1-Gallon Brewers UNITE!

Williams 728
Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Oh wow - I didn't think they were that thin. Exercise caution for sure, good to know that replacement tanks are too bad though.
 
I've been able to carefully port Better Bottles with a sharp step bit. It is probably something you could do to a Brew Damon too. I'd just recommend avoiding hole saws.
 
WooHOO! I finally graduated to 3gal batches. :p

Brew day took the same amount of time, though this one was more putzy than ever on the prep side. Made a Tangerine Saison, using the orange schedule that was posted on here earlier (Thanks D-USA!), but put with a wheat/pilsner base with Belle Saison yeast and Citra hops. If you don't own a microplane for zest, get one. I'm so glad I forgot the wife had bought one a while back, it made zesting up a couple tangerines about as easy as you can get.

So - 5 good sized tangerines, a couple's worth of zest and an ounce of Citra and this thing smells AMAZING going into the fermenter. Crazy high Plato too - 15.5, which is way above my projected 13.5. I have no idea how it got up there.... I still am going to dryhop in a couple weeks anyway, and after using Citra for the first time, I can see why it has a fanbase.

As a final word, induction plates kick ass. Now to get my basement "brewery" fully setup and rolling!

:mug:
 
Eh, figured out my oopsie - I screwed up the cardinal rule of cooking; sample the ingredients. The tangerines I used were crazy high in sugar - really, really sweet. That plus the amount I used pushed the OG way up over what I had planned for.

Soooooooo - well, it'll be interesting and higher ABV than to style. I hope it doesn't end up hot, it's going to suck staring at it in a bottle for a few months waiting for the booze to calm down. :drunk:
 
Figured you guys will beable to help me on this, I have a RIS I'm bottling soon I want to bottle 1 gallon with cold pressed coffee, how much coffee to 1 gal is rule of thum and how much priming sugar ( wasn't sure if the coffee would effect sugar amounts)
 
1fast636 said:
Figured you guys will beable to help me on this, I have a RIS I'm bottling soon I want to bottle 1 gallon with cold pressed coffee, how much coffee to 1 gal is rule of thum and how much priming sugar ( wasn't sure if the coffee would effect sugar amounts)
Click to expand...

Yes depending on how much coffee you add it will change your volume to bottle and that changes the amount of sugar you will need for batch priming. If you are using carb tabs just follow the directions.

How much coffee to add is taste preference since you could use a darker coffee roast than what others might like. Most people will recommend taking a 4-6oz sample and add measured amounts of coffee to it till you like it and scale that up to your batch size. Also don't forget to note the beer sample size and how much coffee you add each time (this is where I would screw up).
 
A guy from the club let me try one of his awesome coffee stouts the other day. For a 5 gallon batch, I believe he "dry hopped" 4oz and then added 24oz of cold brewed coffee at bottling.
 
4 oz of coffee grounds then the cold brewed at bottling? so for a gallon would be 3/4 of an oz "dry hopped" and 38.4g of cold brewed
 
He used 24oz of liquid cold-brewed coffee at bottling. He didn't say how strong he made it. He also used a blend of Sumatra and another type of coffee. The music was loud so I couldn't make out that 2nd type, but he did follow up saying that they weren't his favorite coffees, just ones he knew he could repeat if he liked the beer.
 
I tested my 2nd ever brew yesterday after 1 week in the bottle and some worrying due to some auto siphon hiccups during bottling. I wasnt expecting much just wanted to see how things had progressed after one week. I was pleasantly surprised. It tasted real good with decent, but not ready, carbonation . I'm excited about how good they will be after a couple more weeks.
I used the NB 1 gallon extract kit and am ready to order another.
 
Frankbo25 said:
I tested my 2nd ever brew yesterday after 1 week in the bottle and some worrying due to some auto siphon hiccups during bottling. I wasnt expecting much just wanted to see how things had progressed after one week. I was pleasantly surprised. It tasted real good with decent, but not ready, carbonation . I'm excited about how good they will be after a couple more weeks.
I used the NB 1 gallon extract kit and am ready to order another.
Click to expand...

Awesome to hear Frank!

I'm sitting on one last brew before I order again, and I'm torn on what recipes to play with now. I'm thinking an ESB for sure, and either a brown/porter/Hefe, maybe a Belgian - I've yet to play with those...

