Why do large (10+ gallon) batches?

Yakima 728
Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Why do brew large batches? Or why do you brew small batches?

  • Large Batches – I (or family/friends) drink it too fast to only do five gallons at a time.

  • Large Batches – I only like a few types of beers, so having variety isn’t important.

  • Large Batches – I don’t have enough time to brew often, so I brew big batches less often.

  • Large Batches – Bigger is always better!

  • Large Batches - I brew with a group and split the batch.

  • Small Batches – My equipment isn’t big enough for bigger batches, but once I upgrade, I’m goin

  • Small Batches – My kegs are five gallons, thus I do five gallon batches.

  • Small Batches – I like the variety of many different types of beer on tap/in bottles.

  • Small Batches – I love brewing, so I do many small brew sessions instead of a few large ones.

  • Other. Please explain.

Results are only viewable after voting.
max384

max384

Supporting Member
HBT Supporter
Joined
Sep 8, 2010
Messages
1,845
Reaction score
809
Location
Hazleton, PA
I'll start by saying this isn't meant to be a flame war or anything.

I'm just curious why some people do large batches of beer. It seems to be common advice to brewers upgrading their equipment to five gallon batches to get big enough equipment to go with 10 gallon batches, since they're likely to get there eventually.

So why do you do big batches?

Or why do you do small batches?

For this discussion (and poll), big batches are considered 10 or more gallons and small batches are considered 5-6 or less gallons. If you do between 6 and 10 gallon batches, choose 'other.'
 
Personally I only do large batches when I intend on kegging 5 for myself and bottling for gifts. That's usually around this time of year. Otherwise I stick to 5 gallon batches. I also like to make 10's when I am using a tired and true recipe. Something I know is going to turn out spectacular. :)
 
Personally, I've done a ten gallon batch before, but I prefer five gallon batches. I like having greater variety and I love to brew often.
 
Other....
I do small batches (1 or 2.5 gallon AG) because I am fairly new at brewing. I am dialing in processes and figuring out what I actually like. I don't like drinking enough to force down 2 cases of something I'm not crazy about, and WAYYY too cheap to just give it away. I don't have any kids, so a couple brew sessions a month is fairly simple to schedule with the wife.
 
When I do 10 gallon batches, it's almost always because I'm brewing with a buddy - I take 5, he takes 5, and we're both happy. The one exception to this was a cream ale I made at the start of the summer a couple years back - when I had made it the year before, I blew through 5 gallons of it, so I made 10 the following year in order to have it on hand all summer.
 
I keg and do 5g batches. I can't see myself doing 10g batches anytime soon. I like variety and can't think of a single beer that I would want to have more than 5 gallons at any one time. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of recipes I've re-brewed because I really enjoyed them, but even those I wouldn't want on tap more often than once or twice a year. Some people say they are a little sad when a keg kicks. I'm actually happy when one finally does so that I can put something else on. And that's with 3 taps available. I suppose if I had a half dozen or more taps it would make sense to have some house recipes that I kept on tap full time and for those 10g batches would make a lot of sense. But with only 3 taps, I need to keep them changing or I'll get bored.
 
sportpak said:
Other....
I do small batches (1 or 2.5 gallon AG) because I am fairly new at brewing. I am dialing in processes and figuring out what I actually like. I don't like drinking enough to force down 2 cases of something I'm not crazy about, and WAYYY too cheap to just give it away. I don't have any kids, so a couple brew sessions a month is fairly simple to schedule with the wife.
Click to expand...

To cheap to give away 75 cent bottles of beer? You need to rethink your priorities!
 
I upgraded recently to do 10+ gal at a time. I did so because I always felt that my 5 hours of work was worth more than the 5 gallons of beer I would yield. About the same 5 hours, now with 10 gallons of beer. I want to send 5 gal to bottles and 5 gal to keg of each batch. Best of all worlds. I also can afford the increase costs of the grain bill, so why not?
 
I would like to upgrade to 10 gallons eventually. But before i do that i think i need to go from a kegerator with 2 taps to a keezer with like 5 taps. Having onyl 2 taps sucks. i have 4 kegs full just sitting waiting fora turn on the tap. i'll have 2 more to add to that list in a couple weeks.
 
