2.5 gallon batches ?

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WheaYaAt

WheaYaAt

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hello everyone! I was just concerned, I would like to do 2.5 gallon batches instead of 5. But the thing I worry about is my primary and secondary are 6 gallon carboys. Will that be to big, especially as a secondary? Is it worth going get like 4 gallons carboys maybe? Thank you 4 any help!! - lee
 
why would you do a 2.5 if you have the space for 5? The effort and time is pretty much the same.

But - I'm gonna do a couple 2.5's as experiments. Get a 3 gallon carboy, and when you're not experimenting just make it a default Apfelwein fermenter.
 
Vast headspace is no problem for primary. Either skip secondary (some folks seem very happy with that modification) or get a 3 gallon (or two, or three) for secondary.

I've never seen a 4, but even if they do exist, still a bit big for 2.5 gallon batches. In fact, given that 3 is the usual smaller size I've seen, I'd upscale the batches to primary just a bit over 3 so there's not much headspace in a 3 gallon secondary. Use a speadsheet to resize recipes and it's painless, as opposed to "2.5 is easy because it's half, but 3.25 is hard because it's not."

The extra quart is for trub in the primary. If such a thing as a 2.5 gallon carboy is available, you could use that and brew 2.75 gallons. But 3 is what I usually see for a smaller one.
 
i just wanted to be able to make smaller batches of different beer. that way i don't have beer bottles all over the place. not to mention i don't have the room, and experimenting with 5 gallons of beer can get expensive.
 
I do 2.5 gallon batches all the time. I don't get out much. ;) Plus, I find I enjoy the process of brewing so much that if I brewed 5-gallon batches all the time I'd soon be awash with packaged beer!

Some years ago, I found 2.5-gallon carboys at one of the LHBSs and bought two. You can get away with 3-gallon carboys just as easily for clearing and maturation vessels; since the price of glass carboys is going through the roof - and there's always the safety issue - I recommend 3-gal Better Bottles. If you are going to store/age the beer in bulk, you want to reduce exposure of the beer to oxygen. Check winemaking shops for smaller carboys.

I still conduct the primary fermentation in an Ale Pail, and usually rack directly to the bottling bucket or keg.

Cheers,

Bob
 
AZ_IPA said:
why would you do a 2.5 if you have the space for 5? The effort and time is pretty much the same.
Click to expand...

Az...because he wants to...that should be enough to get actual help from someone....It may not be your cup of tea, but it is his, and mine, and several others on here.

I do quite a lot of them, for several reasons....to test recipes. To make things that I know I won't want to drink 5 gallons of. To do small partigyles (two, 2.5 gallon batches can be done easlily out of a 5 gallon cooler.) And also because I can do full volume boils on my electric stove with only needing a five gallon pot. And to help teach Mr Beer users how to make kick ass beers in their old brown kegs. You can also lager in a Mr Beer kegger, or squat 3 gal water bottle in a standard fridge without needing a second dedicated, and still leave room for the milk and beer, which is good for me since I live in a loft with little extra space.

It's also a good way to get introduced to AG without a huge expenditure of equipment. You can make a low to moderate grave 2.5 gallon batch of all grain in a 2-3 gallon unmodified cooler. (10 bucks @ Walmarts) And you can get surprisingly good efficiency from the unmodified cooler, with a folding steamer and a grainbag...

Plus you can brew 2.5 gallons of AG for about 9-10 bucks (Not counting yeast)...1 ounce of hops goes a looooong way in a 2.5 gallon recipe.


This summer I had 4 or 5 different small batches going plus 3-4 regular 5 gallon batches of my 'haus standards" (My Amber, My Dead Guy Clone, My Brown Ale, and My Ginger Orange Dortmunder.) I had a Hellova variety of beer.

WheaYaAt
I use 3 gallon water bottles for the majority of my 2.5 gallon batches. But you CAN use a 5 gallon as a primary...If your recipe calls for a lot of fermentables and therefore may be really active, doing it in a 5 gallon prevents the need to use a blowoff tube.
 
Revvy said:
Az...because he wants to...that should be enough to get actual help from someone....It may not be your cup of tea, but it is his, and mine, and several others on here.
Click to expand...

