Gearing Down

[Gytaryst]

My first batch was a Brewers Best extract kit partial mash brewed on the kitchen stove in a 32 qt aluminum tamale steamer I got at Walmart for $21. I fermented it in a plastic bucket with a wet t-shirt over it. I "Geared Up" from there to 3 vessel, (15.5 gallon keggles), all grain, building up water profiles from ro water, milling the grain, temperature controlled fermentation and kegging in 5 gallon corny's. It's been a blast. The education has probably been the most rewarding part of it all. I find every aspect of making, from growing grain, malting, yeast, water, techniques... it's the most satisfying hobby I've ever engaged in.

All that said - the 6 to 8 hour brew days, lugging around 1/2 barrel kegs, 20 gallons of water, large heavy amounts of wet grain to deal with, bigger burners, bigger this, heavier that, took it's toll. I'm not as young as I was and brew day kicked my butt. Not only that, but the end result was 5 or 10 gallons of beer that cost a pretty good chunk of money to make, (and quite frankly was not always worth the hassle and expense that went into it). I started brewing less and less, not because I was bored with home brewing, but the actual physical aspect just wasn't that fun. More stuff to clean, (I hate the cleaning part).

After months of agonizing I finally told the wife that the chances of me brewing again were slim to none so I was just going to sell everything off. I put the 3 keggles with the propane burner and the brew stand on craigslist for $300. When the guy came to pick it up I loaded up his SUV with everything I had in my garage. He actually had to come back the next night to pick up what he couldn't fit in his car the night before. He's a young guy just barely getting into it. I told him if he had any questions to not hesitate to get a hold of me and I'd be happy to pass along anything I've learned over the years. I wished him a Merry Christmas and turned around to enjoy my empty garage.

He has texted and emailed me several times with all kinds of questions about this or that. And by discussing this stuff in detail for the past few days I have revitalized my urge to brew. My wife laughed saying "I TOLD YOU SO!" But what I decided was that I want to scale down and brew 2 gallon batches that I can do in an afternoon on my kitchen stove and then just stick everything in the dishwasher when I'm done. After surfing around online it suddenly occurred to me that I could scale down even further and do 1 gallon batches. That's roughly 10 beers, which is plenty. No matter how good the beer is I get bored drinking the same thing. When I buy beer I usually buy the mixed 6 packs or 12 packs, or I buy individual beers. There are just too many beers to try and I can only drink so much.

Anyway, to make a short story even longer, I was just curious how many of you have scaled back to small batch BIAB brewing and have you found any major drawbacks?

 

[cmybeer]

When I was really heavy into brewing I scaled down to 2.5 gallon all grain batches which is what I found to be the sweet spot. You're stove top should be able to handle it and it gives you enough beer that you can enjoy and share. When I get questions about 1 gallon batches my first comment is always about time vs. output. If you think spending that amount of time (which is roughly the same as a 2.5 gallon batch) is worth the output then go for it. I would personally get a kettle that could handle either just in case you change your mind.

As for your question about draw backs I'd say that the major one is people getting frustrated figuring out their process. What crush do you need, now much boil off do you get, what's your efficiency, how well can you maintain mash temp, are you going to sparge or do a true BIAB, how can you hook up your chiller, and how do you get you bag out without making a huge mess? I use Beersmith which helps me track all of that stuff and after a few brews you should get your process down but for the first few it doesn't hurt to have a brewing calculator on hand with some DME just in case.

When I do it I try to make it as simple as possible, full volume mashes with no sparge, and just adding some grain to supplement loss of efficiency. Boom! Done! It's really a great winter option too if you live in the cold like I do.

 

[kh54s10]

You will have to find the balance that works for you. If I went to one gallon batches, yes it would save some cleaning time. But the actual brew day is not much different. Then you have to consider your consumption. I would need to brew 5 times as often as I do now, so for me it just wouldn't work. I do brew 2.5 to 3 gallon batches occasionally. When up north it was in the winter when too cold (for me) to brew outside. Now in FL. I did one this summer so I could stay inside in the A/C.

 

[TwistedGray]

In similar fashion I was brewing about 30 gallons at a time earlier this year (6 different 5 gallon batches), and it got stupid. I am pretty sure that I still have beers from this year collecting dust in the garage. The wake up call to me was similarly that I like variety, and yes I had a variety of six different beers to choose from...it was not enough.

