I’ve been homebrewing for a couple years but don’t have the opportunity to brew often because of a lack of space: my wife and I live in a 1,000 square foot condo. I typically brew in my kitchen, then move the carboy to either the back bedroom closet or bathroom. I’ve been having trouble recently keeping the temperature in the condo consistent, which I think has done some minor damage to my beers, but nothing that makes them undrinkable. Does anyone else have an issue with limited space, and more importantly, how do you deal with it?
Space has nearly always been a problem for me, from my 600 sq. ft. apartment years ago to my current tiny townhouse. I did own a 2100 sq. ft. house for a few years, but oddly, I didn’t brew much then. Maybe I prefer the challenge. I do have the advantage of a small cellar where I’m at now. The temperature changes aren’t too extreme and I can store a couple batches at a time. I guess that doesn’t really answer your question about dealing with the lack of space. I never really did much to “deal with it” except for designing my beers and using yeasts based on the most likely ambient temperature.
I was in less than 500 sf a few years back.
What one can do is buy a large tote (30-40 gallon) and lid from walmart for around $10. I throw a towel or blankets over it and keep the fermenting brew cool with frozen soda bottles.
Or you could wrap the carboy and frozen bottles with a blanket or towels.
+1 You might want to try a swamp cooler http://billybrew.com/swamp-cooler-homebrew Or, if you’re up for a project, maybe something like this http://www.bayareamashers.org/gadgets/son_of_chiller.pdf or this smaller version http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/smaller-son-fermentation-chiller-79556/