the apartment brewer

[popeiam]

I started brewing in a dorm room. I had to use a hot plate and brew in the bathroom. the whole building would complain.

 

[Unkle Danky]

Uno mas apartment brewer. Of course I have only 2 batches under my belt but I am lucky because I have a laundry room that stays at 68 in my apartment. Also the old people that live below me have left me alone. At first I think it was because I was the tattooed freak upstairs.. Now its because I helped them grill their steaks when it was real cold out the other day.

 

[Pivzavod]

Uno mas apartment brewer. Of course I have only 2 batches under my belt but I am lucky because I have a laundry room that stays at 68 in my apartment. Also the old people that live below me have left me alone. At first I think it was because I was the tattooed freak upstairs.. Now its because I helped them grill their steaks when it was real cold out the other day.

They dont know that you are a beer brewing tattooed freak yet

 

[vanhanz]

I'm curious to find out how many people get complaints about the smell. I'm renting a house now but due to money I'll probably move to an apartment soon. I'm worried about smell complaints.

 

[bradsul]

I'm curious to find out how many people get complaints about the smell. I'm renting a house now but due to money I'll probably move to an apartment soon. I'm worried about smell complaints.

Considering some of the disgusting smells I've come across in the hallways, I can't see brewing causing much of a stir.

I've never had any complaints about my brewing. A lot of strange looks and some questions, but never complaints.

 

[Revvy]

Somebody this weekend posted a scent free fermentation setup becasue his wife was complaining...I can't recally the thread title though.

 

[jay672]

I brew in an apt , and im on the 2nd floor doing all grain and boiling on the deck i know its illegal but after moving here from Asheville and having ahouse there but an apt here i couldnt go back to extract so a fire extinguisher and a watchful eye no problems. As far as the smell ive actually had compliments no complaints. The bext part is we moved recently from a 1 bedroom apt to a 3 and the wife gave me a whole room for my junk. Also ive been looking at Pol's all electric setup may build one so i can brew in that spare room.

 

[bump8628]

As a college student I started brewing extract on an electric stove. My roommates would occasionally complain about the "extract smell" but they were happy to have free beer around (being that we were underage). Now that I'm 22 I've been doing all-grain for about a year now on my balcony. Just the standard turkey frier/ cooler mlt setup. My all-grain beers have all been fantastic so far. My biggest problem is controlling fermentation temps. I have a chest freezer for my lagers but ales are a different matter all together. I generally brew my ales for the season. In the winter my fermentation closet in 60-65 degrees so thats when I do my English ales and other ales that require a lower fermentation temp. In the summer my closet can hit 75 degrees so thats when I like to brew various Belgians, especially saisons. At times, brewing in an apartment sucks. You can't control all of the variables of your brew. But at the same time it forces you to adapt your process to your living situation and I think that in the end you become a better brewer for it.

 

[SilverKing]

Apartment brewer here. I am lucky and have a large balcony that faces the forest behind the apt. complex. Also, I have a girlfriend that's loves the hobby almost as much as me, so space isn't a huge issue.

I decide to put together a "brew rig" to make things a little easier on brew day. No more lifting/dumping hot water from pot to cooler.

this leave even more space for the rest of the gear.

The turkey fryer is bolted down to the platform....and that is bolted down to the shelving. Only thing that can move is the pot. I don't need any extra burns on brew days.

 

[sirsloop]

Propane setup, cooler, 40' of 3/8 hose to run from my sink to my deck. Cardboard box to hide my propane tank from big brother.... its possible...

 

[Danny_P]

I have always been an apartment brewer. Once I was making a Grand Cru and after transferring to my secondary fermenter (a glass carboy), I must have placed the cheap carboy on the ground with more force than I thought. And the entire floor of our apartment (which was a glorified efficiency) Was COVERED in sticky fermenting wort.

It was a blast. Just thought I'd share one of my horror stories.

 

[wtwerner]

I'm currently a student in Madison, WI. This city has some pretty strict open flame laws so I need to do all my brewing on my girlfriend's electric stove. I'm pretty lucky that it puts off enough heat to boil 7 gallons of wort pretty violently. The only downside is that my brew kettle has some marks where the coils were. Does anyone know of a remedy for this problem? I'm only concerned about my apartment next year. I hope it has enough juice to do my full boils. If not, it's back to the girlfriend's place.

