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Are those the fermenting lids that u dont need a airlock with?
1-Gallon Brewers UNITE!
- Thread starter JeffoC6
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Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:
https://www.northernbrewer.com/prod...MIpMLvq8v85wIVGh6tBh1RnAkaEAQYBiABEgJwiPD_BwE
i have two of these. They are glass, and 1.4 gallons which allows room for fermentation. Two of these will not cost $80. I use them for mead. They are great.
McKnuckle
Well-Known Member
Even better, for an extra $5 get one with a spigot.
https://www.northernbrewer.com/products/siphonless-little-big-mouth-bubbler-glass-fermenter
https://www.northernbrewer.com/products/siphonless-little-big-mouth-bubbler-glass-fermenter
It is shipping to Canada that bumps the cost
MentalThinking
As opposed to the other kinds.
To reply to both of you at the same time: I want the siphonless LBMB. It's the perfect size, easy to clean, and I love the look of it anyway - but, it's not available in Canada, so I need to order it, and nobody who sells it offers any sort of insurance on international shipping. So, if it arrives broken, I'm just out of luck. If I could find them here, or even find someone who'd import it with some sort of security that I'm not paying for a box of sharp glass, I'd buy two of 'em in a heartbeat.
Considering the first two reviews on the page mention cracked units, I can't see that being a safe investment for me.
The shipping for my FerMonster from within Canada is still $24. That's part of why the FerMonsters cost me close to $80 - $40 for the two FerMonsters, plus a spigot ($5x2) and stopper ($4.3x2) for each one, and I don't even really want them. I like the PET plastic so I'm not worried about shattering, but nobody - here on HBT or elsewhere - has encouraging things to say about the quality of the smaller variants.
It's looking more and more like I'm just going to buy a Mr. Beer kit from a LHBS entirely so I can get my hands on the 2 gallon LBK. I would rather something clear, but my options are limited, it seems.
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Just my two cents.
If it were me and I was basing the purchase on my experiences with my 3G fermonster, I wouldn’t think twice on the 1G. I really love the 3G siphonless version. It does feel thin and flimsy, but I haven’t had issues with leaks or cracks after the dozen or so brews it’s held. The lid can be a major pain in the ass to twist off, though. Like whoa.
If it were me and I was basing the purchase on my experiences with my 3G fermonster, I wouldn’t think twice on the 1G. I really love the 3G siphonless version. It does feel thin and flimsy, but I haven’t had issues with leaks or cracks after the dozen or so brews it’s held. The lid can be a major pain in the ass to twist off, though. Like whoa.
BrewnWKopperKat
ʘ‿ʘ
What about using two gallon food grade buckets? I brew small batches with a mix of LBMBs and 2 gal buckets and I get good results from either fermenter.
RevA
Well-Known Member
They are yes, made from foodsafe silicone. They seem to work like a baby bottle's teat, there is a cross cut in the top that the gas escapes from but it is small enough that nothing else can get in. I got them from wish.com took a month to get here, but I like using them for starters, small 1/2 gallon wine batches and to play around.
Same here. I picked up a pair of 3 gal Fermonsters about a year ago (well, I got one, and liked it enough to get a second one). At first I was turned off by the thin wall, but it really has not been an issue. I find that you can fairly easily lift them from the top (grabbing the rim around the lid) with minimal flexing. I recently picked up a 7 gal Fermonster.
That said, the Little Big Mouth Bubblers look tempting and I like the size over the 1 gal Fermonster.
Though I just had good luck with the two 3/4 gal batches I fermented in some 1 gal PET jugs that distilled water came in...$0.99 for 1 gal of water and a 1 gal fermenter is tempting too.
Buick Beer Gardens
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Tasted a 6 days bottled of this Goose Island Sweet Porter. Quite good. Will only get better with time.
Sebastian Weetabix
Well-Known Member
I have two Picos, a Model C and a S/Pro. Since I have started brewing manually, I have kicked the capacity from 1.36 gal to 1.5 gallon.
I find that I brew more and EXPERIMENT more with the smaller batches. I have ordered NB 5 gallon kits on sale and split the kits into 5 "servings" so to speak.
Most of the time I like the finished product, but every once in a while it is not what I expect. So a little research into the problem and I can make another batch.
It's a funny thing. Did y'all know that not great tasting beer that's FREE gets used up faster than great tasting beer that my neighbors don't know anything about!
Just sayin'.
I find that I brew more and EXPERIMENT more with the smaller batches. I have ordered NB 5 gallon kits on sale and split the kits into 5 "servings" so to speak.
