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Working on finishing my five gallon Igloo mash tun today so I can move up to 2-2.5 gallon batches. A case per a batch is probably the ideal number for me
 
Greetings. I'm new to the forum and have been exclusively one-gallon brewing for about a year now. I just have a quick question when it comes to converting recipes. My LHBS will put together one-gallon recipes for me, but he seems to get annoyed when I come in asking for 1.6 oz or .08 oz (or some other strange amount) of an ingredient. Especially when there are multiple cases in one recipe. So do you all stick with the weird measurements or do you round off? Does it make much of a difference?

MrOneTwo
 
MrOneTwo said:
Greetings. I'm new to the forum and have been exclusively one-gallon brewing for about a year now. I just have a quick question when it comes to converting recipes. My LHBS will put together one-gallon recipes for me, but he seems to get annoyed when I come in asking for 1.6 oz or .08 oz (or some other strange amount) of an ingredient. Especially when there are multiple cases in one recipe. So do you all stick with the weird measurements or do you round off? Does it make much of a difference?

MrOneTwo
Click to expand...

Brewmasters Warehouse BrewBuilder does ounces! Rebel Brewer does some things in ounces

Or just order a pound crushed and mix your own blends
 
MrOneTwo said:
Greetings. I'm new to the forum and have been exclusively one-gallon brewing for about a year now. I just have a quick question when it comes to converting recipes. My LHBS will put together one-gallon recipes for me, but he seems to get annoyed when I come in asking for 1.6 oz or .08 oz (or some other strange amount) of an ingredient. Especially when there are multiple cases in one recipe. So do you all stick with the weird measurements or do you round off? Does it make much of a difference?

MrOneTwo
Click to expand...

If you can eventually afford a cheap grain mill, buy uncrushed grain in about a lb increment or bigger if its a base malt like 2 row, Munich, Maris otter etc and save it for future brews. Less trips or less postage and it will keep for a while if you store them in bags, Tupperware or small buckets or mason jars.
 
JollyIsTheRoger said:
Racked to a tertiary fermenter last week, and took a sample into to work for done people to try. Its.....weird. A lot of toffee notes, pretty hot tasting. I need to add something but I'm not sure what, the first guess is oak, but haven't made that decision yet.
Click to expand...
Hmm. Time should take care of the "hot" flavor. I agree, it sounds like you need a bittering agent. My first thought would be oak as well. Though tannic acid or even tea wouldn't be bad either.
 
heya all I also do 2.5 gallon batches.. they are great I think!!! Question for you guys... how much break material do you have left over... I do my batches to end up with 10L ow wort, but this last time, I ended up with about 5L woth of break/trub after cooling....thats a huge loss, I do BIAB! but still 50% break/trub loss is way too much!!! any ideas, whats your average loss guys???
 
hunmojo said:
heya all I also do 2.5 gallon batches.. they are great I think!!! Question for you guys... how much break material do you have left over... I do my batches to end up with 10L ow wort, but this last time, I ended up with about 5L woth of break/trub after cooling....thats a huge loss, I do BIAB! but still 50% break/trub loss is way too much!!! any ideas, whats your average loss guys???
Click to expand...

When I transfer the wort into the bucket with my 2.5 gallon batches I always use a fine stainless steel mesh strainer and have someone help me. This reduces the hop and any other materials so all I should have after fermenting is yeast. I don't usually lose much this way. It can be a pain though since your constantly emptying out the strainer when it becomes too clogged. My last 2.5 gallon batch was a IIPA and it took around 10 minutes to transfer because of the amount of hops we used.
 
I've searched and cannot seem to find it....I want to split a 5g batch into 1g. What is the best way to bottle the 5 seperate batches? Thanks guys.
 
Update. Ok so after my 10l batch I racked off 5 into the primary. I then put the rest of the sludge in the fridge just to see how much of it would have cleared. After a day in the fridge the break settled some more. So in total my 10 l batch gave me about 2.6 l of break / grub loss . That's still quite a bit. What would be a sensible way to cut back on the loss?

Mill rougher, but loose efficiency, therefore grain cost goes up. And less space?
Or just go to partial mash....? Extract???