 

[Baja_Brewer]

Im a student in Montreal, I brew in my apt after getting into it while at home this summer. Ive managed a 9 gallon boil on my stove, I spread my brewpot between two electric burners.

Unfortunetly I only dont have a MLT, so doing a BIaB gets tricky with large grain bills as I only have one pot that is big enough to support large amounts of grain and water...

I just moved to all-grain though, so Im still working the kinks out

 

[SkewedBrewing]

I was just looking for/thinking about starting a thread like this.

I, also, started in college with a bunch of roommates and an electric stove, but I had a hall closet all to myself that was a constant 70 degrees, which wasn't too bad.

Now, i still have an apartment (albeit a decent sized one) but no roommates, however I don't control the temperature in here. They have radiators in this building.

Its already ruined one of my acoustic guitars

Also, I have a cat and he's annoying as hell to begin with, so I have to lock my fermenters in the cabinet below my bathroom sink or else he'll try to play with the airlock...

As far as the smell goes, the girl across the hall from me must dabble in the purple stinky plants because its smells like "hops" a lot of the time anyway...

 

[mkorpal]

I'm also an apartment brewer. Just started. I'm able to get full boils on my stove using aluminum insulation and cool it down with a 30 gallon tub from wallmart and 2 bags of ice. It seems to be working very well.

 

[darkestdays]

I rent a duplex and have recently finished my seventh extract batch. I've been cooling the wort in a snow bank outside with no problems. Everything has been going ok so far. My closet is beginning to become a haven for bottles and brewing equipment, but I'm not complaining in the least. Thank god our electric stove is powerful enough to bring the wort to a raging boil.

I would like to start doing AG and using corny kegs, but I'm going to wait until I have a house to do it in.

 

[GlowingApple]

I just got into homebrewing last Winter. I've been reading these forums a lot lately. Great community, you've been a huge help! My Dad used to brew years ago, and I'm a chemistry grad student. As a Catholic with Austrian/German roots, I love beer, so I'm not sure why I didn't start this sooner!

one hard earned piece of advice from an apartment brewer: hardwood floors get damaged by liquid really easily. even if you think the risk of spill is low use a tarp!

I found a larger Rubbermaid tote works great to keep the primary fermenter in and large plastic trash bags over beer cases for the bottles (in the off chance I end up making some grenades!).

I started brewing in a dorm room. I had to use a hot plate and brew in the bathroom. the whole building would complain.

That's awesome; sounds like fun! I wish I had started brewing when I was an undergrad in the dorms.

I'm currently a student in Madison, WI. This city has some pretty strict open flame laws so I need to do all my brewing on my girlfriend's electric stove.

I did my undergrad at UW-Madison. I never brewed then, but we liked to grill out often. We kept a large, sealable Rubbermaid tote on our balcony. It was just large enough to fit a small Webber grill, charcoal, etc. We'd store the grill (once it was cold of course) in the tote and take it out when we grilled. I figured the fire marshal wasn't going to be working after 4 pm or on weekends, so those were great times to grill!

 

[GlowingApple]

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'm running into the same problems. My apartment stays at about 80 ˚F during the dead of Winter if I don't open my patio door. During the Summer it can get over 100 ˚F here in Nebraska, and as a grad student I really can't afford to keep the AC running that cold.

I've heard (from the owner of my local homebrew store) that keeping the fermenter in some water with towels (to keep wicking the water up) can keep the fermenter cooler. The evaporating water will help to cool things down, but I'm not sure how good it will be in humid weather (I'll give it a try this Summer). Not only will it evaporate fairly slowly, so it may not cool enough, but the extra humidity will just mean more work for the AC to keep things comfortable indoors.

 

[coryforsenate]

I'm all good except for not having enough room for 4 refrigerators and a couple kegerators.

 

[hector]

I'm running into the same problems. My apartment stays at about 80 ˚F during the dead of Winter if I don't open my patio door. During the Summer it can get over 100 ˚F here in Nebraska, and as a grad student I really can't afford to keep the AC running that cold.