Did you miss my second sentence? :D
But - I'm gonna do a couple 2.5's as experiments. Get a 3 gallon carboy, and when you're not experimenting just make it a default Apfelwein fermenter.
Click to expand...
:D

I was merely asking if he has the 6 gallon carboys already, why not go for the 5 gallon batches.

Heck, I'm thinking about doing a 1-gallon batch just to see if the wild hops I found have any bittering to them at all...

but, back the OP - like others have said, you're x-tra head space shouldn't be a problem.

{buys Revvy a cup of tea}
 
AZ_IPA said:
Did you miss my second sentence? :D :D

I was merely asking if he has the 6 gallon carboys already, why not go for the 5 gallon batches.

Heck, I'm thinking about doing a 1-gallon batch just to see if the wild hops I found have any bittering to them at all...

but, back the OP - like others have said, you're x-tra head space shouldn't be a problem.

{buys Revvy a cup of tea}
Click to expand...

Sorry...I only had 2 hours of sleep last night...not focusing much here today.

Hopefully that tea has extra caffein....:mug:
 
Use a party pig. You can brew 2.5 gallon batches in it with a #13 stopper and, when you are done, with primary you can condition and serve right from it with consistent CO2 pressure...

Headspace is far less of an issue on primary, so I would use your big boy for primary (also reducing blow off issues) and then go straight to your party pig as a secondary (or straight to conditioning if thats your pleasure)
 
Sometimes I feel so slow. I've avoided AG because there is just no way I could brew enough on my stove top for a 5+ gallon batch (lack of equipment for one reason). To think I could brew 2.5 gal AG batches...thats just awsome. Now I just need to get a couple more 3 gal bottles and caps/stoppers. The two I have tend to be in use for apfelwein and I was hoping to make a mead in one in the coming weeks as well.


Thanks WheaYaAt and everyone else for speaking on this subject.
 
Just to throw it out there...if you're making mead you should go for at least a 5G batch, if you're going to wait that long for something to be done you're going to want as much of it as possible, right?

This 2.5G AG batch thing would also be great for those of us in the great white north without garages to brew in for the winter. I snuck a batch in yesterday while it was still kind of warm, but 45 degrees at the end of December is a bit of a fluke. Great now I need to build a 16Q mash tun...
 
Eves said:
Sometimes I feel so slow. I've avoided AG because there is just no way I could brew enough on my stove top for a 5+ gallon batch (lack of equipment for one reason). To think I could brew 2.5 gal AG batches...thats just awsome. Now I just need to get a couple more 3 gal bottles and caps/stoppers. The two I have tend to be in use for apfelwein and I was hoping to make a mead in one in the coming weeks as well.


Thanks WheaYaAt and everyone else for speaking on this subject.
Click to expand...

My tutorial on it is here...https://www.homebrewtalk.com/785533-post702.html

Here, https://www.homebrewtalk.com/738927-post659.html

and here https://www.homebrewtalk.com/739377-post660.html
 
I also do a number of 3 gallon batches for my more experimental recipes. I ferment in 5 gallon carboys and then secondary in 3 gallon carboys (when required).
 
I've seen other people mention the use of paint strainer bags and it seems like a great idea. Does anything have to be done to them to be used for this purpose? Boiling, sanitizing, something else?
 
OLB said:
I've seen other people mention the use of paint strainer bags and it seems like a great idea. Does anything have to be done to them to be used for this purpose? Boiling, sanitizing, something else?
Click to expand...


Just soak it in sanitizer for a bit if it's going to touch anything post-boil.
 
TerapinChef said:
..if you're making mead you should go for at least a 5G batch, if you're going to wait that long for something to be done you're going to want as much of it as possible, right?
Click to expand...

unless you discover that you don't like your recipe, or mead for that matter - then you're out 2x the amount of honey :D But yes, I agree - I have a 2.5 gallon batch of mead going:

<<<<<<<<<<<<<< and now wish it was 5 :(
 
NQ3X said:
I do 2.5 gallon batches all the time. I don't get out much. ;) Plus, I find I enjoy the process of brewing so much that if I brewed 5-gallon batches all the time I'd soon be awash with packaged beer!
Click to expand...