Since then I scaled back, and now the largest volume I brew is about 2-2.5 gallons. I still do 1 gallons all the time because it's only 8-10 beers. I will say the shitty part is that when you make something you really like, to then only have a few beers of it kind of sucks. On the flip side, it allows you to continue to learn, grow, experiment, and most importantly brew more!

My current setup which is slated to change soon depending on Misses Clause is a 5 gallon stainless steel kettle, a BIAB bag, and a handful of carboys (bung/airlock/bench capper/bottles/etc.). That will keep your brewing footprint to a minimum while still letting you play

 

[Gytaryst]

I was considering 2 gallon batches and looking at what equipment I'd have to buy, (5 or 6 gallon pot). Then I realized I can do 1 to 1.5 gallon batches with what I have in the kitchen right now. In fact I can do two 1 gallon batches at the same time.

It's a shame there's not a lot of equipment geared to small batch brewing. When I started out I focused all of my efforts and money on the brewing side of things and all but ignored the fermentation side. If I knew then what I know now I would have done things the other way around and focused more on fermentation. Technically speaking beer making doesn't begin until the yeast is pitched; everything leading up to that is just prep work.

I'm looking into converting a 6 or 8 quart stainless steel pressure cooker into a primary fermentation vessel so I can do closed transfers. Then maybe three or four 1 gallon mini kegs or something like the 128 oz Mancan for draft. But as odd as it sounds I'm also really looking forward to getting back into bottling. I prefer bottle conditioned beer and resisted the urge to switch to kegs for years. But finally I'd had enough of washing, filling and capping 50+ bottles every batch, and there always seemed to be consistency issues with the carbonation. Ten bottles at a time seems like a breeze and it seems like it will be easier to get consistency. Most of my brewing is big Belgian (Trappist style) beers, so I'm looking forward to sticking a few from each batch away and letting them age.

 

[TwistedGray]

@Gytaryst
Most of my 1 gallon fermenters are simply repurposed apple juice containers (glass), and I made hard cider first.

Look at the Torpedo kegs for smaller batch sizes if you want to keg.

Bottle condition - 1/2 teaspoon of white, table sugar to each 12oz bottle (scale accordingly). You can easily individually measure each of those bottles and go straight from fermenter to bottle without a bottling bucket or similar. This is what I do; although, I do utilize my bottling bucket as well (to avoid trub)...but you don't necessarily have to.

 

[Gytaryst]

@Gytaryst
Most of my 1 gallon fermenters are simply repurposed apple juice containers (glass)

I thought about that. Primary fermentation needs a little head space so I wasn't sure how a 1 gallon vessel would work for a 1 gallon batch. You also leave behind the trub and yeast cake which cuts into that 128 ounces even more. But mostly, I want to be able to do closed transfers from primary to secondary or keg, and then bottle from a keg. Those are all things I was working toward with my bigger system and I want to keep the quality control up as high as possible on smaller batches.

I've watched a few youtube videos on small batch brewing and they all seem to be pretty sloppy and careless, geared to newbies who are just getting started.

Look at the Torpedo kegs for smaller batch sizes if you want to keg.

Yes I like those 1.5 gallon ones, but @ $80 a whack they're pretty proud of them. I'm probably going to go back to bottling 80% of what I brew. I do like draft beer so I'll keg some, but I want something I can just stick in the fridge, (like the 64 ounce ManCan with the CO2 cartridge/tap set up).

Bottle condition - 1/2 teaspoon of white, table sugar to each 12oz bottle (scale accordingly).

Yeah, I have 3 or 4 pounds of Dextrose in the pantry. I considered doing each bottle individually at one time, but with a 5 gallon batch it seemed like too much work. It's probably the way to go on 1 to 1.5 gallon batches though.

I found a 2.5 gallon glass pickle barrel online pretty cheap. I might grab a couple of those for primaries.

Either way, it's nice to have the enthusiasm back. Looking forward to this "scaled down" phase of the journey. At my peak a few years ago I was brewing 8 to 10, 5 gallon batches a year. That tapered off. I brewed 3 batches this year. Doing 1 gallon batches that means (in theory) I could brew 40 to 50 batches for roughly the same cost. That's 5X the variety, 5X the experience, 5X the learning...