I brew also in an Apartment and the Primary is always in my bedroom .

In Winter the Temp. of my bedroom is at about 72F and in Summer it goes up to 80F . It can be warmer inside in the

Summer actually ( up to 95F ) , but we use an Air Conditioner .

To keep the Primary cool ( 63-65F ) , I use a Cooler made of Styrofoam and fill it with cold Water .

In the Winter , it can keep the ambient Temp. constant for 3-4 Days .

In the Summer , on the other hand , for 6 Hours and I use freezed bottled water to keep the Water Temp. constant for a longer Period .

Hector

 

[bellecitybrewer]

I'm lucky enough to not be in an apt. Massive basement, stainless restaurant sink in said basement, big patio, yada, yada, yada. Anyway, apt brewing has aleways seemed more, well, romantic to me? Making do with less and still making great beer seems to take a lot more skill, even finesse. So from a home brewer to all apt brewers, I raise my pint to you!

 

[emetcalf]

I brew in my apartment. I have a balcony that I am allowed to use a propane burner on, but I don't because I don't think the people below my (I'm on the 3rd floor) would appreciate a boilover if I happened to have one. So I stay on the safe side and brew on my stove inside. My stove can boil ~4 gallons decently, so I am just doing 3 gallon batches for now. When I move to a new apartment, hopefully I will be able to boil outside and I will be able to jump up to 5 gallons.

 

[bovineblitz]

+1 to the apt brewers.

I don't have any outdoor space or a balcony so have to use a stovetop in a very small kitchen. Even when I move I plan on brewing indoors though, I like the idea of an electric brewery. I do 5gal full AG with a 10gal rubbermaid cooler for a mash tun and boil on my stove. I use foil as an insulator so I can easily boil 7+ gallons in a reasonable amount of time. Here's a little pictorial tutorial: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/stovetop-problems-ag-224438/#post2637327

I've slowly been improving my materials and methods over time. I used to only have a single 8gal pot without any valves, I've since acquired a 10gal pot with a ball valve... so nice, I previously was pouring my strike and sparge water from a large pot into the mash tun, scared the hell out of me. The second pot was a high priority as every brewday was a game of "how much 180 degree water will I spill this time".

For a long time I used a ghetto rigged "fermentation cabinet" that was just painted plywood thrown together with drywall screws and a couple L brackets. I could fit two carboys behind it, it made the gf much happier that the fermenters weren't just sitting in the open in the corner of the bedroom.

I punched a hole in the side of it and put a computer fan there to keep air moving over a swamp cooler, worked pretty well. I just grabbed a larger mini fridge from a guy on craigslist and made a temp controller (ebay build from the DIY section) and have my first temp controlled ale fermenting right now, I'm really excited about it. Sadly the ghetto 'chamber' had to go in the trash as nobody wanted it (or understood what it was, haha).

Hmm what else... my bottles condition in milk crates stacked in a closet. It's a gigantic pain to move the crates around but I don't have much of a choice. Equipment is stored on a large storage rack in a large closet, I get about a shelf and a half... a rubbermaid bin holds all the small stuff, I have a small area for drying things and the IC gets a spot. I hang as much as I can, my pots hang on hooks from the ceiling while my bottling tree, hoses, siphons, and hoses hang on the wall. Wall mounted broom holders work well for holding autosiphons and hoses. The currently empty fermenters kinda get piled up in a spot in the closet (I use better bottles and various 4 and 5 gal PET bottles I've picked up along the way).

I'd say the most annoying thing is that nothing can be left out at all, I have to fully unpack and repack every single thing each brewday. Also cleaning sucks, I have to go back and forth from the kitchen to the bathroom a lot and cleaning in a tub is awkward... really would love to have a hose and a utility sink. I have a crappy vent that doesn't actually vent outdoors too so moisture builds up easily which is irritating. Bottling is terrible because I have to sit on the floor.

