1-Gallon Brewers UNITE!

I put a piece of racking tube in the inside of the pick up spout. The tube drops to the bottom of my beverage dispenser toward the back. I wedge it forward when I rack into it and allow it to settle with anything I picked up racking falling to the bottom in the front then take the wedge out so it is level to bottle and drawing from the back.

Summer's (kinda) here!

Unfortunately that means more time outdoors, prepping the garden, trying to figure out why my transplanted hops are sucking wind, playing with the kids, and a distinct reduction in brewing time.

Why is that when it's cold and nasty out it's so easy to brew away, but when the sun's out and the weather's nice I don't want to be hole'd up in the house? I think I've found a small issue with electric brewing... I think I need to find an extension cord...

Also - moved to 3gal batches now, and enjoy the change. With less days brewing, it'll be nice to still have a full pipeline. I still have 4 cases worth of beer in the basement from the 1gal experiments, so no beer shortage here.

As soon as I get my kegerator/keezer setup finalized, I'll be sitting in fat city. Looking at 6 empty kegs is killing me, all it does it encourage me to continue to spend money refining my fermenting process..

Hi all - I've read all 400+ pages of this thread and am learning a lot. A bit about me is here.

I've done several all-grain 1-gallon kits, but I'd like to try me first non-kit recipe. Im thinking a Smash. I've got about 2.2 lbs of 2-row on hand, and an ounce or so of cascade hops.

I think that grain is about right, but I don't know enough about hopping to know just how much and when. Since its a smash, I want to be able to taste the hops, but I don't want them overwhelming. Can any of you give me some advice?

I would recommend you looking in to a software or app to tell you what your recipe is going to come out like. The recipes i've been playing with call for roughly .25oz.

Ejay, if you have android I really like the BrewR app... plugging in 65% efficiency 1gal batch with 1.5 boil... ive got 2.2# 2row... cascade
.1oz @ 60min
.4oz @ 5min

1.053 og
23.4 ibu
3.8 srm
1.013 fg est.
5.2% abv est

This should give a nice amount of hop aroma without as much of the bitterness from early hopping... hops are perceived as follows
60-30 min bittering
30-10 min taste
10- 0 min aroma

Depends on what you like. If you like hoppy, then .25 oz at 60 minutes and .25 at flame out. If you like more hops, then another.25 as dry hops. But if you want something lighter, then maybe .25 oz at 45 minutes and that's all.

Cascade's a great hop for a SMASH.

An ounce would be a lot into a 1gal recipe, even spread out - you'll definitely get a good idea of what the hop will be like.

I vote: Cascade -
FWH: 0.125oz (as soon as you pull the bag and start to ramp temps to boil, toss 'em in)
15min: 0.250oz
5min: 0.250oz
Dryhop: 0.375oz 5 days

Assuming 6.00AA, that should get you around 37IBU and plenty of aroma.

We all have our own tastes and some have to use up hop inventory.

My Cascade Smash:
60 min boil
0.65oz @ 15min ~34ibu's (5.50% alpha)
0.50oz @ 0min
No dry hop needed

This one was interesting, at 2 weeks in bottle (not fully carbed) got more grape fruit aroma and flavor. A week later once fully carbed it became more floral and bright. Not sure if there were still residual sugars at 2 weeks or just need a few days to finish maturing.

Thanks everyone - this is exactly the kind of feedback I was hoping to get.

I don't HAVE to use up my hop inventory, I just knew I wanted to do a smash and I have to buy my hops in 1oz increments. I'll probably play with the online calculators and end up using half that for now.

It sounds like several of you have done cascade smashes before with good results so that is encouraging.

I might cook this up tonight if I don't bottle an amber thats ready for the bottle.

I just wanted to check in. Im a new homebrewer, i just bottled my first 1gallon batch (an american wheat) monday. And i have my 2nd (irish red) in the fermenter. I cant wait to try them!!

