Why not recommend half-batches?

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krahm

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I'm on batch number 6, and I've made at least one pretty good blunder per batch, followed by an adjustment to refine my method, etc. It's occurred to me to get a 3-gallon carboy and make half batches for a while. At least until I get the process sorted (and I also want to refine my two primary recipes). I'm figuring this will cut down on the amount of bad beer I have to drink. It will also reduce the interval between "experiments" (and more brewing makes for more fun, as we all know).

But now I can't help wondering why this isn't recommended for beginners. Other than refining the full-batch proportions, is there some reason why you wouldn't recommend that folks should start with smaller batches?
 
Most new brewers feel best buying kits, which are five gallons, so that's one reason. Also, takes the same amount of time and effort to brew 2.5 gallons as 5, so 5 is more efficient.

That said, I've done a number of half batches and agree they can be a great learning tool, especially when experimenting. :)
 
I agree that the biggest reason I'll never bother with half batches,or 1G batches for beer is that the same amount of time & effort is needed as for a 5 or 6 gallon batch. I'd rather get a coule of cases instead of one 12pack. I've made a couple mistakes at the begining myself,but nothing time & temp correction couldn't fix. On that note I never saw the need for a bunch of little batches lying around. I jot down recipes that spring to mind after some research to make sure the amounts of it's constituents are correct or close. Less bottled mistakes that way.
 
Sure you can make smaller batches..

Your idea that brewing more often will increase your experience and hopefully make you a better brewer.

I guess I did so much research before I started that I had the process down pretty good and my brews have all turned out good. When I started some were just good and some were great. As my brewing experience increased the brews now are all very good. So experience does help.

Brew more.
 
beergolf said:
Brew more.

Exactly. And smaller batches are a great way to do this, cuz you can go through the brewing process more often for the same amount of finished product.
 
One thing - you don't need a 3 gallon carboy for a half-batch. You're current carboy will work out just fine if you choose to go that route.
 
One thing - you don't need a 3 gallon carboy for a half-batch. You're current carboy will work out just fine if you choose to go that route.

It may even be better for primary helping getting oxygen in the wort.
 
Many of us DO recommend smaller batches...you just must not have seen any of the bazillion threads on them. Both 1 gallon and 2.5 gallon batches are pretty common, despite what the above naysayers might have you think. In fact there's so many that some of them have been clamoring for a small glass section of the forum.

You didn't happen to notice THIS current thread going on right now?

I do quite a few small batch brews, usually 2.5 gallon stovetop ag batches, and 1 gallon ciders, meads and wines.

In fact last week I brewed 2, 2.5 gallon batches-using nothing but a 2 gallon cooler, a pot that holds 4 gallons a mr beer fermenter , and ONLY the grains, hops and yeast I have on hand (I keep all my brewing supplies at my GF, since she has a yard and I live in a condo,) but I still can do batches here with limited supplies.
I posted my results in one of the many small batch brewing threads on here.

I am going to do a stovetop small batch kitchen sink brewing challenge. I keep my gear and grain at my girlfriends, but unpacking a box this week I found a hand full of grains. I also have a tiny bit of hops and yeast. I also have a 2 gallon cooler (which @ 1 quart/# of grain can mash 6#s of grains) I have a 5 gallon pot (that I only comfortably use it up to 3.5 gallons) my old Mr Beer keg and a 3 gallon better bottle. So my goal is to make 2-2.5 gallon batches with limited materials.

What I have on hand for ingredients are;
2.25oz Debittered Black Malt.
8 & 1/8 ounces flaked wheat.
6.5 oz flaked corn.
6# 10 oz 2-row
1.5# Dark Amber home toasted 2-row
.5# Toasted Amber 2-row
A box of quick oats, that I roasted a pound of for 40 minutes at 375
Hops
1/2 oz styrian goldings
1 oz Sterling
1oz Columbus
Us 04 and 05 yeast.
If I want I can always toast more of the 2 row....

Half pound of home toasted malt. Smells amazing.
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Mashing the frst recipe now. "Kitchen Sink" Toasty Oaty Mild
Batch Size (fermenter): 2.50 gal
Estimated OG: 1.037 SG
Estimated Color: 13.7 SRM
Estimated IBU: 25.3 IBUs
Ingredients:
Amt Name
2 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)
1 lbs Home Toasted Amber (65.0 SRM)
8.0 oz Home Toasted Oats,
1.0 oz Debittered Black
2.0 oz Lyle's Golden Syrup (0.0 SRM)
0.22 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [13.90 %] IBUs
0.5 pkg SafAle English Ale (DCL/Fermentis #S-04)

Using the braid from my regular tun in a 2 gallon cooler
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Counter Top Ghetto Tier (A little foot stool, my 2 gallon cooler and a graduated bucket in the sink.)
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First Runnings
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3.5 gallons of wort to boil down to 2.5
(Thank god for fermcap)
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Adding the ridiculously tiny amount of our hoppy friends.
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Getting ready to chill
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With a garden hose/faucet adapter you can use your wort chiller indoors.
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Yes, that's what you think it is. The perfect small batch fermenter.
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A little O2 action
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Yeast time.
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Batch 1 is done!!!
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I've also put together several primers on small batch brewing here. I show a couple options for minimash tuns, including an unmodified 2 gallon cooler, and one of those 5 liter minikegs.