Most of the time I like the finished product, but every once in a while it is not what I expect. So a little research into the problem and I can make another batch.
It's a funny thing. Did y'all know that not great tasting beer that's FREE gets used up faster than great tasting beer that my neighbors don't know anything about!
Just sayin'.
Mumathomebrew
Well-Known Member
For micro batching, we regularly use ordinary 2L plastic water bottles filled up to the curve, with their lids left loose instead of an airlock. Not had a problem with them except there being not enough beer when they're very nice.
treacheroustexan
Well-Known Member
Can anyone recommend a budget friendly induction cooktop I can use for one gallon batches? I'm trying to keep all my brewing in the basement and not have to use the stove upstairs when I want to do a small batch. All of them that I've looked at only have 10 or so different power levels so I'm not sure how big of a a deal that would be when it comes to mash temperature.
Sebastian Weetabix
Well-Known Member
Check around at yard sales, flea markets, thrift stores, etc and look for the NuWave (insert precious metals here!) Personal Induction Cooktop.
There are cheap and they work quite well.
McKnuckle
Well-Known Member
The 10 power levels are really fine, given the fact that you can't use electronically managed temp control. For example, this Avantco is only $45.
What I do is to dough in when the water is at mash temp (as opposed to a higher strike temperature). After doughing in, I set the cooktop for 140-160F (depends) and monitor the temp til it comes up to the desired rest temp, which takes just a couple of minutes usually.
From that point on, I drop the setting on the cooktop to minimum and monitor things with a Bluetooth thermometer. Typically, I will have to shut it off for 5 minutes a few times during an hour mash. Last time I did this, I targeted 154 as my rest temp, and kept the mash at 152-156 for the hour.
I do recirculate, which is pretty important if you're going to keep the burner on. Otherwise, just insulate the kettle and call it a day.
What I do is to dough in when the water is at mash temp (as opposed to a higher strike temperature). After doughing in, I set the cooktop for 140-160F (depends) and monitor the temp til it comes up to the desired rest temp, which takes just a couple of minutes usually.
From that point on, I drop the setting on the cooktop to minimum and monitor things with a Bluetooth thermometer. Typically, I will have to shut it off for 5 minutes a few times during an hour mash. Last time I did this, I targeted 154 as my rest temp, and kept the mash at 152-156 for the hour.
I do recirculate, which is pretty important if you're going to keep the burner on. Otherwise, just insulate the kettle and call it a day.
treacheroustexan
Well-Known Member
That's a good point about the temp control, didn't really think of that. Great advice, thank you!
I've been kicking around this idea as well since moving the bulk of my brewing into the basement. I've always chilled using a cold water/ice bottle bath, but now have an immersion chiller. Haven't test it out on a small batch yet, but is there any worry of overkill while chilling?
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IKEA has a good one for about $45. I bought mine at aldis a few weeks ago for $42. Works great
McKnuckle
Well-Known Member
An immersion chiller still takes time to bring a gallon of boiling wort down below 70F. It's certainly faster with a small batch, and wastes less water, but it is not going to blow your socks off. No need to worry about turning your wort to slush.
OnePlate
Yeast are my housepets
If you end up OVERchilling your wort, (assuming it's hooked up to a sink) you can also run some hot water through the immersion chiller it to bring it back up to pitching temp!
Ha, I guess I'm not sure what I was concerned about with my cobbled together process. Ive been doing fewer and fewer small stovetop batches anyway and I only have two more small batch recipes waiting to be brewed ( a dunkelweizen and a porter). I like my Mash&Boil set up too much.
Side note- My last lager (I think, unless I try the whole warm ferment thing) of the year is in the books. Small batch Munich Dunkel. I'm excited.
Side note- My last lager (I think, unless I try the whole warm ferment thing) of the year is in the books. Small batch Munich Dunkel. I'm excited.
OnePlate
Yeast are my housepets
For any small batch brewers still struggling with minimizing trub and hops material in their small fermenters, I've recently found large-size reusable fine-mesh (100 micron or so) nut milk bags to be the perfect small-batch wort filter. Just hang it in the opening to your LBMB or Fermonster and let it filter damn near everything out as you transfer from your kettle. Lift it out and let it drain when done and be amazed at the lack of trub!
I use whirfloc and just let my wort sit for an hour or so then siphon off the clear wort.
Funny, I have 3 one gallon batches planned over the next couple weeks and I was thinking of doing something similar.
