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sumbrewindude said:
WOW! One week to bottle carb? That's quick! I sat on my first batch 3 weeks, and it'll be another week yet before I drink it (I'm already three recipies in). Is it "green"?

Love variety.
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The beer tasted great. I have had my share of batches that needed to wait. For some reason this one did not. I think it carbonated so fast because I used a whole pack of 05 to ferment. I'm guessing I had plenty of yeast around and they were not sluggish. I also carbonated at around 76 degrees.
 
Hey folks,
I'm one of many (I assume) fellas who got a BBS kit for Christmas. Long time beer drinker, but never made the jump to actually brewing. Guess I have no excuse now.

Excited at the prospect of 1-gallon brewing, been surfing around and looking at ingredients all morning. Sure I'll be drawing on the experience of you fine folks quite a bit.

Now need to head out tomorrow to grab a stock pot. Am I correct in saying that 2 to 3 gallons is what I'm looking for?

Merry Christmas!
 
Welcome to brewing! And yes, a 2-3 gallon pot will be fine. I personally suggest going for a 3-gallon - I started with one-gallon brews, and almost immediately stepped up to 2.5 gallon brewdays. Having the 3-gallon gives me the capability to do full boils for my 2.5 gallon batches with no problem.
 
Most people will say to get a big pot, but I say get a 3 gallon pot that isn't too expensive just to make sure you enjoy the hobby... After you are sure you want to keep brewing ten buy a big pot, I'm about to buy a 10 gallon kettle my self
 
GeorgiaMead said:
Most people will say to get a big pot, but I say get a 3 gallon pot that isn't too expensive just to make sure you enjoy the hobby... After you are sure you want to keep brewing ten buy a big pot, I'm about to buy a 10 gallon kettle my self
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I have a 2-gal, 5-gal and 8-gal. I wish I had gotten a 10 instead of the 8. I went with the 8 because it was short enough to fit in my oven but I just saw a 10-gal tamale pot ($25) that is wider instead of taller.
 
Also, consider what your stovetop (if you're doing stovetop brewing) can handle. The large burners on my range will get a full three gallons up to a decent rolling boil, but anything more than that and I'd have to split the batch up into more than one pot to get a proper boil going.
 
I vote 3gal also - if you're doing a true 1gal brew that calls for a 90min boil, you might need the extra room for more wort. Also leaves a lot of slop room encase a boil/hot break gets away from you.

Finally got my new 5gal pot. Boy is she ugly. :D Family member spied it at a thrift shop and picked it up for me for a few bucks. Nice heavy gauge aluminum with lid - looks like an old tamale pot because it's got the basket ring around it about an inch and a half up. Lid's beat, pots beat, but it's boiled in strong and clean as a whistle. Too much character to NOT brew with in my book...

SWMBO called it "Bent Kettle Brewing", I like that name! :D
 
I did my first 2, 1 gallon batches ever. I think after making quite a few 5 and 3 gallon brews I needed to learn how to tweak and adjust some of them before brewing a bigger batch. So I used beersmith and tweaked 2 of my fab beers to get that ultimate umf I'm looking for as a hop head. Here is a west coast IPA and a hop bursted pale ale. Both 1 gallon.

The one on the right I used muslin bag for all hops and the one on the left I did not for the first addition to see the difference.


I've been doing a lot of playin around and testing different hops etc etc. this is by far the most fun I've had brewing lol
ImageUploadedByHome Brew1388070034.123849.jpgImageUploadedByHome Brew1388070050.392831.jpg
 
Bytowner said:
Now need to head out tomorrow to grab a stock pot. Am I correct in saying that 2 to 3 gallons is what I'm looking for?
!
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Welcome. I got a 1 gal kit last year and have been hooked. I would get a 3 gal pot if you can. It makes life a lot easier and affords you more options as you try new things. I have a 3 gal and which has been perfect for 1 gal batches on the stovetop with extract, partial mash or BIAB. I don't think I could have done all if these things with a 2 gal pot.
Welcome and keep an eye on this thread, there is a lot of good info and support from fellow 1 gal brewers.
 
