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Mooglebass said:
So basically I could make one hell of a iced coffee drink. Have you tried any nibs in it? Also would some beans work better than.extract? Also would a simple syrup male the sugar dissolve better?
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I have not tried nibs yet, they should be nice. I would probably add them to secondary.

If you wanted to grind your own beans that would be good. I wouldn't use whole beans for the cold brewed coffee. They won't extract very well. If you leave the coffee solids in when the alcohol is being produced the alcohol will start extracting bitter compounds from the solids. The point of doing the cold brewing is to prevent that.

A simple syrup would make it easier to mix the sugar in as the sugar crystals are already dissolved. It will also bring more water to the party, so you would be increasing the batch size a little bit and slightly diluting the coffee.

I'm thinking of adding some vanilla bean to secondary on a future batch. That should be nice.
 
I am going to give this a try tonight. Atleast the start of the brewing. Should be good come Christmas time. I'll try it with the beans and see how that works out. Just need to find some bottles that will work better than beer bottles.
 
Another Gallon batch bottledd, NB Caribou Slobber...16 ounce bottles, 7 of em...Coulda had 8, but with the Mr beer fermenter for the last bottle a good amount of trub can get in, so didn't bother with it..Bottled right before the neck, apparently these 1/2 PET bottles can have bulging problems with too much sugar, shouldn't be a problem as I used 1 fizz drop for each, but better safe then sorry...

Got the fermenter cleaned..Brew day tomorrow afternoon, 1 Gal NB White House Honey Ale and 2 gal batch using Mr Beer Pilsner HME, some UME, and some hop additions...Also got an all grain american wheat kit in the mail for my first all grain brew, that should be whenever either is done fermenting, so ~3 weeks!

IMG_20130715_120544.jpg
 
Mooglebass said:
How will that work as a fermenter??
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Put the fermentables in the pot, put on the lid. An airlock is just a valve for relieving pressure. The lid will lift slightly with pressure and do that while keeping dust out. Practically anything that can be closed can be used as a fermentor.
 
Leadgolem said:
Put the fermentables in the pot, put on the lid. An airlock is just a valve for relieving pressure. The lid will lift slightly with pressure and do that while keeping dust out. Practically anything that can be closed can be used as a fermentor.
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Yeah, what he said.^. I've fermented a couple of batches in pots, no troubles.
 
I've had issues with blow offs, that's why I asked. The lid don't seem like it would hold up to those to me, but I guess it does.

Also I made the coffee wine, but messed up a bit. I didn't add 2 lbs of sugar added 2 cups...and kept adding, I stopped at 10 to 12% abv
 
I haven't tried a big enough beer to fear a blow off. Maybe a weight on the lid would keep it there, though some foam might run down the side. Using stainless, you could drill the lid for an airlock or blow-off tube. These are inexpensive pots, and thin. You could also find a vented lid, or use something else as a lid.
 
Mooglebass said:
I've had issues with blow offs, that's why I asked. The lid don't seem like it would hold up to those to me, but I guess it does.

Also I made the coffee wine, but messed up a bit. I didn't add 2 lbs of sugar added 2 cups...and kept adding, I stopped at 10 to 12% abv
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Sounds yummy. :)

Generally speaking, the lids allow pressure to escape so rapidly that you don't need a blowoff. Part of the reason you get a foam over is that co2 builds up in the brew faster then the airlock can allow it to escape. If the whole lid burps, it releases a whole lot more co2. Sort of the difference between stirring soda in a punch bowl, and shaking up the bottle.

I guess you could get a foam over in a pot, but I think you'd have to have left practically no head space.
JohnSand said:
I haven't tried a big enough beer to fear a blow off. Maybe a weight on the lid would keep it there, though some foam might run down the side. Using stainless, you could drill the lid for an airlock or blow-off tube. These are inexpensive pots, and thin. You could also find a vented lid, or use something else as a lid.
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You could also do this, they are cheap pots.
 
I love one gallon brewing. Best way to work on experimental batches. And pretty mush the only way I do things like barley wines.
 