Other:

I usually brew with 2 or 3 other guys. Lately we've been brewing 25 plus gallons at a time. We are able to do 3 different styles. Anything less and I am not sure it'd be worth our time.
 
I currently brew 5 gal batches but it kills me to see the work I put into it gone in 1 to 2 weeks :smack:

I thought I would be able to brew enough to get a few varieties on hand but can't seem to get to that point. Maybe if I convert to kegging that would help because I do eat up time and energy dealing with bottling.

Right now, except for my son, I pretty much hoard what I brew because it disappears so fast (can't figure out why :confused: ). But I would like to give away more to neighbors than I do so I want to step up to 10 gal batches!

I'm in the market for a 20 gal brew kettle. :rockin:
 
Too much time out of my day to only do 5. I'm trying to do 12 now. Plus we drink it fast.
 
My biggest investment in a brew is time and effort. For the marginal increase in materials I'll take the doubled return on my effort that comes from a 10 gallon batch. Sometimes I can and do use all of the beer, sometimes I don't. I pour often at public events, give beer to friends, and I'm not afraid to feed less than optimal beer to the roaches, so there's never a great surplus around.
 
I like doing larger batches to split them and experiment with yeast, hops, and other additions. Not only to learn, but to have more variety with less effort. Especially since I've started doing some sour and brett beers, I'll do half "clean" so it will be ready in short time. That way I still have some sooner payoff without having to wait six months or a year for a batch.
 
Don't forget you can try different things when you ferm in dual carboys (ie, dry hop one, not the other, etc.
 
I generally make larger batches, here are some of the various reasons why

-my wife enjoys good beer as much, if not more than I do. We TRY to limit ourselves to 1 beer each on school nights. This means we kick 5 gallons in about 3 weeks or less.

10-15 gallons really doesn't take that much longer and isn't really that much harder than 5, so why not.

During the warmer months, I am usually jammed up solid with work, this makes it hard to find as much time to brew as I would like. Sometimes only once a month, so I gotta make that 1 time count. Else I am buying beer, and that gets expensive.

Variety. This is 2 part. First, if I can brew faster than I can drink, then I can have a nice diverse pipeline of beers, in kegs, bottles, and various stages of conditioning. Secondly, I can split a batch between 2 (or more) fermenters. The same grain bills can produce drastically different beers. You can take a belgian Pilsen/Vienna/munich grain bill and add german lager yeast and get a nice oktoberfest, or take the same grain bill, add roesalerre and get a nice Flemish brown. Just one example, there are countless others.

Long term storage and cellaring. I brew some big beers, as well as sours that benefit from 6+ Months of bulk conditioning. If you gotta wait that long, it's nice to know you have 10 gallons of more waiting for you. Plus having 10+ gallons on tap at the same times reduces the urge to go "test" so of the cellaring beers, because you are low on beer.

Bigger is better

I like to brew for events and give Homebrew away as gifts. It kinda stinks brewing 5 gallons, getting 3 glasses from it, and kicking the keg in a night. Yeah, it's cool that night when everyone likes your beer, kinda stinks the next day when you have no beer in reserve though.

These are some of the reasons I do it. In the cold winter months, when work slows, and I find myself with a bunch of free time, I will usually do 5 gallon batches once a week, as I can get my 8 gallon pot to a rolling boil on the stove, so I don't have to go outside. Plus, it is something to do.
 
I do 5 gallon batches and the occasional 1 gallon. I do it simply because I don't go through it very fast. My wife is pregnant so can't drink, that leaves it to me and I only drink on weekends
 
I've taken to doing 10gal boils and 5gal batches - I pick 2 different yeast strains each time. So I have 2 kegs that may or may not be similar to test and choose the one I prefer. Or sometimes if the pipeline is still full I'll get a buddy to go in and split the cost (60:40 of course :D). With my setup I tend to get higher efficiency from a 10g mash.
The biggest issue is time though. As a bachelor who always has a home project going, enjoys working on cars, smokes meats and makes sausages, and trying to make sure SWMBO doesn't feel less important than the hobbies it's hard to find enough time to brew.
 
I used to think I would never do 12g batches, then I brewed a 12g batch.