 

[Bubman]

I brew 1 and 2 1/2 gallon batches. Years ( decades ) ago I brewed mostly 5 gallon batches. Quit for lack of enthusiasm because like you said I hate the cleaning and bottling part.

Brewing smaller batches has given new life to the hobby for me. I like variety and trying new recipes so doing a 1 gallon biab is a great way to see what I like, then make it in a 2 1/2 gallon batch.

I have a 8 gallon pot and a 12 qt pot for the gallon batches. All brewing is in the kitchen, clean up is a breeze.

I mostly keg with torpedo kegs and have a 3 tap kegerator. Occasionally I will bottle a 1 gal batch. I have a mini fridge and can get two fermonsters or little big mouth bubblers in at a time although like you eventually I would like to go SS and do pressure transfers. Your idea of converting a pressure cooker sounds interesting!

I think you will absolutely enjoy brewing small batches.

Good luck and CHEERS!

 

[TwistedGray]

I thought about that. Primary fermentation needs a little head space so I wasn't sure how a 1 gallon vessel would work for a 1 gallon batch. You also leave behind the trub and yeast cake which cuts into that 128 ounces even more. But mostly, I want to be able to do closed transfers from primary to secondary or keg, and then bottle from a keg. Those are all things I was working toward with my bigger system and I want to keep the quality control up as high as possible on smaller batches.

Understood - Yes, for ciders you don't need headspace, but I'll still pour a small glass of "soft" cider for myself just because.

Yes I like those 1.5 gallon ones, but @ $80 a whack they're pretty proud of them. I'm probably going to go back to bottling 80% of what I brew. I do like draft beer so I'll keg some, but I want something I can just stick in the fridge, (like the 64 ounce ManCan with the CO2 cartridge/tap set up).

That being the case, then why not go straight from the fermenter to the bottle? You could then avoid the secondary. I don't see the logic of transferring from primary to secondary to then just bottle. Sure, a one gallon batch is likely not going to yield one gallon of beer due to trub/cake as you also noted, but we're talking a rather minor loss. Does it really matter if you get 9 instead of 10 bottles?

Yeah, I have 3 or 4 pounds of Dextrose in the pantry. I considered doing each bottle individually at one time, but with a 5 gallon batch it seemed like too much work. It's probably the way to go on 1 to 1.5 gallon batches though.

I was still priming each bottle on 5 gallon batches. The added time was negligible for me...what's a few more minutes in the grand scheme of things anyways. But yes, priming 10 bottles goes a lot faster than 50.

 

[soccerdad]

My friends are outrageously stupid, obnoxious, dog turds who drink adjunct Mexameranadian lagers. Therefore my beer is mostly for me and a couple of awesomely cool people. I do three gallon batches and have 4 three gallon cornies. It's pretty managable.

 

[NewJersey]

I'm just going back to 5 gallons from 10.
10 was just too much.
Even 5 is too much, but we have plenty of people to share with and all my cornies (a dozen of em) are 5 gallon and i like the idea of having extra.
if i dump a gallon i wont be sad about it, lol

 

[wiggybrewer]

I'm just going back to 5 gallons from 10.
10 was just too much.
Even 5 is too much, but we have plenty of people to share with and all my cornies (a dozen of em) are 5 gallon and i like the idea of having extra.
if i dump a gallon i wont be sad about it, lol

2.5-3 gal. is my sweet spot. A one gal. batch takes about the same amount of time as 3 gallons. As a case of beer go's pretty quick for me.

 

[Christophrawr]

I've been doing 1 gallon BIAB for the last year, brewing almost every weekend. I have 4 1 gallon glass carboys (the clear jugs) that are in constant rotation. Well until I started sours last months... gonna need more fermenters.

Anywho from the original post it sounded like you wanted the downscale to make your life easier but then you go into things like transferring under pressure and setting up a mini keg system again. My opinion is you'll be creating more work and more equipment to clean and sanitize with all these extra cool toys and steps. Like mentioned above, ask yourself if the extra work is really worth it to you for 8-10 small bottles. If it is then go for it, like you said it's the entire hobby that's rewarding not just the end product. For me brewing almost every weekend means I spend a lot of time on the hobby that I don't want to create extra steps or things to clean each week plus the extra costs involved with having a kegging system for something I'm going to drink/share fairly quickly. Force carbonation has had me reconsider this though many.. many times...