I brew 5 gallon and 1 gallon batches. I enjoy both as the experience is different. 1 gallon batches are a little tricky. There is more evaporation and less space in the fermentor if using a one gallon fermentor. If you enjoy brewing, the different between 1 gallon and 5 gallons for your troubles doesn't matter. I started 1 gallons because there were certain kits only available in 1 gallon kits. Either way, homebrewing is homebrewing. Just brew it.
 
So I calculated the effeciency over the last few batches. Kind of disappointed, sitting at 65% or so using the double grind option from the LHBS.

Not a huge deal I suppose, I can always compensate for it with more base grain, but I'm a little jealous of those that are pulling 75+%. Heck I'd even take 70%.

Thinking it's time to start milling at home. It'll give me more control over the crush/product, and let me stockpile some grains for when I want to brew but don't want to do the whole "shopping" thing.

In other news - the ESB puttered out pretty quick. I suppose I should expect it with the amount of crystal that was in it, but still that was faster than I expected. I'll give it a few days and take the measurements to see where it's at and then go to bottles. The Apfelwein on the other hand is still bubbling away (with S04 no less..) I thought it was done, but it decided to kick back in again so it gets another week.

Sitting here enjoying a SN Ruthless designing more smashes. Man, anyone have a clone for Ruthless? This is TASTY.
 
Revvy said:
If it's a 5 gallon recipe, just divide the recipe by 5....Beer recipes are scalable. a 1 gallon recipe is 1/5 the ingredients of a 5 gallon batch, a 2.5 gallon batch is half the ingredients of a 5 gallon batch....
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Can scale a 5gal LME beer kit to a 2.5 gal small batch ? Or scalaing down is only possible to all grain brewing. :confused:
 
Manny_E said:
How you liked Dead Ringer IPA? I ordered a kit last week. Can't wait to try it...
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I followed the NB recipe but I used ingredients from the LHBS and it came out good. I've never had Bell's Two Hearted so I can't compare but the beer I made is a tasty IPA.
 
Manny_E said:
Awsome !

How you liked Dead Ringer IPA? I ordered a kit last week. Can't wait to try it...

Thx
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Just bottled a 2 gallon batch of it this morning, tasted great. I'd brewed a gallon batch once before and it was great so I'm doing a double batch this time and I think this came out even better. We get the Two Hearted here on tap every so often and this kit hits it right on the head. Enjoy.
 
I've brewed three batches of extract and want to go all grain next and was thinking of doing 1 gallon batches to experiment with flavors and other ingredients. Any advice??
 
josh940711 said:
I've brewed three batches of extract and want to go all grain next and was thinking of doing 1 gallon batches to experiment with flavors and other ingredients. Any advice??
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I've just tried two SMASH brews to give me an idea of the impact of malt, hops, and yeast. This is a fun and easy way to experiment while learning the process.
 
Revvy said:
Honestly Jeff, I haven't seen many brewers turn their noses up and small batch brewing, and if they do, we hit them with a rolled up newspaper. Over the last few years small batch brewing has been looked at as being OK....Even one gallon batches thanks to the Brooklyn Brew Kits.

The basic brewing folks I think went a long way into given 1 gallon batches cache.

Plus it's never been sneered at for wine/mead and cider makers. I gallon batches are quite common on that front.

I prefer 2.5 gallon batches for small batch beer brewing, because 2.5 gallons = 1 case of beer.

But there's nothing wrong with 1 gallon batches if folks want to brew them. In fact I'm looking for some 1 gallon wine jugs as we speak.
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Revvy do you buy 5 gallon ingredient kits and then just split them in half? I haven't seen many 2.5 gallon kits. Also is it okay to use a 5 gallon carboy with 2.5 gallon recipe. While Im at it, do you start with 3.125 gallons of water at the beginning of the boil if its a 2.5 gallon recipe? (Just finished my first batch of beer tonight, so I'm new)
 
Hey everyone, I'm normally a sporadic 5 gallon partial mash brewer and my New Year's resolution is to brew at least once a month. I've been reading thru this whole thread and got lots of great ideas from you all.

I brewed a 5 gal Saison in Nov using a turkey fryer in the garage and it took over an hour to bring 6 gal to a boil - I'm in CT and it was 8 F that day. So yesterday I brewed my first small batch, first all-grain and first BIAB batch. I made a 3 gallon batch of Fresh Squeezed IPA (in the HBT recipe section).

