Want to brew more!?

I want to brew more beer! (it's addicting!) but I can't drink five gallons and don't have enough friends willing to drink what I made. Uggh if only this wasn't so addicting!

"Can't" or won't? Sounds like you need new friends!! j/k

I started brewing up 2.5 gallon batches. The amount of beer produced is significant, but not so much that I get a ridiculous stockpile of beer. I'm the only beer drinker in my house and I don't drink all that much, but I like to have a variety of beers to choose from. Brewing in a smaller batch allows me to have my assortment but not the cirrhosis. Also, you can get by with less equipment (a smaller brewpot, and you can get by without a wort chiller) and if you happen to royally screw up a batch the loss is more bearable. On the downside, you really have to savour those beers that turn out to be sublime since you have so few of them. Also, the time spent making the beer is roughly the same as if you were doing a 5 gallon batch.

It is also nice to be able to do stove-top batches in the middle of the Canadian winter.

Also, I question those friends of yours. Up here in Canada, the best beer usually has the word "free" in front of it. Heck, I've been known to drink the odd Old-style Pilsner when I haven't had to pay for it. Your homebrew has got to be better than that.

abrdnck, do you still ferment in a regular 5 gallon fermenter? Just curious. I am lucky enough (or cursed depending how you look at it) that my husband and friends have loved what I brewed, but I'm toying with the idea of splitting the wort and pitching 2 yeasts in smaller batches to sort of understand the whole difference in yeast thing. I only have 5 gal fermenters (2 of them).

There's a ton of threads on here for small batch brewing.

You can brew any sized batch you want. I do a lot of 2.5 gallon recipe test batches. You can even do 1 gallon AG brews. The basic brewing guys call that the six pack brew.

A recipe is scalable, so a 1 gallon recipe is 1/5th of a 5 gallon one....a 2.5 gallon one is half the ingredients.

2.5 gallons is one case of beer.

I use my normal 5 gallon mash tun for most of them, but I do a lot of Experiments, test recipes, or beers that I know I won't need/want more than a case of.

I sometimes use an unmodified 2 gallon cooler for a lot of my small btaches it holds up to 4 pounds of grain.

I just us a folding steamer in the bottom along with a grain bag. Just break off or unscrew the center post.



One of these, it helps to lift the grain bag above the spigot to keep the drainig from getting stuck.







I posted a lot of info in the mr beer thread that you may find helpful.

I posted some all grain small batchrecipes here, https://www.homebrewtalk.com/785533-post702.html

ANd a bit of a primer on AG with pics here https://www.homebrewtalk.com/738927-post659.html

But I mostly use my regular 5 gallon cooler mash tun which holds 14 pounds of grains...and 14 pounds of grain for a 2.5 gallon batch can be a mighty big beer.....


One of our memebers chubbykid had plans for a minikeg mashtun http://sites.google.com/site/chubbykidhomebrew/Home/equipment/mini-keg-lauter-tun



THe basic brewing radio guys are big fans of tiny batch brewing...3/4 gallon (1 6pack) in a 1 gallon winejug fermenter.

They demo the 6-pack IPA here

[ame]http://en.sevenload.com/shows/Basic-Brewing/episodes/PERGFAJ-01-12-06-Basic-Brewing-Video-A-Six-Pack-of-IPA[/ame]

and they also have done barleywines as well.

I ferment my 2.5 gallon batches in all manner of things, I have a 3 gallon better bottle, I also use 3 gallon water jugs, AND my old Mr Beer keg (it's perfect because you can even lager in your own fridge with it when you are starting out.)

You can even ferment a 2.5 gallon batch in a 5 gallon carboy if you want, though I would say a 6.5 gallon carboy is a little too much headspace for my confort.

Hope this helps....any more questions feel free to ask...But look through ALL THE OTHER INFO first and I bet you, you won't HAVE any other questions. This has been thoroughly covered like just about everything else.

Kokopuff829 said:

I want to brew more beer! (it's addicting!) but I can't drink five gallons and don't have enough friends willing to drink what I made. Uggh if only this wasn't so addicting!

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I had the same problem and just started brewing 2.5 gallon batches. As the previous posts have suggested. I bought a couple of 3 gallon Better Bottles to ferment in.

I find that homebrew clubs are a great place to get rid of beer. My wife and I bring a gallon to a gallon and a half to meetings and more to the 3 annual parties. I also give beer to coworkers from time to time. If your friends drink craft beer and don't want to drink yours, well, fix that. If they are just budweiser guys try to make more craft drinking friends (I don't recommending ditching your existing friends).

bluidshay said:

abrdnck, do you still ferment in a regular 5 gallon fermenter? Just curious. I am lucky enough (or cursed depending how you look at it) that my husband and friends have loved what I brewed, but I'm toying with the idea of splitting the wort and pitching 2 yeasts in smaller batches to sort of understand the whole difference in yeast thing. I only have 5 gal fermenters (2 of them).

Click to expand...

I also have 2 of the smaller better bottles. I got them off kijiji for a really good price. When I picked them up, the guy's neighbour was outside offering to give me some glass carboys for free.

made me thirsty for a 2hearted mini keg. I didn't get one this year.