Isn't straining furring racking a BAD idea due to aeration ??????
 
I just checked my homemade kola nut extract. They are now 5 months old. Nice aroma from both the cooked and uncooked variants. The cooked one is red, the uncooked is amber. The taste is still a bit disappointing, I am still hoping for more flavor extraction. The uncooked is spicier, but other then that the flavors are very similar.
 
CaptKiRkLeS said:
I've searched and cannot seem to find it....I want to split a 5g batch into 1g. What is the best way to bottle the 5 seperate batches? Thanks guys.
Click to expand...

If I understand your question properly, I use a small (1 1/2 to 2 gallon icing bucket free from bakery [Ralphs] with a drilled spigot) and the small auto-siphon. Auto-siphon into bucket.Then just divide priming sugar by 5 for the style and add or use the cooper tabs into bottles. Spigot + couple inches of tube + bottling wand= into bottle.
 
I'm ready to go small, too. The LHBC competition for March are stouts. I don't usually drink stouts (they're not my favorite style) and since I don't want the majority of five gallons taking up closet space, i'm going with a one gallon batch.

I'm using my 1.5 gallon plastic PET (tap a draft) bottle and a #6 cork stopper with an airlock as my primary fermenter. I will add two drops of fermcap to it to prevent blowoff, but i'm looking forward to working with a small batch recipe, and the small amount of cleanup afterwards.

For anyone looking for an easy way to scale their recipes, Beersmith does it with two clicks.
 
Hey all, getting ready to bottle my first 1 gallon brew. The bottling sugar tablets came with the kit, but I was wanting to add priming to the entire batch and then bottle. Question is, how much of the sugar and how much water do I boil? Hopefully this makes sense. Thanks in advance for your help.
 
Finished my BBS kit for Everyday IPA over the weekend. Seems to be a success so far. Has been bubbling away for a couple days. Added a little too much water at the end to top it off, and my strainer wasn't quit big enough so that made the drainage a little difficult, but overall good. Don't have room for a 5 gallon kit so this will work well. Also helped a buddy do a 5 gallon kit. Kind of liked the whole grain process a little more. SEemed more involved and gives more room to play in the long run. I'll probably do 1 or 2 more kits before going out on my own.
 
slowbrew said:
Hey all, getting ready to bottle my first 1 gallon brew. The bottling sugar tablets came with the kit, but I was wanting to add priming to the entire batch and then bottle. Question is, how much of the sugar and how much water do I boil? Hopefully this makes sense. Thanks in advance for your help.
Click to expand...

I use about just about 1 oz of sugar for 1 gallon and adjust depending on if I got less then a gallon or not. And I use about 4 oz of water, it just needs to dissolve the sugar.
 
I just bottled my first 1-gallon batch, a quick "lager" I made out of a big WLP833 starter for a Maibock. (It fermented in about 4 days at room temperature and "lagered" for a week at 50°F... surprisingly drinkable despite that process abuse.)

I'm thinking about doing a couple more 1-2 gallon batches over the next few months. I'd like to do some all-grain barleywines and my BIAB setup can probably just manage up to about a 1.5 gallon batch. Haven't decided what to do for a primary container, but I think I'll age them in 1-gallon cider jugs.

I'm thinking I'll do two batches, an English (EKG hops) and an American (probably Cascade + Simcoe). I figure this is a good style to do in small batches since it's a bit of a specialty beer---I don't expect to be drinking it very frequently, and I really don't want to tie up my big fermentors for months for bulk aging. It's bad enough with a 5 gallon batch of mead perpetually sitting there in the closet, mocking me...

For primary, I'm thinking of either getting a couple of Mr Beer fermentors, the cheap 2-gallon fermentors from Midwest Supplies, or scrounging something.
 
I went back to basics over the holidays and did a test 1 gallon batch of a Mexican Milk Stout that should be ready to drink in a few weeks. The recipe is below and I'll let you guys know if it's any good. However it turns out, I'll be making a 2.5 gallon batch and will adjust the recipe for whatever it's lacking.

Grains:
1 lb 3 oz Briess Golden Light DME
3 oz Lactose
2 oz Crystal 80L
2 oz Black Patent
1 oz Crisp Chocolate Malt
1 oz Victory Malt

Hops:
1/4 oz EKG @ 60 min.

