1-Gallon Brewers UNITE!

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.
JeffoC6

JeffoC6

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 12, 2012
Messages
1,053
Reaction score
94
Location
Stewartsville
I'm tired of hearing all you big boy 5-Gallon brewers telling us 1-Gallon brewers to step up. :D A lot of us brew 1-Gallon batches because that's all we have room for right now, not because we're afraid of stepping up our game. Trust me, if I could, I would, but in the meantime I'm actually really feeling the 1-Gallon game. Here's why:

Brew Day takes me about 3-4 hours, which includes cleanup.

I know one of the main points from 5-Gallon brewers is that "if you brew something amazing, you only have 10 bottles of it." My response- "Yea? So?" If I brew something amazing, chances are I'll brew something else amazing, and then perhaps I'll go back and brew that amazing beer again. And again.

5-Gallon brewers are always so quick to tell me- "Why put all that work in for just 10 beers." I'm not sure about you guys, but I don't consider my brew days as "work." I'm an insurance underwriter by day, but thoroughly enjoy cooking and now, brewing. I love the processes, and feel that it actually calms me. So work? I think not...

And lastly, I love the fact that I always have new things coming out of my pipeline. Yea, I just finished up drinking a really great IPA kit, but as sad as I may be to see it go, I can't wait to crack open my Weinstephaner Dunkel clone next! I'd rather have a few of LOTS of things than 50 of the same thing for 3 weeks.

So to all you big boy 5-Gallon + brewers out there, don't be so quick to hate on us 1-Gallon brewers. While eventually we'll graduate to your status, in the meantime, we're totally feeling what we've got going right now, and it's just as enjoyable for us, as it is for you. :rockin:

*Disclaimer*
This thread is not meant to pick a fight or evoke negativity. It is simply in jest, although, steeped in believed truths
 
I have been brewing partial extract kits 5 gallons,and I want to make a 1 gallon batch but have no idea how to either cut ingredients from a 5 gallon kit,which I wouldn't really wanna do anyways. I was thinking cutting a mr beer kit between two 1 gallon fermenters,

any ideas on that?

any ideas on making 1 gallon batches?

Thanks
 
amd133mhz said:
I have been brewing partial extract kits 5 gallons,and I want to make a 1 gallon batch but have no idea how to either cut ingredients from a 5 gallon kit,which I wouldn't really wanna do anyways. I was thinking cutting a mr beer kit between two 1 gallon fermenters,

any ideas on that?

any ideas on making 1 gallon batches?

Thanks
Click to expand...

If it's a 5 gallon recipe, just divide the recipe by 5....Beer recipes are scalable. a 1 gallon recipe is 1/5 the ingredients of a 5 gallon batch, a 2.5 gallon batch is half the ingredients of a 5 gallon batch....
 
Honestly Jeff, I haven't seen many brewers turn their noses up and small batch brewing, and if they do, we hit them with a rolled up newspaper. Over the last few years small batch brewing has been looked at as being OK....Even one gallon batches thanks to the Brooklyn Brew Kits.

The basic brewing folks I think went a long way into given 1 gallon batches cache.

Plus it's never been sneered at for wine/mead and cider makers. I gallon batches are quite common on that front.

I prefer 2.5 gallon batches for small batch beer brewing, because 2.5 gallons = 1 case of beer.

But there's nothing wrong with 1 gallon batches if folks want to brew them. In fact I'm looking for some 1 gallon wine jugs as we speak.
 
I would say the negativity towards 1 gallon brewers comes from people because of the little additional time needed to brew 5 gallons vs 1.

If 1 gallon works for you, then great keep it up. Also I wouldn't consider it stepping up, going extract to all grain is stepping it up.
 
JeffoC6 said:
I'm tired of hearing all you big boy 5-Gallon brewers telling us 1-Gallon brewers to step up. :D A lot of us brew 1-Gallon batches because that's all we have room for right now, not because we're afraid of stepping up our game. Trust me, if I could, I would, but in the meantime I'm actually really feeling the 1-Gallon game. Here's why:

Brew Day takes me about 3-4 hours, which includes cleanup.

I know one of the main points from 5-Gallon brewers is that "if you brew something amazing, you only have 10 bottles of it." My response- "Yea? So?" If I brew something amazing, chances are I'll brew something else amazing, and then perhaps I'll go back and brew that amazing beer again. And again.

