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Lepetitnormand said:
Thanks,

The beer is slowly starting to bubble away, the cider next to it is not showing any activity, interesting how thing works out, same temp, same yeast...
Click to expand...

Cider has fewer nutrients than wort, so it can take longer to start working. It also tends to have less krausen than wort, but will still be bubbling.
 
Well, apparently after 5 days I can't see any bubble anymore, I guess in a week I will be bottling, as for the cider it's chugging at its own pace, farting at my face according to the cider forum guys ... Now I am thinking of washing the yeast and do it all other again ... any good easy to drink extract recipe with notthingam yeast which is not too hoppy ?
 
Lepetitnormand said:
Well, apparently after 5 days I can't see any bubble anymore, I guess in a week I will be bottling, as for the cider it's chugging at its own pace, farting at my face according to the cider forum guys ... Now I am thinking of washing the yeast and do it all other again ... any good easy to drink extract recipe with notthingam yeast which is not too hoppy ?
Click to expand...


I wouldn't bottle cider after 5 days. I would give it at least 2 weeks to clear some more. Also, check your gravity twice to be sure it's stable.

I go 4 weeks, but plenty of people will tell you that's too long.
 
Well I bottled the beer last night, 8 full bottle and the ninth saw some bubble of air going through the bottle filler, without that almost pint of beer lost during blow off I would have made nine beer without trouble. The taste sample smell and tasted like beer, I was a bit surprised to feel some fiz in it .... now lets wait for the bottle to carbonate .... two more weeks , it down on me yesterday that I should be able to pop one up on my birthday .. lets wait and see.
 
This past Saturday, along with a couple of 2G batches, I also brewed a 1G batch of BrewDemon One Evil Pilsner and a 1G batch of Northern Brewer Caribou Slobber Brown Ale, so it was a pretty busy day along with chores and then picking up feed this morning before being able to start brewing. And I've still to do some minor work on my bike and mow some on the lawn.
 
Lepetitnormand said:
I was wondering if there is a visible date for when the kit was packaged knowing that I am down here in texas and yeast might not enjoy staying out and about in the shop for too long
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I haven't had any issues or looked on the box for a date. Logic seems to say they have a date on them, if we can understand the dating is another issue. I have asked our BBB manager when the shipment came in to them. It seems to turn around every 2-3 weeks.

I am beginning to harvest the yeast on my 1 gallons now and reusing in case yeast in box is old. I live in SC and have heat issue for about 5-6 months too.
 
If I want to do a BIAB for a 1-gallon batch, what is the recommended size of brew pot? Would it be 8quart, or can I get away with 6?
My apartment has fairly small shelves, so trying to go with the smallest possible.
Cheers
 
MrG said:
If I want to do a BIAB for a 1-gallon batch, what is the recommended size of brew pot? Would it be 8quart, or can I get away with 6?
My apartment has fairly small shelves, so trying to go with the smallest possible.
Cheers
Click to expand...

I make my 1 gal BIAB batches in a 3 gal kettle. Plenty of room and add about 1.5 gal of water.
 
MrG said:
If I want to do a BIAB for a 1-gallon batch, what is the recommended size of brew pot? Would it be 8quart, or can I get away with 6?
My apartment has fairly small shelves, so trying to go with the smallest possible.
Cheers
Click to expand...

12 quart, minimum, and that could be tight for some brews. You gotta figure you're going to have 2 gallons of water in there, plus your grain, to account for absorption and still have a gallon and a half left to boil. Then boiling that much wort is going to take up 2 gallons of space. A 3 gallon pot always worked pretty well for me when making 1 gallon batches.
 
check out the concord pots on ebay. i got a deal on a 13 qt (3.25gal) and a bonus 8qt pot for $45 i think. solid feeling, heavy guage steel. have only used for a month or two but so far im impressed.

the big one is a bit large for my i gallon batches, as i usually do 2 gal in mash and then rinse/dunk sparge in the smaller pot with 1 quart of additional water.

let the grains sit in the little pot for 15=20 minutes before i squeeze the hell out of it.

leaves me with about 1.25 gal when boil is over, so a full gallon into fermenter and some trub/hop left behind.
 