Ivypunx said:
I love one gallon brewing. Best way to work on experimental batches. And pretty mush the only way I do things like barley wines.
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My only problem is that I don't always have success scaling up. Great 1 gallon, then the 3 gallon version is just ok. Or not good at all. It might be easier to sanitize the 1gal glass jug than the bigger plastic.
 
ericbw said:
My only problem is that I don't always have success scaling up. Great 1 gallon, then the 3 gallon version is just ok. Or not good at all. It might be easier to sanitize the 1gal glass jug than the bigger plastic.
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As long as your grain bill comes our the same, and you hop chart balances you should be good. If your interested, Beersmith 2 has a auto scale in the program that will scale it for you. I always plug my grain bill and hop chart into beer smith and scale it. I also plug it into the system as a 1 gallon, then as a 5 gallon. Just compare your gravities and your grain bill and hop chart
 
ericbw said:
My only problem is that I don't always have success scaling up. Great 1 gallon, then the 3 gallon version is just ok. Or not good at all. It might be easier to sanitize the 1gal glass jug than the bigger plastic.
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I can't see sanitization being the problem. More likely it is a problem with the mash or boil. I'm betting one of those processes changes when you scale up.
 
Picked this up today, was 7 bucks at meijer. Was thinking possibility of it.being dual purpose. Fermenting and bottling. I know the spigot wouldn't he great for fermenting, but I can always plug it.

ForumRunner_20130720_182910.jpg
 
Thanks to my lhbs Amarillo Brew Supply I've got an all grain biab 1 gallon American IPA With maris otter and american 2 row, with a bit of crystal 20 and hopped with sorachi

Can't wait!
 
I'm a 5 & 10 gallon brewer but want to do more experimentation this winter - I can just do BIAB for these batches but what's the easiest setup to go from grain to glass?

Is there an all in one fermenter that has a bottling spigot? Would one of those glass ice tea jugs work?

I'm worried about the whole racking and bottling taking too long. Do you use carbonation drops?
 
shoreman said:
I'm a 5 & 10 gallon brewer but want to do more experimentation this winter - I can just do BIAB for these batches but what's the easiest setup to go from grain to glass?

Is there an all in one fermenter that has a bottling spigot? Would one of those glass ice tea jugs work?

I'm worried about the whole racking and bottling taking too long. Do you use carbonation drops?
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I have only bottled two so far and haven't tried those, yet. I can say that using the 1-gal Carboy, there was about a half-inch layer of Trub on the bottom. Given that, it would seem that an ice tea dispenser would work. I used fizz drops in my bottles. I got 9-bottles from one and 10 from the second.
 
harrke said:
I have only bottled two so far and haven't tried those, yet. I can say that using the 1-gal Carboy, there was about a half-inch layer of Trub on the bottom. Given that, it would seem that an ice tea dispenser would work. I used fizz drops in my bottles. I got 9-bottles from one and 10 from the second.
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What's your secret for getting 10 bottles from a gallon? The most I have gotten is 9, and I usually have closer to an inch of trub at the bottom.
 
shoreman said:
I'm a 5 & 10 gallon brewer but want to do more experimentation this winter - I can just do BIAB for these batches but what's the easiest setup to go from grain to glass?

Is there an all in one fermenter that has a bottling spigot? Would one of those glass ice tea jugs work?

I'm worried about the whole racking and bottling taking too long. Do you use carbonation drops?
Click to expand...
I don't have one, but I've heard good things about these.
http://www.brewdemon.com/conical-fermenting-system.html

For bottling, there are two approaches I've found useful. First is the iced tea dispenser you mentioned. Just make sure to get one with a removable spigot, otherwise you can't really clean it properly.

The second is to pour all of the brew through coffee filters. I use several pour spout bowl I got for cheap with colanders in them. It takes a while for the brew to get through the filters, and it's still cloudy, but you yield a very high percentage of the batch that way. With 1 gallon batches, trub loss can be a rather large percentage of your brew. As near as I can figure, I yielded 126 oz of 128 possible on my last low trub batch. Then I just use a funnel to bottle.

I just use a priming sugar calculator. Most of them will let you enter the batch volume.

