the apartment brewer

[coolbeerluke]

I'm not sure what the home brewer / apartment brewer ratio is... probably like 9/1. but, who all is an apartment brewer?
Even further, being an apartment brewer, I know of the many challenges associated with living in a tiny box. What are some of peoples obstacles?
My biggest problem is getting ready for all-grain, but lacking the great outdoors for big bad brass burner to heat up water and boil wort. It would be one thing even having a gas range in my kitchen, but no...I'm stuck with an electric one (which takes a long time to bring a 16 quart brewpot to a boil, let alone a 32 quart one when it comes to all-grain).

I guess the point of this thread is not to ***** about my lack of resources and other brewing issues, but rather to learn from other people's situations to better my own. So, tell me about your problems!

 

[FreakinA]

Im an apartment brewer, also with an electric stove. Maybe when I'm home in the summer and for winter break Ill use my Dad's turkey fryer and do some all grain batches.

 

[gator_brewer]

Not only am I an apartment brewer, but as a college student I have 3 other roommates who get mad when I make my wort, and only have my closet to store primaries/secondaries and under my bed for bottles.

Still, the most annoying thing is the crappy electric stove that barely gets a boil going on 3gal.

But at the end of the day, once everything works out, it's still one hell of a beer, so it's been a good day.


Off topic: I'm drinking an Old Sckatch Amber Lager, tastes like crap, I don't recommend it, good thing I only bought one.

 

[PseudoChef]

I do AG in my apartment, but I'm lucky in that my stove will boil 7 gallons.

A tip that I would give though would be to look for a local club or something and get some guys to host group brew days. That way you can just brew at someone else's place.

I also brewed out in our parking lot a couple times until they yelled at me.

 

[aryiman]

I am an AG apartment brewer and I can get 5.5 gallons up to a rolling boil in 30-40 mins on my electric stove. I use two burners and it works out well. The problems I have is that I have little room and that when I brew it smells throughout the house and SWMBO does not like it. It takes me about 5 hours from prep to clean up to do AG in my apartment. If anyone has questions Id be glad to help but I cannot wait until the spring when I get a house!

I subscribed to this thread because I thought was going to need it but I don't.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/improved-boiling-stovetop-53683/

 

[Edcculus]

I'm also a college apartment brewer with 3 roomates. Luckily I have a back porch that I can use a burner on. Before I got the burner my apartment smelled of wort for a week.

 

[coolbeerluke]

I do AG in my apartment, but I'm lucky in that my stove will boil 7 gallons.

A tip that I would give though would be to look for a local club or something and get some guys to host group brew days. That way you can just brew at someone else's place.

I also brewed out in our parking lot a couple times until they yelled at me.

I suppose I could give the parking lot a try...and yes, being in college is very difficult. I can't wait to get out and buy a house with a massive garage/basement/backyard so I can brew peacefully and happily, and quicker!

 

[Revvy]

I'm a small loft brewer with little space and no yard, and no parking lot...so the majority of my brewing is stove top, extract w/grain, partial mashes and 2.5 gallon all grain batches in a 5 gallon pot...full volume all grain is something I can only do at someone else's place, or at an event like teach your neighbor to homebrew day, or something like that....

 

[fat x nub]

I am not an appartment brewer but if my appartment had a balcony outside or a little porch then I would try to develop a brew system on that...would probably need a pump because holding a HLT high above a balcony could be a prolem if it fell

 

[eschatz]

I brew in an apartment. I AG and usually use my burner/keggle on the sidewalk in front of my apartment. (I always wait till they've left to start brewing so they don't yell at me. ) Just do what you can. It's great to go AG but you'll be limited if you cant boil. You can do two pots on a stove and split your hop additions. However it's a pain in the a$$. You gotta just keep at it and you'll develop a rhythm. Good Luck!

 

[HBHoss]

I'm a small loft brewer with little space and no yard, and no parking lot...so the majority of my brewing is stove top, extract w/grain, partial mashes and 2.5 gallon all grain batches in a 5 gallon pot...full volume all grain is something I can only do at someone else's place, or at an event like teach your neighbor to homebrew day, or something like that....

That's until they catch him then he has to run/climb to the next empty loft he can sneak into. The real reason he can't do full volume is it's too hard to run with all that gear.

 

[coolbeerluke]

I brew in an apartment. I AG and usually use my burner/keggle on the sidewalk in front of my apartment. (I always wait till they've left to start brewing so they don't yell at me. ) Just do what you can. It's great to go AG but you'll be limited if you cant boil. You can do two pots on a stove and split your hop additions. However it's a pain in the a$$. You gotta just keep at it and you'll develop a rhythm. Good Luck!