SanPancho said:
check out the concord pots on ebay. i got a deal on a 13 qt (3.25gal) and a bonus 8qt pot for $45 i think. solid feeling, heavy guage steel. have only used for a month or two but so far im impressed.

the big one is a bit large for my i gallon batches, as i usually do 2 gal in mash and then rinse/dunk sparge in the smaller pot with 1 quart of additional water.

let the grains sit in the little pot for 15=20 minutes before i squeeze the hell out of it.

leaves me with about 1.25 gal when boil is over, so a full gallon into fermenter and some trub/hop left behind.
Click to expand...

How do you transfer the wort to your fermenter?
 
depends. mostly i use the autosiphon to go from kettle into fermenter jug. lately ive been trying to figure out a method to strain it through hop bags to keep out the trub and hops. but its kind of a ***** to do by yourself without making a big old mess.

there's quite a few threads on here about trub/hop sediment not affecting the taste of beer negatively, and some results show it actually improves flavor to some folks. as im sure you'll understand soon, i dont worry about trub for flavor issues, i want to limit it so 1)- i lose less beer out of a 1 gal batch to trub/hops, and 2)- because i try to reuse yeast as often as i can, and limiting trub and hop debris means cleaner yeast.

something im debating doing is just crashing it down to 80F, then putting into my cooler overnight. the trub and hops seems to get much more compacted with cold temps and a few hours rest. if i can maybe put something under the kettle while its in the cooler to tip it up on one side, hopefully the trub will settle all to one side and i can get more clean wort than i would with it flat on the countertop.
 
I just did my first brew (5 gal) yesterday but I have to admit, this thread has me researching and interested in 1 gallon brewing! I may go get a 1 gallon carboy and get another batch going, why not do 1 gallon AND 5 gallon!? Seems like a great way to learn for someone like me.
 
arnobg said:
I just did my first brew (5 gal) yesterday but I have to admit, this thread has me researching and interested in 1 gallon brewing! I may go get a 1 gallon carboy and get another batch going, why not do 1 gallon AND 5 gallon!? Seems like a great way to learn for someone like me.
Click to expand...

A lot of people (including me) do a variety of batch sizes. I usually do 3 gallons now, but sometimes 2.5 and sometimes 1. Especially in the winter, it's nice to be able to do a small batch inside. It takes 2-3 hours instead of 5-6 (or more).
 
Full house

7xvg.jpg
 
I'm positive this has already been answered in this thread, so forgive me for asking what's probably a dumb question. I've brewed larger batches for years, but recently did 3 1 gal batches to test some yeast I cultured from bottles. What's the consensus for the best way to batch prime and bottle a 1 gal batch? I've done this using carb tabs, but id rather avoid that, even though its easy.

Thanks for the tips.
 
BigPerm said:
I'm positive this has already been answered in this thread, so forgive me for asking what's probably a dumb question. I've brewed larger batches for years, but recently did 3 1 gal batches to test some yeast I cultured from bottles. What's the consensus for the best way to batch prime and bottle a 1 gal batch? I've done this using carb tabs, but id rather avoid that, even though its easy.

Thanks for the tips.
Click to expand...
I modified a small bucket I picked up from the bakery of a nearby grocery store. It has quart markings and a cutout for a bottling spigot. When I have a small batch to bottle, I just mix up my priming sugar like normal, put my spigot on the bucket and carry on like with any other bottling project.
 
burninator said:
I modified a small bucket I picked up from the bakery of a nearby grocery store. It has quart markings and a cutout for a bottling spigot. When I have a small batch to bottle, I just mix up my priming sugar like normal, put my spigot on the bucket and carry on like with any other bottling project.
Click to expand...

I had this thought too. Do you lose much when doing it this way?
 