Advice!!
-Ensure you buy equipment suited for small batch (refractometer for the OG, appropriate sized kettle, small autosiphon, tiny syringes and scale for the water chemistry)
-Don't get a kettle that's too big for the intended batches thinking "maybe one day I'll want to brew a 5g batch." I tried using my 10g kettle for a 1g batch and it was a disaster for many reasons. If you do 1-2.5 gallon batches stick with a 4-5 gallon kettle. And you don't need no bells or whistles on it like an attached thermometer or valve. Keep it simple!
-Don't waste your money on the cool toys that help with larger volumes like a wort chiller. With 1-2 gallons you can chill it in 15 minutes by giving it a good stir in the sink with an ice bath. Plus most of the chiller won't even be touching the beer with such a small volume.
-Since you can lift the bag with one hand easy have your grain pail beside your kettle with a kind of cookie cooling rack thingy on top of it. After the mash move the bag of grain ontop of the bucket and let it drip and cool, then squeeze the hell out of it and dump back into the kettle.
-I use a 2 gallon bottling bucket with a spigot and bottling wand for bottling. Also on bottling day I am able to fit all my equipment plus bottles!! into my star san tub that's only using .5 oz of star san. So awesome.
-You should be able to get 70-75% BH efficiency with BIAB, using Beersmith really helps. When you get your new kettle test it for your boil off and ensure you put everything into your new equipment profile and update it each brew until you've nailed your efficiency. Make sure you set up the loss to trub as 0

 

[OzarkPA]

This thread is awesome - exactly what I was looking for. I bought a 128oz uKeg last year and haven't even used it, but wanted to do a smaller biab to force carb a gallon at a time in the uKeg. Sounds like I need to get familiar with beersmith to scale down recipies. I don't mind doing a 3 gallon ferment, but since my uKeg is just 1 gallon, can I keep the rest of the uncarbonated, fermented beer in the fridge in a 1-2 gallon container until carb time? Would a screw cap be ok, or should it still have an air lock?

 

[Christophrawr]

This thread is awesome - exactly what I was looking for. I bought a 128oz uKeg last year and haven't even used it, but wanted to do a smaller biab to force carb a gallon at a time in the uKeg. Sounds like I need to get familiar with beersmith to scale down recipies. I don't mind doing a 3 gallon ferment, but since my uKeg is just 1 gallon, can I keep the rest of the uncarbonated, fermented beer in the fridge in a 1-2 gallon container until carb time? Would a screw cap be ok, or should it still have an air lock?

I'd say siphon from the fermenter into the ukeg and just leaving the rest in the original vessel. Purge the fermenter before putting airlock back on.

 

[OzarkPA]

The last batches I've done, I was following the Palmer book and fermented in the primary for 3wks - month before racking out to bottles. IIRC, he said that there were secondary products being broken down in the primary long after co2 was being outgassed. If I go back into the primary, then I'm guessing it would be better to clean out the trub and clean first?

 

[Christophrawr]

Just siphon the 1 gallon out into your mini keg and leave the rest in primary. No going back and forth, should be fine if sanitize all your racking equipment.

 

[chickypad]

@OzarkPA my main concern would be oxidizing the remainder of the batch if you're brewing 3 gal but only kegging 1 gal at a time. I'd probably fill the keg then bottle the rest . You can try purging the headspace but getting down to really low O2 levels will be difficult, especially if the primary is not a pressure vessel like a keg.

As to the OP's original question, a couple yrs ago I downsized almost exclusively to 3 gal stovetop BIAB batches (2.5 gal finished) and couldn't be happier. I then sold my flat sculpture this summer with 20gal brew kettle and 15 gal MT/HLT and haven't looked back. It was just getting to be too much beer and I wasn't brewing as frequently as I wanted. I still keg and do closed transfers with my 3 gal better bottles, I just use really low pressure like 1-2 psi for it. I mash in my old 5 gal stainless pot from the extract days. I do usually dunk sparge in a cheap tamale pot for everything but the smallest beers in order to get a full 2.5 gal finished in the keg, but that is really minimal extra work I find. I'm brewing more frequently, the beer is better than ever, and brew day doesn't seem like such a big production as it used to. No drawbacks or regrets for me.