Another good tip, if you haven't read it yet. Get yourself a scale that is accurate in grams, and convert all of your ingredients to grams. It's fairly easy to throw off your proportions when you are doing such a small batch.

Happy Brewing! :mug:
 
Anyone that had the brew demon - can you bottle straight from this after using it as primary for say 3 weeks? Just add priming sugar and bottle? Or use carb drops.
 
I don't have Brewdemon, but I have used MrBeer, which is similar. You just bottle straight from the fermenter, three weeks, no secondary. I use Dominoe Dots (sugar cubes) to bottle prime. I've read that there are two sizes, the smaller are about 1/2 teaspoon, which is fine.
 
I would say save your money on the brew demon. Looks cool but at that price you can go to Winco here or Wally world and get 5 gallon water jugs for $5-6. You can easily add a spigot if you are so inclined and treat it like a pin or firkin and set it at a mild tilt upon bottling. I know this is one gallon brewers but I am brewing test batches almost nightly and when I get to a batch that just needs small tweaks like yeast or dry hopping it is nice to be able to step up and do a 2 or 3 gal batch and split them. I keg everything because I have the kegs and I am not interested in bottle conditioning as I am looking for commercial turn around time and this scale affords me the ability to not be on the pilot system and be in the house with my family. I converted a 5gal igloo cooler from lowes for $50 using all SS parts and everything is 1/2" now so switching to a 10gal cooler is possible at any time. I can easily harvest my yeast from these jugs if I so choose and clean up with PBW takes no time at all. I have had zero off flavors and no infections to date. Also listen to the scale thing because if you don't have one that carries out at least 3 decimal places you will be spinning your wheels wondering why one hop addition looks so much different than the one you just did of the same weight. Look back a few pages on the one advised to me. I paid less than $20 on amazon and this things is great. I use it for my yeast and my hops to assure I am dead on for each. Sorry for the long post but IMO I would do anything to avoid products that cost so much for something of a novelty. Hell just go get a 3 gallon water jug ( I know I know , may lightning strike me for such a suggesting)! Trub at 1 gallon is hit and miss depending on cold crash capabilities, yeast used (04 packs great), how close you want to tow the line of haze before you say I got enough of my beers and so on. You could filter but why go through all that when you can just plan to brew a 1.5 gallon batch to adjust for loss and use a bigger fermenter. Biggest selling points: No blow off needed, plenty of room for a slightly bigger batch in case you didn't quite hit the boil off or just want bigger, easier to aerate your wort before you pitch, and so on and so on. Down side... slightly larger footprint. Just food for thought. Good luck man.
 
Thanks for the info Ranch. I'm already a 5 and 10 gallon brewer so I already have a mash tun and all that. I'm looking to do 1-2.5 gallon batches so I can experiment more. I'd like to have as minimal amounts if gear as possible so I was looking for an all in one fermentation vessel.

I'm pretty sure I'm just going with the mr beer $10 fermenters with the new spigot - seems to be the best deal. The brew demon is cool but the $42 with shipping price kills it.

There's also some of those slimline water jugs at my grocery store for $11 that I may try.
 
shoreman said:
Thanks for the info Ranch. I'm already a 5 and 10 gallon brewer so I already have a mash tun and all that. I'm looking to do 1-2.5 gallon batches so I can experiment more. I'd like to have as minimal amounts if gear as possible so I was looking for an all in one fermentation vessel.

I'm pretty sure I'm just going with the mr beer $10 fermenters with the new spigot - seems to be the best deal. The brew demon is cool but the $42 with shipping price kills it.

There's also some of those slimline water jugs at my grocery store for $11 that I may try.
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Any vessel that is 3-5gal should fit your needs. I am cheap and rather not drop $42 either for a Mr Beer Conical. I have a 7.9 gal Spiedel from more beer and the spigot sucks. I end up using a auto siphon anyway. I would just do what works for you and you budget. I usually have 3-5 of those water jugs fermenting at a time in my chest freezer with anywhere from 1-4 gallons of wort but I don't mind them because I am either going to another jug for secondary or going to a keg. I bottle of the keg these days for ease. Good luck.
 