I found when I was doing 6g batches I was always "running" out of beer and never had any to spare for home brew events or parties. I couldn't justify putting the time, money and energy into a brew session and then just giving my beer away, leaving little left for me, my wife and any passer-throughs. So, I didn't really share unless people came over and would limit the amount of beer I had available during parties.

I started doing larger batches and this year and I've managed to take 3 kegs worth of beer to various events/parties/comps, have a few parties at my house and have full kegs ready to go, give people growlers of beer as gifts, etc and still have plenty of beer left over for everyday consumption.

I can also play with the batches in several ways:
-Same batch different yeast
-Cool down to 180, and run half through my CFC and ferement as is, and do a hopstand to the remaining half to experiment with hopstands
-different dry hop or dry hop vs. no dry hop
-basically, Im trying to create different beers rather than experiment to keep the variety going
 
johngaltsmotor said:
I've taken to doing 10gal boils and 5gal batches - I pick 2 different yeast strains each time. So I have 2 kegs that may or may not be similar to test and choose the one I prefer.
Click to expand...

agree.
my last 10 gallons i got 3 different beers out of. basic saison grain bill.
5 gallon into a bucket with S-04 yeast and dry hopped with 2-3 oz of cascade which went into a keg

5 gallon with wlp 550 (belgian saison), then split that into 2.5 gal on raspberries (then into bottles) and 2.5 gal into a keg with 1/4 cup of peppercorns.
3 completely different beers with 1 - 10 gallon brew day
 
As others have said we normally brew 5g batches to fill a corney but have done 10g batches where we've kept 5 and took 5 to serve at a wedding/festival/etc.
 
I've only brewed one big batch since moving to all-grain. It was so I could experiment with yeast. I split the batch and pitched two different strains. I do plan to do more big batches in the future so I can change up each half; i.e. dry-hop one, add fruit, spice, etc., ferment at different temps, whatever. I see it as a way to experiment with one aspect, while keeping most of the other variables constant.
 
For homebrewers, our biggest expense is equipment. So the best thing we can do is maximize the upward compatibility of our equipment.

I always tell people the most important decision is the size of batches you want to brew for the next 5 years and get a BK at least twice that big. Buying twice as big doesn't cost twice as much. And if you want to double the size of your brews in 5 years, you can convert that BK into a MT or HLT as part of a RIMS or HERMS.

I'm in the process of building up to a 8 - 10 gallon system. But I've been brewing two different 4 - 6 gallon batches back-to-back for a year and splitting a yeast starter between them. It gives me some economy of scale and it's easier for me to block out one day every three months as opposed to one day every six weeks.

Also, once I get the 10 gallon system up and running, I'll probably start splitting brews with my brother more often.
 
I used to brew 10 gallon batches and I figured that it doesn't take much more time, so why not? Now, unless brewing with a friend, I only do 5 gallon batches. I can't get through the beer fast enough to brew 10 and I like the variety. I also enjoy the day more now than I used to so I don't mind brewing more often. 5 gallons is also easier for me to handle (moving pots and such).
 
I brew mostly 10 gallon batches. I don't really share beer with friends- my husband and I drink the vast majority of it! That sounds like a lot, but 10 gallons is 80 pints. That's less than 2 beers per day per person in a month.

For beers I don't drink much of, like a tripel or oatmeal stout, or a Vienna lager, I will generally do 5 gallon batches.

I'd brew 15 gallons of my house beers if I had the equipment- that'd be 120 pints- perfect for 2 beers per day per person, lasting one month, at my house.

I usually have three different beers on tap, but of the kinds I like best- IPA, pale ales, hoppy ambers, etc. Those go quickly.
 
Everyone in this thread is wrong, the correct amount of beer to brew is 3.78215123542 gallons and not a drop more or less! :D

Pretty much what everyone here is saying. Economies of scale, brewing (1) 10 gallon batch takes less time than brewing (2) 5 gallon batches. Opens up the option of kegging 5 and bottling/kegging 5 for later/bringing somewhere else.

Not all styles lend themselves to brewing 10 gallons (stuff you want to drink really fresh some sort of crazy IPA), but some styles are perfect for 10 gallons (stuff you don't mind letting age like a RIS you want to watch age)

Do what works for you and don't feel like you have to listen to anyone else!