 

[small_b_brewing]

I haven't downsized, but I have resisted pronounced pressure to upsize!

I love my 2.5 gallon stove top batches. But I'm part of a pretty competitive, passionate homebrew club, every time I am with those folks, someone is suggesting how I can upscale my process. I DON'T WANNA! This system works for me, I brew about once a month and thats enough. I have my keg on for about 2 months, usually 2-3 kegs rotating. Its great for time, variety and alcohol conception.

The great thing about homebrewing is that there is something for everyone, glad you re-found your joy!

 

[CascadesBrewer]

For whatever reason I have been skipping this thread based on the title...but it touches on things I have been thinking about. I recently got back into brewing and have been brainstorming about ways to brew smaller batches on my kitchen stove. I am thinking this would be mostly to experiment (new hops, new recipes, etc.) and maybe brewing smaller volumes of high gravity beers.

It's a shame there's not a lot of equipment geared to small batch brewing.

I know. It seems like often enough if the item for a 5 gal batch is $80, the one for a 2 gal batch is $70 (kegs, fermenters, etc.). I do see quite a number of 1 gal brew kits...but...

2.5-3 gal. is my sweet spot. A one gal. batch takes about the same amount of time as 3 gallons. As a case of beer go's pretty quick for me.

My GF got a 1 gallon brew kit. It just seems like so much work for maybe 8 bottles of beer. I really think the sweet spot for small batches is in the 2 to 3 gal range. You can get 5 gal pots cheap, and boiling 2-3 gal of liquid on the kitchen stove is pretty doable...all grain BIAB seems very doable.

Does anybody sell a 1.5 gal glass jug? At least that would give enough headspace to get a full 1 gallon of finished beer. I might pick up a few 3 gallon carboys (I would prefer not to ferment in plastic). Walmart had a few 2 and 2.5 gal glass containers, but I would have to figure out a lid/airlock strategy:
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Anchor-Hocking-2-5-Gallon-Glass-Barrel-Jar/46887356
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Anchor-Hocking-69372MN-2-Gallon-Glass-Heritage-Jar/16486707

I have also wondered if you could convert a cheap stainless pot into a fermenter.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Mainstays-12-Quart-Stockpot-with-Lid-Stainless-Steel/37320202

Edit: An interesting thread on fermenting in SS Kettles. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/diy-stainless-steel-fermenters.490055/

 

[Bubman]

Does anybody sell a 1.5 gal glass jug?

I have 2 of these and love them.

https://www.northernbrewer.com/collections/big-mouth-bubbler/products/little-big-mouth-bubbler

 

[CascadesBrewer]

I have 2 of these and love them.

Those do look nice. I wish they were a tad cheaper, but look like a solid product.

I stopped by Walmart and picked up one of the 3 gal SS pots linked in my last post. Worse case is I spent $9 on a pot that I can use for pasta instead of pulling my 5 gal pot out of my brew supplies...best case I have a small batch ss fermenter for $12. This thing is cheap and thin and I had to silence that Michigan-born side of me that says to buy quality American union made products...it is made in India BTW. That first 2.5 gal glass jar I linked looked nicer than I expected. The lid seemed to made a nice fit and it would be very easy to drill a hole and stick in an air lock.

 

[Gytaryst]

I just bought the 2.5 gallon glass pickle barrel at Walmart. I decided to go with 1.5 gallon batches. Using BeerSmith to calculate everything I should end up with roughly 1.1 gallons to package. I'm also looking at this:

https://redheadoakbarrels.com/aging-barrel-store/5-liter-oak-aging-barrels/

I just figured up a Russian Imperial Stout with a 1.093 OG and only need 4.5 lbs of base malt. I'm actually stoked about brewing again, (first time in years). The down side is that I can't buy anything right now because my wife wanted Christmas present ideas . I'm hoping to get this. If not I'll have to order it Christmas afternoon.
https://www.northernbrewer.com/collections/mini-kegs/products/party-star-deluxe-tap-system

I wish I would have stayed with small batches from the start. I thought about it way back when I was starting out but convinced myself I needed to go the three vessel 1/2 barrel 5 to 10 gallon batch route. I don't regret it; it was a lot of fun and a great leaning experience. But I got burned out on it and lost the joy of brewing for quite awhile. Deciding to try small batch brewing has reawakened the passion I used to have. I haven't been this enthused about brewing in years.