With 5 min left in the boil my in-laws called for help with a busted pipe so I was able to finish the boil but it sat in the kettle for several hrs at over 200 F. I finally got it down to pitching temp (Conan from ECY) after another few hrs in a snow bank, but I'm a little worried about it sitting hot for so long. Should I be concerned?

I can't wait to do another 3 gal batch, and some 1 gals as well. BIAB was really easy and doing all-grain didn't add any more time compared to partial mash. For me, the hardest part of brewing is deciding what to brew next!

-KindofBlues71
 
So long as the wort was covered and nothing unwanted found its way in, you will be fine.
Congrats on your first ag biab

Sent from my GT-I8552B using Home Brew mobile app
 
New to home brewing and the forum, got a Brooklyn brew shop kit for Christmas, warrior double IPA. Within a week of brewing that I went to a brew shop to make another 1 gallon fermenter and ingredients for a slightly modified dogfish 60 min clone. One on the left is the kit, which I am dry hopping for a week before I bottle, and the other is almost a week in. ImageUploadedByHome Brew1389052780.258440.jpgI'll be making another trip to the brew shop this week to get a gallon secondary, ingredients for another batch and a hydrometer. Can't wait to try them, the one I dry hopped smelled like beer when I opened it so I'm hopefull :)
 
I posted this in the recipe/ingredients section, but haven't had any replies, so I thought I'd post it here, too, as I'll be splitting it up into five 1-gallon batches. Any advice or experiences would be appreciated!


My in-laws were nice enough to give me a five gallon stout kit (extract) for Christmas, and I was thinking of brewing it up per the directions (well, modified with what I've learned about "lowest common denominator" directions that come with kits - so maybe it'd be better to say "per the ingredients it came with" instead), and then after primary fermentation is complete, racking it into five different one gallon jugs... With different extra ingredients in each one (or maybe just four, and leave one gal as-is, for comparison).

As part of my research into which ingredients work best, and how much of each to use for one gal of stout, I thought I'd ask any of you for any advice on what has worked for you in the past... Please let me know if you think any of these combos sound like they'd work or not work (and why), and how much of each ingredient (per gallon) has worked for you.

Here's some if the ideas I'm thinking about:

1: Chocolate and cherries. I have some cacao nibs (8 oz natural/unsweetened), and a can of the Oregon cherry purée. Randy Mosher suggested 1-4 lb/gal of cherries (on the BB fruit beer podcast), so was thinking maybe toward the heavier end for a stout?

2: Raspberries and vanilla. Heard of a good rasp. van. porter recipe, and thought that would work well with a stout, too. Have 10 whole vanilla beans to be used (and extract if necessary), but no raspberries yet.

3: Choc and coconut. Also heard of this in a porter; think a stout might be good too. Have unsweetened shredded coconut, and was thinking of toasting some of it in the oven, and then adding with some of the nibs.

4: Mint and choc? Love a peppermint mocha, and was thinking some mint leaves and nibs might work, with peppermint extract as a backup if not enough mint flavor from the leaves.

5: Orange/tangerine and choc? Heard Jamil mention this one in is fruit beer podcast. I love a chocolate orange combo. Was thinking of mixing sweet and bitter orange peel?

6: Mole. James and Steve have a recipe on BBV - was thinking about trying this. Choc, cinnamon, vanilla, and chiles, IIRC.

Sounds like I'll need more nibs! Just about all those have choc in them. On second thought, I think I'll add some Hershey's unsweetened cocoa powder (1/2 lb?) at the end of the boil, since all these have choc in them (except the raspberry/vanilla, but it'd be good with it too)... Then I can add more flavor with the nibs in secondary if needed.

Any suggestions? Thanks!
 
FatsSchindee said:
I posted this in the recipe/ingredients section, but haven't had any replies, so I thought I'd post it here, too, as I'll be splitting it up into five 1-gallon batches. Any advice or experiences would be appreciated!


