New attemptee at apartment brewing

[MitchK]

I have the shittiest electric oven of all time, already have most of my circuits maxed out with espresso machines and shit, barely any room for brewing gear, and neighbors who complained that we were "burning plastic" on our patio because I used a single one of those wax firestarter cubes to get the chimney starter going for my charcoal grill (so propane brewing out on the otherwise perfectly serviceable uncovered concrete patio is probably going to cause a shitstorm... Probably not what I want to do in this climate regardless).

I also have one of those cheapie munton's pre-hopped malt tin kits going at the moment as my first attempt (with a "beer kit enhancer" consisting of a blend of DME and corn sugar rather than pure sugar as the extra fermentables)... Should be racking it into a carboy for secondary this weekend.

Needless to say, I'm expecting this to be a challenge. Apartment is around 78f so I'm already fermenting hotter than I should be but I may be able to pick up a controller for a minifridge soonish. Not sure whether to step down to one gallon batches so I can actually do all grain, do partial boil extract batches (making 3 gallon with 5/6 gallon worth of LME/DME and hops then watering down to 5/6 gallons in the fermenter), or go all out and buy something that can run off of a single 110v plug (the one built into the oven most likely) like the grainfather...

[GuingesRock]

Can you post a pic of the electric stove. It might be perfect. I often thought of getting a "shitty" little stove and a pot big enough to sit on all four rings. That would be great for a biab setup. Lots of heat and infinate control of the heat source.

[CorneliusAlphonse]

Yeah I've brewed on apartment shitty electric stoves. Not ideal but certainly did the trick for two years. A 2.5 gallon all grain is easy and cheap to do with a 20qt pot on one burner

[darciandjenn]

Those partial boil kits (the ones where you steep the grains first) make some pretty decent beer and give you a chance to dial in things like fermentation temps, sanitation, etc. while you figure out what potentially expensive equipment you may need to work up to all grain. You can tweak the yeast and hops to suit your fancy and do some experimentation.

Anyway, welcome to the obsession!

[Hobbitfu]

An easy interim measure for temp control in fermentation is to wrap a wet towel around fermenter and run a fan on it... Wait I still do that works amazingly well. Though my house isn't 78... So will be bit harder. Can also place carboy in large bucket of cold water to absorb heat (add some ice as needed. There are things to do before/until the tech solution is obtained. I run electric water heater elements in my pots. 2 1500w elements on 110v plugged into separate breakers

[GAM]

Bundt style cake pan of frozen water on a carboy neck with a t-shirt/towel etc to hold the water tight to the surface.

Also the fan helps with the fruit flys.

In back of your oven should be a 220v 30a plug. Not ideal but it could work.

Sandy

[MitchK]

Thank you all for the responses. Many things I hadn't considered (especially on chilling the carboys/buckets until I get a proper refrigeration unit on the go)... I didn't think about 2.5 gallon batches, though I'd prefer to buy everwood kits as my next step up from a muntons tin and they only come in 1, 5, 6, or 10... May have to start out with a 1 gallon trial batch followed by splitting 5 gallon kits in half until I'm ready to just order ingredients on their own and research/formulate recipes...

Is there really a huge difference between extract or grain for your base malts? I like the look of some of the partial grain kits with "real" specialty malts but a few pounds of extract instead of several of plain 2 row or whatever.

The biggest PITA for me at the moment is chilling. The rubbermaid container full of ice water is doable but just seems... messy.

I am really interested in the grainfather, but I don't want to drop the money on just buying it outright before my first muntons kit is even bottled (my girlfriend would kill me)... But at the same time I'd feel like an idiot if I bought an immersion chiller and then bought the grainfather 3-4 months and 3 batches later (which includes a counterflow chiller)

Is it ok to brew 2.5 gallon batches in a bucket meant for 6 gallon? would the extra headspace mean way too much oxidization? Maybe grab two of those 1 gallon glass jugs and do 2 gallon batches split between them?

I have thought about using the oven plug for other stuff with some kind of switch assembly (my other mini-crisis at the moment is figuring how to bake better bread while dealing with the same electrical bullshit. Right now I use a cuisinart cso-300 which has steam injection and generally does an alright job, but its small so I can't bake a lot at once and tall loaves tend to get a little too close to the elements and wind up with nasty burn lines... ah, to be able to afford a rofco b40 and getting it into my apartment without my landlord throwing a fit...)