 

[Bad Bubba]

I do 2-2.5 gallon batches for testing and also for brews that I probably won't drink as much. Allows me to get exposed to different styles even though it may not be a style that would be my go to drink. I have come up with a pretty good setup for me to do these small batches.

I use a 24 quart kettle that I bought at Walmart for $59 (more expensive because I wanted it to be induction capable). I use my Sous Vide heater for the mash (~$100 at Amazon but I had it already)

I then used an induction cooktop for the boil (About $70 on Amazon).

I also use a 3 gallon fast ferment fermenter ($50 on Amazon).

It makes for a fairly easy brew day, with everything done on the kitchen counter. Clean up is fast and easy.

 

[wilserbrewer]

The lid seemed to made a nice fit and it would be very easy to drill a hole and stick in an air lock.

Just my opinion, but I wouldn’t bother with an airlock and trying to gasket the kettle lid.

When I kettle ferment, I just place the lid on the kettle, then create a seal by merely taking a sheet of plastic and draping it over the kettle / lid, then wrap a string twice around the kettle and secure it tight....the plastic sheet inflates and indicates positive pressure during fermentation...

Simple but effective

 

[applescrap]

My first batch was a Brewers Best extract kit partial mash brewed on the kitchen stove in a 32 qt aluminum tamale steamer I got at Walmart for $21. I fermented it in a plastic bucket with a wet t-shirt over it. I "Geared Up" from there to 3 vessel, (15.5 gallon keggles), all grain, building up water profiles from ro water, milling the grain, temperature controlled fermentation and kegging in 5 gallon corny's. It's been a blast. The education has probably been the most rewarding part of it all. I find every aspect of making, from growing grain, malting, yeast, water, techniques... it's the most satisfying hobby I've ever engaged in.

All that said - the 6 to 8 hour brew days, lugging around 1/2 barrel kegs, 20 gallons of water, large heavy amounts of wet grain to deal with, bigger burners, bigger this, heavier that, took it's toll. I'm not as young as I was and brew day kicked my butt. Not only that, but the end result was 5 or 10 gallons of beer that cost a pretty good chunk of money to make, (and quite frankly was not always worth the hassle and expense that went into it). I started brewing less and less, not because I was bored with home brewing, but the actual physical aspect just wasn't that fun. More stuff to clean, (I hate the cleaning part).

After months of agonizing I finally told the wife that the chances of me brewing again were slim to none so I was just going to sell everything off. I put the 3 keggles with the propane burner and the brew stand on craigslist for $300. When the guy came to pick it up I loaded up his SUV with everything I had in my garage. He actually had to come back the next night to pick up what he couldn't fit in his car the night before. He's a young guy just barely getting into it. I told him if he had any questions to not hesitate to get a hold of me and I'd be happy to pass along anything I've learned over the years. I wished him a Merry Christmas and turned around to enjoy my empty garage.

He has texted and emailed me several times with all kinds of questions about this or that. And by discussing this stuff in detail for the past few days I have revitalized my urge to brew. My wife laughed saying "I TOLD YOU SO!" But what I decided was that I want to scale down and brew 2 gallon batches that I can do in an afternoon on my kitchen stove and then just stick everything in the dishwasher when I'm done. After surfing around online it suddenly occurred to me that I could scale down even further and do 1 gallon batches. That's roughly 10 beers, which is plenty. No matter how good the beer is I get bored drinking the same thing. When I buy beer I usually buy the mixed 6 packs or 12 packs, or I buy individual beers. There are just too many beers to try and I can only drink so much.

Anyway, to make a short story even longer, I was just curious how many of you have scaled back to small batch BIAB brewing and have you found any major drawbacks?

Haha, I started the same as you! And I am also a guitar player. I would still be brewing in that tamale pot if I wasn't worried about marring my new stove. Only very recently I actually got a hydrometer. Brewing quick is my thing and I generally make 5 gallons in 2 and 1/2 hours. I don't know why everybody loves Brewing so much I can't stand it. I have been clear about that from the get-go. I love to drink beer, and I like the idea of making beer, but I don't get off on Brewing at all. I heard a comment recently that someone couldn't wait to brew the next day it was like Christmas morning. I am the exact opposite.

