1-Gallon Brewers UNITE!

[user 263363]

I think Northern Brewer used to sell plastic/PET versions but I have not seen them for months. Fermonster has one, but my understanding is that it might hold around 1.2 gals, but not as much as the LBMB.

I see now that they are no longer available on NB. I guess they were a limited run. They do have the glass with spigots though.

 

[Buick Beer Gardens]

I see now that they are no longer available on NB. I guess they were a limited run. They do have the glass with spigots though.

The glass and plastic fermenter posted few posts back is the NB without the spigot. I like it over the plastic. Wish there was a two gallon size.

 

[Buick Beer Gardens]

Hefeweizen and brown ale doing its thing.
View attachment 663505

All, if you are considering the plastic 3 gallon get the better spigot. The plastic spigot leaks. I'm getting small drips every now and then.

 

[HemanBrew]

I did my first allgrain/biab batch today. Everything went as a planned. Except everything...

Mash temperature were way too high (like 74c /165F). My preboil volume was way more I intended. I got way more boiloff and had to add water, but still got 0.5l/0.26G less beer to fermenter. And my OG was 1.080. Way more I meant it to be.

This ipa is now imperial
I hope I'll get beer out of this.

 

[ba-brewer]

Too low of volume and too high of gravity is usually better than too low of volume and too low of gravity. Could of added a bit water to fix your starting gravity.

Next try will go easier.

 

[HemanBrew]

Too low of volume and too high of gravity is usually better than too low of volume and too low of gravity. Could of added a bit water to fix your starting gravity.

Next try will go easier.

I thought about adding water after cooling, but I didn't have sanitized water (boiled and cooled) so I didn't want to risk it with tapwater.

 

[ba-brewer]

To be safe you would need to boil for a few minutes then cool.

current_gravity/new_gravity*current_volume = new_volume, if you added a quart of water you would of been down to 1060.

​

 

[jimdkc]

If there is not too much air in the bottle one can add a little clean water. Then there is always the 200ml bottle.
View attachment 663017

Thanks for this! Been looking everywhere for small re-cappable bottles! After seeing this post, I found that my local Target carries Fever Tree mixers!

 

[Mumathomebrew]

I've used the fever tree bottles before too for the last bit. Especially when brewing in the 2L water bottles. A gallon is better though because it makes six 500ml bottles not two and a half.

 

[InspectorJon]

Do you guys use bottling bucket or do you use siphon to transfer your beer to bottles?

I have done both. Mostly siphon to another container to mix priming sugar then siphon to bottles with a bottling wand. For the NEPIAs that are so susceptible to oxidation I siphon directly from fermenter to bottle putting 1/2 tsp table sugar in each bottle and fill to within 1/2 inch of the top to minimize oxygen exposure. Beer stays fresh and bright for several weeks using this method.

 

[Buick Beer Gardens]

I have done both. Mostly siphon to another container to mix priming sugar then siphon to bottles with a bottling wand. For the NEPIAs that are so susceptible to oxidation I siphon directly from fermenter to bottle putting 1/2 tsp table sugar in each bottle and fill to within 1/2 inch of the top to minimize oxygen exposure. Beer stays fresh and bright for several weeks using this method.

1/2 tsp sugar works well with all types of brew?

 

[BongoYodeler]

1/2 tsp sugar works well with all types of brew?

I've used this priming sugar method on one gallon batches of red ale, stout, porter, and ipa and it's worked flawlessly. I used a level 1/2 tsp for the red ale and ipa, and a heaping 1/4 tsp for the stout and porter.

 

[InspectorJon]

1/2 tsp per 12 oz will give approximately 2.4 volumes of CO2. It is not as exact as measuring by weight but it will get you close.

 

[Buick Beer Gardens]

Hefeweizen and brown ale doing its thing.
View attachment 663505

The hefeweizen FG is 1.010. Two weeks fermenting. A week ago smelled like swamp/sulfur. I understand this can occur with a hefeweizen. The taste was kind of bland really. Although, a burp after drinking the brew tested with the hydrometer revealed a banana/hefeweizen taste. I bottled 12 oz in 10 bottles for conditioning. Currently sitting at 70-71 degrees doing something!

