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This might be the dumbest question ever posted in these forums, but here it goes. Why wouldn't I want to just pour my cooled wort straight from my pot into the 1 gallon fermenter using a sanitized funnel? Because the trub would get transferred as well?
 
muleskinner90 said:
This might be the dumbest question ever posted in these forums, but here it goes. Why wouldn't I want to just pour my cooled wort straight from my pot into the 1 gallon fermenter using a sanitized funnel? Because the trub would get transferred as well?
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It's not the dumbest question. There are a few risks. First cold glass getting introduced hot wort can be a disaster on the glass itself. These aren't glass jugs build to withstand high heat and massive changes, you could easily break your glass jug and then all your beer is wasted.

On the beer aspect, there's the risk of hot side aeration. Which can hurt your shelf life, add unwanted favors, etc.
 
muleskinner90 was talking about cooled wort, but even if not, HSA is not a concern for homebrewers. Previous wisdom on this matter has been pretty thoroughly debunked/recanted.

Again, if you've cooled the wort to the point that you could pitch yeast, the heat won't be a problem. I'm not sure where the line is between safe and unsafe temperatures, but I think pitchable temperatures should be well within the safe range.

Trub is probably the biggest reason, particularly for a one-gallon batch, since you really don't want to give up fermentor space. Still, you could always brew some excess and just live with lower efficiency by not pouring the trub. You could also pour it through a sanitized stainless steel strainer. That's not a bad approach.
 
hoppyhoppyhippo said:
It's not the dumbest question. There are a few risks. First cold glass getting introduced hot wort can be a disaster on the glass itself. These aren't glass jugs build to withstand high heat and massive changes, you could easily break your glass jug and then all your beer is wasted.

On the beer aspect, there's the risk of hot side aeration. Which can hurt your shelf life, add unwanted favors, etc.
Click to expand...

I've only brewed once. I followed the NB instructions and cooled the wort in an ice bath and when the sides were cool to the touch, I siphoned to the 1 gallon fermenter. If I use the same method of cooling, would I be okay to poor directly into fermenter? Wouldn't the temperature of the wort be the same either way?
 
Purchased an ounce of AU Galaxy hops at the HBS. Been looking for months. 3 bucks a ounce so better be good. Thinking of a 1 gallon SMaSH or using them in an IPA with Mosaic and Caliente.
 
I've only ever done 5 gallon batches, but I'm thinking my next few will be 1 or 2.5.

I've got the procedure down. I've finally made beer that I think is great by following recipies from others. Now, I want to experiment with grains and hops and learn what everything tastes like.

So, I'm thinking of lots of mini-batches so I can drink 2-5 times as many combos. Take lots of notes. Then I go back to 5-gallon batches of my favorite discoveries.
 
muleskinner90 said:
I've only brewed once. I followed the NB instructions and cooled the wort in an ice bath and when the sides were cool to the touch, I siphoned to the 1 gallon fermenter. If I use the same method of cooling, would I be okay to poor directly into fermenter? Wouldn't the temperature of the wort be the same either way?
Click to expand...

My bad I misread what you originally said. The idea of siphoning is you get less trub. I personally pour through a strainer on top of a funnel. Just try to pour very slowly and carefully as stopping and going can stir up more trub. But through the cooling process you'll be fine. Maybe you'll lose a small amount of beer but that would be tops.
 
jongrill said:
That's what I use now.... I find it inefficient
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I use an ice bath for both 1 and 5 gallons. Even with 5 gallons it is down to pitching temp in 15 minutes.

I put a little ice in the bottom of my ice chest then set my brew pot on top of that ice. I fill in the area around the pot with ice. Then I salt the ice and top off with water. I stir the wort slowly and it is 65F in no time at all.
 
I do the funnel for cooled wort to fermentor in 1g jug. I have a funnel with strainer from LHBS its a good 8" across big one. 1st time i did it strainer clogged. 2nd time I used my paint strainer bag in funne along with one in funnel and it didnt clog so try that of course all sanitized.
 
vlesperance said:
I've only ever done 5 gallon batches, but I'm thinking my next few will be 1 or 2.5.

I've got the procedure down. I've finally made beer that I think is great by following recipies from others. Now, I want to experiment with grains and hops and learn what everything tastes like.

So, I'm thinking of lots of mini-batches so I can drink 2-5 times as many combos. Take lots of notes. Then I go back to 5-gallon batches of my favorite discoveries.
Click to expand...