A 1 gallon batch shouldn't be too hard. There are some really cool colanders that go right over the top of the kettle so you can pull the bag and put it right in the colander. Also you can use a wench to help with larger batches. But yeah making one gallon should be pretty enjoyable and easy.

It's too expensive but I keep leaning towards DME. Check out the basic Brewing 15-minute pale ale videos. DME is created through an evaporative process so it doesn't really need boiled. You bring the stuff up 2 temp while soaking some Crystal malt and then pull the malt at a hundred and seventy degrees. Then you start a 15-minute boil with the Hops. A little ice bath in the sink and Away you go. Hell just ferment in the kettle. There is absolutely no good reason why beer cannot be fermented in the kettle. I would do that but my larger batches are too hard to carry around and down the steps. Another good option is a zymatic. It's really not a question of if but when I end up with one of those. Also a grainfather is another good option. I eventually set up a very easy 220 volt system, because I wanted to get my Brew days down to two and a half hours. Well if I could help you any let me know.

 

[applescrap]

I think you will love my newest recipe. It's called Daddy's Orchard. It's really hard to make, I buy Member's Mark apple juice and then pour a little out and put the yeast in. Then I put the cap back on screwing it not all the way tight. After I kill the yeast I am just pouring it straight into the keg and back sweetening with black cherry juice.

 

[CascadesBrewer]

Just my opinion, but I wouldn’t bother with an airlock and trying to gasket the kettle lid.

Giving that a try now. I brewed up a "test" batch of beer using some old grains that I planned to dump. My plan was to just try my first small batch BIAB on my stove to test my equipment, measurements, and process then dump the wort...but it just looked good so I figured I would throw in some hops and yeast and test my fermenter too.

It is hard to get scale in the picture, but this is just a 3 gallon pot that Walmart sells for $9. Honestly I think that with just some more clips, it would hold enough pressure to support an airlock.

 

[C-Rider]

My first batch was a Brewers Best extract kit partial mash brewed on the kitchen stove in a 32 qt aluminum tamale steamer I got at Walmart for $21. I fermented it in a plastic bucket with a wet t-shirt over it. I "Geared Up" from there to 3 vessel, (15.5 gallon keggles), all grain, building up water profiles from ro water, milling the grain, temperature controlled fermentation and kegging in 5 gallon corny's. It's been a blast. The education has probably been the most rewarding part of it all. I find every aspect of making, from growing grain, malting, yeast, water, techniques... it's the most satisfying hobby I've ever engaged in.

All that said - the 6 to 8 hour brew days, lugging around 1/2 barrel kegs, 20 gallons of water, large heavy amounts of wet grain to deal with, bigger burners, bigger this, heavier that, took it's toll. I'm not as young as I was and brew day kicked my butt. Not only that, but the end result was 5 or 10 gallons of beer that cost a pretty good chunk of money to make, (and quite frankly was not always worth the hassle and expense that went into it). I started brewing less and less, not because I was bored with home brewing, but the actual physical aspect just wasn't that fun. More stuff to clean, (I hate the cleaning part).

After months of agonizing I finally told the wife that the chances of me brewing again were slim to none so I was just going to sell everything off. I put the 3 keggles with the propane burner and the brew stand on craigslist for $300. When the guy came to pick it up I loaded up his SUV with everything I had in my garage. He actually had to come back the next night to pick up what he couldn't fit in his car the night before. He's a young guy just barely getting into it. I told him if he had any questions to not hesitate to get a hold of me and I'd be happy to pass along anything I've learned over the years. I wished him a Merry Christmas and turned around to enjoy my empty garage.

He has texted and emailed me several times with all kinds of questions about this or that. And by discussing this stuff in detail for the past few days I have revitalized my urge to brew. My wife laughed saying "I TOLD YOU SO!" But what I decided was that I want to scale down and brew 2 gallon batches that I can do in an afternoon on my kitchen stove and then just stick everything in the dishwasher when I'm done. After surfing around online it suddenly occurred to me that I could scale down even further and do 1 gallon batches. That's roughly 10 beers, which is plenty. No matter how good the beer is I get bored drinking the same thing. When I buy beer I usually buy the mixed 6 packs or 12 packs, or I buy individual beers. There are just too many beers to try and I can only drink so much.