I can't wait to have a dedicated space but it'll be quite a while. I'm slowly convincing SWMBO that I need better equipment for better beer even in this tiny space, the fridge was a big victory for me, that took several months of convincing (and a S05 batch she was excited about that came out kinda peachy)... if only I could get a kegging setup too! All in all it's not bad and I make good beer. Brewday is a shade under 5 hours including setup and cleanup at this point so it's not too bad.

 

[rico567]

Like "bellecitybrewer," I'm one of those fortunate enough to be blessed with the space and the hookups to make AG no problem. I have a nice garage for brewing, and an adequate basement for bottling. Nice to be able to read a thread like this and be thankful for what I have. I salute all the apartment zymologists!

 

[Dome555]

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,

I'm glad I'm not the only one with PITA roommates. Complaining and complaining until they want some.

The only downside is that my brew kettle has some marks where the coils were. Does anyone know of a remedy for this problem?

I had the same problem, someone on here recommended one of these things, http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00004W4UJ/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20, works like a charm. The only downside is that it will take a little while longer to get to a boil. I put a top on my pot until it gets to a boil, speeds up the process and as long as it comes off before anything else goes in it's not a problem.

 

[RIT_Warrior]

I have a nice gas stove which can easily get 6 gallons to a nice rolling boil, so I'm happy for that. I am slightly less happy about the temperature situation in my apartment. All through the winter it was a struggle to keep my apartment below 80. Sounds strange, but my apartment is old and uses those steam-radiator things for heat. Even with the valves fully shut they still get pretty hot, and I also have pipes running through the apartment delivering steam to the upper floors for their heat. Those pipes also get hot.

Opening the windows cooled things down, but technically it isn't allowed during the winter and it led to wild temperature swings. I don't have a swamp cooler yet, but I think I'll need to get one soon. None of the beers I made in winter turned out that great, especially the one I made with Nottingham. That one tastes like a regular beer that got filtered through old tires.

 

[bovineblitz]

I have a nice gas stove which can easily get 6 gallons to a nice rolling boil, so I'm happy for that. I am slightly less happy about the temperature situation in my apartment. All through the winter it was a struggle to keep my apartment below 80. Sounds strange, but my apartment is old and uses those steam-radiator things for heat. Even with the valves fully shut they still get pretty hot, and I also have pipes running through the apartment delivering steam to the upper floors for their heat. Those pipes also get hot.

Opening the windows cooled things down, but technically it isn't allowed during the winter and it led to wild temperature swings. I don't have a swamp cooler yet, but I think I'll need to get one soon. None of the beers I made in winter turned out that great, especially the one I made with Nottingham. That one tastes like a regular beer that got filtered through old tires.

Ha, that's just like an apartment I lived in a couple years ago in Brighton (Boston). They're probably from the same era. I had to leave the windows wide open in the dead of winter, sometimes I had to put a FAN in the window just to keep the temperatures bearable... sometimes it got up to 90 degrees inside when it was 10 degrees outside, it was ridiculous. I didn't really brew much that year.

 

[andrewcoopergt]

Another apartment brewer! In college, married, with an English Mastiff (155lb dog) in a one bedroom apartment. I stick to extracts and partial mashes with partial boils. Space is CONSTANTLY an issue, and the lady friend hates all the room my beer stuff (equipment, supplies, fermenters, bottles) take up. I have one corner of our living room that holds everything. I have a small balcony, but not allowed to use propane, and even if i wanted to, the dog owns that space...haha.

Oh the joys...though we might be renting a HUGE house in the near future with all the space i need! PLEASE!!

Although im with serveral others who have noted the somewhat romantic feelings i have brewing inside in a tiny spot and making some awesome beer!

 

[andrewcoopergt]

Also, living in the south, I have a lot of trouble keeping my fermenters cool enough without killing my electric bill. Is there a cost effective way to keep things cool?

 

[nickharbour]

Man way to dig up an ANCIENT thread.

I brew AG in a very small apartment with glass top electric stove (you can't do the straddle trick with glass). I'll let you in on my little secret: two bucket heaters dipped into my boil kettle. here they are on amazon, I get 7 gallons boiling in about twenty minutes:

http://www.amazon.com/Marshalltown-742G-Bucket-Water-Heater/dp/B000BDB4UG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1303856421&sr=8-1-spell