I'm having a few of my BYO New Albion Clone right now. For a BIAB for a 2.5 gallon batch, I used 6 lbs two row and 1 oz cascade at 1/3 oz each at 60, 30, and 5 minutes. I also added 2 oz of carapils for head retention. The cascade is noticeable, but certainly not AIPA hoppy. It's just about what I wanted. Scaling for 1 gallon with an accurate scale should work just fine. It's very tasty.

hoghead_homebrew said:

I just wanted to check in. Im a new homebrewer, i just bottled my first 1gallon batch (an american wheat) monday. And i have my 2nd (irish red) in the fermenter. I cant wait to try them!!

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Awesome to hear!

Watch out, you'll get hooked!

DoD_Ales said:

I'm having a few of my BYO New Albion Clone right now. For a BIAB for a 2.5 gallon batch, I used 6 lbs two row and 1 oz cascade at 1/3 oz each at 60, 30, and 5 minutes. I also added 2 oz of carapils for head retention. The cascade is noticeable, but certainly not AIPA hoppy. It's just about what I wanted. Scaling for 1 gallon with an accurate scale should work just fine. It's very tasty.

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You will find that it is easier to work with grams when using hops at the 1 gallon level. At least I do.

sumbrewindude said:

Awesome to hear!

Watch out, you'll get hooked!

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I think i'm already hooked! I bought an extra 1 gallon jug and cant wait to fill it!!

I was going to build a barley mill, and stumbled on the BC Enterprises Barley Crusher... a little over $100, I had about $137 with shipping, and the quality is excellent, so on a whim, I ordered one. NO REGRETS.......... It arrived yesterday, and I just doughed in my first home crushed brew half an hour ago. The crush is beautiful...... I tightened it up just a tad from factory......... a VERY SIMPLE operation.....just loosen a couple of set screws, and turn a couple of knobs...... Made it too close at first, and backed off. I want a fine crush due to my BIAB process. No more having to buy small quantities crushed at the store!! A 50 lb bag of two row from the local micro brewer (friend) is $30, as compared to between $1.75 and $2.00 a pound at the LHBS. That cuts my grain bill to 1/3 what it was, even including the specialty grains. At about one brew a week (2.5 gallons), with 5 pounds of two row......that would be around $10......... now $3...... A savings of $7 per week...... about $350 per year. It's a no brainer!! And my mashing efficiency should go up due to the finer crush. It's a win win situation. It also plays into my plans to experiment with home malting.... but that's a ways down the road yet. Living in grain country where malting barley is grown, most of my friends being farmers and ranchers, it only makes sense to trade for barley and wheat and malt it myself. A long time friend is just now seeding in a quarter section of Harrington 2 row............ I'll manage to get a few hundred pounds right from the combine..........

To me simple is beautiful...... if it works well. This mill is very simple construction, with eccentrics to adjust gap, opposing "threads" turned on the rollers, creating a diamond pattern, solid aluminum end plates, brass bushings on the cranked roller, and some sort of internal bushings or bearings on the other roller. An O-ring round the non driven roller contacts the driven roller, making it turn......... an elegant and simple solution......... There is a lot of simple innovation, resulting in an over all excellent product.

When I get around to finishing my home build mill which has 3" diameter rollers, I will be "stealing" ideas!! ;-)

H.W.

Owly055 said:

I was going to build a barley mill, and stumbled on the BC Enterprises Barley Crusher... a little over $100, I had about $137 with shipping, and the quality is excellent, so on a whim, I ordered one.

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I've had that crusher for about a year now and love it. Don't count on that O-ring lasting though. It wore out and ended up in a mash after about 2 months. The friction of the grains still turns the other side.

Next weekend, I am going to start up doing some 1g brews. I've been doing 5.5g, 6g and 3g batches of beer and cider, but I wanted to start experimenting with hops and grains. See what I can get done. I am pretty excited. Lots of reading about grains. YAHOO!