 

[HemanBrew]

Question about boiloff:

My preboil gravity is correct, but I loose more water in boiling than I planned.
I add water at 10mins so my water amout is what I thought it would be?
If I do this, do I hit or miss my target FG?

 

[Dwight]

Question about boiloff:

My preboil gravity is correct, but I loose more water in boiling than I planned.
I add water at 10mins so my water amout is what I thought it would be?
If I do this, do I hit or miss my target FG?

I would think you should hit the same FG now. The sugar is still there regardless of boil off. Without addition, final and ABV would be slightly higher, right?

 

[HemanBrew]

I would think you should hit the same FG now. The sugar is still there regardless of boil off. Without addition, final and ABV would be slightly higher, right?

Ok. This is what I thought too. No sugars vaporate with water.

 

[CascadesBrewer]

Giving my 3 gal Fermonsters a try for a couple 3/4 gal hop sampler batches. The Fuggles vs EKG showdown!

 

[HemanBrew]

Giving my 3 gal Fermonsters a try for a couple 3/4 gal hop sampler batches. The Fuggles vs EKG showdown!

View attachment 665556

What about that huge headspace!?! Oxidation?

 

[ba-brewer]

I seen someone did the calculation for co2 production and a 5gal batch generate enough CO2 to purge several corny kegs so that should be OK.

A large head space seems to be more sensitive to chilling cycles for me, seen the airlock want to reverse so I try to limit it if possible.
​

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

What about that huge headspace!?! Oxidation?

My "hop sampler" batches (six packs) are not around long enough to develop off flavors due to oxygen exposure. The good ones remain good for a couple of weeks. The bad ones get dumped quickly.

 

[CascadesBrewer]

What about that huge headspace!?! Oxidation?

Hopefully it is not an issue. I will likely not open the fermenter until I am ready to bottle and just give fermentation some extra time to finish.

These ones better? My Friday night plans changes and what is a guy to do...but brew some more beer?? The Hallertauer vs Hersbrucker shootout. (I will admit that the German hop naming convention confuses me.)

The motivation for these batches were 1) I am planning to brew a few Belgian beers this year and wanted to try out some common hops 2) I have some harvested WLP530 that I want to build up and 3) I wanted to see how I liked WLP530 in a Single-style beer (I loved it in a Dubbel last year). WLP530 can be an aggressive fermenter, so hopefully I have enough headroom in these. I will swap to a bung and airlock once fermentation starts to slow.

These are just 1 lb Pilsner DME, 3.5 quarts of water pre-boil (to target 3 quarts post boil), 20 min boil with 0.5 oz hops at 20 min, and 0.5 oz hops at 2 min. The other batches were the same with just using Pale Ale DME instead.

 

[ba-brewer]

Hopefully it is not an issue. I will likely not open the fermenter until I am ready to bottle and just give fermentation some extra time to finish.

These ones better? My Friday night plans changes and what is a guy to do...but brew some more beer?? The Hallertauer vs Hersbrucker shootout. (I will admit that the German hop naming convention confuses me.)

The motivation for these batches were 1) I am planning to brew a few Belgian beers this year and wanted to try out some common hops 2) I have some harvested WLP530 that I want to build up and 3) I wanted to see how I liked WLP530 in a Single-style beer (I loved it in a Dubbel last year). WLP530 can be an aggressive fermenter, so hopefully I have enough headroom in these. I will swap to a bung and airlock once fermentation starts to slow.

These are just 1 lb Pilsner DME, 3.5 quarts of water pre-boil (to target 3 quarts post boil), 20 min boil with 0.5 oz hops at 20 min, and 0.5 oz hops at 2 min. The other batches were the same with just using Pale Ale DME instead.


View attachment 665651

I have a collect of seasonal yeasts that is starting to get challenging to keep current. I thought instead of doing full batches I would start doing some small batches to verify the yeast is true instead of full sized ones. The first two were a simple bitter with a single hop addition. Was actually surprised how good the first two came out. I did a 20min boil of 1.5gal and split it between two fermenters. Sure makes for a quick brew day.

 

[Buick Beer Gardens]

Goose Island Sweet Porter....

 

[Buick Beer Gardens]

Cracked open a Hefeweizen from a gallon brewer. One week carbonation. More clove then banana. However, banana finish. I have a way to go in brewing an exceptional beer.

