I was gifted a 1 gallon Belgian Tripel. I've done the 5 gallon many times and the primary fermentation has taken up most of a 7 gallon fermenter. I'm thinking for this 1 gallon I may want to use a 3 gallon fermenter. Has anyone tried the Brewers Best 1 gallon kit in a 1 gallon fermenter? I'm thinking it will cause a mess.
1 gallon batch
- Thread starter Centrex
- Start date
Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:
All of my beer is done in one gallon containers. I need a blow off tube for 90% of them. I have a couple of tricks to help with blow off loss, but still get 4-12 ounces of loss on the batches that blow off. First I stick the blow off tube through the drilled stopper and it extends into the fermentor about 3/4 of an inch. This makes a kind of vortex around the sides of the blow off tube and helps to keep the beer in the fermentor rather than entering the tube. Second, if I have a large blow off, I don’t empty my glass that the other end of the tube is in because the extra liquid makes a little back pressure that keeps the foam thinner. After the krausen drops, I change out my blow off tubes for airlocks.
Keep your ferm temps on the low side, less activity, less vigor, less blow off.
You could start fermenting ~3 qts, keeping the rest in a sealed mason jar in the fridge for a few days and add as fermentation tapers off a little. You'll need to keep at least a pint of headspace while active, perhaps a bit less later on.
Or brew it closer toward 3-3.5 qts of volume in the fermenter, and thus keep it a bit stronger, then drink the stronger beer. You could also dilute it to the proper volume when packaging, but keep in mind, that will reduce bitterness and hoppiness (flavor and aroma) somewhat.
You could start fermenting ~3 qts, keeping the rest in a sealed mason jar in the fridge for a few days and add as fermentation tapers off a little. You'll need to keep at least a pint of headspace while active, perhaps a bit less later on.
Or brew it closer toward 3-3.5 qts of volume in the fermenter, and thus keep it a bit stronger, then drink the stronger beer. You could also dilute it to the proper volume when packaging, but keep in mind, that will reduce bitterness and hoppiness (flavor and aroma) somewhat.
ESBrewer
Well-Known Member
For 1 gallon of wort, 5 liter(1.3 gal) container would be nice during the fermentation. If you have a little bit more wort during the fermentation step, 2 gal fermenter is fine. Honestly, I think you will be fine even with 3 gal fermenter, but do not let air in the headspace (=do not open the airlock) post fermentation or it will cause a lot of unwanted oxidation. With 3 gallons of space it is unlikely to overflow. If you end up using smaller container, installing a blow off tube is a good idea to get peace of mind.
Similar threads