Decisions, decisions...:drunk:
 
Tasted my 4th kit last night. Bourbon Barrel Porter kit from Northern Brewer. Has been in the bottle for just over a week. Carbonation is not there yet, but last time mine got way over carbonated so just wanted to test one. Flavor wise, it is pretty solid, though I think I realize these barrel type beers aren't totally for me. Def oak flavor, little strong on the alcohol (I don't do any gravity testing so I have no clue the %). Overall a solid, drinkable beer which after just 4 tries is all I'm looking for. Might do a full grain next.
 
mkh said:
Tasted my 4th kit last night. Bourbon Barrel Porter kit from Northern Brewer. Has been in the bottle for just over a week. Carbonation is not there yet, but last time mine got way over carbonated so just wanted to test one. Flavor wise, it is pretty solid, though I think I realize these barrel type beers aren't totally for me. Def oak flavor, little strong on the alcohol (I don't do any gravity testing so I have no clue the %). Overall a solid, drinkable beer which after just 4 tries is all I'm looking for. Might do a full grain next.
Click to expand...

You really want to give any oaked beer some time to mellow and age. Especially if this is a 1 gallon. You will wish that you held on to that bottle when you finish your last and realize how good it gets.

I'd also recommend starting to take gravity readings if you go all grain. Just so you have a better grasp of what is happening in your process and what outcomes you like or don't like.
 
Calichusetts said:
You really want to give any oaked beer some time to mellow and age. Especially if this is a 1 gallon. You will wish that you held on to that bottle when you finish your last and realize how good it gets.

I'd also recommend starting to take gravity readings if you go all grain. Just so you have a better grasp of what is happening in your process and what outcomes you like or don't like.
Click to expand...

Guess I'd need to move it to the fridge though to keep it from overcarbonating then let it age?

I probably will look into that. I am heading to Northern Brewer this weekend and need to pick up some things anyway so I'll probably ask about that. I've read up on the process and everything.
 
Small batches, man am I slow sometimes! Have only been doing 5 gal batches and have moved to all grain. Been dying because of poor technique/skills! Mashing taking too long, temps way too high, spilled the spent grains (barefoot), boil over, too much wort for carboy. To add to the confusion, I just bought a Corona mill and 50# sack of malt at the same time. Oh yes, first try at BIAB too! Been so discouraged have not brewed any beer in 3 weeks! DUH! Cut my batches in half! Perfect timing too, have scored an almost limitless supply of 1 gal and 3 gal food grade buckets with gasket-ed lids!
 
mkh said:
Guess I'd need to move it to the fridge though to keep it from overcarbonating then let it age?



I probably will look into that. I am heading to Northern Brewer this weekend and need to pick up some things anyway so I'll probably ask about that. I've read up on the process and everything.
Click to expand...


As long as you put in the correct amount of priming sugar, it won't over carbonate. I opened an Imperial Stout the other day that has been 70F for over a year. I didn't really like it at 1 month old as it had a real harsh bite to it but age mellowed it wonderfully!
 
^^^ Yep, just leave it in the basement (or somewhere out of the light and stable temps in the lower 70's/upper 60's).

I've got my one and only foray into oaking STILL sitting in the bottles (9 as of this count), and have a note to open one up in June and try it out. Initially it was terrible - so bad it was nicknamed "No2 Pencil" by the guys that tried it. Recipe was okay, but the oak just ran it over. I'm a couple months past that brew date and it's getting better the longer it sits.

Just the way it works I guess.
 
Quick question, has anyone ever used a 8- bottle Wine Cooler to Lager a One Gallon brew?

I'm giving it a shot but the only issue is that there is not enough head space in the cooler for an airlock. Instead I'm going to try to use a blow-off for the entire fermentation process.

Fingers crossed!!!
 
Ash1616 said:
Quick question, has anyone ever used a 8- bottle Wine Cooler to Lager a One Gallon brew?

I'm giving it a shot but the only issue is that there is not enough head space in the cooler for an airlock. Instead I'm going to try to use a blow-off for the entire fermentation process.

Fingers crossed!!!
Click to expand...

That'll work fine, Ash.