Anyway, to make a short story even longer, I was just curious how many of you have scaled back to small batch BIAB brewing and have you found any major drawbacks?

I've been doing 2 gallon batches for years. I get about 3 six packs. Mash in a 5 gal collman cooler, boil in a 6 gal SS pot on a propane burner. Ferment in 2 gal paint buckets from HD. Nothing to heavy to lift, I'm now 75.

 

[Bubman]

Walmart had a few 2 and 2.5 gal glass containers, but I would have to figure out a lid/airlock strategy:
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Anchor-Hocking-2-5-Gallon-Glass-Barrel-Jar/46887356
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Anchor-Hocking-69372MN-2-Gallon-Glass-Heritage-Jar/16486707

I was looking at the barrel jar at Walmart the other day. I just picked up 2 -1 1/2 gallon torpedo kegs and they would work great for that size batch.

Have you tried one of these yet?

Was wondering about the lid and seal, looks like coated cardboard of some type.

 

[RM-MN]

Walmart had a few 2 and 2.5 gal glass containers, but I would have to figure out a lid/airlock strategy:
Was wondering about the lid and seal, looks like coated cardboard of some type.

Saran wrap and a rubber band is all you really need. Stretch the saran wrap over the top and hold it in place with a rubber band. If necessary, use a pin to poke a hole in the saran wrap.

 

[applescrap]

Sounds good. I like this kind of work. Clean, simple, and effective.

Reminds me I heard a brewer talk about using bags in his bucket. They provided some extra seal, are sanitized and clean up is a breeze. Need to look into that again. Problem was only big lots iirc. It was on experimental brewing with a well known hb guy from la.

 

[Sadu]

That thing about 1 gallon taking nearly as long as 5 gallon is a myth.

Sure, a 1 hour boil is going to take an hour, no getting around that. But actually bringing a brew from mash temps to a boil, you'll never get faster than a 1 gallon batch. I can hardly get a dunk sparge done by the time the wort is boiling.

Likewise cleaning is a lot simpler and faster. Less surface area, simpler gear, it's very easy. You can bottle a batch in 20 mins.

1 gallon brewing is made up of lots of bite size tasks, which are very easy to fit into your day. No, it's definitely not 5 times faster than a 5 gallon brew, but it's also not "basically the same" amount of time either as a lot of people seem to imply.

At the end of the day you need to find the balance that works for you.

One thing I'm gonna throw out there is partial mash brewing. All the advantages of a smaller brewday but more beer. IMO a well made partial mash brew is no different to an all-grain brew. The ingredient costs are quite a bit higher though.

 

[ryanm8]

I do 2 gallon batches and I don't find it a chore at all. Everything is done in my kitchen. I can do all grain on all but the biggest brews. I use a 5 gallon kettle.

 

[Gytaryst]

I've been doing 2 gallon batches for years. I get about 3 six packs. Mash in a 5 gal collman cooler, boil in a 6 gal SS pot on a propane burner. Ferment in 2 gal paint buckets from HD. Nothing to heavy to lift, I'm now 75.

I do 2 gallon batches and I don't find it a chore at all. Everything is done in my kitchen. I can do all grain on all but the biggest brews. I use a 5 gallon kettle.

The small batch idea was kind of an after thought. I considered doing small batches when I started but was drawn to building the 3 vessel, 15.5 gallon converted keggle system. In retrospect I got as much enjoyment out of learning how to build the system as I did learning how to brew beer.

The long brew days kicked my butt. After a day of bending, stooping, walking and slinging keggles around I can barely walk the next day. Add to that the fact that I'm the only one who ever drinks the beer I make... So I finally came to the difficult decision of giving it up and I got rid of all my stuff. alized when he said he didn't know anything about it he wasn't lying. He asked questions about basic stuff I assumed was common knowledge for anyone whether they brewed beer or not.

Only after I got rid of everything did the idea of doing small batches pop into my head again.

I haven't 100% settled on a batch size. It will depend on what I decide to use for fermentation. I was looking at those 5 liter mini kegs for packaging, but I also think I can do more with the 2.5 gallon ball lock corny kegs.

I was a bit rash getting rid of "everything" so I'm starting over from square one. On the bright side; the equipment is a lot cheaper for small batches and I already have a good idea on how to do things so I won't have to waste as much money on trial and error.