My primary supply of beer isnt my own brew since (to be honest) you can get damn fine micros for the same as brewing at home. My brewing is limited to experiments, high grav, etc...so 2.5gal works perfect for me. This way I dont have 50 bottles of something that may or may not be good, and my investment in ingredients is 1/2. The good recipies I just do in the small batches.

Better bottle makes a nice 3gal, and there are some 3gal buckets too. I have a 3 gal primary, and one 3 gal secondary, and a bunch of 1gal glass cider jugs for my experiments ;)
 
Revvy said:
Az...because he wants to...that should be enough to get actual help from someone....It may not be your cup of tea, but it is his, and mine, and several others on here.

I do quite a lot of them, for several reasons....to test recipes. To make things that I know I won't want to drink 5 gallons of. To do small partigyles (two, 2.5 gallon batches can be done easlily out of a 5 gallon cooler.) And also because I can do full volume boils on my electric stove with only needing a five gallon pot. And to help teach Mr Beer users how to make kick ass beers in their old brown kegs. You can also lager in a Mr Beer kegger, or squat 3 gal water bottle in a standard fridge without needing a second dedicated, and still leave room for the milk and beer, which is good for me since I live in a loft with little extra space.

It's also a good way to get introduced to AG without a huge expenditure of equipment. You can make a low to moderate grave 2.5 gallon batch of all grain in a 2-3 gallon unmodified cooler. (10 bucks @ Walmarts) And you can get surprisingly good efficiency from the unmodified cooler, with a folding steamer and a grainbag...

Plus you can brew 2.5 gallons of AG for about 9-10 bucks (Not counting yeast)...1 ounce of hops goes a looooong way in a 2.5 gallon recipe.


This summer I had 4 or 5 different small batches going plus 3-4 regular 5 gallon batches of my 'haus standards" (My Amber, My Dead Guy Clone, My Brown Ale, and My Ginger Orange Dortmunder.) I had a Hellova variety of beer.

WheaYaAt
I use 3 gallon water bottles for the majority of my 2.5 gallon batches. But you CAN use a 5 gallon as a primary...If your recipe calls for a lot of fermentables and therefore may be really active, doing it in a 5 gallon prevents the need to use a blowoff tube.
Click to expand...


You have lagered in a fridge w/o a temp. controller? Cool, I have thought of maybe trying that before how do you do that? do you have a recipe i could try for it? and also you say you use 3 gallon water bottles where do you get those
 
kjones said:
You have lagered in a fridge w/o a temp. controller? Cool, I have thought of maybe trying that before how do you do that? do you have a recipe i could try for it? and also you say you use 3 gallon water bottles where do you get those
Click to expand...

People were making beer, and lagering long before fancy a$$ed temp controllers...:D

and as for any of my 2.5 gallon recipes they're in the linkys I provide a few posts up...
 
Revvy said:
People were making beer, and lagering long before fancy a$$ed temp controllers...:D

and as for any of my 2.5 gallon recipes they're in the linkys I provide a few posts up...
Click to expand...

Yeah i know but i have never brewed a lager before and figured a 2.5 gallon batch would be a good way to start. I looked through your recipes and i didn't see a lager recipe, unless i just missed it.
 
Revvy said:
People were making beer, and lagering long before fancy a$$ed temp controllers...:D

and as for any of my 2.5 gallon recipes they're in the linkys I provide a few posts up...
Click to expand...

Yeah i know but i have never brewed a lager before and figured a 2.5 gallon batch would be a good way to start. I looked through your recipes and i didn't see a lager recipe, unless i just missed it.
 
AZ_IPA said:
why would you do a 2.5 if you have the space for 5? The effort and time is pretty much the same.

But - I'm gonna do a couple 2.5's as experiments. Get a 3 gallon carboy, and when you're not experimenting just make it a default Apfelwein fermenter.
Click to expand...

What is Apfelwein?
 
Anyone do the 1 gallon batches like the do on Basic Brewing? I'm ordering a 3 gallon Better Bottle and a 1 Gallon glass jug so I can get going on a few more recipes.
 