Don't forget, you can also lager in the bottle after primary - so once you've gone through fermentation and the diacetal rest, bottle up and stick 'em in the fridge to lager.

I believe Yooper had on here a good rule of thumb, one week of lagering for every 0.01 of drop from OG to FG. Eg, if you go from 1.050 to 1.010, that'd be a .04 difference so 4 weeks of lagering.

Have fun!

:mug:
 
sumbrewindude said:
That'll work fine, Ash.

Don't forget, you can also lager in the bottle after primary - so once you've gone through fermentation and the diacetal rest, bottle up and stick 'em in the fridge to lager.

I believe Yooper had on here a good rule of thumb, one week of lagering for every 0.01 of drop from OG to FG. Eg, if you go from 1.050 to 1.010, that'd be a .04 difference so 4 weeks of lagering.
Click to expand...

Have fun!

:mug:
Click to expand...

Thanks for the feedback. One question though...how are you all taking OG and FG readings on such small batches? I'm worried about using up all my tasty hard work when the final output is only going to be around 9 bottles or so.
 
Ash -

I used to use a hydrometer, and because of this I scaled my recipes up to 1.5gal to account for losses. After a few brews I got a refractometer. After doing some comparing of the two measurements, I felt confident with using the refractometer and using the alcohol correction factor (because alcohol will screw with the FG reading, you need to account for it - there's all kinds of calculators out there for it on the web so you don't need to do crazy math unless you're weird like me).

Is it as accurate as a hydrometer for FG, IMO no - but it does get me VERY close to the real number and only uses a few drops of solution to get there.

An alternate method I used to use was to sanitize the hydrometer and put it into the bottling bucket, but you need a deep bucket for that to work.
 
Thanks a lot, I'll go see what the prices for a refractormeter are like at my LHBS.
 
I haven't used my hydrometer for a long time........ I use only a refractometer for the reasons stated. There is no doubt that the hydrometer can be more accurate........ though I've had issues with getting bubbles not to stick to it and screw up the reading... a bunch of air CO2 bubbles will completely screw up the reading, and this can be an issue. The refractometer is good enough for me..... it tells me what I need to know.

H.W.
 
Traditionally beer is stored in dark bottles due to the desire to protect it from light. I have more beer in clear flip tops than I have in brown.. I have about 3 times as many clear as brown bottles. I decided some time back that light is really not a very big issue unless you are planning an extended storage, and that can ......... and probably should be in a plastic tote...... preferably a dark colored one. They also are good insurance if you happened to screw up your priming sugar calculation........though that seems unlikely, and of course I use ONLY EZ Cap swing top bottles which I know from using them with kombucha will not explode.........They vent, and can hold a tremendous amount of pressure.

I want to SEE my beer........ I ferment in clear fermenters, bottle in clear bottles, and drink out of clear pilsner glasses..........

Am I alone out here?

H.W.
 
Owly055 said:
Traditionally beer is stored in dark bottles due to the desire to protect it from light. I have more beer in clear flip tops than I have in brown.. I have about 3 times as many clear as brown bottles. I decided some time back that light is really not a very big issue unless you are planning an extended storage, and that can ......... and probably should be in a plastic tote...... preferably a dark colored one. They also are good insurance if you happened to screw up your priming sugar calculation........though that seems unlikely, and of course I use ONLY EZ Cap swing top bottles which I know from using them with kombucha will not explode.........They vent, and can hold a tremendous amount of pressure.

I want to SEE my beer........ I ferment in clear fermenters, bottle in clear bottles, and drink out of clear pilsner glasses..........

Am I alone out here?

H.W.
Click to expand...

I don't think you're alone - I do enjoy watching the process and seeing what those little beasts can do to sugar. That said, I'm going the other way - looking to move to opaque, sealed containers for both fermenting and storage to glass. No real reason other than I'm trying to keep the process contained and maximize what little space I have for this growing hobby.

I can't believe how kombucha is exploding on the HB scene - always seemed like a fringe beverage but somehow it's working it's way into mainstream. I'm wondering (even if it is low ABV) when the FDA's going to crack down on the home-sellers I've been seeing on CL.

