Hacksaw's Apartment Brewing Adventures

So you have jumped into homebrewing and are dominating with your extract brewing. You're making good beer and are into the hobby for the long haul. Perhaps you really want to convert to all grain brewing because you've realized it isn't that hard, it will save you some cash, and you feel it will make you more awesome in general (all three of which being obviously valid reasons).

However there is one big issue you just can’t get past: space. Maybe you live in an apartment and don’t really have a good outdoor space. You think people may look at you a little weird if you’re in middle of your apartment complex with your mash tun and brew kettle. Well, regardless of any preconceived notions you might have I want to share my apartment brewing adventures with you. You see I started as an extract brewer and made the jump to all grain while living in a little condo that backed up to a fairly busy road.

You think that stopped Hacksaw from brewing? Heck no! Mrs. Hacksaw may have been a bit embarrassed by my brewing setup, but I didn't let it stop me!

Brewing outside really doesn't take a ton of outdoor space and you don’t even have to have an outdoor water supply, although it is certainly helpful. You see I just stepped off the back porch and setup my equipment in the little patch of yard. When I first started I didn't even really have a good table to put my stuff on so I just set up buckets. Down the Hall has gotten quite fancy with his brewing table these days, but don’t let lack of fancy table space be a barrier to entry.

Just look at my ridiculous setup here! Can you imagine the people driving by on the busy road watching me brew? Of course I took pride in what I was doing and enjoyed several conversations with brewing illiterate people who thought I was either doing a shrimp boil or cooking crawfish. Another stranger carried on quite a long conversation with my while I was chilling the wort down in the front of the condo. He tried to explain how he fermented grape juice by letting it sit in some jars on his window sill, but it didn't have any alcohol in it (so many corrections needed in his story I just let him talk).

So let this be encouragement to you young (or old) homebrewer – don’t let a small outdoor space be a hindrance to going AG! If my ridiculous roadside setup can work then your inspired and innovative all grain setup can work too.