 

[Buick Beer Gardens]

First 48. Most active brew I have made to date. Maybe a blow off tube is necessary. Keeping tabs on that. Goose Island Sweet Porter.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

Maybe a blow off tube is necessary. Keeping tabs on that.

So far, I haven't needed blow-off tubes when I brew 1 gal batches in Little BMBs.

 

[Buick Beer Gardens]

So far, I haven't needed blow-off tubes when I brew 1 gal batches in Little BMBs.

Me either. I love this BMB. Just checked it. All is well. Bubbling and swirling like mad! Hope it turns out well.

 

[BongoYodeler]

So far, I haven't needed blow-off tubes when I brew 1 gal batches in Little BMBs.

Me either. When I do 1 gallon batches I typically add the wort right up to the line just above where the temperature strip is on the above Pic. I think that's right around 1.25 gallons. Never had a blow out yet. I usually use US-05 and ferment at around 63 degrees F. until most of the extremely active fermentation subsides.

 

[Buick Beer Gardens]

Me either. When I do 1 gallon batches I typically add the wort right up to the line just above where the temperature strip is on the above Pic. I think that's right around 1.25 gallons. Never had a blow out yet. I usually use US-05 and ferment at around 63 degrees F. until most of the extremely active fermentation subsides.

Love 1 gallon brewing!

 

[OnePlate]

Maybe a blow off tube is necessary. Keeping tabs on that.

You probably won't need a blow-off. I frequently fill my Little BMBs to the top of that last ridge or sometimes a bit further and I only sometimes need a blow-off and that's because I use yeast with large krausens, such as Voss or Wyeast 2565. It's amazing how much beer you can fit in those little things. 12 full bottles is easily doable.

 

[ba-brewer]

wyeast 3522 Belgian Ardennes yeast is another that might be hard to do without a blowoff tube.

 

[McKnuckle]

Hey, did you steal my fermenter? And my beer?!

Here's an oatmeal stout trial recipe in the works. WLP004 (Irish ale) is pretty much done with active fermentation after only 3 days.

Little BMB FTW!

 

[Leezer]

I didn’t realize they came with a spigot. I love my Little BMBs , but a spigot sure would be handy.

 

[BongoYodeler]

I didn’t realize they came with a spigot. I love my Little BMBs , but a spigot sure would be handy.

I noticed that too. I don't believe that was an option when I bought my three. They do seem to be located a bit higher than I would have preferred, at least they look a bit high to me.

 

[McKnuckle]

I've only bottled from mine once so far, but the spigot height was fine. You can let it ride until the last bottle, then just prop up the opposite end and gently tilt it to fill. When finished, all the crud is left behind and only a splash of beer. I initially played around with fitting a pickup tube on the inside, but simple proved best in this case.

They call this the "siphonless" BMB, BTW.

 

[Immocles]

Dry hopped my mosaic pale ale. This is why I need one of those fancy little bmbs....

 

[Immocles]

Just racked that pale ale over to my ukeg. I now understand why mosaic is so popular. Wow. And crystal clear as well.

 

[Buick Beer Gardens]

Hefeweizen and brown ale doing its thing.
View attachment 663505

Wow! The Hefeweizen has been carbonating for just shy of two weeks. Been in the frig since last night. I offered a bottle to try to my daughter and her boyfriend. I wanted an opinion. They both said the beer was crisp and the best Hefeweizen they have had. He polished off two more in short order. It's a good feeling.

 

[MentalThinking]

I absolutely adore the look of those LBMB's - though when I went looking to see if any Canadian retailers stocked them, I came up empty. I don't suppose anyone in Western Canada has got a hookup?

I also found some (admittedly old) posts from a few different homebrew sources that talk about LBMB like they're accidents waiting to happen - can anyone here who uses them for their one gallon brews attest to the current iteration's value?

I'm looking to start brewing for literally the first time come spring, and I'm doing my research before I get started - the plan is to keep it simple and do stovetop BIAB. I've read a great deal on the topic - here and elsewhere - and I'm positive it's the best method for me.

I'm thinking I'll brew, ferment, and then bottle directly out of the fermenter to keep my equipment and space requirements to an absolute minimum. I'd love input from other space starved brewers as I get ready to gear up!