One Gallon AG techniques - suggestions?

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NoHawk

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I'm wondering how others brew small batches. What hardware do you use? How do you deal with trub?

I used to use a large coffee percolator as a mash/lauter tun. It was great, I could pre-heat my strike water in it, and then just drop in a false bottom (veggie strainer) and a grain bag, and mash with that. The problem was that it didn't hold temperatures well (even wrapped with several towels), and I needed several pots for strike water, sparging, and vorlauf.

So, from there, I went to full-volume BIAB on the stove top with a 2.5 gal pot. This was buch better for holding mash temps, but I was getting much cloudier wort. Post-boil, I was just getting too much trub in my primary, even after whirpooling. When yiou're only getting 7-10 bottles out a batch, the 10oz of extra trub can make a big difference.

So, I'm now thinking of mashing on the stove top like I did with BIAB, but then transfering BACK to the coffee percolator so I can vorlauf and get clearer wort before I boil.

Do you think this will work? Do any other small-batch brewers have this problem? How did you deal with it?
 
I'm wondering how others brew small batches. What hardware do you use? How do you deal with trub?

I used to use a large coffee percolator as a mash/lauter tun. It was great, I could pre-heat my strike water in it, and then just drop in a false bottom (veggie strainer) and a grain bag, and mash with that. The problem was that it didn't hold temperatures well (even wrapped with several towels), and I needed several pots for strike water, sparging, and vorlauf.

So, from there, I went to full-volume BIAB on the stove top with a 2.5 gal pot. This was buch better for holding mash temps, but I was getting much cloudier wort. Post-boil, I was just getting too much trub in my primary, even after whirpooling. When yiou're only getting 7-10 bottles out a batch, the 10oz of extra trub can make a big difference.

So, I'm now thinking of mashing on the stove top like I did with BIAB, but then transfering BACK to the coffee percolator so I can vorlauf and get clearer wort before I boil.

Do you think this will work? Do any other small-batch brewers have this problem? How did you deal with it?

There is a "ton" if infor in the Beginning Bewers section for 1 gallon people.
 
I'm wondering how others brew small batches. What hardware do you use? How do you deal with trub?

I used to use a large coffee percolator as a mash/lauter tun. It was great, I could pre-heat my strike water in it, and then just drop in a false bottom (veggie strainer) and a grain bag, and mash with that. The problem was that it didn't hold temperatures well (even wrapped with several towels), and I needed several pots for strike water, sparging, and vorlauf.

So, from there, I went to full-volume BIAB on the stove top with a 2.5 gal pot. This was buch better for holding mash temps, but I was getting much cloudier wort. Post-boil, I was just getting too much trub in my primary, even after whirpooling. When yiou're only getting 7-10 bottles out a batch, the 10oz of extra trub can make a big difference.

So, I'm now thinking of mashing on the stove top like I did with BIAB, but then transfering BACK to the coffee percolator so I can vorlauf and get clearer wort before I boil.

Do you think this will work? Do any other small-batch brewers have this problem? How did you deal with it?

Why do you want clear wort? I don't care what the wort looks like when it goes into the fermenter, only what the beer looks like when it come out of the bottle. I do full volume BIAB on the stove top and I get clear beer even when I squeeze the bag of mash until it runs cloudy as can be.:rockin:
 
Why do you want clear wort? I don't care what the wort looks like when it goes into the fermenter, only what the beer looks like when it come out of the bottle. I do full volume BIAB on the stove top and I get clear beer even when I squeeze the bag of mash until it runs cloudy as can be.:rockin:

My concern isn't with the clarity of the final beer. My problem is that ever since I switched to BIAB, the amount of trub in my primary has tripled. And when your yield is less than 10 bottles per batch, every bottle makes a difference. I would like the majority of my primary to be filled with beer, not trub.

I guess its kind of a moot point. I'm gonna be upgrading to 3 gal system in a few months (the Brutus 20), and I'll mess around with the new technique (mash on the stove, then use the coffee urn as a lauter tun) until then and see how that works.
 
I use a two gallon cooler and use a bag BIAB-style rather than convert the spigot like my larger cooler. I guess you're right, there's extra trub from not vorlaufing but the liquid absorbed by trub is not substantial so you should end up with roughly the same amount of beer, give or take a few ounces, unless you are losing beer to blowoff.
 
My concern isn't with the clarity of the final beer. My problem is that ever since I switched to BIAB, the amount of trub in my primary has tripled. And when your yield is less than 10 bottles per batch, every bottle makes a difference. I would like the majority of my primary to be filled with beer, not trub.

I guess its kind of a moot point. I'm gonna be upgrading to 3 gal system in a few months (the Brutus 20), and I'll mess around with the new technique (mash on the stove, then use the coffee urn as a lauter tun) until then and see how that works.

Your going to get nine bottles from 1 gallon, no matter the system...I do the traditional all grain and consistently get 9 bottles. If you find that you are coming really close to that tenth bottle, simply use more water to mix with your priming sugar to get you there, it won't be that detrimental to the beer.

I also strain my wort twice before it gets into the carboy, it will only remove the hops but it helps.
 
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