the apartment brewer

[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

 

[kman6234]

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

I actually was thinking that the dog would be a problem when I was doing my first brew a few weeks ago. But it turns out she isn't interested in the carboy too much thankfully. When the air lock was bubbling a lot she would stare at it a little but other than that no problems yet.

 

[vav]

i brew on the pseudo-patio outside of my apartment.

 

[WDC]

I'm in an apartment with no balcony and a crappy stove. I built a heatstick Cedar Creek Brewing Company - Homebrewing Electric Heatstick and everything is golden. All-grain full volume boil. But... I would strongly reccomend making sure that whenever you upgrade your equipment it all nests. heatstick-->IC-->bottling bucket-->cooler-->pot This way I'm only losing the space it takes to store the pot.

 

[Tenchiro]

I don't mind being an apartment brewer, it would be nice to have more room to do AG but even with extract I am still making my own beer. :rockin:

 

[coolbeerluke]

I'm in an apartment with no balcony and a crappy stove. I built a heatstick Cedar Creek Brewing Company - Homebrewing Electric Heatstick and everything is golden. All-grain full volume boil. But... I would strongly reccomend making sure that whenver you uprgrade your equipment it all nests. heatstick-->IC-->bottling bucket-->cooler-->pot then I'm only losing the space it takes to store the pot.

that seems like a really good idea, I've never heard of it before, but I would just be worried about the seal not being good enough and end up lookin like Foghorn-Leghorn --->crispy chicken!

 

[Ecnerwal]

Probably the worst thing is the numerous apartments with "fake" exhaust fans over the stove - the ones that don't exhaust, they just blow steam or smoke back into the room. Fortunately this one has a real exhaust fan that exhausts outside. I boil 7-8 gallons on an electric stove with a canning element. I suppose it could be faster. It does have the huge advantages of being comfortable, weather-proof, insect-free (or at least reduced) well lit and fairly clean, as opposed to brewing outside - and I can't brew outside here, so I don't worry about it. Could probably speed things up with a heatstick (in addition to the stove), but don't know that I'll bother - it's not _that_ slow.

 

[ldog]

+1 for apartment brewing. Recently moved to a new apt. (ca from ny) and just had my first brewday at the new place last weekend. The new stove is pretty weak! Could barely get a few gallons boiling... In the city, so no outdoor space and will need to stick to extract for awhile... On the plus side, more space here for bottles / fermenters.

(Btw, another reason to ditch the carboys, in a small place buckets are pretty stackable when not in use).

 

[FreakinA]

Im fine being an apartment brewer, but I would like to move to all grain brewing, and my stove even when split on 2 burners cant bring 2 gallons to a roaring boil, only a very soft one. One of you posted about the heatsticks, how well do those puppies actually work? I think my dad and I will build a few this winter break if they are actually good.

 

[WDC]

FreakinA & Coolbeerluke: The heatstick is great. Just for the love of god make sure it/they are plugged into a Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter (GFCI) I have a few built into the kitchen but you can also buy them. http://ace.imageg.net/graphics/product_images/p991351dt.jpg .

Take a search around HBT as well before you get started. Every electrician in the country appears to be posting here.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/heatstick-questions-why-appliance-cord-why-3-gr-wires-64350/

It's made all the difference for me but it's only useful if you don't yourself.

 

[Austin_]

I love my little apartment. I don't really have the desire to go AG yet, so the BYO Countertop Mashing is how I do it. My brewery is my kitchen. As you can see from the pictures it is not very big. I am backed up against the wall taking these pictures.

 

[coolbeerluke]

FreakinA & Coolbeerluke: The heatstick is great. Just for the love of god make sure it/they are plugged into a Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter (GFCI) I have a few built into the kitchen but you can also buy them. http://ace.imageg.net/graphics/product_images/p991351dt.jpg .

Take a search around HBT as well before you get started. Every electrician in the country appears to be posting here.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/heatstick-questions-why-appliance-cord-why-3-gr-wires-64350/

It's made all the difference for me but it's only useful if you don't yourself.

Do you have any problems with blown breakers or anything, apparently...these thing suck a lot of juice! But, I just might be making one.

 

[john from dc]

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!

 

[WDC]

Do you have any problems with blown breakers or anything, apparently...these thing suck a lot of juice! But, I just might be making one.

Nope. I'm on 20a rated circuits in the kitchen. Just be sure the element you use is well under the rating for the circuit you are on.

I run my heatstick + burner to get to the boil and then just use the heatstick. No burning, no scorching, no trouble.

Austin_LSU: love the thermomter holder. I'm going to try that...

 

[TeleTwanger]

I used to brew in a flat....For you not-so-great boilers check out this tidbit of info I found on Bass Brewing from 1871

"the Burton Brewers achieve the soft agreeable flavour to thier ales by never boiling their worts hard. They use higher quantities of hops and merely simmered them for an extended period of 3 hours or more."
-James Herbert, 'Practical Brewer of Burton-upon-Trent'

However by 1887 they were boiling thier worts hard for 1.5-2 hours.

 

[coolbeerluke]

I used to brew in a flat....For you not-so-great boilers check out this tidbit of info I found on Bass Brewing from 1871

"the Burton Brewers achieve the soft agreeable flavour to thier ales by never boiling their worts hard. They use higher quantities of hops and merely simmered them for an extended period of 3 hours or more."
-James Herbert, 'Practical Brewer of Burton-upon-Trent'

However by 1887 they were boiling thier worts hard for 1.5-2 hours.

it makes sense, sort of like a crock pot configuration, but like it says, several years later they became too impatient to stand around the stove for 3+ hours. I just don't think I could do it. :cross:

 

[Austin_]

Austin_LSU: love the thermomter holder. I'm going to try that...

Yeah, it's space age technology applied to homebrewing.

 

[BeerNewbie]

I live in a "ground-level" apartment that's partially in the ground (like I said I'd never do, but it was cheaper). So, I don't have any direct outside access. Electric stove that took forever to boil my first batch. My wife kept looking at it going "it looks like it's about to boil, what's the next step?" when actually, it still had a long way to go.

 

[coolbeerluke]

yeah, i had a choice at living in the "ground-level" here, but, not for me. What do you mean by direct outside access, though? Patio? I don't have one either but I'm thinking about going outside in the parking lot or there is a little designated area for grills and such in the yard behind the complex.

 

[BeerNewbie]

By direct-outside-access, I mean that the only way to get outside is to walk through the hallway and don't have a sliding door or anything, unless I want to crawl out a window. ;-) -- We do have a little driveway area outside our garage doors that I could probably start up something.

Maybe it's called a "garden-level" since it's submerged a little. I don't want to call it a 'basement' apt. Even though sometimes I feel like I'm in a dungeon!

 

[coolbeerluke]

Yeah, I'm going to have to set something up outside, at least if I want to go all grain (which I do). Yes, "garden" sounds more pleasant than basement or ground.