i've been looking into brewing my own beer and really enjoy all the info on this site. But i do have one fear that i can't get over. I live in a rather small apartment with apartments on both side of mine and one bellow. My fear is that when doing the boil that it might produce a strong smell. Is the smell going to be so strong that my neighbors will smell it. And is it going so strong that they will posible get mad?
I wanna make beer but??
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Germelli1
Well-Known Member
I brew in my college apartment. It definitely smells but not enough to raise concern
DizzyPants
Well-Known Member
Same. I live in a two room condo and brew on the deck with a jet burner. We have tight association rules and there isn't any problem. Brew on. Just took a growler of my home stuff to my cousins who brew with a "we brew for you shop" and mine beat their's hands down.
~Diz
~Diz
starrfish
Well-Known Member
I was an apartment dweller for a long time, smallest was an old Carriage house I had the "hay loft" neighbors has "the stalls" they never new I brewed or complained about it.
boil smells like hoppy dough yumm, your stove vent fan helps.
brew on!
boil smells like hoppy dough yumm, your stove vent fan helps.
brew on!
WCrane
Well-Known Member
I was a tad concerned about the smell in our townhouse, But the wort was cooled and in the bucket and then in the Ferm chiller, the smell was gone within a hour.
Justibone
Well-Known Member
Wort smells like fresh bread! Yummmmmm!!!
You may want to stay away from Edwort's Apfelwein, though. While fermenting it's been described as smelling roughly equivalent to "rhino farts".
You may want to stay away from Edwort's Apfelwein, though. While fermenting it's been described as smelling roughly equivalent to "rhino farts".
Noodle
Active Member
I live in an apt with people on both sides and below me. Not a single one of them has said anything when I'm brewing.
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You haven't breed indoors with a pregnant wife then
But seriously, you're just cooking. They won't smell your wort anymore than you smell their soup on the stove. And if you do smell their soup, well, they can smell your wort. It's only fair
But it's is not a bad smell. Unless you someday make a hop tea with just 2 ounces of Simcoe and a quart of water. That doesn't smell too well concentrated.
likwidbliss
Well-Known Member
If they complain, tell them you hate the smell of their BBQ.
joel6615
Active Member
Do your neighbors a favor by wafting the malty aroma their way. They will thank you.
Have a pot of curry water boiling at the same time...that will shuit them up. I used to live next door to an Indian family. Most of the time, it smelled great but there were days your eyeballs would be burning.
SoonerDoc
Well-Known Member
The smell is nowhere near as bad as I thought it would be (I think it smells kinda good, my wife and son disagree ) and it goes away after a couple of hours anyway. Try it, I doubt you'll hear any complaints.
) and it goes away after a couple of hours anyway. Try it, I doubt you'll hear any complaints.
JOHN51277
Well-Known Member
Just Do It!!!!
gratefuldisc
Well-Known Member
Stated perfectly.
WRT the OP's thread title, I have been trying to get rid of my beer butt, and beer belly. . ... but seriously, I don't know if you are friends with your neighbors but this could be just the right thing to open some doors. Though I agree that the smell goes away after a few hours, you could offer to share your homebrew with them once it is finished. You might even get to the point where they look forward to the smell of boiling malt and hops waifting out of your apartment!
tallybrewer
Well-Known Member
I wouldn't be any more concerned about the smell of brewing than I would be about baking bread.
I bet the neighbors will enjoy the aroma....who wouldn't ....and if they don't tell them to go back to Russia....
triethylborane
Well-Known Member
I would imagine it would cause people to break down your door to get some beer. I wish I had brewed in college, that would have been so awesome.
I live in a loft with neighbors all around and it's no different really than any other cooking smell, except maybe a little sweeter/carmally smelling. Like you are baking or making candy.
brewagentjay
Well-Known Member
Give it a shot see what happens, you don't like it please send beer and equipment to me.
JJL
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If you are truly concerned you could always do a small scale test. Just take a small pot. Something large enough to hold maybe 2 gals of water at most. Get a pound of DME and an ounce or two of hops. mix it all together and boil it for an hour or two. This will only cost you less than $10 and you will know pretty quickly if your neighbors have an issue with it.
