2 Gallon Kits?

[JVHBass]

Hi,
I'm new to homebrewing and have just finished my first brew. Its been in the bottle for about two weeks so I will be trying it tonight. Now I'm looking for my next beer to brew. I have the beginner 2 gallon kit from Homebrewers.com and was looking for more than the 15ish 2 gallon kits they offer. Does anyone know of any other places I can find 2 gallon kits? Can I use a Mr Beer recipe without using the Mr Beer kit?

Thank you!

 

[boostsr20]

Hi,
I'm new to homebrewing and have just finished my first brew. Its been in the bottle for about two weeks so I will be trying it tonight. Now I'm looking for my next beer to brew. I have the beginner 2 gallon kit from Homebrewers.com and was looking for more than the 15ish 2 gallon kits they offer. Does anyone know of any other places I can find 2 gallon kits? Can I use a Mr Beer recipe without using the Mr Beer kit?

Thank you!

Make your own recipes. Austin homebrew supply or brewmasterswarehouse have what you need. Just look at the recipe section here and scale it down. Or just buy a 7 gallon bucket and start making 5 gallon batches. You can use bottled spring water to top off partial boils.

 

[JVHBass]

Thats what I hope to get to eventually but I want to start off slowly with kits so I can get the hang of it. I saw a few kits from Midwest Supplies (specifically Lawnmower de Saison) and was wondering could I get a kit like this and scale it down? Would any of the ingredients, besides yeast, go bad if I only used 40% of them and put the rest aside to use again on the next batch?

 

[JVHBass]

I hope to eventually make my own recipes but I'd like to brew from kits for the next few batches just to get the hang of it. I checked out Midwest Supplies and found their Saison kit and am interested in that. My question is will any of the ingredients go bad? I plan and only using 40% of each ingredient since I'm only making a 2 gallon batch and the recipe calls for 5 gallons. I think I would need to order a new pack of yeast but would the grains and such go bad if I stored the unused ingredients in ziploc bags?

 

[jeffd10]

My old Friend Mr Beer?
Mr.Beer - beer kits, home brewing systems, and microbrewery supplies - Home

 

[Desrever]

I would use these

 

[lumpher]

Hi,
Can I use a Mr Beer recipe without using the Mr Beer kit?

Thank you!

absolutely, you can. it's not designed for the mr beer kit; it's just designed for the mr beer quantity ( 2 gallons ). you can also use 1 of the big cans from any online store or any homebrew store ( 3.3 lbs ); it'll just be a little stronger, as it's designed for 2.5 gallons, so 2 cans can make 5g

 

[Nova5]

look into the recipes section of MrBeer, there are kits that have you add hops, spices, etc. some are really good. the Mr beer fermenter is just a 2.5gal plastic bucket effectively.

 

[JVHBass]

Sorry for the double post above, I didn't know if the first one would go through. I'll take a look at the Mr Beer recipes for sure.

Does anyone know what ingredients from a 5 gallon kit, such as the saison from Midwest Supplies, would go bad if I brewed them in two 2 gallon batches? I'm pretty sure the yeast would but what about the grains and such?

 

[tennesseean_87]

Look at the ingredients in the kit you want from Midwest. Take note of the quantities of each item (besides yeast). Then go to https://www.brewmasterswarehouse.com/ and make your own recipe. Don't be scared, you aren't really making your own recipe, just scaling down the one Midwest already made. Enter the ingredients (amounts scaled down) into the brewbuilder they have and adjust the size of the recipe to 2 gallons. The numbers like OG, FG, etc. should be really close if you've done this correctly. Again, Midwest has done the hard part by making a tasty recipe, you're only scaling to the size you want.

 

[boostsr20]

I agree. Do you want me to post an easy Saison recipe for you? I've done tons of allgrains with all kinds of different Saison yeast. I can easily make you a good extract recipe.

 

[Revvy]

Buy any five gallon kit (preferably one with dry malt extract, since it'll be easier to measure out) get a cheap 20 dollar scale and cut the recipe in half for a 2.5 gallon batch. 2.5 gallons is exactly one case of beer, that's why a lot of folks who brew small batches like me brew 2.5 gallon batches.

 

[JVHBass]

I agree. Do you want me to post an easy Saison recipe for you? I've done tons of allgrains with all kinds of different Saison yeast. I can easily make you a good extract recipe.

Thanks for all the replies! I'd love an easy saison recipe!

 

[C-Rider]

I do 1.75 gal brews in 2 gal buckets from Home Depot.
2-Gal. Bucket (150679) from The Home Depot

I bought BeerSmit software and Designing Great Beers. With that combp I can find out what goes into a style and then come up w/my own recipe and have a great variety of brews in my fridge.

I get about 18 bottles per brew. I'm using a 7.2 cu. ft. freezer from COSTCO and doing all grain BIAB. Right now I have 3 brews fermenting one week apart and 3 brews in the fridge conditioning.

 

[boostsr20]

Thanks for all the replies! I'd love an easy saison recipe!

When I do all grain batches I like to use a mixture of base malts as thats what a lot of traditional saisons use.

You could do

2lbs Briess Golden light DME
1lb Munich Liquid LME (its 50/50 munich and 2row)

.5oz kent golding at 60min
.5oz kent golding at 15min
1oz French Strisselspalt at 5min
Wyeast French Farmhouse 3711

That recipe at 2 gallons would be around 7-7.5%abv with a nice dry spicy finish and around 30-35 ibu's. The 3711 is a great yeast for simple saisons. Its not tempermental at all as far as stuck fermentation and its fine to ferment up to 85 degrees with no off flavors. I'd also try and steep 1lb of rye in there as well for color and flavor, you won't get much in the way of fermentables but rye is very nice in a saison. You could also change the extracts and do 1 lb of each Golden light dme/Wheat dme/Munich lme. Wheat is nice in a saison as well.

 

[domno25]

My cousin owns a brew shop in Sacramento. He was saying a lot of his guys that really like the Mr. Beer kits, will buy an extra kit. Then when they want to try a recipe that only comes in 5 gal batches, they will cook it all in the same pot but poor it into two Mr. Beer buckets. I know that they directions say you should only fill to the line on the Mr. Beer kit, but you could fill it a bit higher as well, just don't put it up to the rim or you will have a sticky mess all over your counter. It really is a learning proccess in the begining though. Experiment a little. Don't strive for perfection at first, just strive to learn, improve and enjoy. Good luck