Yeast:
Safale S-04

Miscellaneous:
1/4 Ancho Chili @ 5 min.
1/4 Guajillo Chili @ 5 min.
1/4 Cinnamon Stick @ 5 min.
1 1/2 oz Cocoa Powder @ 5 min.
 
If I need to top off after siphoning freshly made wort to fermenter, do I use tap water or spring water?
 
Either way. Some people like to boil/cool their top up water to sanitize it, but I've never bothered. Usually I use bottled spring or RO water from the grocery store, occasionally I use Brita-filtered tap water.

Boiling or filtering to remove chlorine is probably a good idea, even for a relatively small amount of top-up water.
 
divrguy said:
Now I see... Lol. You are officially the biggest one gallon brewer I know ...lol awesome dude!
Click to expand...

Well I'm not typically a one gallon brewer, except for when doing experiments (which I do often) that do not warrant a 10-12 gallon batch. In this case, they are 9 different single strains of brettanomyces.
 
Just a quick question. I am looking at getting the equipment to get into small batch brewing and I want to be able to do both 1 gallon and 2.5 gallon batches. Would a 5 gallon igloo be too large of a mash tun to use for 1 gal batches? I'm pretty sure a 3 gal cooler will not fit most 2.5 gal batch mash volumes, but wonder how much trouble I would have with 1 gal batches not holding temp in a 5 gal cooler.
 
JollyIsTheRoger said:
I use about just about 1 oz of sugar for 1 gallon and adjust depending on if I got less then a gallon or not. And I use about 4 oz of water, it just needs to dissolve the sugar.
Click to expand...

That might be a little much for a typical IPA. I believe an avg IPA gets about 4oz for a 5 gallon batch so you may end up with some fizzy IPA's at 1oz per gallon.
 
zeg said:
I just bottled my first 1-gallon batch, a quick "lager" I made out of a big WLP833 starter for a Maibock. (It fermented in about 4 days at room temperature and "lagered" for a week at 50°F... surprisingly drinkable despite that process abuse.)

I'm thinking about doing a couple more 1-2 gallon batches over the next few months. I'd like to do some all-grain barleywines and my BIAB setup can probably just manage up to about a 1.5 gallon batch. Haven't decided what to do for a primary container, but I think I'll age them in 1-gallon cider jugs.

I'm thinking I'll do two batches, an English (EKG hops) and an American (probably Cascade + Simcoe). I figure this is a good style to do in small batches since it's a bit of a specialty beer---I don't expect to be drinking it very frequently, and I really don't want to tie up my big fermentors for months for bulk aging. It's bad enough with a 5 gallon batch of mead perpetually sitting there in the closet, mocking me...

For primary, I'm thinking of either getting a couple of Mr Beer fermentors, the cheap 2-gallon fermentors from Midwest Supplies, or scrounging something.
Click to expand...

Cool write on the maibock! Lol. Go to a local bakery and ask for 2 or 3 gallon icing/glazing/cake mix buckets. They are free and they throw them out.
 
BlakeL said:
I went back to basics over the holidays and did a test 1 gallon batch of a Mexican Milk Stout that should be ready to drink in a few weeks. The recipe is below and I'll let you guys know if it's any good. However it turns out, I'll be making a 2.5 gallon batch and will adjust the recipe for whatever it's lacking.

Grains:
1 lb 3 oz Briess Golden Light DME
3 oz Lactose
2 oz Crystal 80L
2 oz Black Patent
1 oz Crisp Chocolate Malt
1 oz Victory Malt

Hops:
1/4 oz EKG @ 60 min.

Yeast:
Safale S-04

Miscellaneous:
1/4 Ancho Chili @ 5 min.
1/4 Guajillo Chili @ 5 min.
1/4 Cinnamon Stick @ 5 min.
1 1/2 oz Cocoa Powder @ 5 min.
Click to expand...

Hmmm a chocolatey spicy stout! Sounds good! Lt us know how it is!
 
muleskinner90 said:
If I need to top off after siphoning freshly made wort to fermenter, do I use tap water or spring water?
Click to expand...

zeg said:
Either way. Some people like to boil/cool their top up water to sanitize it, but I've never bothered. Usually I use bottled spring or RO water from the grocery store, occasionally I use Brita-filtered tap water.

