Brewing 3 gallons vs 5?

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wyobrewer1

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Does anyone ever just brew 2.5-3 gallon batches or just brew all 5 gallons? For myself I would like to do smaller, more frequent batches to increase turnover and try new styles/improve technique. I also don't have a lot of space to store beer once it's bottled so this might help.
 
I often do 2.5 gallon batches if its a high OG and I can't mash a full batch, or if my larger primaries are full, or if I'm trying something weird.
 
I did 2.5 gallon batches for awhile. Didn't have to make starters, but spent a lot of money on yeast.
 
For the past 2 years I've done nearly exclusively 3G batches. More often than not, I'm the only person drinking it. It makes more sense in my situation to drink 24-30 beers rather than +50. It also allows for more experimentation.
Also since I brew all grain, my brew days are +3hrs if everything's streamlined so much below 3G just isn't worth the time IMO.
@gavagai
If you wash yeast or just make starters 50% larger than you need yeast prices go down. The other option is use dry yeast.
 
I do 3-gallons for most of my beers. It sucks when you get a really good beer because you'll burn through it pretty quick, but if your beer is sub-par you don't have to drink as much of it. It's a trade-off.
 
I often do 2.5 gallon batches if its a high OG and I can't mash a full batch, or if my larger primaries are full, or if I'm trying something weird.

Does this mean you ferment in smaller containers? I've been kicking around the half batch idea but worry about fermenting in 6.5 gallon containers.

By the way, I just checked the link in your signature. What a great idea. Looking forward to some veggies-for-beer swapping this summer.
 
I wouldn't worry about too much headspace in primary. The yeast kicks out something like 10x the CO2 you need to fill it.
 
iamperplexed said:
Does this mean you ferment in smaller containers? I've been kicking around the half batch idea but worry about fermenting in 6.5 gallon containers.

By the way, I just checked the link in your signature. What a great idea. Looking forward to some veggies-for-beer swapping this summer.

I use a smaller 3 gallon better bottle, but I think you're fine using a bigger one as a primary (probably not for a secondary, where you don't have all that co2 to protect it.

Thanks! Got to love the new Oregon homebrew laws. Just make sure those veggies a beer ingredients!
 
I was also wondering about the head space issue, but sounds like its not too much of a problem.

BTW, what kind of laws does Oregon have on home brewing?
 
I've done several half size batches and fermented in the 6 1/2 gallon fermenter. No problem. I lets me brew more often and gets more varieties to try. It takes about the same amount of time to make a 2 1/2 gallon batch as a 5 gallon batch though.
 
If I'm trying a newer beer or if it takes alot of my hops, I'll try it with a 3 gallon batch. If I like it than I'll go with a 5 gallon run.
 
I always make 2.5 gallon batches. I get more of a turnover and not forced to drink bad beer if it turns out that way.
The only time I make 5 gallons if I am making a summer lager that everyone likes.
 
been thinking about switching to smaller batches. as most people have said, I am generally the only one drinking it.
 
I prefer doing smaller batches for now. I have to brew on my stove top which takes a long time to heat 6 gallons vs a 3 gallon run. As others mentioned, you get to try new things out, get a feel for different ingredients and the flavors they impart. I would advise anyone to start washing the yeast to save $, also, try to buy some of your materials in bulk to save $ as well. I usually buy my base grain in bulk, hops in bulk and then I get to play around with specialty malts and yeast strains. I ferment in my 7 gallon buckets and if I condition, I let it sit in a smaller vessel to free up my primaries.

Although, I still do about 2 or 3, 5 gallon batches a month but the mini brews are fun to play with, IMO. Brew on!
 
When I started AG brewing it was 2 gallon batches, so now I have a 2 and a 5 gallon set up, love using my 2 for ciders and SMaSH and other experiments. If you have a Android device BrewR app lets you scale a 5gal. recipe to 2 or any size you need very easily.
 
I brew a lot of IPAs that fade quickly and crazy experimental stuff I don't want to commit to 5 gallons of. I don't like having to be paranoid about boilovers. I drink about 95% of the beer I brew, and share the rest. I like having 7 or 8 beers to choose from. So I almost always brew 2-3 gallon batches. If I brew 5 gallon batches, I almost always split them in some way. Since I typically add all my late hops after flameout, I can--for example--use one grain bill to brew an American IPA and a Belgian IPA that don't have a lot in common.
 
I am on this boat as well. I have been doing 2.5-3 gallons now for 6 months and it works out much better for us guys that enjoy having decent selection.
 
I brew small batches from time to time got a 3g plastic carboy. I'm probably going to do another one coming up after I get my current 2 full size started.
 
While I have the capacity to do larger batches...I mostly stick to 5-10 gallons. For me the economy of scale (in both time and money) works out better for larger batches....and I share alot.:D
 
I like variety, so I ended up doing 2.5-3 gallon AG batches instead of 5 gallon extract (I brew stove-top). Now that I'm a bit busier, the temporal economy of scale favors bigger batches. I push toward 3-4 gallons sometimes, and I'm experimenting with doing split batches--like partigyles without the big difference in gravities. I'll take a malt bill for a 5 gallon 1.05-1.06 recipe, evenly split the runnings (same gravity) then dilute half or add sugar to the other half to get a Best Bitter and an IPA, or a Tripel and a Saison. Consecutive boils with different hops and yeasts gets me two beers for one brew day.
 