I have been doing using a bottling bucket for my last few batches. You have to build the loss of beer into your recipe. I also transfer to a secondary, so I lose some there also. Its much easier to bottle. By using priming sugar you add a little bit back into your volume. I put my spigot as low as I could on my bucket and I tilt it when bottling. I use the left over for testing FG and quality control.
 
arnobg said:
I just did my first brew (5 gal) yesterday but I have to admit, this thread has me researching and interested in 1 gallon brewing! I may go get a 1 gallon carboy and get another batch going, why not do 1 gallon AND 5 gallon!? Seems like a great way to learn for someone like me.
Click to expand...

no reason at all you cant do both. nice thing about a 1gal batch for someone starting out is that you can get yourself a nice 1gal glass jug to use as fermenter- and it comes filled with apple juice! homemade cider is another little project that's easy to do- no mashing or boiling necessary.

and depending on whether you have a fridge to ferment, you can fit more 1 gal jugs in there vs 2.5/3/5/6.5 gal fermenters/buckets. you could literally brew a small 1 gal batch every weekend and have a constant flow of different beers to drink.

for instance, i did two last weekend, and two coming this weekend. so in about 3 weeks, i'll then i have 4 beers to sample that are only 7 days different in age. helps to have them all together at the same time as opposed to having to rely on your memory or notes when trying to decide which recipe path to stay on.
-base grains + hops
- grain variation1 + hops
-base grains + hop variation
- grain variation1 + hop variation

but you could just as easily have an IPA, hefe, saison, and pale ale going at the same time.

and if you buy kits at the brew shop for 5 gal batches, just use 1/5 of the grains and hops, etc. sometimes the grains arent separated, but all you need to do is just mix the hell out of them and take 1/5 by weight.
 
Chill my friend.
Don't get caught up in all this bulls**t.
If krausen isn't coming up through your airlock after 48 hours you should be good with an airlock.
Maintain temp, give it 3 or 4 weeks, make sure it's done fermenting and bottle it.
Don't trip.
Occupy your mind with what's going in the fermentor next. Get it ordered and get your plan in place.
Most of all, chill, enjoy a home brew and don't panic.
It's gonna be fine...
 
Well I have 24 bottles under the kitchen cabinet carbing up. The second round of bottling was smoother than the first one in term of bottle filling, I still have some issue to cap them, some do seems to be not that well capped with a side of the cap slightly up in the air ... I guess I shall see.

So far 3 batch have been done :

NB Irish red ale will get my first taste on Tuesday will have been 2 weeks in the bottle by then

15 min simcoe pale ale 6 bottles got them done this afternoon
Whole food apple cider fermented with Nottingham, 9 bottles done this afternoon too.

Both fermented product were clearly containing alcohol as I got a nice buzz drinking the left over ( maybe 1 and 1/2 cup on an empty stomach). the simcoe was clearly bitter (might be glad I have only 6 bottles of it) as for the hard cider, it's not clear at all (well I did nothing to make this happen so no surprise here), the nose was giving some fruity flavor that could not be found while drinking it, it was dry for sure (no problem here hard cider should be dry thank my french origin for normandy), now I need to be patient and let it mellow I guess I'll give it a month before popping one open.

Now I need to think about my next brew ( well two really as I have two carboy) and buy a small scale to weight the hop additions...
 
I am about to buy some stuff for doing 1 gallon batches instead of the normal 5. What size kettle is recommended, and where can I find one. I assume my 9 gallon will be too big.

Also, are the 1 gallon jugs with screw top preferred or the ones you use a #6 bung on?
 
2.5-3 gallon pot if you want to do full volume mashing. The gallon jugs with the screw caps will take a #6.5 bung but a 6 should be fine too
 
Well this is it, I just drank my first homebrew tonight, a Nb irish red ale, 2 weeks primary, 2 weeks in the bottle and 24 h in the fridge at 40. At opening there was a p****.... heard and while pourring a nice head came on, but there was no retention what so ever. On the drinking side I felt that it was over carbonated (not a huge fan of beer like that) which was unfortunately masking the taste while drinking it. Also the beer appeared thin/watery. Oh well , I'll give it another 10 days before drinking another one and will see if there is any difference.

cheers
 
I didn't get any retention on any of the NB 1 gal kits. Once I moved to doing my own recipes and priming with corn sugar that aspect improved most likely from using more specialty grains.
 