::Edit::As far as advising brewers to upgrade to 10 gallon equipment, I think that is just trying to help people avoid having to buy equipment twice if they ever want to upgrade down the line. Bigger equipment isn't that much more expensive, and it allows you the flexibility to brew both 5 and 10 gallon batches, so if you have the means it doesn't hurt.
 
I brew as much as will fit in my 8-gallon kettle (BIAB). If I had a bigger kettle I'd brew bigger batches. I'm in the market for a bigger kettle. I've never had a problem with my homebrew sitting around going stale.
 
Little to add to the above except my own 2¥:

-10 gallons pretty much same effort to brew as 5
-when I wanted to establish my perfect home brewery, I was not going to do it on the basis of a 5 gallons system (what what???) (now I've done that and I can brew 10-12 gallon batches)
-on a 10 gallon capable system, it's easier to brew a 10 gallon batch than a small batch - greater temperature stability, proportional losses to voids, hoses, chillers etc.
-one of the main reasons I like to brew is to share with friends so I almost always plan on kegging 5 and bottling 5 and giving most of the bottles away
-I can brew 5 gallon batches if I choose, but if I had built a 5 gallon system, I wouldn't have the option to brew 10
 
max384 said:
I'll start by saying this isn't meant to be a flame war or anything.



I'm just curious why some people do large batches of beer. It seems to be common advice to brewers upgrading their equipment to five gallon batches to get big enough equipment to go with 10 gallon batches, since they're likely to get there eventually.



So why do you do big batches?



Or why do you do small batches?



For this discussion (and poll), big batches are considered 10 or more gallons and small batches are considered 5-6 or less gallons. If you do between 6 and 10 gallon batches, choose 'other.'
Click to expand...


Basically the same amount of work. I just doubled my brews from 3 to 6 gal for that very reason. I split the 6+ gal of work into two 5-6 gal BB's for primary & then use 3 gal BB's for secondary before kegging in 3 gal kegs.
For me the 3 gal volumes are easier to handle.



Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew
 
Agree with Yooper, for big or less popular beers, a 5 gal makes a ton of sense. But for a pale ale or IPA, that I will pick 90% of the time - when I do 5 gals it always seems like the keg is dead at the wrong time. I keep 3 on tap and have room for 4 in my keezer. So having a house beer tap, with a backup keg ready on deck is nice. Plus I have 2 variety / seasonal taps to play with.

I do a lot of 5 gal brews, but I really want to nail down a pale and a brown to have on hand in big batches all the time.
 
I've been brewing 5 gallon batches for about 2 years and will switch to making 10 gallon batches in the near future. There are some periods of time when I'm working hard and sometimes can't find the time to brew, and since I'm starting to brew lagers and conditioning them for at least 5 months, I'd like to make ten gallon batches and start stacking up more kegs so that I can roll them out on a regular basis, i.e., I'd like to get to the point where brewing lagers 5 time year gives me about 5 gallons a month to drink and share with friends.
 
I have a keggle and it just doesn't feel right seeing it less than half full!

I am moving to fermenting in a keg (pressure fermentation) so may crank the batch up to 10 Canadian gallons (equals 12 wimpy gallons)



Tom (sorry)
 
For me it is a combination of equipment and wanting variety. I decided when accumulating my equipment to go with 5 gallon batches more often. At one time I had over a dozen different beers bottled.

Now, I end up getting lazy then my pipeline runs low, then I brew a bunch, then I get lazy again......
 

Similar threads

C
Best brewing system for 5-15 gallon batches
Replies
25
Views
1K
Ninoid
Ninoid
Gytaryst
Looking for Small Batch Fermentation Suggestions and Ideas
Replies
14
Views
1K
rizziot
R
Bobby_M
Multiple Concurrent Small Batch Brewing
Replies
37
Views
3K
mashdar
mashdar
Langerz
Batch split between multiple fermenters
Replies
8
Views
961
dperrigan
dperrigan
B
For Sale KegLand Kegmenter 7.6 gallons $100
Replies
1
Views
506
ICECREAMUCECREAM
I
Brewer's Friend 300

Latest posts

Back
Top