Brewing small test batches

I was wondering if anyone brews smaller batches to mess around with different recipes. I would like to experiment with different recipes but dont always want to make 5 gallons just incase the beer doesnt turn out.

Figured I could just cut the recipe in half but thought maybe someone here has some feedback. Will I run into any problems by cutting the recipe in half? Boiling time shorted etc etc?

Thanks!

Yes, I call them 5 gallon batches.

There is a ton of small batch threads on here, including those in the similar thread box below.

You can brew any sized batch you want. I do a lot of 2.5 gallon recipe test batches. You can even do 1 gallon AG brews. The basic brewing guys call that the six pack brew.

A recipe is scalable, so a 1 gallon recipe is 1/5th of a 5 gallon one....a 2.5 gallon one is half the ingredients.

2.5 gallons is one case of beer.

I use my normal 5 gallon mash tun for most of them, but I do a lot of Experiments, test recipes, or beers that I know I won't need/want more than a case of.

I sometimes use an unmodified 2 gallon cooler for a lot of my small btaches it holds up to 4 pounds of grain.

I just us a folding steamer in the bottom along with a grain bag. Just break off or unscrew the center post.



One of these, it helps to lift the grain bag above the spigot to keep the drainig from getting stuck.







I posted a lot of info in the mr beer thread that you may find helpful.

I posted some all grain small batchrecipes here, https://www.homebrewtalk.com/785533-post702.html

ANd a bit of a primer on AG with pics here https://www.homebrewtalk.com/738927-post659.html

But I mostly use my regular 5 gallon cooler mash tun which holds 14 pounds of grains...and 14 pounds of grain for a 2.5 gallon batch can be a mighty big beer.....


One of our memebers chubbykid had plans for a minikeg mashtun http://sites.google.com/site/chubbykidhomebrew/Home/equipment/mini-keg-lauter-tun



THe basic brewing radio guys are big fans of tiny batch brewing...3/4 gallon (1 6pack) in a 1 gallon winejug fermenter.

They demo the 6-pack IPA here

[ame]http://en.sevenload.com/shows/Basic-Brewing/episodes/PERGFAJ-01-12-06-Basic-Brewing-Video-A-Six-Pack-of-IPA[/ame]

and they also have done barleywines as well.

I ferment my 2.5 gallon batches in all manner of things, I have a 3 gallon better bottle, I also use 3 gallon water jugs, AND my old Mr Beer keg (it's perfect because you can even lager in your own fridge with it when you are starting out.)

You can even ferment a 2.5 gallon batch in a 5 gallon carboy if you want, though I would say a 6.5 gallon carboy is a little too much headspace for my confort.

Hope this helps....any more questions feel free to ask...But look through ALL THE OTHER INFO first and I bet you, you won't HAVE any other questions. This has been thoroughly covered like just about everything else.

Oh, and you don't have to do anything with hops in terms of hop utilization, except scale it in the same proportion, as you do your grain. Nothing else.

btsbrewing said:

I was wondering if anyone brews smaller batches to mess around with different recipes. I would like to experiment with different recipes but dont always want to make 5 gallons just incase the beer doesnt turn out.

Figured I could just cut the recipe in half but thought maybe someone here has some feedback. Will I run into any problems by cutting the recipe in half? Boiling time shorted etc etc?

Thanks!

Click to expand...

It depends on what you are experimenting with. You could split one 5 gallon batch and have 5 different yeasts, temperatures, etc....

Now if you mean basic recipe, that is another story. After a year I'm learning what I like and don't like pretty well so if I don't stray too far then the basic recipe isn't a problem. Now optimizing it with different yeasts, fermentation temps, etc... is a different story.

it sounds like a good idea, it would just frustrate me to only have a gallon or even two if it turned out amazing which all homebrew seems to. I find it annoying to only be able to brew 6 gallons at most right now, all that work and only one-2 gallons of beer when your done, id rather just brew a full batch and have to choke 5 gallons of something down i guess.

tnbrewer371 said:

it sounds like a good idea, it would just frustrate me to only have a gallon or even two if it turned out amazing which all homebrew seems to.

Click to expand...

Uh, then you just scale your recipe up to the size you want and brew it again....What, you only brew once a year? You can't make more beer?

The point of test batches is to test recipes, or ingredients, without risking 5 whole gallons. But that doesn't prevent you from brewing a batch again.

That's one nice thing about starting out with MrB kits. It not only got my feet wet but those kegs are now what I use for my test batches. They're a bit under 2.5 gallons, but still use a 5 gallon recipe and cut it in half or just wing stuff on my own. So far so good.

To the OP: One thing to keep in mind is that if you're working with extract and topping off, the one thing you can't just cut in half is the hop additions. If you're doing all-grain, I think it's fine, I would just need to check in Beersmith to make sure. However if you're doing extract and topping off normally, chances are you're going to be doing a full-boil with smaller batches, and having a higher water content will increase your hop utilization. All other things being the same, I would say the best option would be to enter your recipe as a 5 gallon batch in whatever software you use (if any) and scale it down, making sure the specs of the beer still match.

tnbrewer371 said:

it sounds like a good idea, it would just frustrate me to only have a gallon or even two if it turned out amazing which all homebrew seems to. I find it annoying to only be able to brew 6 gallons at most right now, all that work and only one-2 gallons of beer when your done, id rather just brew a full batch and have to choke 5 gallons of something down i guess.

Click to expand...

Initially yes, it does sound like the same amount of work for less beer. But it has it's benefits. I started doing 2.5 to 3.5 gal recipes. I find this a happy medium. I still brew with the same frequency as I did when I was doing only 5 gallon batches because it "didn't seem worth it" to do smaller batches. To be honest it sometimes takes me too long to drink a brew when I have the whole 5 gallons because I have other beers ready that I want to drink. Brewing smaller batches keeps the stock rotating quicker and means I have the freshest beer, thus best tasting. It frustrates ME to have a 3 month old IPA that is getting stale and I no longer enjoy as much as I did a month before. So the simple solution is smaller batches.