. With this concept you can really configure a brew rig in your space to what you need. I do 5 and 10 gallon batches yielding up to 12 gallons into the fermenter at times. I do this a single car condo garage. So what's your style? DIY, or buy? What size batches? Bottle or keg?

 

[Daniel_veal]

I just moved to an apartment from a townhouse. I started doing partial mashes. I have an electric glass top stove (worst thing ever).

In the town house I did full volume 5 gallon BIAB with a 13 gallon kettle. I can’t do that anymore. So I scaled things down. Thought “how can I do a boil in a 5 gallon stock pot without resorting to full extract to preserve creativity in using mashable grains?” The answer? Partial mash BIAB. How? Easy.

Lets take a golden blonde ale. Shooting for 1.045 OG. Its 3 pounds of DME and 3 pounds of 2 row, .5 pounds of carapils, .25 of crystal 10 and .25 of Vienna. That’s 4 pounds of total grain weight. I take my total grain weight and divide by 3.2 to get a total mash volume of 1.25 gallons. So add 1.25 gallons to the kettle. Heat to 163, add bag, add grain and mash for 30-45 minutes. Since its such a small grain weight and lighter grains it doesn’t take a full hour to 90 minutes to convert.

After mash pull the grains, lauter as much into the kettle then add the bag of grains to another stock pot with a strainer sitting on top/inside. I use a traditional pasta strainer. Nothing fancy. The grains will continue to lauter into the second stock pot. Grab a gallon of water and rinse/sparge the grains. You can heat the water to 170 or just do room temp water. I have done both with similar efficiency so I don’t heat the water anymore. One less step. Remove the strainer with grains and Add the gallon or so of sort from secondary pot to the main kettle and crank up the temp to a boil. You will have about a gallon after mash and you’ll add back another 1.25 gallons or so from the sparge for a boil volume of around 2-2.25 gallons.

Once boiling add DME. Add hops. Boil. Do your santizing now and get ready.

Once boil is complete you will have about 1.50-1.75 of highly concentrated wort. Get a 10 pound bag of ice from the store. This ice is sanitized, distilled water and ok to add. Add about 7-8 pounds of it to the wort to cool it down in mere seconds. Don’t add too much or it’ll be too cold for yeast. 10 pounds of ice is generally a gallon. Now you have about 3 gallons or so in the kettle. Add wort to bucket. Add two more gallons of distilled water from the store (again it’s sanitized).

Now you have 5 gallons of wort! Yay! All done in a measly 5 gallon pot and you were still able to express yourself with a partial mash!

Be sure to stir the wort to mix/oxygenate and take a quick hydrometer reading, pitch yeast. Done!

Also, you may be asking “how to do fermentation control in an apartment without a big heavy fridge? The answer is a brew jacket. Compact, quiet and precise.

That’s how you brew damn good beer in a small space without a big kettle and fermentation chamber without giving up all creativity.

Hope this helps!

Thanks for the share... That's pretty good... Creative too...

 

[Toga]

Screw the heat stick. One of these will make your life easy. https://www.homebrewing.org/Brewers-Edge-Mash-Boil-All-Grain-Brewing-System_p_7497.html

 

[r4dyce]

Screw the heat stick. One of these will make your life easy. https://www.homebrewing.org/Brewers-Edge-Mash-Boil-All-Grain-Brewing-System_p_7497.html

Want one of those very badly.

 

[lablover]

I brew in a small space as well. I have two 5 gallon pots and do BIAB in each. One is on the stovetop and one is on a $45 induction cooktop that I got from Amazon. This is nice because the grain bags weigh half as much. Fermentation temperature control is another issue. I've already got one small kegerator and there is no way I will be able to fit another in my space for fermentation. I was looking at the Brewjackets, but spending over $300 for this seems unreasonable. I am going with this instead because it should fit my Fermonster. https://ballandkeg.com/temperature-control-loop.php I just ordered one and haven't used it, but read about it elsewhere and it seems pretty simple. I can update once tried.

 

[ncbrewer]

A split boil can work well. I used a cooler mash tun and split both the first runnings and second runnings into two kettles(to get the same gravity in each kettle). Each kettle could easily boil on a single stove burner. It adds some complexity to brew day - getting a good split of each running, hops, and Irish Moss. Then I cooled each in an ice bath - again, keeping up with stirring and checking temperature in two kettles. Overall, it's a good solution if you don't mind keeping up with two boil kettles.

 

[shortyz]

get a grainfather, fast brews, no mess. I probably have 50 brews on mine and ive had 0 issues. Remember you pay for what you get.

 

[Dancy]

I live in a small condo. 16 years ago, I had the space to brew full size AG batches until a divorce changed that and I lived in apartments until I bought my condo 2 years ago. Now there are some options for people in condos. Brewing small batches on my electric stove is NOT very satisfying. I've been researching for months on the way to go (not in a hurry as I've had kids graduating and a surgery to recover from) -- stay with small batch only? Induction? Self contained like a Gigawort, GF, BE Mash and Boil or Robobrew? What makes sense regarding bang for the buck? I have finally decided for my living quarters (850sq ft, life alone), all this agonizing over what to do is silly. A self contained unit makes the most sense for storage, efficiency and cost. The Gigawort is too limiting and the Grainfather too much money (for me, anyway). This leaves me with the Robobrew or Mash & Boil. I can brew small or 5-6 gallon batches and no reason to upgrade my electrical -- and only $300 to $350 at regular price. Now I can address fermentation temp control.....