Apartment Brewing

[outbreak]

I suppose I should have mentioned that I BIAB in a 50l pot and use a Nasa burner as my heat source. Thanks for all the replies, some really good ideas thrown around. I think I will store the 50l pot and nasa burner at the oldies place and invest in the 40l urn and continue with BIAB for now and ferment in willow jerry cans.

In the process of finding a 9l keg as the idea of being able to have a 9l keg + picnic tap in the fridge is great. The rest of stuff will go into storage untill I make the move to a bigger place in a few years time. The parents did offer to let me brew at their place and if that is the case I will build the 3v system I have been wanting to build and nochill and ferment at my place.

The Braumeister would be great, I was already looking at one, but with having a mortgage now its a bit of a dream at this point in time.

 

[Bribie G]

If I was brewing in limited space I'd buy a Braumeister and be done with it, BIAB seems like a pita to me.

cheers

The only pita with BIAB is hoisting the bag and I would agree with Y to the extent that if you don't have a skyhook or something as effective, it could be a bummer. However if you own the place, skyhook is easy - use a stud finder or similar and put a big one of these in the ceiling (nice chrome or brass) and hang a fern off it when not brewing, or just ignore it.



I had one in a rental once and nobody even spotted it at inspections for 2 years :lol: Braumeister is basically a super-sophisticated BIAB unit that has a solid bag (the malt pipe) and the lifting is much more under control but seeing as you BIAB anyway you know what's involved.

Edit: and using an urn you can crank out 15L batches even more easily. Confession: I have won a few gongs with my dark mild recipe but I don't personally like mild all that much, certainly not 30 bottles of it, so the tryout batch for the new season is just a 15 nochilled in an old FWK from St Peters I have hanging around - surprised how bloody easy, almost trivial, it is to do a 15 in an urn as opposed to a 25. After trub loss you'll still get 18 bottles (I assume you aren't kegging) and that would go very neatly in a Willow.

 

[vykuza]

I suppose I should have mentioned that I BIAB in a 50l pot and use a Nasa burner as my heat source.

If you don't mind putting a hole in the pot, just get a 2200W element from Craftbrewer or JBBrewing Supplies. They're less than $50. Especially if you already have a tap and whatnot in your 50l pot. An urn is essentially just a big pot with an element and a tap in it after all.

 

[Steve@PMF82]

Make sure you TELL the evilbay seller that you only want them sent by AIR, unless you want to wait for 2.5months to get them

Or get yourself some 9.5L kegs and then you can pop one in your food fridge

http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...showtopic=50930

Perhaps start out making 10L brews on your stove with a small pot?

Or, kick it up a notch and get a 40L URN.

I would *definately* be doing BIAB if I was in a 1 bedder appartment

10L cube + 20L pot + halfsize fermenter and a few 9.5L kegs... all the brew stuff would fit in the pot

And you could even do your ferment in a 15L FWK cube.

 

[Bribie G]

If you sell the 50L, the burner and the bottle plus reg as a going deal I'm sure it would cover the cost of a Crownie 40L

 

[HeavyNova]

I'm in a small 2 bedroom apartment and when not brewing I have it all stored in any nook or cranny I can find.

I'm currently only doing 12L BIAB batches on my stove in a 19L pot and fermenting in a small fridge (in the second bedroom) in a 20L Willow jerry. No kegs or anything either. Others say they can't be bothered putting all that effort in to only get about 30 stubbies out of it but I really don't mind and don't have much a choice at the moment anyway.

I have thought of getting a bigger pot and a burner and doing it outside in the car park but I think an urn with BIAB would work nicely.

 

[Amin]

I had a customer at work tell me about how he used to brew in his kitchen, years later the cornices still sweat out sugar on hot days.

 

[outbreak]

I had a customer at work tell me about how he used to brew in his kitchen, years later the cornices still sweat out sugar on hot days.

Well thats why I am kind of hesitant as being a builder I know what will happen to the ceilings if you are evaporating 10 or so litres in a boil.

Looks like I will be brewing at the parents house, no chilling and fermenting at my place. I will be renovating anyway so will have no time for brewing

 

[jpScarfac3]

That's what I'm doing at the moment. Brewing is a one day job whereas fermenting + bottle is multiple--and the folks have a nice big garage so I can spread out on brew day!

 

[goomboogo]

Well thats why I am kind of hesitant as being a builder I know what will happen to the ceilings if you are evaporating 10 or so litres in a boil.

Looks like I will be brewing at the parents house, no chilling and fermenting at my place. I will be renovating anyway so will have no time for brewing

You could put a hood on the pot and vent to a window. But once again, probably a pain in the arse. The Braumeister units have an optional copper hood. It's a matter of how far you're willing to go in the pursuit of making your own beer.

 

[keifer33]

Install a range hood in the kitchen at a height you can put the pot on the stove top and use your electric element and crank the range-hood up to extract the air? Its stove top brewing just not using the stove top.

 

[camel78]

I biab in a 40lt Crown urn from a two bedroom unit. I originally went back to kits after buying the place. But that didn't last long.
If you have a balcony that helps alot. If not, I'd suggest doing your boil in the bathroom. Close it off and turn on the exaust fan if it has one.
No chilling also helps.
For apartment brewing I really love my urn it's compact, hassle free and I fit all my gear in side it when not in use.

Next on my list is to work out how to run power to my garage so i can run a keg fridge again. It's got a light but no power points and I'm guessing no earth.

 

[manticle]

If I was brewing in limited space I'd buy a Braumeister and be done with it, BIAB seems like a pita to me.

cheers

Not everyone's got a spare couple of grand Yardy.

 

[yardy]

Not everyone's got a spare couple of grand Yardy.

maybe not, seems you have an opinion on everything though, the OP was tossing up between a 40Lt Urn/BIAB or a Braumeister, like I said, I would lean towards the Braumeister if that's OK with you.

 

[manticle]

Point taken.

I read the OP several days ago and forgot that bit.

Yes I am an opinionated prick by the way. Nothing wrong with that (except when I forget to read properly).

 

[Rurik]

Having lived in a two bedroom unit with 5 people and brewed, planning on doing so again. I would buy a brewmeister. Ease and compactedness are a winner. Pack your brewing equipment in it and no chill. I have a keg king fridge in my lounge/dinning room used to serve and ferment in.

Hope that helps,
Rurik.

 

[booargy]

Install modified air-con and have your apartment at lager temp. did this once where I didn't pay for power. 14c in summer (had to take jacket off to go outside) although it wouldn't get to -2

 

[outbreak]

Install modified air-con and have your apartment at lager temp. did this once where I didn't pay for power. 14c in summer (had to take jacket off to go outside) although it wouldn't get to -2

With the cost of power being what it is in WA I don't think that's an option.

Thanks for all the replies, all a great help. I have decided....
Firstly if I have a small win in lotto or find out an old aunt has died and left me money, I will get a braumeister. Failing that I am going to get a 40l urn, and keg into the 9l kegs I have ordered and bottle the rest. So I will have a small bar fridge for fermenting in willow jerry cans and 1 9l keg in the fridge.

Atlases this gives me a lot of time to plan and acquire parts on the cheap for a herms system that I want to build.