And there's links into the info I put into the MR Beer thread as well.

I think the whole "same amount of work" naysayer notion is Bull****. When is homebrewing ever "WORK?"

It's a HOBBY, for christsakes, the act of brewing gives me pleasure. So whether I'm doing a 1 gallon batch, a 2.5 gallon test batch of a recipe/or experimental brew, a 5 gallon batch or a 25 gallon batch with a buddy for his wedding, I'm having fun.

If it were work, I wouldn't be ****ing doing it at all. So why the hell the size of the batch matter if the time spent doing it is pleasurable?

There's a ton of small batch brewers on here. So much so that every now and then they demand a subsection of the forum just for themselves. Don't let the naysayers discourage you.

It's funny, no one bats an eye when someone says they're making a gallon of JAOM or any Mead, or using their mr beer fermenter for apfwelwien, or making a gallon of wine, but if any brewer decides he wants to do small batch brewing, bunch of folks come out of the woodwork talking about how small batch brewing is too much work for the payoff.

But there are a lot of folks doing it. The basic brewing radio folks I think went a long way into given 1 gallon batches cache.

In fact the Brooklyn Brew kits, which are 1 gallon AG batches are becoming more and more popular.
 
Agreed revvy. I just got done brewing a 2 gallon batch. Mr IPA my lhbs calls it. It was a blast! took about an hour maybe 2 w clean up.I feel great. Nothing goin on today. It was a experiment. Hopefully it turns out ok. I chilled the 1 gallon of wort down,pour water up to about 1.75gal. checked temp,pitched yeast and split it between 2 1 gallon containers.rigged up blow offs. and now we play the waiting game :D brewing is fun. I am new to it but I love it. Total moments of zen. even if things go wrong its all part of the experience I think.
 
Speaking for myself,I never said it wasn't popular...just not to me. Secondly,by "work" I think you know what was meant. Simply stated,the same amount of "effort" is put forth regardless of amount brewed.
As for 1 or 2 gallon batches of wine,that's more understandable. I did it for a lot of years with wine making. A few bottles here,a few bottles there. Wine uses bigger bottles,& you don't tend to drink as much of it at one time,ime.
If you like it,fine. I'm past that myself,not to belittle anyone. To each his own. Whatever floats your boat. I like full batches at my age for the effort I have to put out.
 
I tried brewing about 20 years. I brewed 5 different 5-gallon batches, and every one tasted terrible, like plastic, no matter what changes I made. (That was way before Revvy's thread on not throwing your beer away, but the terrible taste did last for months.) So I gave it up. I'm trying again, and I'm only doing 1-gallon and 3-gallon batches. One reason is that I wanted to have some success before I got in too far (and I have had some--4 batches in and not a plastic taste yet). Another reason is that I simply don't drink enough to justify making 5 gallons of anything. Anyway, I like the small batches.
 
Still haven't seen this mythical storm of ire directed toward small batch brewers. I've seen some rational conversation, discussion, and weighing of pros and cons. Questioning a practice isn't the same as being a "naysayer". Sure brewing is fun, and isn't "work" as such, but that doesn't mean that it's absurd to suggest that 5 gallons efficiency is a "pro". There are a 100 ways we could prolong the brewday, you can brew a pint at a time - (this is actually a lot of fun for homebrew clubs) if you really want to brew as much as possible. 5 gallons is a manageable amount for most brewers, and has become the standard. There are probably nearly as many people brewing 2.5 gallon batches as there are brewers making 10 gallon batches. Either is completely appropriate, and I've seen little evidence that anyone disagrees.
 
Yeah,I agree to brew whatever amount floats your boat. I just prefer 5-6G batches now that I've got a process down. But I also have the space,which also seems to be a concideration. Besides,we like our beer,even our son takes home a 6'r now & then. It's good to have a bunch of bottles from a batch I happen to like. Just keep both feet on the wheel,& do watcha feel...
 
90% of my brews are less than five gallons. Anyone can learn to brew good beer, but to become a master you need to know exactly which tastes your ingredients provide. I'm working on this by only brewing a handful of styles, only using two yeasts, and brewing a single hop IPA each month. It's been six months of this and I've learned a lot, but it will be another six before I have things nailed down. I think it would take a lifetime to master every style.
 
I think its great to start brewing small batches,its affordable somewhat and can be experimental. I started with 1 gallon then decided to get as much as i could out of a 2 gallon bucket so i uped it some when the beers started gradually getting better with more experience. I have found that sticking to recipes is a good idea until you get the hang of how much of everything to use.I still use recipes all the time and ocasionally conjure up my own.I started out useing extract and steeping grains,then shortly started small partials even full all-grain which is very practicle for stovetop brew in a bag(BIAB).Its a good introduction to grains as well without needing much extra equipment.
 