I think you are on the right track. A lot of us do mini batches to taste what a single hop tastes like with a single malt.... I do anyway. It has really helped me out a lot! Cheers!
 
divrguy said:
I think you are on the right track. A lot of us do mini batches to taste what a single hop tastes like with a single malt.... I do anyway. It has really helped me out a lot! Cheers!
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+1 I think this is extremely important in order to have delicious success in writing your own recipes.
 
jongrill said:
Small wort chiller for one gallon batches... Anyone?
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I put 4 ice packs at the base of my sink...put in some salt then fill it a couple inches with cold water. Add ice and cool my wort. Its so effective I have to kind of rush to get my yeast ready and everything sanitized or I can easily get my wort into the 50s in only a few minutes, 15 at most
 
Calichusetts said:
I put 4 ice packs at the base of my sink...put in some salt then fill it a couple inches with cold water. Add ice and cool my wort. Its so effective I have to kind of rush to get my yeast ready and everything sanitized or I can easily get my wort into the 50s in only a few minutes, 15 at most
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This time of year I just use my pool water. Plenty cold. Fall or spring, I use my pre-chiller because its about the right size for a small batch and in summer, pre--chiller and big chiller while pumping it to the pool. Saves water.
 
jongrill said:
Small wort chiller for one gallon batches... Anyone?
Click to expand...

I made my own from some copper tubing and some hose, works great, even faster than chilling it out in the snow like I tried last weekend. Wound it around a large PVC pipe coupling so it fit nicely in my pot, put a garden hose fitting on one hose with an adapter I got from Home Depot to attach it to my kitchen faucet, and let the other end drain into the sink. I can post a picture of it later if you'd like.
 
dp_brew said:
I do the funnel for cooled wort to fermentor in 1g jug. I have a funnel with strainer from LHBS its a good 8" across big one. 1st time i did it strainer clogged. 2nd time I used my paint strainer bag in funne along with one in funnel and it didnt clog so try that of course all sanitized.
Click to expand...

I do the extact same thing, works fine.
 
My wife tried the NB Irish red ale I brewed. Her first response was that it was very carby. How do I rectify that? Will it get less carbonated the longer it sits in the fridge? I let it condition at room temperature for two weeks. I followed the northern Brewer directions and used their fizz drops.
 
Un-capping and re-capping will bleed off some of the carbonation but you are better off enjoying as they are and doing better on the next batch.

I guess you could also pour in a glass ahead of time and set in the fridge for a while...
 
muleskinner90 said:
My wife tried the NB Irish red ale I brewed. Her first response was that it was very carby. How do I rectify that? Will it get less carbonated the longer it sits in the fridge? I let it condition at room temperature for two weeks. I followed the northern Brewer directions and used their fizz drops.
Click to expand...

Maybe its just me but thats why I dont use those carb drops, Id rather use a carb calculator or do the math to get the carb volumes I want.
 
muleskinner90 said:
My wife tried the NB Irish red ale I brewed. Her first response was that it was very carby. How do I rectify that? Will it get less carbonated the longer it sits in the fridge? I let it condition at room temperature for two weeks. I followed the northern Brewer directions and used their fizz drops.
Click to expand...

Well the ale shouldn't be WAY too carbonated. But it is true, those drops do carb on the high side. I would think an Irish red would be at 2.2 -2.4 PSI. The drops are probably 2.6-3.0.

Hats off to your wife for catching that though.

Next time: acquire some priming sugar, do the measurements (there are plenty of online calcs to help), boil 1 cup of water, mix in the sugar, rack beer on top of solution, (stirring GENTLY is optional), bottle away!
 
jwalk4 said:
Next time: acquire some priming sugar, do the measurements (there are plenty of online calcs to help),
Click to expand...

What exactly do I measure? Also, racking means combining, correct?
 
I been doing 5 gallon BIAB on a propane burner since this spring. Lately it's been really cold and windy so holding mash temps outside will be a nightmare. I already have 2, 2 gallon pots. Been thinking about just doing 1 gallon batches in the kitchen until I can afford an electric setup to put in my 5g system.

I already have 3 batches worth of grain here, mixed and crushed, in large vacuum sealed bags. How can I brew these in 1 gallon batches and combine in fermenter?

I was thinkin to start it all in my 7.5g fermenter. 1g at a time and each couple days brew up another 1g batch and add to the fermenter.
 
