Home of the BrewNosers

Hey all,

I'm on my third month out in Halifax and now that I've bookmarked this website and found a job, I'll be trying to get brewing again. I'm in a condo, so whatever tips you might have for apartment brewing , I'd appreciate it. I've also only ever done one kit before, but that was pretty easy, so I'm thinking of stepping up to partial grain brewing. Maybe I'll try lagering something out on my patio? Is that crazy? I should be out at the December 13th Halifax meeting to learn a bunch.

I'm also on twitter:
@andrewkonoff

Sorry, I don't have any tips for apartment brewing.

andrewkonoff wrote:Hey all,

I'm on my third month out in Halifax and now that I've bookmarked this website and found a job, I'll be trying to get brewing again.

andrewkonoff wrote:I'm in a condo, so whatever tips you might have for apartment brewing , I'd appreciate it. I've also only ever done one kit before, but that was pretty easy, so I'm thinking of stepping up to partial grain brewing.

Me too, although I have access to a large yard and a deck, I started with PG indoors. Just about to do my first all grain outside, but have had really great results stove top. I would recommend finding a PG recipe for a style you like. You could also just replace the 2-row grain with LME of an all grain recipe, there are conversions online. If you are only doing a partial mash and boil, I would recommend adding the extract towards the end of the boil to increase hop utilization. This is what I did for a while and had some nice brews out of it (but then again I love hops)

andrewkonoff wrote:Maybe I'll try lagering something out on my patio? Is that crazy?

I have no experience with this. I would guess it will be too cold, too variable in temperature and too much sunlight. If you could build an insulated box to shield it from temperature fluctuations and light that would help, but I believe with a lager you want to slowly increase the temperature over time, not decrease it (like what will be happening in the coming months).

I am no expert, and have never done a lager, so take my advice sparingly. Someone else here can probably give you more solid guidance.

andrewkonoff wrote:I should be out at the December 13th Halifax meeting to learn a bunch.

I likely wont be there but have fun. Its a good group of people who were very welcoming my first time attending a meeting.

I live in an apartment with a balcony, and managed to get going with all grain a couple months ago. It really doesn't take that much extra room, especially if you go with a turkey fryer & cooler setup. The only extra room I needed was a spot on my balcony that I could put my keggles/brewing stand, everything else was mostly stuff I was already using.

To run my immersion chiller I just picked up 2 50' RV water supply hoses, and run them from my kitchen sink, out to the balcony (just use one of those kitchen faucet-to-garden hose adapters). I use a spray nozzle on the end of one to do all my water filling, saving me running back and forth through the apartment. At the end of the brew day, I spray my balcony off and it's good to go again (though I'm not sure how much the people below me enjoy that).

Really, you don't require THAT much more room...it's all about priorities

Oh..and welcome.

andrewkonoff wrote:Hey all,

I'm on my third month out in Halifax and now that I've bookmarked this website and found a job, I'll be trying to get brewing again. I'm in a condo, so whatever tips you might have for apartment brewing , I'd appreciate it. I've also only ever done one kit before, but that was pretty easy, so I'm thinking of stepping up to partial grain brewing. Maybe I'll try lagering something out on my patio? Is that crazy? I should be out at the December 13th Halifax meeting to learn a bunch.

I'm also on twitter:
@andrewkonoff

I know you! also, BobbyOK may have more to do with you arriving here than you realize at this point. Happy brewing!

Jimmy wrote:I just picked up 2 50' RV water supply hoses, and run them from my kitchen sink.

How do these hoses hold up to kinking / cold? I need new hose for my IC (stuff I have no kinks like crazy and will be a PITA in the cold). My requirements:

- food safe
- flexible but doesn't kink (possible?).. even in really cold temps
- affordable (this one I'm guessing is a problem)

Thanks

Tim, the rev hose kinks like a mofo, it's better in the cold though (they are really soft rubber, so the cold stiffness them up a bit) . I lay mine out to avoid the kinks, but I always have to twist out all the kinks at the beginning of the brew day.

These are decently priced, about $20 each at princess auto.

Welcome from the Rock

Sorry for the late reply, but thanks everyone for the welcome! and thanks so much for the apartment brewing tips. I will be badgering you all with more questions at the Halifax meetup on the 13th.

benwedge wrote:

andrewkonoff wrote:Hey all,

I'm on my third month out in Halifax and now that I've bookmarked this website and found a job, I'll be trying to get brewing again. I'm in a condo, so whatever tips you might have for apartment brewing , I'd appreciate it. I've also only ever done one kit before, but that was pretty easy, so I'm thinking of stepping up to partial grain brewing. Maybe I'll try lagering something out on my patio? Is that crazy? I should be out at the December 13th Halifax meeting to learn a bunch.

I'm also on twitter:
@andrewkonoff

I know you! also, BobbyOK may have more to do with you arriving here than you realize at this point. Happy brewing!

I know you too! And does he have some secret Radian6 mind-warping technology?

andrewkonoff wrote:

benwedge wrote:I know you! also, BobbyOK may have more to do with you arriving here than you realize at this point. Happy brewing!

I know you too! And does he have some secret Radian6 mind-warping technology?

Who knows what tricks they have. He used to work where you currently work.