:mug:
 
sumbrewindude said:
I don't think you're alone - I do enjoy watching the process and seeing what those little beasts can do to sugar. That said, I'm going the other way - looking to move to opaque, sealed containers for both fermenting and storage to glass. No real reason other than I'm trying to keep the process contained and maximize what little space I have for this growing hobby.

I can't believe how kombucha is exploding on the HB scene - always seemed like a fringe beverage but somehow it's working it's way into mainstream. I'm wondering (even if it is low ABV) when the FDA's going to crack down on the home-sellers I've been seeing on CL.

:mug:
Click to expand...

I make a LOT of kombucha..... I have been making it for over a year, and I supply the local microbrewer with kombucha that he puts on tap, and shares (free) with good customers and friends. I supply him with about 5 gallons a month of ginger flavor.

my personal favorite is a hybrid. I use a partially fermented wort in a small percentage as "bottling syrup" for kombucha. I either make a dark rich all grain wort, or one made from dark DME. It has a lot of malt in it, and I pitch yeast and ferment it about half out, then add about 1/2 cup per liter when I bottle the kombucha. It makes a rich tasty kombucha with probably about 2% alcohol when it's finished. I use my safety system with rubber bands holding the bail down on 1L flip top bottles, and let it ferment about a week in the bottle. The safety system relieves at about 30 psi. The result is a beery kombucha with a wonderful tang, and a lovely head........it's almost a sour session beer.

H.W.
 
My refractometer reads in brix and potential alcohol......... I just ordered another on from Ebay that reads in brix and SG. I'm tired of having to refer to charts to find the OG and FG. I like the POT chart though. One added plus is that I can use the same refractometer for testing coolant in vehicles.

I have one beer that refuses to read on the refractometer out of the fermenter....... I just get an absolute blank. My hydrometer reads 1.012 SG........ which I don't believe! Interestingly now that I put it in a hydrometer tube, and dribbled a drop on the refractometer, it reads.......but doesn't agree. I get about 1.020 according to the conversion charts. I presume that bubbles which I couldn't see were clinging to the hydrometer. Drinking flat beer out of a hydrometer tube today ;-).............What else are you going to do with it??

I find myself using the potential alcohol scale instead of converting to SG..........Hopefully with the new refractometer that will change......but it means that I will be wasting TWO DROPS of beer instead of one!! Don't laugh if you see me licking my refractometer clean ;-)...........

H.W.
 
Owly055 said:
I use my safety system with rubber bands holding the bail down on 1L flip top bottles, and let it ferment about a week in the bottle. The safety system relieves at about 30 psi.
Click to expand...

Would you mind posting some pics of this? My interest is piqued...


Sent from my KFSOWI using Home Brew mobile app
 
Tasting day!

I was on call last week so I didn't get a chance to sample the two beers that aged in - my Warshpale and the Brit Stout.

Warshpale was my first real try at water chemistry. That, in combination with learning that my water sucks for light beers also led to a trial run with acidulated malt to balance the pH. Overall, it was an outstanding success. If I had to describe it, it would be like an American Bitter - a pale ale base then hopped like an english beer using American backing hops (Cascade/Chinook) with bunch of EKG in the whirlpool. Very clean, crisp, and finally a bitterness that I was hoping for. Yay chemistry, yay crisp satisfying beer!

Also tried the Brit Stout. Sampling into the carboy was amazing - coffee, carmel, toffee, roasted awesome. Sampling into the bottling bucket was dissappointing - very dry, burnt, no carmel/toffee. Sampling the undercarbed bottle (still young, needs another two weeks really), hope was renewed - coffee returned, burnt gave way to roast again, still missing the sweetness and it's still dry but it hides it's 6.2ABV so well you're in trouble before you know it. I was worried it had too much black patent in it (and it probably still does), but I think the big issue was the yeast selection - Notty. It just chewed through everything and left a nice dry stout.

I'm going to slightly mod the recipe, and try it again with a low attenuating yeast and try and hold onto some of that sweetness. That and mash it crazy high, just for giggles.