[Hobbitfu]

Oxidation not an issue as it will be purged by co2 from fermentation. As long as you leave till ready to bottle. You can also buy 3 gallon carboys which would work great for split batches. Or even 4 gallon wide mouth carboys. Good luck with whatever you try!

[MitchK]

I'll ask one more question about my shitty munton's kit in here rather than clog up the main forum...

Its OG was 1.050 (using the tin and a blend of DME and corn sugar sold as "beer kit enhancer" instead of the added sugar the kit called for, in a slightly too generous 24 litres of water due to not having my bucket on a level surface while filling) and its current seems to have settled at 1.009 (checked on wednesday, will check again today to be sure). IF my gravity has indeed stabilized and the beer is therefore done primary fermentation just over one week in, with a shitty kit like this... Do I just bottle the sucker this weekend? Is it really worth racking it out of the bucket and into a carboy to clarify and/or mature a bit before bottling?

I kinda want to get this batch out of the way quicker so I can move on to the next one, heh.

[CorneliusAlphonse]

I'd suggest tasting it, sometimes leaving it in the yeast a bit longer will clean up off flavours. That being said, definitely no need to rack to secondary. Lots of us on here skip secondary altogether

[LeafMan66_67]

I'd also suggest leaving it on the yeast for another week ... no need to secondary. Let the yeast clean up any potential off flavours and settle out a bit more.

[Hobbitfu]

Yah I never rack to secondary. Unless aging it (I plan a couple barrel aged types). I never rack off yeast prior to 2 weeks. Allow the yeast to clean up a bit even though fermentation is done as the others have said.

[MitchK]

Do I have to rack off the yeast before bottling or could I stir the priming sugar in right on top of the trub and then siphon into bottles from there?

[LeafMan66_67]

Do I have to rack off the yeast before bottling or could I stir the priming sugar in right on top of the trub and then siphon into bottles from there?

Rack to a bottling bucket with your priming sugar.

[CorneliusAlphonse]

Clarification - rack to a bottling vessel of some sort. You can use a Carboy just add easily

[jtmwhyte]

If I were still bottling I'd never make batches larger than 2.5 gallons. Having a variety of different styles in bottles appeals to me. You can also get 3 gallon carboys at NG that are perfect for 2.5 gallon batches.

[chalmers]

As Leafsman and C.A. said, use an intermediary vessel of some sort to minimize the amount of trub you transfer to the bottles. Do your best to keep the beer clear as you transfer it to the bucket/carboy with your priming sugar in it. There is still *lots* of yeast in suspension to process the sugar and give you carbonation. And as was also suggested, if you are going from primary direct to bottles, give it more time. 2 weeks minimum, maybe even a bit more if it tastes like it needs it. You may not see any action in your airlock (if you use one), but the yeast is still working in there.

[Maritimer]

This is my apartment set up BIABIABT, during the boil I use a Styrofoam hood connected to a window fan, it has worked great so far.

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[GAM]

What size brews Nick?

S

[Maritimer]

5 gallon, in a 15 gallon everwood pot

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[MitchK]

How are you heating it?

[Maritimer]

It's a very basic electrical set up, 5500w camco on on a dryer circuit, with basic dial control and gfi. There is a good thread in the diy section here on the same design.

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[MitchK]

Ah, yeah... No dryer plug here. I would have to pull out and unplug my oven to get at a 220 source.

I'll probably have to do the 110v brew pot (grain father?) and a 110v heat stick to supplement if/when I go all grain

[Maritimer]

I'd go the stove route, your brew will take a long time on a 110v circuit. I think some people used a heat stick and the stove burner as a 2 stage system. The draw back of 220v is you need to get a spa panel for gfi protection. The first cost is higher but well worth it for the time it will save you waiting for your pot to boil.

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[jeffsmith]

I'd go the stove route, your brew will take a long time on a 110v circuit. I think some people used a heat stick and the stove burner as a 2 stage system. The draw back of 220v is you need to get a spa panel for gfi protection. The first cost is higher but well worth it for the time it will save you waiting for your pot to boil.

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A GFCI breaker is also an option for 220v.