InspectorJon
Well-Known Member
1 gallon paint strainers bags work well. They are fine enough mesh to keep a paint spray gun from getting clogged and they have really small nozzles. I have used them for brewing and making nut milk. I think they are a lot cheaper than ones sold specifically as nut milk bags.
OnePlate
Yeast are my housepets
I've been using paint strainer bags for over a year and thought they did well, but it's a night and day difference between a nut milk bag and a paint strainer for only a few dollars more.
Mumathomebrew
Well-Known Member
I used to make a lot of jams and used the ordinary cotton liners to separate solid matter from juice, but one day found some old sheer nylon net curtains in a charity shop. I cut them up into huge squares and hemmed them (you don't have to) and they are the strongest and most robust strainers. They take a ton of wringing and squeezing without breaking, they don't stain, don't hold the juice, and they dry in a flash.
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THAT'S quite clever! I've been whirlpooling as of very recently, but even a conservative quantity of whole cone hops limits that technique's usefulness...
And these puppies are just too big (my kettle has perhaps 7" of clearance for such a device)
Further, I used to use a funnel with inset filter, but the darned thing gets clogged very quickly due to the size of the tiny filter...this solves basically all of those problems! Quite elegantly, too!
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I've been looking for a good stainless tea/hop filter, and there's just no market for a ~6" tall filter - it's way too much for tea, and too small for 5 gallon batches; but this may work, and I've just purchased this, so I'll let you know if I figure out a way to secure it!
Protos
Die Schwarzbier Polizei
I love One-Gal Brewing. Smaller batches mean I brew much more often than the Five-Galloners. In the two years I'm in the hobby I brewed like 75 diffrerent beers, learning a lot of techniques. I would't learn as much if I brewed larger batches.
treacheroustexan
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Nice! I've always been curious about using those for small mashes, so I'm very encouraged to hear it works
And hell, if you ever "upgrade" to a HERMS coil, you've got your dialed-in water heater right there, no need to regulate flow in order to regulate temp!
treacheroustexan
Well-Known Member
yeah, I brew my large batches with a grainfather and it works perfectly for heating the sparge water! Can’t beat it for $30.
Is there any way to inspect the heating element on the sous vide? I've thought about this but was concerned about the lifespan, circulating sticky wort through an element that was designed for water.
Sebastian Weetabix
Well-Known Member
Usually you just twist the lower cover and remove it to inspect the heating coil and the pump impeller.
treacheroustexan
Well-Known Member
Yep just twist it off to expose the element. It’s been recommended to circulate a vinegar/water mix through to clean it after your done brewing.
Depends on the model of the Sous Vide unit. I have 2 where you can twist off the lower cover to inspect everything, and 1 where you cannot!
The ones I have where you can do that are Annova and Monoprice. The other is NutriChef, and it can only be disassembled by removing a couple of plastic pieces and then removing a couple of screws.
Note that I haven't used any of these for brewing yet. The Annova is the one I use in the kitchen, and the other 2 were bought specifically for brewing experiments. I'll probably NOT use the NutriChef one for brewing. I'm not a big fan of its construction compared to the other two.
Sebastian Weetabix
Well-Known Member
I was lucky. I found a Polyscience Professional at a yard sale for fifty bucks. A quick disassembly, a few simple repairs and I have one of the best immersion circulators on the market.
Cleaning is a simple matter of circulating hot water with vinegar to remove scale.
BIAB with a permeable membrane to minimize grains clumping on the heating coil and the pump impeller and you have a wort making machine.
Cleaning is a simple matter of circulating hot water with vinegar to remove scale.
BIAB with a permeable membrane to minimize grains clumping on the heating coil and the pump impeller and you have a wort making machine.
I use those for dry hopping in my 3 gallon kegs. I think they might be cheaper on ebay.
Your homebrew shop should be able to sell you a slotted rubber grommet that converts the lid of any bucket to accept an airlock. You just drill a small hole in the lid and slip the rubber grommet into the hole. Then an airlock fits perfectly inside the grommet. These are sold as replacement grommets for the buckets they sell with pre-drilled lids in the homebrew shops. The grommet doesn’t cost much. Like this one:
https://www.keystonehomebrew.com/product/extra-grommet-for-bucket-lid-rubber/
You can also drill a hole in the lid to fit the small drilled rubber stoppers used for airlocks in a beer bottle, I think they are 1”. I use these when I’m making a starter in a beer bottle. Like this:
https://www.keystonehomebrew.com/product/rubber-stopper-2-drilled/
An airlock is still about a buck. (Don’t expect to also get the stopper in the picture.)
https://www.keystonehomebrew.com/product/airlock-3-piece/
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