I do 1 gallon batches in glass jugs as experiments or to dial in a recipes, sometimes as many as 3 variations at a time. But I do 5 gallons to "fire for effect" on proven recipes. I try not to experiment with 5 gallons worth of ingredients' +1 on yeast washing bringing down the cost of small batches. I also have no trouble disposing of beer, I have plenty of people to drink it. :)
 
I only brew 3 gallon batches- less bottles- 30 bottles is enough- if it is good, I'll brew it again- nice to have a fridge full of several varieties of homebrew- right now there is about 20 bottles of nut brown ale, 20+ porters, 10 ginger ciders, 10 blueberry ciders and 30 stouts coming soon right behind it- if I was doing 5 gallon batches I would run out of room and/or only have one or two varieties in there...
 
I love my 2.5 gl setup. I can either do a quick 2 hour extract brew or an all grain BIAB. Like others have stated smaller batches take up less space, more experimentation, less clean up and 2.5 gl is just about the right amount of beer for me.

Here's my system.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/my-one-vessel-ag-system-380656/

For a 2-3 gal set up, that is pretty awesome. How has the attached screen worked out compared to the concerns mentioned? I am going to have to look into that. I have a 9 gal pot and a 5 gal pot that I use and just toss my hops into a nylon bag. Oops...thread jacked. My mistake.
 
I use the 6g or 6.5g for 5-5.5g batches, the 5g for ~4g batches, and the 3g for 2.5g batches. (2.25g of WM brand apple juice (3qts per container) makes a perfectly sized Apfelwein batch as I frequently get strong blowoff) This seems to work out quite well.

I've made a few suggested stout recipes in the 3g, a lactose porter in the 5g, and of course most my batches in the standard.
 
I made a 3 gallon batch that boiled down to about 2.5 gallons. If I can bottle 2 gallons of it ill get about 20 bottles of beer. And with ~$14 in ingredients I think it's worth it. Ill probably start a pattern where I brew and bottle on the same day every 2 weeks. Maybe throw in a larger batch every now and then. Should give me a good selection and turnover.
 
It's more aggrevating for me. Takes the same amount of time and you're left with 3-4 sixpacks less beer. The only extra piece of equipment you really need for the larger batch size is a wort chiller.

Recipe design is also a hassle since most recipes are based on 5 to 5.5 gallons. I have a bunch of recipes written down with the boil/batch size differing almost every time. It sucks to go back and convert them all since I'm doing mostly 5.5 gallon batches now.

HOWEVER, if I did not have the ability to brew 5 gallon batches, I would stick with 3 gallon batches of undiluted full wort boiled beer and NOT top off a concentrated batch with half the volume of plain water.
 
I was reffering to just missing your volume. You wanted 3 gallons but got 2.5--just add .5 gallon distilled water, and you're golden. I do this almost every batch (I haven't bothered getting my boil-off down to an exact science).
 
bobbrews: I don't find it that much of a hassle to multiply all the values by 0.6 to convert a recipe from 5 to 3 gallons. Sure the hop utilization won't be spot on but most people won't notice the difference.
The 18-24 fewer beers you see as a negative is what many of us see as a positive. You'll find that most of the people brewing <5 gallon batches are only brewing for 1 person. So it sometimes takes a while to work through 2 cases of beer. It also allows people to experiment with bold or expensive ingredient combinations without fear of having 5 gallons of a beer they hate. Brewing small batches allows for a constant variety in beer choice, particularly if you live in a small apartment or otherwise don't have room to store hundreds of bottles.
 
Depending on how your recipes are stored I can see how it would be inconvenient. Your average HBTer isn't going to be converting 100 recipes in one sitting though. They happen across a recipe and scale it to their equipment shortly before brewing. If you are constantly brewing and consuming 5-5.5G batches there's no motivation for you scale your recipes. The OP just wanted to see other peoples reasoning for small batches.
I imagine most brewing software allows you to scale however you see fit, using excel/open office allows you to setup spread sheets able to scale between volumes rather easily.

Designing a recipe from the grain up isn't any more difficult for 1 gallon than it is for 5. I'm sure there are some additional considerations once you get into multi-barrel production territory though.
 
It's a hassle when you have over a hundred recipes ready for conversion.

You only brew one batch at a time so just convert them as you brew. I'm collecting all of the equipment to do 3 gallon batches and all of my recipes are for 25 gallons so I will just convert as I go.

I am getting tired of making 2 gallon starters for 25 gallons of beer just to dump it out to harvest the yeast. If I brew 3 gallon batches I can drink my starter!!
 
You only brew one batch at a time so just convert them as you brew.

Wish it was that easy. They're all stored on hopville. Hopville has many glitches, one of which does not let you edit old recipes. All of these recipes were good too. Some require minor tweaks, but I don't have time to revise each and every recipe and update the batch size/ingredients.
 
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