One Gallon Brewing

I've been waiting to homebrew forever, but I have always held off due to living in small apartments. A few weeks ago, I decided that life was too short to wait, and now I'm just going to make due with what I have. In preparation, I've read Palmer's and Papazian's books a few times each. I am planning on purchasing the Brookilyn Home Brew 1 gallon extract kit (http://brooklynbrewshop.com/store/1-gallon-beer-kits) (and a few additional pieces of hardware) to hold me over until I live in a bigger place (maybe a year or two off).

My main question is, what considerations do I have to take into account when I am brewing 1 gallon batches? Do I simply scale down the ingredients 80% from a 5 gallon recipe, or do I have to alter the boiling and fermentation times as well? I'm planning to bottle into bombers, again to save space.

Also, are there any other 1 or 1.5 gallon kits that I should consider? I looked around on the forum and didn't see too much info about this kit.

Cheers,
Steve

Well, I never used a 1 Gallon extract kit, but me thinks that it is going to give you what you need for a 1 gallon batch. It would be crazy for Brooklyn Brew Shop to give you a one gallon fermenter and 5 gallons worth of ingredients.
Have you read the instructions yet?

Go here: http://brooklynbrewshop.com/store

See how much of a difference there is between the 1-gallon bag of grain and the 5-gallon bag of grain? Just read the kit instructions and you should be all set to go.
Once you start brewing good beer with the one gallon kits then you can start scaling back five-gallon recipes for your one-gallon fermenter.

Have fun!

Well, I can't answer your questions, but I can give you some advise about that kit. You need at least a 2 gallon fermenter to ferment a 1 gallon batch. With the 1 gallon carboy provided with the kit, you will be able to ferment 2 quarts of wort, at the most.
I'm fermenting 2 L batches in my 1 gal carboys, and end up with wort in the airlock, every time.

Hop utilization will be different. I know BeerSmith will take that into account if you toggle the boil volumes, but I'm not sure if the free programs have that option or not. If I were you, I would do 2.5 gallon batches. The 3 gal BB's are fairly small, and you could use a 20qt kettle on the stove very easily. It would also be easy to just cut recipes in half and instead of just making like 10-12oz beers, you would have at least a case for your work. The only thing that sucks about small batch brewing is that your yield is soooo much less for the same time that it takes other people to brew 5-10 gallons. I know space is an issue, but I would think that a 3 gal BB would take up the same floor space as a 1.5 gal glass jug or what ever you are fermenting in. Good luck with it. I bet in like 2-3 months you'll be looking to upgrade in size. Welcome to the lifestyle

Mr. Beer gives you a 2.5 gallon kit. That's what I started with and I hated it cause I would BURN through 2.5 gallons in less than a few weeks. But I guess if you only have room for 1 gallon supplies, then go for it. Boiling and fermentation times can still take just as long depending on what you make, but the time it takes to reach temp will be shorter.

Read this guys blog... pretty inspirational
http://crampedspacebrew.blogspot.com/

You may or may not be interested in this, but have you ever seen those Coors or Miller 'keg' things at the store? The Coors one holds 1.5 gallons, and seems to be working fine for use as a carboy or just for re-use. I've got a stout conditioning in one right now. I primed it just as usual and bought some of those CO2 cartridges for when I'm ready to crack it open (St. Patty's day!). Anyway, it is a convenient way to save space by having so much beer in that one container, rather than a bunch of bottles. There are some threads on the board about this somewhere if you are interested. Good luck!

Personally, I think the 1 gallon all grain kit is a great idea. Brooklyn brew shop are the only ones I'm aware of who currently sell them.

I've been planning to make up some kits like this for some of my friends to try brewing, and may eventually give the business end a go.

Here's what I'd do differently though: I'd make it for 1.25 gallons, so you get a twelve pack out of it. They use a glass bottle for fermenting, it has a certain coolness factor, but is not as versatile as a bucket. I'd rather supply a 2 gallon bucket with a spigot and a vented stopper. I'd use a 2gal igloo drink cooler as a mash tun instead of mashing on the stove top.

I'd suggest you have at least a three gallon pot.

I actually started with on of those brooklyn brew kits. I got one for Christmas but after going through all that trouble to brew 1 gal I decided to get 5 gal equip.


The brooklyn Brew set up actually comes with a one gal fermenter and the instruction tells you to use a blow off tube for the first couple of days. I have had no issues other than the fact that you lose some beer in the yeast cake so you actually end up with enough to fill 4 bombers.

Makes a real quality beer though I have a triple fermenting as I write this.

I just scale down for my extract beers. Even the hops. I haven't had any problem doing one gallon amounts, except for of course the quantity left after bottling since they go pretty quick now. (8-10 regular bottles or 4 750ml bottles and one beer bottle.) I just made up for it by brewing a new one every few days since it's pretty quick and easy to use a 1 gallon pot. Easy to clean too.
I just used 1 gallon growlers and the occasional 1 gallon plastic jug used for water to ferment in, and sometimes to secondary.