Advice for 1 gallon batches

Hi to all,
I would like to start brewing one gallon batches due to the fact I like to experiment a lot with different grains, hops, yeasts and additives. Some have been great 5 gallon batches and some have been hideous. I don't know why I didn't think of it earlier but, I recently thought this may be a good idea, cut down on the expense a tad and maybe allow me to brew many different beers in a short amount of time. I have a few questions: What do you use to calculate the grain bill (I have Beersmith...is this ok for the job) or does it convert equally i.e. 10lbs of grain for a 5 gal batch= 5lbs grain for a 2.5gal batch= 2.5lbs grain for a 1.25gal batch?, What is the water/grain ratio (1.25-2 gal/lb)? What fermenting vessels do you like? Can you use a 1 gallon glass bottle to prime and bottle in or split it up? Is BIAB with the total water volume the way to go? How are the hop rates, should they be decreased/increased or left the same? And finally, if I do like the recipe and it does not convert to a 5 gallon batch easily, how do you do it?
Thanks for looking this over and any help is great.

I do 0.75, 1.5, 2.25 & 3 gallon batches in 1 to 4 small 1 gallon jugs. Don’t know what you would want to use to ferment exactly 1 gallon though.

Having said that here is my thought on smaller batches…
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I too use Beer Smith and it does not do the scaling conversion by simple math. I think it adjusts considering ABV, Color and IBUs. But I trust it and often scale known recipes. Scale Recipe… is on the Action menu BTW.

Something to note…
Beer Smith will sometimes, after scaling, display 0.05oz hops when the actual rate is 0.046oz. That little amount in a small batch can be a lot in a small brew. Be sure to check everything. Just go to edit the item and save it. If a hop changes the total IBUs then adjust the items boil time or raise one addition and lower another. Make a copy of a recipe before you scale it, to have a reference.

I mash in an 8qt SS pot and place it in the oven on warm to help hold temp. I got 72.67% on my last mash. I do a 1.2/1 mash. I do a MIAB (Mash in a bag) kind of thing. When I remove the mash pot, I pull the bag and place it in a strainer over my boil pot. Then I slowly pour the mash water plus some 165* sparge water over the grains. As for as BIAB goes, I cannot comment.

You can fit 0.75 gallons in a gallon jug with plenty of head space. I have 4 jars and do 0.75, 1.5, 2.25 or 3 gallon brews.

As for going up from small to large, just follow the same guidelines I gave above, just to be sure.

I like splitting 5 gal batches into 5 one gal growlers to compare yeasts, dry hops, etc. I fill to the shoulder and it's just enough head room that I rarely get much overflow. This gives an end yeild after trub and other losses of about 9 12oz bottles. As far as scaling down, most things scale linearly, except boil-off rate. If your pot boils off one gal/hr when brewing a 5 gal batch, it will still boil off the same amount brewing 10 gal or 1 gal. When scaling way down to 1 gal, this can effect hop utilization since the SG is diluted.

I just recently started brewing 1.25 gallon batches, scaling my recipes by 4, for the same reason. I created two 12 qt. fermenters (per batch) from plastic jars, and it seems to be going smoothly. (I have the first two in primary now)

Going metric works better. You need a scale that can weigh by grams. Low AA hops are better too.

Mr. Beer size is much more practical. You can get one case of beer.

I have been doing 1.5 gallon batches for a couple of weeks now. Unfortunately I've not been able to taste the beers yet so I don't have much to report, but I do find that using a 2 gallon plastic bucket as my fermenter works pretty well.

This is great information. I'm glad to see you've had the same idea as well. I may try the 2 gallon bucket but, has anyone seen 2 gallon growlers? I also might try a shop called "Ideal Pure Water," they sell 5 gallon glass carboys with purified water for around 30 bucks. They could possibly have smaller carboys as well. Going to really try to get one in the tank soon to see how it goes. If anyone has any more thoughts on this I'd like to hear them.
Thanks!