FromZwolle
I don't want to be cremated, I want to be malted.
You haven't breed indoors with a pregnant wife then
But seriously, you're just cooking. They won't smell your wort anymore than you smell their soup on the stove. And if you do smell their soup, well, they can smell your wort. It's only fair
if i tried to breed indoors while my wife was still at home, she'd get a bit stabby.
Justibone
Well-Known Member
starrfish
Well-Known Member
+1 on the SMESH! good way to get to know your malt & hop profiles
Simcoe works great! Munton & Fison Light dry malt extract is 100% two row malted barley... so even though it is a S.M.E.S.H. it's still a true S.M.A.S.H.
LD Carlson adds Carapils to their Dry malt Extract
robertbartsch
Well-Known Member
I used to live in a NYC apartment and brewing would not be a problem with neighbors.
The question is; why would you want to do this if it involves LOTS of equipment and storage? I live in a house with a basement now and brewing equipment takes up about 150 square feet in the basement. I also still use the kitchen on the main floor for boils.
The question is; why would you want to do this if it involves LOTS of equipment and storage? I live in a house with a basement now and brewing equipment takes up about 150 square feet in the basement. I also still use the kitchen on the main floor for boils.
Justibone
Well-Known Member
If you can brew all-grain in a coffeepot, then you can brew in any amount of space.
As for why, well, why do any of us do it?
You can do a lot of things, including all grain in an apartment, with some creativity. The biggest issue is storage, not just for gear, but bottles or kegs. But again, if you want to do it bad enough, you just gotta get inventive. There are plenty of equipment/production tips on here, everything from maximizing your stovetop boiling through insulation, making a heatstick to help boil the 7 gallons aprox you would need, to a neat three gallon all electric/automatic system. To stuff about bottle storage in a file cabinet. It's all here.
Here's some pics to give you an idea of my brewcloset/storage.
I've found that milkcrates are the best for bottle storage. You can hold an entire case of them in the space of HALF of a traditional cardboorad beer case, and they are sturdier and as stackable as you want them to be.
If you wanted to do bare bones stovetop all grain, you could do 2.5 gallon batches with only a 2-3 gallon unmodified cooler and a mr beer keg. Or you can use a 5-10 gallon modified cooler.
there's also a bunch of threads on apartment brewing on here, with some more tips and tricks.
Here's some pics to give you an idea of my brewcloset/storage.
I've found that milkcrates are the best for bottle storage. You can hold an entire case of them in the space of HALF of a traditional cardboorad beer case, and they are sturdier and as stackable as you want them to be.
If you wanted to do bare bones stovetop all grain, you could do 2.5 gallon batches with only a 2-3 gallon unmodified cooler and a mr beer keg. Or you can use a 5-10 gallon modified cooler.
there's also a bunch of threads on apartment brewing on here, with some more tips and tricks.
If you can brew all-grain in a coffeepot, then you can brew in any amount of space.
As for why, well, why do any of us do it?
Well said!!!
There are even a couple of coffeepot brewery threads on here, I think scuba steve is in the midsts of a build thread as we speak.
I also live in an apt. and I've never heard any complaints about the smell. It smells quite good and I brew with the windows open, so it probably just smells like you're cooking to other people. Don't worry about it and get your kit!
SoonerDoc
Well-Known Member
You don't want to live next to the kind of people who think brewing your own beer isn't cool anyway.
Livendadream
Well-Known Member
Yep, the smell is awesome. Take a brewery tour sometime. You will never forget the aromas. I miss brewing indoors just because it made the house smell sooooooo good. Get to the homebrew shop now!!!!!!!! J
Jakeedaman21
Well-Known Member
Ive even had to brew in a Dorm Tower's common's area with only a burner and sink. People thought I was making "beer-bread", which speaks to the intelligence of my fellow college students
Don't worry about the smell, it dissipates quickly and is mainly present during the boil. You will actually start to enjoy it!
Don't worry about the smell, it dissipates quickly and is mainly present during the boil. You will actually start to enjoy it!