_BullDog_ said:
I didn't get any retention on any of the NB 1 gal kits. Once I moved to doing my own recipes and priming with corn sugar that aspect improved most likely from using more specialty grains.
Click to expand...

thanks for the answer.

I am not overly concerned by the head retention as this is an eye appealing part of the beer in my opinion, more by how it taste, I'll try another one next week end.

I just brewed a cream ale type of beer this afternoon and ended up with a darker wort than I was hoping for , so I should see, I will must likely put it in secondary to see how it affects the beer, and as I was going to have some left over yeast I bought some more grain and will try the centenial blond recipe from the forum and will see how it goes, I will add only half the dme at first and the rest at the end to avoid too much darkening during the boil

cheers

PS : I just pour myself a dark lager from New belgium brewerie at 40 F no head at all and obviously no retention either, that being said a nice chocolate tatse went well with my cheese, peanut and salami
 
Lepetitnormand said:
thanks for the answer.

I am not overly concerned by the head retention as this is an eye appealing part of the beer in my opinion, more by how it taste, I'll try another one next week end.

I just brewed a cream ale type of beer this afternoon and ended up with a darker wort than I was hoping for , so I should see, I will must likely put it in secondary to see how it affects the beer, and as I was going to have some left over yeast I bought some more grain and will try the centenial blond recipe from the forum and will see how it goes, I will add only half the dme at first and the rest at the end to avoid too much darkening during the boil

cheers

PS : I just pour myself a dark lager from New belgium brewerie at 40 F no head at all and obviously no retention either, that being said a nice chocolate tatse went well with my cheese, peanut and salami
Click to expand...

If you're not getting head retention on any beer, you might have dirty glasses? Do you use spot free rinse in the dishwasher?
 
arnobg said:
I am about to buy some stuff for doing 1 gallon batches instead of the normal 5. What size kettle is recommended, and where can I find one. I assume my 9 gallon will be too big.

Also, are the 1 gallon jugs with screw top preferred or the ones you use a #6 bung on?
Click to expand...

I have both types of tops. You want to make sure that you get a good seal if you use a screw top. Screw tops only fit certain jugs. I use the stopper more now.
 
BigPerm said:
I had this thought too. Do you lose much when doing it this way?
Click to expand...

Sharkbrewingco said:
I have been doing using a bottling bucket for my last few batches. You have to build the loss of beer into your recipe. I also transfer to a secondary, so I lose some there also. Its much easier to bottle. By using priming sugar you add a little bit back into your volume. I put my spigot as low as I could on my bucket and I tilt it when bottling. I use the left over for testing FG and quality control.
Click to expand...

Depending on the spigot you install sometimes you can fit a PVC or CPVC 90 fitting on the inside spigot threads as a dip tube.
 
arnobg said:
I am about to buy some stuff for doing 1 gallon batches instead of the normal 5. What size kettle is recommended, and where can I find one. I assume my 9 gallon will be too big.

Also, are the 1 gallon jugs with screw top preferred or the ones you use a #6 bung on?
Click to expand...

You can use either a 9 or 12 quart pot. It will depend upon how much pre boil volume you will have.
 
fuzzy2133 said:
Depending on the spigot you install sometimes you can fit a PVC or CPVC 90 fitting on the inside spigot threads as a dip tube.
Click to expand...

I think I used a spigot from a LBK. I really don't have much of a loss as I tip the bucket. I get some air into the last bottle but its a plastic bottle that I check to see if the bottles are carbonating.
 
hey,

I was searching for recipe yestearday and found this website that I was yet to find. I though some pf you might enjoy 1 gallon beer recipe porn ....

http://www.bullcityhomebrew.com/recipes.aspx?category=onegallon

I guess it might have been posted already. there formulation seems to make those recipe similar to the one from austin homebrew I guess.

cheer
 
A fella on the facebook page was looking for 1 gallon brewers, so I steered him here. Signed up as northumberlandmonkey. Not seeing the name anywhere?
 

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