So many beers, so few bottles... :D
 
sumbrewindude said:
Also tried the Brit Stout. Sampling into the carboy was amazing - coffee, carmel, toffee, roasted awesome. Sampling into the bottling bucket was dissappointing - very dry, burnt, no carmel/toffee. Sampling the undercarbed bottle (still young, needs another two weeks really), hope was renewed - coffee returned, burnt gave way to roast again, still missing the sweetness and it's still dry but it hides it's 6.2ABV so well you're in trouble before you know it.
Click to expand...


I named my 3rd brew Schitzo Stout because every week it was a completely different beer. It's pretty cool being involved in the whole process from beginning to end (especially the end).
 
Bottled a Saison that has been sitting in primary for 3 weeks. Used 70% Pilsner Malt, 20% Rye, 10% C20 with Summit and Willamette for hops as well as Honey, Sage & Thyme for flavor. Wyeast #3711 for yeast and keeping it in a room with a space heater cranked to 85 a couple hours each day for about a week. Primed it with honey and going to let it sit for a couple of months.

OG 1.055, FG 0.997. The sample I tasted was pretty dang delicious. A sweet earthy taste, nice and dry, just a tiny tiny hint of the herbs in the background. I'm really looking forward to tasting a bottle once it is all said and done. I'm thinking this might be a good fall beer.
 
D-usa:

That sounds really, really good. I just racked my saison off the tangerines and into a secondary where I'm gonna just let it rock out for a few weeks. Gravity's still in the low teens (pretty impressive for only being in the fermenter for a week or so), but it's got a ways to go yet. I figure after a couple I'll pitch the Citra dryhops and then into a keg!

Smell out of the primary was amazing, fruit and pepper with a hint of belgian. Honestly can't wait for this one to finish up. I can see a couple more saison's being made this summer when the heat is stupid.

Also - a friend from work overheard that I was starting hop rhizomes so he dropped off a grocery bag of Hallertau, Cascade, and Fuggle rhizomes to play with. That brings my total to 6 if you add in Columbus, Chinook, and Nugget.

Gonna be a busy fall if they take off - Columbus is in the lead right now with a whole mess in the starter pot. Both Chinook/Nugget have bines out and are reaching...
 
I brew 30 gallon batches with my brew club Norwich Nano Brewers. Recently I started brewing 1 gallon batches not get a quantity but try things out on my own and develop new recipes. I get plenty of beer from my share of brew day around 5 gallons or so. But I love the freedom that if I totally flub my brew it's only 1 gallon, and if I love it and my brew club loves it we can upscale and do up to 30 gallons if we wanted. Upcoming 1gallon batches will include rose water, cucumber infused water, butternut squash, blueberry, tea, etc...


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew
 
I brew 2.5 or 2 gallon brews...... depending on the fermenter that's available. I have two 2.5 gallon fermenters and one 1.5 gallon fermenter. When I brew with the 1.5 gallon fermenter which is actually 2 gallons total capacity, I've been brewing "concentrate", and when the krausen has fallen, I add half a gallon of sterile water.

1 gallon yields 6-7 half liter ezcap bottles of beer. 2.5 gallons yields 16 bottles +. The scale works against your yield in small batches. I've decided to "push" my 2.5 gallon fermenters out to 3 gallons using the beer concentrate technique which seems to work quite well.

I could probably mash for 5 gallons in my large brew bag, but I can't handle a 5 gallon boil as I work on the kitchen stove. I find handling 2-3 gallons reasonable, and it works well with my incremental cold crashing method where I crash a gallon at a time in an ice tea jug in the fridge. I add about an ounce (weight) of sugar when I crash, and a bit of gelatin, both of which are dissolved in boiling water, and simply poured in. This allows me to bottle directly out of the jug.............. it works extremely well.

H.W.
 

Similar threads

D
Small batch (1 Gallon) ingredients
Replies
8
Views
451
hotbeer
hotbeer
C
Best brewing system for 5-15 gallon batches
Replies
25
Views
1K
Ninoid
Ninoid
D
Looking for a Kettle
Replies
28
Views
1K
DuhokBrewer
D
D
First Recipe: 1 Gallon Maris Otter / Goldings SMaSH (Comments, suggestions?)
Replies
6
Views
446
Northern_Brewer
Northern_Brewer
spacey
First Time All Grain Brewing Mistake
Replies
13
Views
438
Bobby_M
Bobby_M
wps-hbt2

Latest posts

Back
Top