I pitched a cup of two row into 2.5 gallons of wort this morning to sour it......... Amazing how rapidly it's taking hold. Already it's off gassing and foaming. The wort is covered with saran wrap laying right on the surface of the liquid...... or it was.... The gasses are lifting pockets of it, but there should be no oxygen there. I'm undecided what hops to use........ I'm leaning toward mosaic at around 15 IBU... perhaps less.
I will be running it for 3 days before boiling and pitching yeast in order to get a good lacto sour.

Suggestions and ideas welcome........... H.W.

Brewskii said:

I pilot my cockamamy ideas in 1 gallon batches.

Like the pros only smaller. This way I don't end up with 3 cases of imperial spinach extra special vanilla stout eisbock!

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Would you mind sharing the recipe ;-) ..................

I'm loving the tiny all-grain batches. I'm getting quite a pipeline going - I have an american wheat and an amber ale in bottles carbing/aging and will be ready to drink in about 2 more weeks. The wheat beer smelled fantastic when I bottled it. These were both kits from Midwest.

I have a 2-row/Cascade Smash in the fermenter for about a week (thanks for the tips on the recipe, guys!) that I'll likely bottle next week. And I have scaled a clone recipe for Mac and Jack's African Amber down to 1 gallon size that I bought the grain for yesterday and hope to brew up this weekend.

In my first few batches I've gotten 9 1/2 and 10 bottles output, which is more than I expected.

My wife is tolerating the brewing in the kitchen, largely because I clean everything up so well before and after

Soon, I'll be able to actually drink some of this.

I just put a 2.5 gallon sour in my Brew Demon, and pitched rather generously......... It sounds like a coffee percolator after only about 10 hours. It went from nothing to high krausen in nothing flat!!
Problem is that it was blowing off through the fermentation lock............ One of the flaws of the BD that I saw immediately was the fermentation lock hole...... Down on the top of the fermenter, not in the screw on lid.

The Brew Demon comes with a plug for the fermentation lock hole, and a bubbler is an option. It's supposed to vent through the threads on the lid which doesn't come with a gasket stock. The bubbler option includes a gasket. As the top of the lid is well above the normal location of the bubbler, I drilled a 3/4" hole, and used starsan generously, plugged the original hole and moved the bubbler up to the lid. This solved the problem.

I mentioned this problem (potential) when I first got the Demon, so this was NOT unexpected. It was a mistake not to make this mod from day one.... I knew I'd have to do it.

I like the cone bottom... it's efficient as far as trub collection, but the Walmart 3 gallon Ice Tea dispenser (acrylic) is easier to clean as it tapers upward to the top, and seals extremely well with a lid with a matching taper. At $20, I'll go to Walmart again.... much as I hate to patronize the place. it's not as elegant, but works extremely well for me.

This sour mash brew is going to ferment out in 2-3 days! I'm looking forward to the resulting brew. Nice tangy flavor (3 days of souring).


H.W.

Sorry if this has been discussed, but what are you guys using for your primary containers? I have access to 2 gallon buckets, but I'm not 100% sure they are food grade, so unless I can confirm it is, I need to use something else. I do have a 3 gallon better bottle, which I think is my backup plan.

mtnagel said:

Sorry if this has been discussed, but what are you guys using for your primary containers? I have access to 2 gallon buckets, but I'm not 100% sure they are food grade, so unless I can confirm it is, I need to use something else. I do have a 3 gallon better bottle, which I think is my backup plan.

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Plastic buckets should have a triangle with a number (1-7) on bottom. That can help narrow down how food grade they are.

I use three different fermenters. One is a 2 gallon glass ice tea jug. I drilled a hole in the lid and as it doesn't have a gasket in the lid, I put black electrical tape around it to seal the lid. One is a 3 gallon acrylic ice tea container from Walmart... about $20. It's my favorite. It tapers from the bottom up to the top in a gentle taper........ getting wider all the way. Acrylic is the most food safe plastic out there. The lid has a matching taper and slides down inside making an excellent seal..... I drilled a hole in the lid and mounted a fermentation lock. The third is the Brew Demon.... a clear version. The cone bottom makes it very efficient.
I personally don't like narrow neck containers (carboys) for several reasons... They are difficult to clean and you cannot conveniently top crop yeast from them. Brew buckets are great.... I have a couple of them.... But I want to SEE what's going on in there.