Would you wait until you had 5, 1-gallon batches in the fermenter before you pitched your yeast?

If so, I foresee a problem if any bacteria should find its way into the fermenter. The sugars may be (in part), already consumed by bacteria by the time you finally pitch your yeast, and thus, you'll have competing cultures. Also, you'd risk oxidation.

If you pitch your yeast after 1 1-gallon brew, then just continually add wort, I would be concerned about the under pitching your yeast.

You would have to re-pitch yeast everytime you add more wort, but with the reproduction of yeast cells in the wort already, you would have to account for the number of daughter cells to gain an accurate amount of how much yeast you'd have to pitch every time.


Honestly though, I have no experience in this matter. These are just my .02 on possible outcomes. I would love to hear a Mod's opinion.
 
paul_111 said:
How necessary is it to rack to a bucket? Why not just fill the bottles directly from the fermenter? I was going to use a mini autosiphon and spring-tip bottle filler. Any reason not to go this route?
Click to expand...

The only reason to not go that route is because you'd have to find a way of mixing in the priming sugar solution without stirring the yeast back into suspension and get a lot of trub in your beer. That why we have bottling buckets.

You can bottle from primary if you use tabs, but you'll have to put up with the over carb issue.
 
jwalk4 said:
The only reason to not go that route is because you'd have to find a way of mixing in the priming sugar solution without stirring the yeast back into suspension and get a lot of trub in your beer. That why we have bottling buckets.

You can bottle from primary if you use tabs, but you'll have to put up with the over carb issue.
Click to expand...

That makes sense. Thanks!
 
jwalk4 said:
Would you wait until you had 5, 1-gallon batches in the fermenter before you pitched your yeast?

If so, I foresee a problem if any bacteria should find its way into the fermenter. The sugars may be (in part), already consumed by bacteria by the time you finally pitch your yeast, and thus, you'll have competing cultures. Also, you'd risk oxidation.

If you pitch your yeast after 1 1-gallon brew, then just continually add wort, I would be concerned about the under pitching your yeast.

You would have to re-pitch yeast everytime you add more wort, but with the reproduction of yeast cells in the wort already, you would have to account for the number of daughter cells to gain an accurate amount of how much yeast you'd have to pitch every time.

Honestly though, I have no experience in this matter. These are just my .02 on possible outcomes. I would love to hear a Mod's opinion.
Click to expand...

No I'd pitch the yeast With the first gallon.

I thought the yeast would grow with every addition of wort, sort of like stepping up a starter 5x.
 
jwalk4 said:
Would you wait until you had 5, 1-gallon batches in the fermenter before you pitched your yeast?

If so, I foresee a problem if any bacteria should find its way into the fermenter. The sugars may be (in part), already consumed by bacteria by the time you finally pitch your yeast, and thus, you'll have competing cultures. Also, you'd risk oxidation.

If you pitch your yeast after 1 1-gallon brew, then just continually add wort, I would be concerned about the under pitching your yeast.

You would have to re-pitch yeast everytime you add more wort, but with the reproduction of yeast cells in the wort already, you would have to account for the number of daughter cells to gain an accurate amount of how much yeast you'd have to pitch every time.

Honestly though, I have no experience in this matter. These are just my .02 on possible outcomes. I would love to hear a Mod's opinion.
Click to expand...

I agree you would be riaking oxidation big time plus exposing to chance of infection every addition.
 
I'm not sure there'd be much of an oxidation risk---wouldn't the yeast kick back into their aerobic metabolism mode and remove the oxygen like they do with the intentionally oxygenated wort at the start of a standard process?
 
zeg said:
I'm not sure there'd be much of an oxidation risk---wouldn't the yeast kick back into their aerobic metabolism mode and remove the oxygen like they do with the intentionally oxygenated wort at the start of a standard process?
Click to expand...
Hmm, this seems likely. If it was my project I'd probably just keep the batches separate if I had the fermentors for it. That way you could make variations with each batch.

If not, then I'd try and shorten the total time to full liquid volume. IE: Do 2-3 batches a day for 2 days. That should mean that all of the oxygen has been introduced in the batch before the yeast has actually changed metabolic modes. As opposed to waiting 2 days between additions, which would give you a total introduction time of 8 days.

Each batch would still have it's own chance of infection, so a pitch rate on the high side would also probably be a good idea. That would limit the impact of the introduction of wild yeast into the brew.
 

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