5-Gallon brewers are always so quick to tell me- "Why put all that work in for just 10 beers." I'm not sure about you guys, but I don't consider my brew days as "work." I'm an insurance underwriter by day, but thoroughly enjoy cooking and now, brewing. I love the processes, and feel that it actually calms me. So work? I think not...

And lastly, I love the fact that I always have new things coming out of my pipeline. Yea, I just finished up drinking a really great IPA kit, but as sad as I may be to see it go, I can't wait to crack open my Weinstephaner Dunkel clone next! I'd rather have a few of LOTS of things than 50 of the same thing for 3 weeks.

So to all you big boy 5-Gallon + brewers out there, don't be so quick to hate on us 1-Gallon brewers. While eventually we'll graduate to your status, in the meantime, we're totally feeling what we've got going right now, and it's just as enjoyable for us, as it is for you. :rockin:

*Disclaimer*
This thread is not meant to pick a fight or evoke negativity. It is simply in jest, although, steeped in believed truths
Click to expand...

Is mocking 1 gallon brewers actually a thing? In 15 years, I've never seen someone upbraided simply for brewing smaller. Weird.

A Homebrew club I was in actually had a really fun competition - to brew one pint of beer, all grain. I have to tell you, it is a ton of fun devising a way to mash and boil in tiny quantities. I made a miniature 3 tier pyrex system, and scaled down a recipe that I had made many times. Turned out nearly identical to the 10 gallon version.
 
nbolmer said:
Is mocking 1 gallon brewers actually a thing? In 15 years, I've never seen someone upbraided simply for brewing smaller. Weird.

A Homebrew club I was in actually had a really fun competition - to brew one pint of beer, all grain. I have to tell you, it is a ton of fun devising a way to mash and boil in tiny quantities. I made a miniature 3 tier pyrex system, and scaled down a recipe that I had made many times. Turned out nearly identical to the 10 gallon version.
Click to expand...

Its not really "mocking." Its more of those comments made in random threads when 1-Gallon brewers are asking for help/scaling down/etc., ya know the one's I'm talking about: "Just brew a 5 gallon batch. If you have enough room for 1-Gallon, you have enough room for 5-Gallons." Or, "Why not just do 5-Gallons? I can't fathom putting in all that work for 10 beers."

I see it constantly, especially when asking a question. Best thing about those comments are that my original question remains unanswered hahaha.
 
Revvy said:
Honestly Jeff, I haven't seen many brewers turn their noses up and small batch brewing, and if they do, we hit them with a rolled up newspaper. Over the last few years small batch brewing has been looked at as being OK....Even one gallon batches thanks to the Brooklyn Brew Kits.

The basic brewing folks I think went a long way into given 1 gallon batches cache.

Plus it's never been sneered at for wine/mead and cider makers. I gallon batches are quite common on that front.

I prefer 2.5 gallon batches for small batch beer brewing, because 2.5 gallons = 1 case of beer.

But there's nothing wrong with 1 gallon batches if folks want to brew them. In fact I'm looking for some 1 gallon wine jugs as we speak.
Click to expand...

Also prefer 2.5 gallon batches (current equipment limits up to 3 gal brewing). Last 2 all grain batches have been 3 gallons but thinking about dropping to 2.5 gallons for numerous reasons.
 
JeffoC6 said:
Its not really "mocking." Its more of those comments made in random threads when 1-Gallon brewers are asking for help/scaling down/etc., ya know the one's I'm talking about: "Just brew a 5 gallon batch. If you have enough room for 1-Gallon, you have enough room for 5-Gallons." Or, "Why not just do 5-Gallons? I can't fathom putting in all that work for 10 beers."

I see it constantly, especially when asking a question. Best thing about those comments are that my original question remains unanswered hahaha.
Click to expand...

Ahh. I see what you mean. They're legitimate questions though - new brewers might not understand that the effort, time, and equipment involved to brew 1 or 5 gallons is about the same, and were going 1 gallon just out of timidity, which is why 5 is the standard homebrew batch. If one gallon makes ya happy, go for it, but it's unusual enough to evoke questions.

On the other hand, JUST focusing on your batch size and not answering your original question would be annoying.

EDIT: If enough people are doing this, how about a mini-batch forum category here?
 
I brew one gallon because I only have room for one. I can do up to 2.5 gallons. But the nice thing about one gallon is the cost, 8 dollars for a barleywine that would have cost 40+ for a five gallon. Plus clean up and equipment cost are pretty low. I want to move up to five or even ten gallon just don't got the room or the money. Still love this forum and all the advice here works for any size.
 
