Boil volume for smaller batches

Hello everyone,

For experimentation sake and as I try to learn and appreciate different grains, hops and yeasts I have decided to brew in smaller batches. I would like to brew in 3 gallon batches. My question is what volumes I should boil? 1.5 or 2 gallons to allow for loss with boiling is what I have been using to make recipes.

Thoughts? Thanks a bunch!
Bearface

I'd like to know a bit about this as well....

My guess is just do a normal 2 gallon boil with 3/5 the ingredients you would use in your 5 gallon batch. So just knock down ingredients to the correct ratio and then top off to desired size (3 in your case).

Boil three gallons of water for an hour, chill it as you would beer, then measure what's left. The difference is your boiloff rate.

Oops - i meant boil 4 gallons of water.

And this is an awesome way to learn about grains, etc. I've done many, many batches like this and it's been a great help to my understanding of what ingredients bring to a recipe.

I agree with doing a boil-off test.

Remember that your boil-off rate will be related to the diameter of the pot. If you brew these smaller batches in a narrower pot than your bigger batches, I'd expect a lower boil-off rate.

bearface said:

Hello everyone,

For experimentation sake and as I try to learn and appreciate different grains, hops and yeasts I have decided to brew in smaller batches. I would like to brew in 3 gallon batches. My question is what volumes I should boil? 1.5 or 2 gallons to allow for loss with boiling is what I have been using to make recipes.

Thoughts? Thanks a bunch!
Bearface

Click to expand...

I've recently started out and have been trying smaller batches also. Are you wanting to do a full boil? If you only have to capability to boil 1.5 or 2 gals, try scaling the recipe to allow for that size. I've done a 1 gallon batch and a couple of 2.5 gallon batches. Check out Basic Brewing Video series on their 6-pack IPA.

People ask me why bother with a smaller batch (< 5 gallons) since its roughly the same time/effort for a smaller batch. Which is kinda true with the exception of time to boil, time to cool, cleanup time, fermentation temp control, easier aeration, etc. I like variety of beers and I'm still trying to hone in the process so I've been trying to brew fairly often. I'm trying to brew every 2 or 3 weeks and would quickly run out of space to store 50+ bottles each batch.

I've used a 1-gallon jug for the 1-gallon batch using a blow-off tube for the heavily active phase of fermentation. I've used a 3 gallon better bottle for the 2.5 gallon batches. I wish I would've paid the extra $5 at LHBS for the 3-Gallon glass carboy.

After typing all this I realize that this might not even be what you were asking...

Boil off rate is gallons per hour. It is not a percentage. If you boil off 1 gallon an hour in Pot A when starting with 7 gallons, you will boil off 1 gallon an hour in Pot A starting with 3 gallons.

So, if I am looking to have 1.5-2 gallons once completed that I will top up to 3 gallons, I should start with 2.5 gallons. I'll re-throw numbers into beercalculus and tinker around to have the same OGs, IBUs and SRM numbers.

Agreed guys, I like variety and having a few smaller batches allows me to sample, tinker and refine. As wherestheyeast said, I also don't have room for hundreds of bottles either.

Thanks everyone!