Smaller than 5 gallon batches?

This question mostly pertains to my future attempts at hard cider, mead and wines, but could also be for brewing beers on something Im not sure I would like.

Is it possible to brew smaller amounts of the above examples just in case I dont like the end result?

For example, im interested in making wine, but not sure what I like. I dont want to get stuck with 5 gallons of a certain type of wine if I can help it.

Ive seen places sell 1 and 3 gallon fermenters. If I used the 3 gallon fermenter for a mead, wine or cider, could I make a batch that lets say is a 2 gallon batch?

That would mean I would have to use 40% of the normal 5 gallon-batch ingredients?

Does this work and do any of you ever try this?

thanks

You can make smaller batches. 2 gallons would be 40% of a 5 gallon batch, but use the same amount of the yeast. About the only time I make small batches is when I need to top off the barley wine. I'll make 2-3 gallons and after aging for 3 months, I'll add it to the old batch. After four years, the flavors are getting complicated.

Is 2 gallons of a wine/mead/cider safe for primary fermentation in a 3 gallon fermenter carboy? Dont they ferment a little more than normal ales?

I do one 5 gallon main brew and 3 2 gallon brews that way I have more variety. All seems to be going fine. It also means I can experiment with the 2g and it's not too bad if it goes wrong.

xpoc454 said:

Is 2 gallons of a wine/mead/cider safe for primary fermentation in a 3 gallon fermenter carboy? Dont they ferment a little more than normal ales?

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Not more but longer fermentations. Heck, you can do a 2 gallon batch in a 5 gallon carboy for the primary. It's the secondary where you need to reduce the headspace. You want that O2 in the primary.

I made a Peach Mead last weekend. With all the ingredients it's at the 6 gal mark on the primary and I didn't even use all my normal 5.5 gals of water.

I had to stop adding water because I was running out of room in the 7 gal bucket.

There is no reason that you can't brew any size batch you want.
I am a quality not quantity beer drinker and get bored fairly quickly so some years ago I switched to 3 gallon batches.
I primary in a five gallon carboy then rack to a three or 2.8 gallon for secondary.
One gallon is a good size to experiment on meads and ciders.

I've been thinking about doing small batches for a while, but for slightly different reasons.

I have a lot of experiments I want to try. And as with any experimentation, complete and utter failure can be expected from time to time. I'd rather not have to throw away a large batch of Bad Taste Ale.

I just can't justify the little carboys to myself, because I know they won't get used very often. Hmmm... maybe I can find some small food grade plastic buckets and use those for those experiments.

-walker

That's what I use Walker, at £3 each I have 4 x 2.5 gallon buckets. They have water tight lids, I drill them and stick a bored bung in for the air lock.

Quantity, quality.... Can't we have both ? Found a website the other day that lets you adjust batch sizes. Don't know how to do links, so you'll have to write.http//hbd.org/cgi-bin/recipator/recipator? The site has hundreds of recipes. Quite cool. As far as brews gone bad, I've found it's best just to man up and drink it. Don't mention that batch. I was taught that dumping beer was a sin. Dad called it alcohol abuse. Don't be an abuser.

the recipator is cool, but it has a few issues.

ANYONE can add to it. even someone who has never actually brewed a batch of beer. Worse... people canleave bad instructions (like... "Boil the grains for 3 hours in battery acid")

Also, few people actually comment on the taste of the final product. Those that do.... well... can you trust them? It's THEIR beer, and they'll probably think it was excellent, even if it was a little off.

But, I actually do post my recipes on there. Mostly because it's handy to use their spreadsheet when putting a recipe together to see what the color, IBUs and ABV will come out like. Once you have all the info in there, you might as well go ahead and post it to the database, right??? Even if you never brew it.

-walker

At the moment I only brew 2 imperial gallon (2.4 US gal) batches. I haven't got the implements or the space to brew any more. I've only got 4 one gallon carboys, a 2 gallon bucket and a 2.5 gallon brew kettle. I just scale everything down but I still use a whole pack of yeast per brew.