I do tons of one gallon batches and a few 2-3 gallon batches. I have a lot of recipes that need the kinks worked out of them so there's no point in having more than 10 mediocre beers sitting around. When I have a good recipe or clone to brew I normally do 3 or 5 gallons and let it add to my reserve. Honestly if I brewed five gallon batches all the time there would be too much beer in the house and I would either have to stop brewing for a long time or drink the same handful of beers for a year or so. I like variety but I don't hang out with enough beer geeks to give away that much beer.
 
nbolmer said:
EDIT: If enough people are doing this, how about a mini-batch forum category here?
Click to expand...

We've discussed it, and there's really no need. You don't do anything specifically different in brewing smaller batches, except using fractionally less ingredients. There's no special processes or special issues that require a special forum section. All grain one gallon brews are still all grain brews, extract w/grain small batch brews are still extract brews, biab are still ag brews, etc.

There's nothing inherently special or different about them that would warrant a subsection.
 
Revvy said:
We've discussed it, and there's really no need. You don't do anything specifically different in brewing smaller batches, except using fractionally less ingredients. There's no special processes or special issues that require a special forum section. All grain one gallon brews are still all grain brews, extract w/grain small batch brews are still extract brews, biab are still ag brews, etc.

There's nothing inherently special or different about them that would warrant a subsection.
Click to expand...

My suggestions were more along the lines of bringing together a sub-community of people with a common interest; properly scaled recipes, smaller equipment, etc... just an idea.
 
I have considered dropping down batch volume. I don't drink that much so 5 gallons lasts me a long long time. Even when I give it away. The only drawback I see is the increased frequency of brewing.
 
Well this post inspired me to roll up to my lhbs and find that lo and behold they sell a few ingredient kits meant for 2 gallon brews! I was excited because ever since i started I really wanted to do a mr beer but with grains. simply because of the size. they would become my personal batches! beer I share with myself and perhaps a close friend vs the 5 gallon yield that is dealt out around the office until it is gone. I love sharing my brew esp since my first one was such a hit. my second is coming along nicely. but now my third will be a 2 gallon IPA.

It isnt 1 gallon but the next best thing. my LHBS designed these to be used as a "advanced" kit for the mr beer brewers whom they supply. I have brewed 5 gallon kits 2x now and loved it but Yea today drive up to leeners and bought a IPA 2 gallon kit for 20$,cant beat the price ,mr beer no grains 15$ soo ya kno,

Kit included
2 lbs dry golden light malt extract
2 oz willamette hoppes 5%acid
a bag of carb drops
6 grams mutton ale yeast
grain bags
4oz caravienne malted barley crushed on the spot and bagged.

Was thinking of gifting this to a friend who mr beers.or making it one myself in a make shift 2-1gallon fermenters.
 
I don't make one gallon batches, because I drink my fair share! I drink 10 beers in 2.5 days, so I would have to brew more often to keep my hunger satisfied. I do make an occassional 2.5 gallon batch, but mostly I make 5 gallon batches. I give some away too, so I'm considering getting more fermentors so I can start making 10 gallon batches.
 
Normally I brew 5.5 gallon batches ... but when I'm trying to deconstruct a commercial beer I will brew smaller (1 to 3 gallon) batches so I can test out different yeast/hops combinations.
 
my pot's not big enough for a full boil (extract and grains steeping), but I've been contemplating how to test it out. thanks for the solution.

So, instead of boiling the ingredients for a 5 gallon batch and topping up my fermentor with water, I would boil half the usual ingredients for 2.5 gallon batch that then doesn't get topped up with water, correct?

What's the affect my half full bucket and carboy will have? Will there be too much air in the top half?

My drinking habits say I should stick with 5 gallon batches - can I do two half batches to get a full boil out of my half sized pot?
 
Well I'm tired of the 1 gallon brewers speaking ill of us who brew one pint at a time... ;) In all honesty, I think Ill give a gallon brew day a whirl actually!
 
I've started to do 2.5 gallon stove top batches. Very handy because it fills 12 22oz bottles. This way I can brew more beers when my kegerator and pipeline are all full.
 
heckler73 said:
my pot's not big enough for a full boil (extract and grains steeping), but I've been contemplating how to test it out. thanks for the solution.

So, instead of boiling the ingredients for a 5 gallon batch and topping up my fermentor with water, I would boil half the usual ingredients for 2.5 gallon batch that then doesn't get topped up with water, correct?

What's the affect my half full bucket and carboy will have? Will there be too much air in the top half?