My in-laws were nice enough to give me a five gallon stout kit (extract) for Christmas, and I was thinking of brewing it up per the directions (well, modified with what I've learned about "lowest common denominator" directions that come with kits - so maybe it'd be better to say "per the ingredients it came with" instead), and then after primary fermentation is complete, racking it into five different one gallon jugs... With different extra ingredients in each one (or maybe just four, and leave one gal as-is, for comparison).

As part of my research into which ingredients work best, and how much of each to use for one gal of stout, I thought I'd ask any of you for any advice on what has worked for you in the past... Please let me know if you think any of these combos sound like they'd work or not work (and why), and how much of each ingredient (per gallon) has worked for you.

Here's some if the ideas I'm thinking about:

1: Chocolate and cherries. I have some cacao nibs (8 oz natural/unsweetened), and a can of the Oregon cherry purée. Randy Mosher suggested 1-4 lb/gal of cherries (on the BB fruit beer podcast), so was thinking maybe toward the heavier end for a stout?

2: Raspberries and vanilla. Heard of a good rasp. van. porter recipe, and thought that would work well with a stout, too. Have 10 whole vanilla beans to be used (and extract if necessary), but no raspberries yet.

3: Choc and coconut. Also heard of this in a porter; think a stout might be good too. Have unsweetened shredded coconut, and was thinking of toasting some of it in the oven, and then adding with some of the nibs.

4: Mint and choc? Love a peppermint mocha, and was thinking some mint leaves and nibs might work, with peppermint extract as a backup if not enough mint flavor from the leaves.

5: Orange/tangerine and choc? Heard Jamil mention this one in is fruit beer podcast. I love a chocolate orange combo. Was thinking of mixing sweet and bitter orange peel?

6: Mole. James and Steve have a recipe on BBV - was thinking about trying this. Choc, cinnamon, vanilla, and chiles, IIRC.

Sounds like I'll need more nibs! Just about all those have choc in them. On second thought, I think I'll add some Hershey's unsweetened cocoa powder (1/2 lb?) at the end of the boil, since all these have choc in them (except the raspberry/vanilla, but it'd be good with it too)... Then I can add more flavor with the nibs in secondary if needed.

Any suggestions? Thanks!
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4. Mint and chocolate would be good, but I think it would be best if the stout had a pretty high FG, so it would be as creamy as possible. Sometimes mint (or other herbs) isn't the same after it soaks in alcohol. Go easy on it so you don't get mouthwash.

5. I would go with fresh orange or tangerine peel rather than bitter, since the stout should be plenty bitter. That said, citrus adds an interesting kind of bitter in my experience. Maybe leave out the chocolate flavor on this one, although it sounds like you want a chocolate stout.

2. I think I used one or maybe 2 kind of small beans in a 2.5 gallon dry stout, and it was plenty. Split and scraped the seeds out, then chopped the bean and soaked it in vodka for a week before adding. It had a pretty strong vanilla flavor, but not overbearing.

What about an espresso version? Swap out the chocolate for coffee, OR add the coffee to it. Would go well with coconut, vanilla, maybe the cherry or raspberry.
 
My newest toy for small batch brewing. Thank you Santa! :mug:

I have broken some hydrometers (too much :tank: on brewday I guess). This should also conserve some wort. I always get nervous about dumping samples back into my fermenter.

refractometer.jpg
 
You wont regret having it! I'm so glad I bought one when the time was right! Cheers!
 
sammy33 said:
My newest toy for small batch brewing. Thank you Santa! :mug:

I have broken some hydrometers (too much :tank: on brewday I guess). This should also conserve some wort. I always get nervous about dumping samples back into my fermenter.
Click to expand...

I got one too and I already used it on new brews, it's so nice to just take a teaspoon sample rather than a cup.

Oh, and FatSchindee, about #4, On new years eve I have some orange chocolate porter from my local brewpub and it was awesome! It was like one of those chocolate oranges that you smack on the table so it falls into slices before you eat it.
 
TheCollector said:
What is that measuring tool called? Does it measure gravity?
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It's a refractometer. I love mine, for all the reasons mentioned, AND for checking fruit sugar content before harvesting.

Be aware, once fermentation starts, the alcohol content will mess with your readings, and SG won't read true. I use this tool to correct.
 

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