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Date: 28 Nov 2006 08:42:35
From: Bryan Heit
Subject: downscaling the operation
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It looks like I'm going to be moving in the spring, and considering
where I'm headed (either Toronto or NYC) there is going to be a massive
downsizing in my living space - i.e. from 1/2 a house to something about
the size of a shoe box. I was wondering what others have done to brew
in these small spaces. I was thinking of downsizing to 1/2 batches, but
I'm wondering if I have to give up the all grain thing until I move to
bigger spaces...
Anyone have some advice?
Bryan
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Date: 28 Nov 2006 10:10:25
From: Scott P
Subject: Re: downscaling the operation
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On the topic of downsizing... if you're really committed to this
vocation, your brewing tools could pull double-duty as furniture.
For instance, I just built a 70-quart mash tun from a coleman cooler
(link:
http://almostalwaysright.blogspot.com/2006/11/70-quart-mash-tun.html) -
such a mash tun is big enough to make a geat coffee table. If you use
a converted keg for a boiling vessle, between brewing sessions you
could temporarily top it with a plywood disc and a small table cloth
and call it an end table. The possibilities are limitless!
Hum, this new style of decorating with brewing equipment could be
called neo-eclectic-brewmania...with a couple of cinder-block shelving
units, the look would be complete...
Scott
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Date: 28 Nov 2006 09:29:24
From: alebrewer
Subject: Re: downscaling the operation
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Bryan Heit wrote:
> It looks like I'm going to be moving in the spring, and considering
> where I'm headed (either Toronto or NYC) there is going to be a massive
> downsizing in my living space - i.e. from 1/2 a house to something about
> the size of a shoe box. I was wondering what others have done to brew
> in these small spaces. I was thinking of downsizing to 1/2 batches, but
> I'm wondering if I have to give up the all grain thing until I move to
> bigger spaces...
>
> Anyone have some advice?
>
> Bryan
As with everything, there are trade-offs and only you can decide which
ones you can accept.
Half-batches wouldn't be acceptable to me since it would be the same
amount of work (and nearly the same amount of space) for half the
product. The footprint of a fermenter for a 5 gallon batch isn't that
much different that it would be for a 2.5 gallon batch. If I didn't
have room for a full boil (at least a 7 gallon brewpot) which implies
an outside "turkey fryer" setup, I'd go the extract/specialty grains
route on the kitchen stove with a 20 quart pot, boiling 3 gallons and
diluting with 2 gallons of cold water going into the fermenter. If I
had to chose between 3 gallons of all grain beer and 5 gallons of
extract beer, I'd go with the 5 gallons everytime.
But, your priorities may be different...
ab
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Date: 28 Nov 2006 08:39:32
From:
Subject: Re: downscaling the operation
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Try partial mash brewing but keep the extract to a minimum. I used to
brew this way and it was very successful. Just take your AG recipe, cut
some of the base malt out and replace it with 1 kilo (that was my rule
of thumb) extract. If you combine this with batch sparging and post
boil dilutions, you don't need much equipment or space (and you can
make almost-AG beer). All you really need is a mashtun and a kettle (I
used to use a 14 L one - 10 L wort after boil, dilute to 20 L). Very
easy to store equipment with this setup! Chiller is optional, cause
it's usually pretty easy to cool 10 L in the sink.
The only disadvantages I had with this system were: slightly
inefficient hop utilization (but hold the extract till the last 10 mins
and it helps), and limited use of adjuncts.
Hope that helps!
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Date: 28 Nov 2006 20:33:02
From: John 'Shaggy' Kolesar
Subject: Re: downscaling the operation
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On Tue, 28 Nov 2006 08:42:35 -0700, <bjheit@NOSPAMucalgary.ca > wrote:
> It looks like I'm going to be moving in the spring, and considering
> where I'm headed (either Toronto or NYC) there is going to be a massive
> downsizing in my living space - i.e. from 1/2 a house to something about
> the size of a shoe box. I was wondering what others have done to brew
> in these small spaces. I was thinking of downsizing to 1/2 batches, but
> I'm wondering if I have to give up the all grain thing until I move to
> bigger spaces...
>
> Anyone have some advice?
You should be OK if you're a little creative. I used to make 5 gallon
extract batches in a college dorm room that wasn't much bigger than a
prison cell.
John.
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Date: 29 Nov 2006 14:07:03
From: hankus
Subject: Re: downscaling the operation
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Look into electric setups-see
http://home.chattanooga.net/~cdp/
--
Thanks
Hank
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Date: 28 Nov 2006 10:25:26
From:
Subject: Re: downscaling the operation
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> It looks like I'm going to be moving in the spring, and considering
> where I'm headed (either Toronto or NYC) there is going to be a massive
> downsizing in my living space - i.e. from 1/2 a house to something about
> the size of a shoe box. I was wondering what others have done to brew
> in these small spaces. I was thinking of downsizing to 1/2 batches, but
> I'm wondering if I have to give up the all grain thing until I move to
> bigger spaces...
>
> Anyone have some advice?
You could go down to 3 gal brews. If you buy the right pot
it will fit in the oven for mashing so no cooler is required.
You use smaller 11litre/3gal carboys and have the side
benefit of doing a lot of different styles where you only
toss or have to drink 3 gals if you get it wrong. I'm trying
to go this route for the latter reasons and some of the former
but plan to try high gravity wort at some point to make
5 gal batches when I have the recipes down pat.
Don
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Date: 30 Nov 2006 07:55:15
From: Bryan Heit
Subject: Re: downscaling the operation
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Thanx everyone for your suggestions. The idea of doing 3gal batches,
using batch sparging, seems to be a great idea. With a little ingenuity
I may even be able to set up my pot as the mash/lauter tun, so no
"special" equipment needed. I've never done the batch sparging thing
before - think I'll give her a whirl during next weekends brew fest.
Thanx again for all you help
Bryan
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