Boiling or filtering to remove chlorine is probably a good idea, even for a relatively small amount of top-up water.
Click to expand...

I have had many many people tell me to never top off with unboiled water but.....my tap water tastes good so I go with it!

dieden187 said:
Just a quick question. I am looking at getting the equipment to get into small batch brewing and I want to be able to do both 1 gallon and 2.5 gallon batches. Would a 5 gallon igloo be too large of a mash tun to use for 1 gal batches? I'm pretty sure a 3 gal cooler will not fit most 2.5 gal batch mash volumes, but wonder how much trouble I would have with 1 gal batches not holding temp in a 5 gal cooler.
Click to expand...

I use a 5 gallon mash tun now for small batches and I'm glad I didn't buy any smaller. Plus, my 5 gallon cost $22 and the 2 gallon ones I priced were about $32 so...
 
divrguy said:
Go to a local bakery and ask for 2 or 3 gallon icing/glazing/cake mix buckets. They are free and they throw them out.
Click to expand...

Any recommendations on getting rid of the lingering icing smell?

I recently washed 3-2 gal buckets (2 primary/1 bottling) and a 5 gal (storage, for now) and all still smell like icing. Just airing them out isn't really helping, other than making my apartment smell like icing. If I went ahead and used them as-is, I have to assume that the flavor would impact the end product.
 
divrguy said:
Hmmm a chocolatey spicy stout! Sounds good! Lt us know how it is!
Click to expand...

I sampled a little bit that wasn't enough for a full bottle and it had just enough heat but I didn't get much chocolate or cinnamon. Hopefully it's much better after the bottles are more conditioned and carbonated.
 
BGBC - have you tried baking soda in water?

I saw your post just before I left work today, and ran it by the Chef at the restaurant in the park. He suggested a good, hot soapy wash, follow by a 12hr soak with hot water and baking soda.

I have no direct experience with this cleaning technique, but Chef claims he did this to a mayo bucket he gave last month. I've brewed in it, and didn't end up with mayo smells or flavours.

He used 2 tbsp per gallon of water. South Park-ish as it sounds - Chef's advice is usually really good, it might be worth a try.
 
BGBC said:
Any recommendations on getting rid of the lingering icing smell?

I recently washed 3-2 gal buckets (2 primary/1 bottling) and a 5 gal (storage, for now) and all still smell like icing. Just airing them out isn't really helping, other than making my apartment smell like icing. If I went ahead and used them as-is, I have to assume that the flavor would impact the end product.
Click to expand...

I start with hot water and oxyclean, rinse with starsan. Works for me.
 
ocluke said:
Well I'm not typically a one gallon brewer, except for when doing experiments (which I do often) that do not warrant a 10-12 gallon batch. In this case, they are 9 different single strains of brettanomyces.
Click to expand...
I had to go look up what that was. Good for you. It might be interesting to try something with those little guys. I don't really have the patience to brew my own reds, but if I could cut down on the aging significantly...
slowbrew said:
Hey all, getting ready to bottle my first 1 gallon brew. The bottling sugar tablets came with the kit, but I was wanting to add priming to the entire batch and then bottle. Question is, how much of the sugar and how much water do I boil? Hopefully this makes sense. Thanks in advance for your help.
Click to expand...
I like this priming sugar calculator. http://www.tastybrew.com/calculators/priming.html It has recommended co2 volumes for different styles. It's a nice starting point when you are unsure, or if you need to use a different priming sugar then you are used to.
 
When doing a one gallon batch do you use a one gallon jug as a primary? Is there enough room left for fermentation? Do you use a blow off tube? Lastly do you rack to a secondary?
 
jkeylard said:
When doing a one gallon batch do you use a one gallon jug as a primary? Is there enough room left for fermentation? Do you use a blow off tube? Lastly do you rack to a secondary?
Click to expand...

Many people here use a one gallon jug with a blow off. I personally use a 2 gallon bucket and if I do a secondary then that is in a one gallon jug.
 

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