My buddy received a Brooklyn Brewing 1-gallon kit as a gift. We brewed it together a few weeks ago. Next weekend I plan on bottling it. I will have received an auto siphon and bottling wand for that size (3/8" tubing) that I ordered on Amazon. That darn kit doesn't come with that stuff and there's no way I'm going to start a siphon by sucking on the hose, as they "recommend." In any event, when I bottle 5-gallon batches I just boil up the 5 oz. of priming sugar with 2 cups of water, cool and rack beer on top of that sugar solution. However, given that the spout of my bottling bucket is an inch or so above the bottom of the bucket, I fear I'll lose like 1/8 (1 beer) of my new brew if I were to transfer that 1-gallon bucket into my regular bottling bucket. Should I just siphon from the glass jug directly into my sanitized bottles? If so, would you recommend just using 1 oz of priming sugar and 1/3 cup of water, or do any of you have experience with carbonation tablets that might be easier?
How do you bottle your 1-gallon batches?
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PackerfaninSanDiego
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I'm in the same boat. I have a small auto-siphon and I plan to hook up my bottle filler to it. I will rack it into another 1 gallon jug just so leave all the very little bit of trub behind.
RandallFlag
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I've made close to a dozen of their 1 Gal batches and love them. I bottle right out of the primary after a quick cold crash. I simply drop a fizz drop into each bottle (2 in a bomber) and let 'er rip. Comes out perfectly IMHO.
I started with 2 gallon batches, though now mostly I make fives. I always bottle prime, usually using Domino Dot sugar cubes. I like a bit more carb than they provide, so I add one small Brewers Best Carb tab. Those are the ones that come 250 in a bag, and take 3 or 4 in a bottle. Sugar cubes come in two sizes, the bigger ones won't fit. The smaller ones are 196 per pound.
A few thoughts... Instead of sucking on the tube to start the siphon, you can always fill the tube with water/sanitizer and then place (quickly) into your beer. Gravity should pull the water out of the tube and then the beer subsequently.
It sounds like you can calculate the correct amount of priming sugar, so don't stress too much if you know what volume of beer you will have. That being said, stay away from the tablets. I've used twice and actually threw away the remaining tablets yesterday (after sitting in my supplies for 2 yrs unused). The tablets I had were not uniformly sized and had pieces broken off - not as consistent from bottle to bottle for me anyway.
As for that potentially lost 1/8 of the beer, you can always tip the bottling bucket up on it's side for that last little bit. Other than that, just turn it up and drink it on the spot as a way to celebrate bottling 7/8 gallon of beer, ha!
One last thought, find a 1-gallon growler, add the priming sugar solution to that and just rack into the growler. done (mic drop)
It sounds like you can calculate the correct amount of priming sugar, so don't stress too much if you know what volume of beer you will have. That being said, stay away from the tablets. I've used twice and actually threw away the remaining tablets yesterday (after sitting in my supplies for 2 yrs unused). The tablets I had were not uniformly sized and had pieces broken off - not as consistent from bottle to bottle for me anyway.
As for that potentially lost 1/8 of the beer, you can always tip the bottling bucket up on it's side for that last little bit. Other than that, just turn it up and drink it on the spot as a way to celebrate bottling 7/8 gallon of beer, ha!
One last thought, find a 1-gallon growler, add the priming sugar solution to that and just rack into the growler. done (mic drop)
RandallFlag
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Can't believe I never considered this. Perfect when you want to have somebody(ies) over and run through approx 8 to 9 beers without all of the bottling.
Golf clap on the mic drop, btw.
I put a spigot on a 2 gallon bucket and conventionally bottle from there after transferring. I usually use the fizz drops for carbonation. For 3-5 gallon batches I use a normal size bottling bucket. Trying to bottle off of an auto siphon is a major PITA.
PackerfaninSanDiego - 1) enjoy today's game. As a former Lions fan, I'm pretty anti-Packer, but enjoy your game today. Rodgers is damn good, even with a bad calf. 2) Your kit must have been different from mine - "little bit of trub" Wow - mine is like 2" at least at the bottom of the glass jug and given it's only 1 gallon, that's a lot of the percent. Of course, we didn't strain the kettle's content, as I normally do with a 5-gallon batch, so that's probably why. That's the thing though - I'm not sure exactly of the volume. I'm GUESSING it would be about 7/8 of a gallon. Sportpack - my idea was to have an autosiphon on one end and on the other end, instead of just the regular tube, I'd attach it to the 3/8" bottling wand I have on order from Amazon. Wouldnt that make it easier or no? I'd assume the auto-siphon would keep the beer coming, but it would only be dispensed when the bottling wand was pressed against the bottom of the beer bottle, just like a 5-gallon bottling day.
vincentAlpha
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I used to just rack from primary to another 1 gallon jug (I had 3-4 that I got for free from a local restaurant's recycling), added priming sugar to the bottling jug first of course, transferred then used my autosiphon. I always got 11 12oz bottles, just short of a 12 but I mainly did test batches of cider with the jugs so not a whole lot on the bottom.
PackerfaninSanDiego
Member
Former Lions fan? Hope you are not a Bears fan.....I racked about a week ago and there was about 2" trub. Now there is a residual amout
To avoid losing several ounces in the bottom of the bucket when I make my 1 gallon experimental batches, I drilled a 7/16" hole as low as possible in a 1 gallon bucket. I then yanked a piece of 1/2" vinyl hose thru the hole and attached my bottling wand and bottle as usual. I get about every drop.
Skrazybrews
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For 1 gal batches I'll either use the autosiphon to bottle just out of primary (or secondary if I'm already using one).