My last 3 batches have been 3 gallon efforts. I have just begun creating my own All Grain Recipes and smaller batches are a good way to experiment without investing a lot of money on a bad recipe.
 
My 2 cents - I do half batches ll the time - I actually like brewing beer more than drinking it - so half batches are great - time is an issue because there is not much time difference between 2-5 gallons except boil up time & cool down
 
I could imagine doing some half-batch or smaller batches when I reach the point that I'm doing experimentation. As a beginner, I'm sticking to fairly conservative recipes, so I'm not worried about failures so much. The increased efficiency (in terms of effort per gallon) is reason enough for me to stick with 5ish gallon batches (they typically work out to be a bit less because I have 5 gallon carboys).

If I ever decide to all-grain it, I might do this simply by reducing batch size. I have a 5 gallon brew pot, so the easiest thing to do might be to make a smaller batch rather than investing in a bunch more equipment.

Also, if I ever decide to get experimental with ingredients and/or process, I think I'd definitely do smaller experimentation batches. I don't think this is as likely for beer as it is for mead or cider where I think I'm more likely to want to toy with unique flavors. For mead there's the additional factor that honey is extremely expensive compared to malt. If I screw up a typical 5 gallon batch, even with extract, I'm out $35-$40 or so, maybe $50 if it's big. My fairly run of the mill mead cost about $80 in honey for 5 gallons... I don't think I'm going to do too many experiments with 5 gallon batches on that!
 
My suggestion - split batches. Boil up 5 gallons of wort, but split them between two 3 gallon carboys. After they are split, you can perform all sorts of fun experiments: use different yeasts for each batch, try different methods of temperature control on each one, ferment one hot and the other one cold, dry hop one and not the other, add fruit to one and a different fruit or none at all to the other - the ability to do side by side comparisons between similar beers will help you learn a ton in the process of making them and it will "feel" like you have twice as much brew to drink because you'll be wrapped up in trying to figure out the differences. Just a thought.

By the way, my good friend, who taught me to brew, almost exclusively does 2.5 and 3 gallon all grain batches, and he's got a killer cooler keg system that he just rolls with him to parties. So one huge benefit to doing smaller batches is increased mobility if you keg!
 
I think the whole "same amount of work" naysayer notion is Bull****. When is homebrewing ever "WORK?"

It's a HOBBY, for christsakes, the act of brewing gives me pleasure. So whether I'm doing a 1 gallon batch, a 2.5 gallon test batch of a recipe/or experimental brew, a 5 gallon batch or a 25 gallon batch with a buddy for his wedding, I'm having fun.

If it were work, I wouldn't be ****ing doing it at all. So why the hell the size of the batch matter if the time spent doing it is pleasurable?

AMEN!!! I am by no means a seasoned pro in the brewing game. I only just finished my 3rd batch last night. I have tried all kinds of hobbies to keep me entertained. From model rockets to playing the piano. But this hobby is by far the most rewarding of them all. SWMBO doesn't even drink beer but she is helps me every brewday. Hell, she is the one who bought me the equipment to start this. I say have fun and do whatever size batch you want. Just have fun and remember to RDWHAHB
 
OP, here. I guess I just didn't notice that brewing the smaller batches was so popular, or I might have had my epiphany earlier. But I think I originally posed the question because the most popular how-to books start out with the 5-gallon approach. I took that direction without really thinking about it. Then I found myself working my way through 2 cases of less-than-ideal brew (and two entire batches were absolutely nauseating) and wondered why it never occurred to me to start out smaller. As a few people have recognized, minimizing batches means maximizing experience (and improving the cost-to-experience ratio), and that's what I'm really craving right now.

It seems easy to get locked into the mindset of the 5-gallon batch. I was talking to a friend the other night, and he commented that he stopped homebrewing because he just couldn't drink 5 gallons of beer.... Obviously, he could have cut it down, but for some bizarre reason, the light bulb just never went on. And this is a guy with a Ph.D. in chemistry.

Thanks for the responses.

Oh, and the suggestion of a partial-batch BIAB will be informing my adventures very soon, BTW.
 
For me, small batches just make sense. The LHBS had a brew day where they brewed a 5 gallon extract. I'm the only beer drinker in my house, so I didn't want to brew 5 gallon batches. I did a lot of looking around on this site and stumbled upon a small batch BIAB video using a drinking water cooler as mash tun. It was my first "Aha Moment." About the same time I discovered Brewtarget and played around with it and converted some 5 gallons batches to 2 gallons. Then I stumbled upon the Ugly Junk Corona Mill thread and thought, "I can do that." So I went from thinking about extract; to grinding my own grain and doing BIAB, with a sparge step. My first batch is in the fermenter right now. Not sure how it will turn out, but it will be beer. I'm hooked on small batch brewing.:ban:
 
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