H.W.

bleme said:

Plastic buckets should have a triangle with a number (1-7) on bottom. That can help narrow down how food grade they are.

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They are #2 HDPE. But I've heard you can't go by that always.

Owly055 said:

I use three different fermenters. One is a 2 gallon glass ice tea jug. I drilled a hole in the lid and as it doesn't have a gasket in the lid, I put black electrical tape around it to seal the lid. One is a 3 gallon acrylic ice tea container from Walmart... about $20. It's my favorite. It tapers from the bottom up to the top in a gentle taper........ getting wider all the way. Acrylic is the most food safe plastic out there. The lid has a matching taper and slides down inside making an excellent seal..... I drilled a hole in the lid and mounted a fermentation lock. The third is the Brew Demon.... a clear version. The cone bottom makes it very efficient.

I personally don't like narrow neck containers (carboys) for several reasons... They are difficult to clean and you cannot conveniently top crop yeast from them. Brew buckets are great.... I have a couple of them.... But I want to SEE what's going on in there.



H.W.

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Yeah I never ferment in carboys either but I figured it would work if I needed it. I'll have to look out for that 2 gallon ice tea jug but doesn't that have the same issues as a carboy?

I use #1 PETE water bottles. They can be a pain to find, but when you find a few you're set.

My current bottles are 4gal. I used them for 1.5gal batches as well as 3gal now.

I did use the 2gal buckets (#2) from HD for a while also - they worked great too but I found the lids cracked out after a few uses, so I ended up buying more lids than I wanted to.

Well that's what the better bottles are - PET.

I brewed my first one gallon batches today. A lemon wheat and a maple bourbon stout.

mtnagel said:

They are #2 HDPE. But I've heard you can't go by that always.

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From: http://m.wikihow.com/Identify-Food-Grade-Buckets

The best type of plastic for use in long-term food storage is high-density polyethylene (HDPE), which is indicated by the "2" symbol. HDPE is one of the most stable and inert forms of plastic, and all plastic buckets sold specifically for food storage will be made from this material.

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Thanks. But it also goes on to say this and my bucket doesn't have any symbol like that.

Examine any food-handling symbols imprinted on the plastic bucket. A standardized system of symbols is used on plastics to indicate their appropriate uses around food. A symbol depicting a cup and fork means that the plastic is safe for storing food, and is therefore a food grade bucket. Other symbols include radiating waves meaning "microwave-safe," a snowflake meaning "freezer-safe," and dishes in water meaning "dishwasher-safe."

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I emailed the company but they didn't respond. I plan to call them.

The two gallon ice tea jug by Yorkshire has a spigot and a large metal screw on lid 5.5" across. It's a nice container...... about $20 I have two of them I bought to making kombucha, and now use one for beer and one for booch. The only issue I've had with them is that one had a spigot go bad after a year's use, and the spigot is for a smaller hole than the spigots for brew buckets....... whittling a hole in a glass jug is a bit more of a problem than on something plastic! I had broken some one gallon ice tea jugs and saved the spigots, so I had what I needed.

The three gallon ice tea container I described is in my opinion the best option I've found so far. It's not much larger than the 2 gallon glass jug and the seal is excellent. The spigot is the same, but it would not be difficult I suspect to go to a standard brew bucket spigot. The Brew Demon is a nice unit, but fairly pricey initially, and I will never use one without converting to a standard size brew bucket spigot. Their spigot is junk!

H.W.

mtnagel said:

They are #2 HDPE. But I've heard you can't go by that always.



Yeah I never ferment in carboys either but I figured it would work if I needed it. I'll have to look out for that 2 gallon ice tea jug but doesn't that have the same issues as a carboy?