My drinking habits say I should stick with 5 gallon batches - can I do two half batches to get a full boil out of my half sized pot?
Click to expand...

IMHO I would go with 5 gallon batches with top off than 2.5 full boil.

Also keep in mind boil off rate. This varies by pot, temp and time you boil. Mine is about a gallon to gallon and a half, so a full boil I start between 6-7 gallons. Cooling this is fun if you only have ice.
 
I'm going to move into all grain with small batches, and keep making 5 gallon extract batches of the first IPA I just made as a staple.
 
Just finished up my first 2 gallon batch. Mr IPA. my lhbs designed it to be used with mr beer equip, rather than a can and sugar its the same concept as brewers best, hops dry malt grains. Tons of fun. cant wait to see how it turns out
 
Yay for small batches!

love love LOVE small batches. Just put a 12 pack (16 oz) in the fridge of a double brew I did that is easily my best work, I almost drank it uncarbed! Just bottled a 12 of the same recipe Friday night and it smelled and tasted horrible!! I am hoping time heals all but my first thought was man I am glad this is not 100 beers and $100 worth of ingredients.

I have done so many tiny experiments with my recipes because I do 1 gallon. Fermenting at 61, 65, 59, etc. Adding allspice, not adding allspice. On and on, I have done nearly 30 variations of my IIPA and instead of wondering, what if I did this or that, I just go brew it. The price point is fantastic for really honing in your creativity.

And I hate the "work" arguement. I love bottles of my beer, and I could easily counter argue that me vs a 5-galloner bottling a double batch is "too much work" for me.

I also don't want to flame or start a fight, but some responses to posts on here make no sense. People state specifically they are in an apartment or small space and people still respond that they should go 5 gallon because "they will be there anyway." So I see the point of your post. Sometimes its space, sometimes its financials...but sometimes its because WE ACTUALLY LIKE 1 gallon brewing.

I have no fear of moving or dropping a carboy, I could cradle it like a football if I wanted. I got a microwave above my stove so I literally can only go to 2 gallons anyway. As for outside brewing...yes I am a wuss. Being in the Northeast this can really be a drag, even though we had no winter this year. I can brew anyday of the year and that appeals to me. My wife is forcing me to go up to 5 gallon (at least 3 gallons), giving me the credit card and free range to get whatever I want and I am still hesitent. I simply enjoy 1 gallon and experimenting in with small variables with 1 or 2 brews until I get exactly what I want. I dont need to rely on advice, I just go try it. I've even done split batches of a 1 gallon to test different yeast and dry hopping techniques. I just would never end up as experienced as I am if I started with 5 gallons.

I was at a craft bar a few weeks ago and talked to a fellow brewer of 15 years who does extract. I asked if he considered going all grain and he said it was a space and money issue. I brought up smaller batches and he hadn't even thought of that!


Edit- I also like that smaller batches make the beer more "celebratory" I only get a few so I brew for occations (the 12 pack is for my first born in two weeks!) And I simply do not drink at the rate of other homebrewers. Its still a cultural shock for me that grown men can consume 20+ beers a week and consider that normal...not saying its a problem but its not for me. I'd rather buy 3 bombers of the best beers I can get in town than a case of anything, including great beer...thats a great Friday night for me.
 
I've done a few one gallon batches before, they are a great way to do side by side comparisons of different ingredients. So usually when I make a one gallon batch I will do 2 or 3 in a day, although once I did six - that was a long day of brewing, but I definitely got a system down. And it's great to have a variety pack so that you can choose what to drink on any given night.

Here's a neat trick that I have found. Go out and by a gallon jug of water (either distilled and add salts or just buy spring water), use that for the boil. After the boil is complete, you can pour the wort back into the jug. The amount of boil-off is about right for the head space during fermentation. Just drill a hole in the cap and fix a cheap aquarium tube with a few rubber bands as a blowoff tube.

If you have a large rectangular cooler that isn't being used as a mash tun, you can add a few inches of cool water and fit up to six jugs in there to ferment. This works really well for fermentation temp control.
 
I started last year with 5 gallon batches then switched to making a few 2.5 gallon batches and brewed my first three 1 gallon batches last week. I can brew then on the downstairs stove in about 3 hours and I can experiment with them. I am currently trying out a few recipes for a good, light, summer beer and I don't want to have to make 2.5 or 5 gallons at a time! I think 1 gallon batches make you appreciate what little good beer you made, bit also allows for much more variety.
 