I would be more than open to brewing outside in the lot or the sidewalk actually, but how would weather and the frigid cold this time of year affect my success? I live in Northern Michigan, and it gets pretty cold. I guess I could, boil the strike water, haul it into my apartment, mash, bring in more sparge water, sparge, and then haul it all in a pot back outside, bring it back in the house, run it through the chiller, and into the carboy? get some exercise while do all i guess.

 

[eschatz]

Exactly, I did the "cheap and easy 10 gal MLT" from the FLYGUY thread. Just search for it on here.

I heat all of my strike on the kitchen stove and pour into my MLT. I only boil outside and bring my keggle inside and sit it on an old chair with four bricks on it to insulate it from the heat of the keggle. I use an immersion chiller and there you go. It's all pretty simple from there.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

 

[HBHoss]

Exactly, I did the "cheap and easy 10 gal MLT" from the FLYGUY thread. Just search for it on here.

I heat all of my strike on the kitchen stove and pour into my MLT. I only boil outside and bring my keggle inside and sit it on an old chair with four bricks on it to insulate it from the heat of the keggle. I use an immersion chiller and there you go. It's all pretty simple from there.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

Depending on how much snow you get you could just set the keggle in a snow bank. Get it to lager temp real quick. :cross:

 

[schristian619]

I'm an apartment brewer as well. I have a small patio though, so I use a propane burner. I could probable build a brew stand/sculpture if I could afford it, but this works. I have 2 10 gal rubbermaid/home depot coolers that i converted and do fly sparging in my kitchen. Works well for me. Although I have no dining area since thats occupied with 2 sanyos and a chest freezer for fermentation and kegs, but who needs to eat when you can make beer

 

[Pi Kapp Beer Guy]

Apartment Brewer here! Yeah it can be tedious to brew but fortunatley i have a balcony i can use. LOL yeah the majority of people here are pumped that i brew my own beer. The only complaints i get are that i run out of beer.

 

[BeaverBrewer]

+1 for apartment brewers. Luckily I have a little porch thing so I can mash inside and boil outside. It's even partially roofed!

 

[aryiman]

You all suck, I live upstairs and I do not have a balcony or anything to use a propane burner. Good thing I have a good rocking electric stove to do AG on!

 

[alex_wilkosz]

apartment brewer here. i agree that getting up top a boil on electric is annoying and my balcony is too small to do anyhting out there. but the biggest annoyance of mine is my place is not insulated all to great....thus my temp inside my apt gets down to like 56 degrees when i dont have my heat on lately....thus im thinkin i may do a lager this winter cuz my carboy would sit at a comfortable temp. or i could put it outside if necessary. otherwise sometimes to keep the carboy warm enough i have to turn my heat on just to get my temp up. uber-annoying

 

[Coastarine]

Ex apt brewer here. I still managed to do AG batches on my balcony, but like most places I don't think I was supposed to have a flame on my balcony. I was always a little worried that the neighbors would hear it and think I was running a meth lab.

 

[Bigsnake]

I lived in apartments for the last 5 years for college. I'm renting a house with a friend right now but I might be going back for more school next fall, which means, back to an apartment

 

[TheJadedDog]

I'm an apartment brewer and was confined to PM until a recent move to a new apartment brought a deck and the ability to go AG. My biggest problem now is having space for my brewery; the old apartment had tons of room so now I have tons of toys and no place to put them.

 

[PseudoChef]

I actually like brewing inside more than outside. When it's outside, I always felt that I needed to stay next to the burner in case something bad happened. When I'm inside, I'm watching TV or doing some chores while I'm boiling. Much more relaxed, IMO.

 

[Soulive]

I'm in a townhouse, not apartment, but I do brew AG in my 10'x8' kitchen...

 

[bradsul]

Another AG apartment brewer here. I have a crappy electric stove that can barely cook pasta so I definitely don't brew indoors. Fortunately I live on the ground floor so I just do my boil outside on a propane burner. Winter isn't a problem if you're prepared with some ugly junk to help out.



And chilling the wort takes up most of the kitchen.

 

[dasBuhbuh]

Apartment here too. My gas stove doesn't get an amazing boil, but it gets the job done i suppose. My only problem really is that my roommate likes it warm. 90+ degrees out and he says "Its only a dry heat". There is a pretty constant battle over the thermostat.

 

[alex_wilkosz]

that sux. thats way to warm. if he likes it warm tell him to go outside

 

[dasBuhbuh]

considering its currently snowing, i doubt he would. haha. at least ive got my brew in a swamp cooler...