Just brewe up about a gallon and a half of honey porter Ended up splitting it into two fermentors so I could keep the whole batch
 
RoughandReadyRanch said:
...You could filter but why go through all that when you can just plan to brew a 1.5 gallon batch to adjust for loss and use a bigger fermenter...
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I suppose with beer it isn't such a big deal. Some of the small batches I make use fairly high priced ingredients. That's part of the reason for the small batch size. When I'm looking at around 6$ a 750ml for ingredients, I'm going to try to squeeze as much out of the batch as possible.

As to the rest, to each their own. My most common small batch vessel is a 2 gallon fermenting bucket, though I do add fruit to the brew frequently. That makes anything with a small mouth a PITA to clean.
 
Leadgolem said:
I suppose with beer it isn't such a big deal. Some of the small batches I make use fairly high priced ingredients. That's part of the reason for the small batch size. When I'm looking at around 6$ a 750ml for ingredients, I'm going to try to squeeze as much out of the batch as possible.

As to the rest, to each their own. My most common small batch vessel is a 2 gallon fermenting bucket, though I do add fruit to the brew frequently. That makes anything with a small mouth a PITA to clean.
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What on earth are you putting in your beer that is that expensive. Truffle Ale? :D I just don't see the point of going through the hassle of filtering that small of a batch. Not to mention that filtering tends to drive off hop aromas and others from what I have found and learned. I just kegged a 1 gallon peach wheat and a 1 gallon arctic nectarine wheat and I found the clean up a cinch. Not sure what the trouble is but 15 minutes of PBW and it was crystal clear and ready for my blonde that is bubbling away as we speak.
 
RoughandReadyRanch said:
What on earth are you putting in your beer that is that expensive. Truffle Ale? :D I just don't see the point of going through the hassle of filtering that small of a batch. Not to mention that filtering tends to drive off hop aromas and others from what I have found and learned. I just kegged a 1 gallon peach wheat and a 1 gallon arctic nectarine wheat and I found the clean up a cinch. Not sure what the trouble is but 15 minutes of PBW and it was crystal clear and ready for my blonde that is bubbling away as we speak.
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I'm not making beer at all. The best black cherry wine uses undiluted black cherry juice and fresh cherries. The juice ranges from 4 to 6 dollars a quart. 6$ a pound for really good fresh cherries isn't unusual. It's excellent wine, but it's not cheap.

Something else that can get expensive fast is mead. 35$ for 5 lbs decent honey is pretty common. Really good honey can easily hit 50$ for 5 lbs. That will make 6-8 quarts of mead, depending on the sugar concentration and desired gravity.
 
I guess that would warrant a bit more filtration and less concern over the non existent hops. For those of us brewing beer though, filtration has some draw backs depending on the beer. As for mead I have dabbled but I am blessed with living in the country and all my neighbors keep bees. I can get some pretty awesome honey for next to or often nothing but a thank you.
 
shoreman said:
Anyone that had the brew demon - can you bottle straight from this after using it as primary for say 3 weeks? Just add priming sugar and bottle? Or use carb drops.
Click to expand...

I bought one of these and might get a second. A little on the pricey side but it works good. I'm bottling my fourth batch today from it, I've been using the fizz drops and bottling right from the fermentor, works great. The valve tips up and is above the trub, I usually drain a sampler glass worth out first then hook up the hose and bottle filler and then go to town. very quick and convenient.
 
BikerBrewer said:
I bought one of these and might get a second. A little on the pricey side but it works good. I'm bottling my fourth batch today from it, I've been using the fizz drops and bottling right from the fermentor, works great. The valve tips up and is above the trub, I usually drain a sampler glass worth out first then hook up the hose and bottle filler and then go to town. very quick and convenient.
Click to expand...

Thanks I ended up buying one of these a while back and forgot about it. I got it at an off price store for $10 - the spigot sux but I got a new one off ebay - a Tomlinson valve, anyone ever use those for bottling?

http://img2.targetimg2.com/wcsstore/TargetSAS//img/p/12/93/12939080.jpg

Should work for small batch it's 2.3 gallons and I'm hoping I can go straight to bottle.
 

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