Hmm. I find it irking that (on midwestsupplies.com) the 3-gallon Better Bottle is $19, but the 3-gallon Better Bottles with racking spigot (<$1 to manufacture?) kicks the price up to $53!!! Wow. I guess I don't really need the spigot.

I'm having trouble finding a 3 gallon food-safe brewing pail bucket for half batches. Could someone please point me in the right direction? I'd buy the Better Bottle, but something about trying to clean a carboy after primary fermentation doesn't sound too appealing to me. At least I can get my arm into a bucket for some elbow grease scrubbing. Maybe I'll get one for secondary fermentation (which I've never done before...)

Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks!
 
dino, I regularly use a 5 gal glass carboy as a primary for 3 gal batches and a 6.5 gal glass carboy for my 5 gal batches, if you buy a carboy brush you will be fine (I've never used a better bottle, so I can't comment on using one as a primary (although I see why you would hesitate to use one as a primary, they look like they would be hard to clean))
 
DinoCow said:
I'm having trouble finding a 3 gallon food-safe brewing pail bucket for half batches.
Click to expand...

Bakeries and donut shops.... I get 2 gal, 3.25 gal, and 4.25 gal pales from them. I've used the lids they come with but most are made by the same people who make the Ale Pails so those lids fit as well. They don't always seal well enough to make your airlocks work, but they don't present infection problems either.
 
you dont have to scrub better bottles or glass. I throw in a scoop of oxyclean and fill with water. Come back the next day and it is clean. For really stubborn krausen I just fill partially and shake, then fill with water and oxy and let sit. It is very effective.
 
I have been brewing 2.5-3 gallon batches for a couple of months. I love it. I am back in the kitchen, cooling is faster, and torage is less of a problem. I have just been using my 5 gallon carboys. I don't bother with secondary. Everything is going well. I might get a 3 gallon better bottle. See how that goes. Does anyone bottle directly from the spigot on from a primary better bottle?
 
eanmcnulty said:
I have been brewing 2.5-3 gallon batches for a couple of months. I love it. I am back in the kitchen, cooling is faster, and torage is less of a problem. I have just been using my 5 gallon carboys. I don't bother with secondary. Everything is going well. I might get a 3 gallon better bottle. See how that goes. Does anyone bottle directly from the spigot on from a primary better bottle?
Click to expand...

I just brewed 2 at the same time on Sunday. One in my mash tun and the other I did Brew in a bag.

Fermenting_chamber_copy.jpg


1,3,4, & 6 are all 2.5 gallon batches { #1 Grain test Pale Ale 1 (dry toasted) #2 German Apfelwein (hard cider @ 3 months) #3 Grain test Pale Ale 2 (soaked in sugar solution then toasted) # 4 Grain Test Pale Ale 3 (soaked in water then toasted) #5 1-gallon Date Wine #6 Old Ale Brewed on New Years, then oaked for a week and racked to a tertiary to bulk age).
 
DinoCow said:
I'm having trouble finding a 3 gallon food-safe brewing pail bucket for half batches. Could someone please point me in the right direction? I'd buy the Better Bottle, but something about trying to clean a carboy after primary fermentation doesn't sound too appealing to me. At least I can get my arm into a bucket for some elbow grease scrubbing. Maybe I'll get one for secondary fermentation (which I've never done before...)

Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks!
Click to expand...

Vittles Vaults. I've been using them for years. Any of the big-box pet stores carry them.
 
I've been brewing short batches for over a year now. My 3 gal carboy is reserved for cider and the 3 gal BB's are for beer. I have several 1 gal jugs that keep the mead flowing.

By brewing like this I can keep 5 or 6 different beers in the cooler at any one time. I like variety.
 
Just did my 1st 2.5 gallon stove top batch yesterday. I wish I has started doing these sooner! It was rainig it's a** off and I didn't need to leave the kitchen to go outside to boil and clean up was a snap.
 
Your local grocery store bakery generally will save their 3.5 gallon frosting buckets if you call up there. They're nice buckets too, the lid has a nice rubber grommet on it. The only thing is that you need to wash it out real good before using it cuz they smell pretty strongly of frosting...
 

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