 

[EvilTOJ]

Another AG apartment brewer here. I'm on the second floor and have a balcony I can run the turkey fryer on. Check with your landlord to see if it's allowed. At first I thought mine wasn't, but it turns out any propane device can be run on the balconies, just no charcoal. I mash inside, boil outside, and cool in the bathtub since I have no hose. I have an immersion chiller, but hook it up to the bathroom sink's faucet.

Brewing is hard work. When the hell is the bank going to say if I got that goddamn house or not???

 

[coolbeerluke]

not a problem now, but I live on the mid level of my building and it gets a little toasty during summer, is there an efficient way to keep the wort cool during fermentation when it gets too hot?

 

[Fusorfodder]

I'm on the 3rd floor, with only 1 electric burner that can get 3gal boiling. I stick to extract here, but I'll drag my AG stuff to my buddy's place if needed.

 

[Penguin]

i too am part of the apartment alliance and do 3.5 gallon boils in about 30-45 minutes with a lid. doing extracts at the moment but plan on going AG when we get us a house.

 

[Revvy]

i too am part of the apartment alliance and do 3.5 gallon boils in about 30-45 minutes with a lid. doing extracts at the moment but plan on going AG when we get us a house.

You don't boil the wort with a lid on do you? It's not a good idea....

If your beer has an unwanted cooked corn flavor or worse yet, it tastes like oysters, you might have a DMS problem. DMS (dimethyl sulfides) occur in beer either naturally...

The naturally occurring DMS comes from S-methyl methionine (SMM), a product of malt germination. SMM levels in the malt are reduced when it is roasted and never forms as DMS later in your wort. This makes DMS less of an issue in beers that use roasted malts.

DMS is more of a concern in lighter beers, especially lagers, because the lighter grains do not have the SMM removed from roasting. The levels of SMM in your malt are directly related to the levels of DMS in your wort. DMS “breaks” off from SMM during the boil of your wort.

As your wort boils, DMS is produced and boiled off. It evaporates and is removed from your beer. That’s good. If you boil your wort with the lid on, the DMS will condense and fall back into the kettle. That’s bad. If you want to avoid DMS, step one is to boil your wort with the lid OFF the brew kettle.

 

[Pivzavod]

not a problem now, but I live on the mid level of my building and it gets a little toasty during summer, is there an efficient way to keep the wort cool during fermentation when it gets too hot?

I am an apartment brewer with a balcony that I used for my first batch to cool it down. Speaking of getting toasty in summer, my bedroom has a 9+ feet window + balcony door which face the sunny side, my record coming home is 95F Living room has the same size window but no balcony and is better covered so it doesnt get that hot, I am planning to keep my beer in my cooler and only in the living room. Maybe when I do a lager I will keep the primary in the bedroom between the window & balcony window because there is a little drift over there and I'm sure it can maybe do a few degrees lower.

I will be a lot more prepared for next summer since I am getting new curtains (ordered a few days ago) and with my fermentation cooler I should be ok.

 

[kman6234]

I'm an apartment brewer. Me my gf and our dog live in a 450 square foot studio apt. She complains about the smell and the fermentor in the corner of the room but she lives with it.

 

[schweaty]

I'm an apartment brewer. Fortunately it's a townhouse style and I have a nice little fenced patio on which I can brew and grill. After your first few brews you get your routine down and it makes things much easier. However, I'd much rather have a garage or a little brew house like EdWort

 

[Kauai_Kahuna]

I live in an apartment, and I cant use propane on my balcony, which really sucks. I thought I was doomed to extract forever until FlyGuy came out with this post.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/improved-boiling-stovetop-53683/
Works well for me, I batch sparge and am heating the runnings while I doing the next sparging. Takes a little longer but I'm able to bring 6.5 gals to a low boil, and if I use two pots it works even better.

 

[Penguin]

i wouldnt actually call it a lid but a giant 3 foot frisbee that came off a barrel of chain here at work. i use it to get my water up fast and after that it comes off .....im afraid of melting the thing. lol.

 

[John_Peters]

I'm an apartment brewer. Me my gf and our dog live in a 450 square foot studio apt. She complains about the smell and the fermentor in the corner of the room but she lives with it.

Sounds like my first apartment in DC. How do you keep your dog from getting a little too nosey?

 

[Pivzavod]

Sounds like my first apartment in DC. How do you keep your dog from getting a little too nosey?

Dog drinks his beer instead of water and is always mellow and likes to watch sports