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BHebert said:

I brewed my first one gallon batches today. A lemon wheat and a maple bourbon stout.

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Are these your own recipes? Sounds delicious....care share the recipes.

I had to stop by the LBS for some bottle caps and picked up a mini auto siphon on a whim....WOW! I wish I would have bought one sooner. Made the transfer to my bottling bucket a breeze.

BigRock947 said:

I had to stop by the LBS for some bottle caps and picked up a mini auto siphon on a whim....WOW! I wish I would have bought one sooner. Made the transfer to my bottling bucket a breeze.

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Mini autosiphons are the shiznit for small batches.

Owly055 said:

\ One is a 3 gallon acrylic ice tea container from Walmart... about $20. It's my favorite.

H.W.

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This?

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Creative-Bath-3-Gallon-Beverage-Dispenser-with-Ice-Core/21130892

PsyDanny said:

This?

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Creative-Bath-3-Gallon-Beverage-Dispenser-with-Ice-Core/21130892

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They have two versions.......... the one shown has a center well for ice. The one I bought doesn't........... Otherwise they are the same jug.......... Here's the one I have.... it has a pale green tint.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Ice-Block-Beverage-Dispenser-Vintage-Green/32261967

The challenge is attaching the fermentation lock. Doing it again, I would probably drill a hole that just fits the fermentation lock, and seal it with rope calk or modeling clay.


H.W.

One of the problems I have encountered is that my fermenters need half a gallon head space due to the krausen..........not unexpected...... so I brew 2.5 gallons in a 3 gallon fermenter... which is OK, but my 2 gallon limits me to 1.5 gallon batch size which is a tad on the small side.

My standard process for the 2 gallon fermenter has become brewing "beer concentrate". That is making up a 2 gallon recipe, but finishing with only 1.5 gallons of wort. Several days down the line, when the krausen has fallen, I add half a gallon of boiled & cooled water.

I've done this a number of times now, with good success....... The extra yield is nice to have.

H.W.

How do you convert your recipes to the "beer concentrate"? Do you just subtract 0.5 gallons from the 2 gal recipe and keep all ingredients the same amount?

KindofBlues71 said:

How do you convert your recipes to the "beer concentrate"? Do you just subtract 0.5 gallons from the 2 gal recipe and keep all ingredients the same amount?

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Exactly............. It works very well. Calling it "concentrate" is a bit of an exaggeration.
Your mashing efficiency won't be quite as good due to less water. I don't worry much about that though. The other alternative is to simply "can" half a gallon of wort by pouring it hot into a growler and capping it. Once the lid is on the growler, you can simply drop the growler into a pot and start cooling it with cold tap water...... It'll easily keep at room temp until you need to add it to your fermenter. That's what you have to do if you want to duplicate a recipe including mash efficiency. I make my recipes up on Brewer's Friend rather than trying to duplicate something someone else has done, so it doesn't matter much if my mashing effciency is a bit lower.

After doing it once or twice, you learn to dial in your grain bill to compensate.

H.W.

Owly055 said:

Exactly............. It works very well. Calling it "concentrate" is a bit of an exaggeration.
Your mashing efficiency won't be quite as good due to less water. I don't worry much about that though. The other alternative is to simply "can" half a gallon of wort by pouring it hot into a growler and capping it. Once the lid is on the growler, you can simply drop the growler into a pot and start cooling it with cold tap water...... It'll easily keep at room temp until you need to add it to your fermenter. That's what you have to do if you want to duplicate a recipe including mash efficiency. I make my recipes up on Brewer's Friend rather than trying to duplicate something someone else has done, so it doesn't matter much if my mashing effciency is a bit lower.

After doing it once or twice, you learn to dial in your grain bill to compensate.

H.W.

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Why not top up the fermenter with water before pitching the yeast and use a blow off. Less rick of oxidation since the yeast will have it all up front to consume. At least thats how I do it when at the smaller boil pots limit.