Splitting 5 gallon batch into 1 gallon batches

I purchased 5 one gallon jugs and I am looking to split my next batch up so that I can try something different with each gallon. I dont really have a specific question. I was hoping someone else had done this and could maybe give me some tips. Ive been doing partial mash for a while now. Not sure if that makes a difference or not. And the brew will be an IPA. Thanks for any tips you can provide. Cheers!

I just did this the other week. I split a 5 gallon batch of American Wheat 4 ways. I bottled 2 gallons, split 3 gallons into 1 gallon carboys and racked them onto 3 different fruits. It was really easy and I am looking forward to tasting the differences between the original Wheat beer and the ones I have racked on fruit.

I've never done it but I imagine the only issue might be to make sure that each jug gets about the same amount of yeast. Maybe make a yeast starter and add the yeast to each jug, like say you make a 2 liter starter so each jug would get 0.4L of slurry.

5 diff strains of yeast?

I did a 1G batch and there was a lot of trub. I only got about 6 beers (I forget exactly) from it. so it is kinda a pain for such a small sample size and I will likely only do 2.5G batches from now on.
>but you already got the 1G jugs, so never mind!

Couldn't you have all 5 gallons in your brew pot, cool, pitch your yeast (assuming you are using only one type of yeast), and then divide from that point?

Kris

mud390 said:

Couldn't you have all 5 gallons in your brew pot, cool, pitch your yeast (assuming you are using only one type of yeast), and then divide from that point?

Kris

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You could, but you're far more likely to get uneven yeast distribution across the 5 smaller batches. Much better to split the wort first, then measure out your yeast slurry or dry yeast five ways and add it to each jug after.

I really appreciate all the feedback. I was thinking of handling the yeast the way Mud talked about. But you raise a really good point Marubozo. Would it be possible to just rack to the 1 gallon jugs for the secondary stage and add your fruit, peppers, etc..? Rebel, let us know how that turns out. Im very interested to find out. Thanks again everyone.

1stTimer said:

I really appreciate all the feedback. I was thinking of handling the yeast the way Mud talked about. But you raise a really good point Marubozo. Would it be possible to just rack to the 1 gallon jugs for the secondary stage and add your fruit, peppers, etc..? Rebel, let us know how that turns out. Im very interested to find out. Thanks again everyone.

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If all you're doing is using the same base beer and testing different types of fruit, then yes, you can save yourself some time (and probably a mess) if you do a bulk primary and then rack individually into each smaller vessel for the fruit additions during secondary.

I don't known if RebelHouse32 is still around, but I was thinking about doing exactly what they did, and was hoping for some tips.

My plan is to buy either three 1 gallon glass jugs or buckets to use for secondary.

I was thinking I'd brew a 5 gallon batch of American Wheat (or whatever beer goes well with fruit additives?) and doing a normal 5 gallon primary. Then after about three weeks I wanted to bottle about 2-3 gallons as is, and separate the rest into the three gallon jugs/buckets over three different types of fruit. Tentatively I was thinking blueberry, strawberry, and maybe fig?

Has anyone done something like this? Can you give me any pointers or tips? I've never done fruit additives *or* secondaries, so this is new for me.

Apparently strawberries give little or no flavour vs say rarpberry. I am thinking of trying this on cherries and raspberries. Please let us know how this goes.

B

Thanks. I'll give cherries a try instead of Strawberries maybe. I won't be doing this for at least a couple weeks. If anyone has any tips, thanks.

Do what I'm doing, put in primary, pitch, wait 3 weeks rack to 5-1g secondaries with the fruit. So far so good

Here is things to try - (I'd use two 2.5 gallon batches myself, I have two Mr Beer fermenters each is 2.15 gallons)

1 - varying hops boiling time to see if you like less/more hops bitterness. Boil a small amount of hops in a different pot, and add that water to one of the fermentors. Make sure you get the same amount of wort and yeast in both. You need two kettles.

2 - vary types of hops used - requires two kettles

3 - varying types of specialty grains - requires two kettles

4 - varying yeast - dry vs liquid

5 - look at a variety of recipes for that type of beer and see if you can identify differences, and try one batch one way and one batch the other

Scruffy1207 said:

Do what I'm doing, put in primary, pitch, wait 3 weeks rack to 5-1g secondaries with the fruit. So far so good

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Yeah, this sounds to be about what I wanted to do. Do you have a recipe for what you did, how much fruit you used, etc?

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/porter-five-ways-240832/
I more or less followed this except I'm going 4 weeks primary, 1week secondary, and I accidentally tweeked the hops.

Also I am changing the adjuncts to be the following: Raspberry, Vanilla, Blackberry, and bacon. 1 left as a control. The bacon is 1oz per gallon with the fat removed and cooked in the oven on parchment paper for ~15min (to remove fats and oil). Then throw in a hop bag and put in with the beer.

Hey dude, I haven't done all 5 gallons separately, however I made a Pale Ale, and left all 5 GAL in the primary for three weeks.

I then racked one gallon onto some fresh bing cherries, in a little 2 Gal bucket with an airlock.

I dry hopped the other 4 Gal and left it in Primary.

Bottled the Cherry last night, and it tasted awesome. But I only got 8 bottles.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/naturally-carbed-picture-251249/

Good luck and report back when you're done!

Meatwad

Thanks! I checked out the two threads posted, looks like you're both doing some interesting stuff. You know, I was just reading another thread too that mentioned the need to use a tertiary fermentor after racking on top of fruit to help clear the beer before bottling.

This idea sort of turned me off from the whole 1-2 gallon split batch thing because I wouldn't have anywhere to transfer all the separate batches. Are you bottling right after secondary on the fruit?

Yup, the best idea is to always do a tertiary when doing adjuncts, but I doubt many people do. Or add to primary very very carefully to not oxidate wort, then secondary then bottles