I'm a 1 gallon guy and love it. I have 4 primaries that I try to keep full and rotating batch to batch. I get about 9 to 10 bottles a batch. Sometimes when I taste one I'm like damn I wish I had 2 more cases of this, or like the honey sage beer I did I'm like damn thank gawd I dont have 2 more cases of this. I started with 1 BBS kit like Jeff and I thank those people for getting me started on this awesome hobby and kicking myself I didnt start sooner. I used one their kits and then bought their book and used some of their recipes but mosty get recipes from here and scale them down. I built a MLT which has helped me big time and I like my set up with what I'm doing. I don't drink a ton of beer and the wife and I are trying to cut back. Have not bought any of the BMC stuff since JAN1 and I like having 2-3 of my beers on the weekend and I'm good with that. I love the brewing process and I'm brewing every weekend to keep my pipeline going and have actually learned how to appreciate beers and their flavor profiles. If I was doing 5 gal batches I would see myelf brewing once a month and having to buy new equipment, etc. Who knows; maybe I'll move up one day but with my space and current situation I'm 1 gal for the foreseeable future.
 
I've never considered doing anything less than 5 gallons but I really recognize the experimental potential. I would have a hard time brewing enough in small quantities to keep a pipeline. Not that I wouldn't enjoy it, just not enough time in my world. Perhaps 2.5 gallon batches or split 5 gallons with different yeasts, etc.
 
I split a 2 gallon batch between two 1 gallon containers. fermented hard core first day. day 2 it looks like it just stopped. very odd,but enjoying this experiment either way it goes.Any ideas why the ferment seems to have slowed significantly in such a short time?
 
wmarkw said:
Sometimes when I taste one I'm like damn I wish I had 2 more cases of this, or like the honey sage beer I did I'm like damn thank gawd I dont have 2 more cases of this
Click to expand...

Exactly... One gallon batches are great for experimenting. I've definitely had a few where I was like, whew, glad I don't have 2 more cases of this to drink! When I get something I really like, I just scale it up to a full 5 gallon batch next time. You can accomplish a lot more learning about brewing for a lot less money. Plus, there's nothing worse than having to trudge your way through 50 beers you just don't really like.
I couldn't see keeping my "pipeline" full on solely 1 gallon batches though. I mean I'd have to brew like twice a week or more. Not that I wouldn't love that, but the wife would probably decide my obsession had gone to far...
 
amd133mhz said:
I split a 2 gallon batch between two 1 gallon containers. fermented hard core first day. day 2 it looks like it just stopped. very odd,but enjoying this experiment either way it goes.Any ideas why the ferment seems to have slowed significantly in such a short time?
Click to expand...

Small batches seem to move along a little faster sometimes IME..
 
I've been a 5 gallon guy since the beginning, but I do enjoy the 1 gallon batches for experiments or when I am busy and just need to have something fermenting around the house.:ban:
 
Woot! Small batches are the best!

Small batches are great for me because:



1- I have several cheap 1, 2 and 3 gal fermenters. There are plent more where they came from: like the water bottle Idea which was shared above.
2 - I like brewing as much as drinking. Its like creating something new with each batch. Small batchs allow for lots of creation.
3 - A 5 gal AG batch takes me most of a Saturday while a 2 gal AG brew is a short Thurday night.
4 - 2 gal batches work great on my stove top, 5 gal batches require a burner
5 - My back is getting old, 2 gal batches are so much easier on my old bones.
6 - BIAB works great for 1-2 gal AG recipes: another time / equipment saver.
7- Kegging / Bottling 1-2 gal batches is simpler and quicker for me. I'm using my old 1 gal mini-kegs again.

Thanks for the topic,

Stone
 
Just a quick note on this. A member here had the idea of using tap a draft bottles as fermenters. I tried it for 3 batches and it worked great. You can either drill out a cap ajd attach an airlock or use a drilled stopper for a growler. I tried both and the drilled stopper for the growler worked better, but both worked.
 

Similar threads

D
Small batch (1 Gallon) ingredients
Replies
8
Views
941
hotbeer
hotbeer
_Keven
Question on Fermentation heater recommendations and wyeast 3724
Replies
5
Views
611
mashpaddled
M
C
Best brewing system for 5-15 gallon batches
Replies
25
Views
3K
Ninoid
Ninoid
T
First all grain SMaSH attempt
Replies
38
Views
910
this_is_my_username
T
RagingBull
REINTRO
Replies
7
Views
250
T Murph
T Murph

Latest posts

Back
Top