1-Gallon Brewers UNITE!

[sumbrewindude]

IMO, the best thing about small batch brewing (other than the fact that I get to have a TON of different bottles in the basement to pick from and load up a 6pk container for the fridge upstairs) is the freedom to experiment and try things that are completely out of style for little cost. Some of these recipes I've seen on here with 10+oz hops on one 5gal batch, I can do the same thing with 3 - and still have extra left over for a separate brew later on. And honestly, I'm not a huge hop guy anyway so a little goes a long way for me.

The other really cool thing I've discovered about a lot of the recipes I've made, they're all built around 1.5gal - so scaling up is a breeze - a 24pack (3gal) or 36 (4.5gal) and they fit easily in my carboys with plenty of room for fermenting.

I suppose if I felt the need to have that kind of volume available I'd be looking at more-more-more, but I enjoy the craft more than the quantity.

Hard part comes when you make something really good, and then have to decide how to ration the few bottles you have, but hey - it's only beer.

 

[Eddiemk4VW]

Somebrewindude, that was very well put sir.


Smoke signals

 

[sumbrewindude]

You know what? Another awesome reason to small batch brew - you get to do crazy, off the wall crap like this soon to be done experiment:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f14/be...al-lithuanian-brewing-no-boil-hop-tea-368766/

How many large volume guys are going to line their tun with hay and assorted non-sense then no-boil a beer to open ferment for the sake of BEER!

:rockin:

Need to get out to the farm for some supplies and find some time to make that monster.

 

[Scout001]

IMO, Hard part comes when you make something really good, and then have to decide how to ration the few bottles you have, but hey - it's only beer.

+1 Once you hand out a couple bottles, have a couple friends over and they try it, then sit down to enjoy...your last bottle. I just dropped $150 2x for buckets, 2x better bottles, an autosiphon, and grain for a 2.5 gallon Edworts Haus Ale . Dont get me wrong, I started on 1 gallons and got hooked off 1 gallons, but I recently learned...if your gonna put in the time, do a bigger batch. Id rather dump 2 gallons of swill, then run out of something bomb after only my 3rd trip to the fridge lol.

But....

I just put a summer wheat in cold crsh couple hours ago, I have a choc. Stout on week 2 of conditioning, and a grapefruit ale starting 72 degree ferment on week 3. All 1 gallons and I am still going to keep those 1 gallon boys full. My 2 cents

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[sumbrewindude]

I hear you, Scout001.

I've got two 4gal carboys (that I'm using with 1.5gal right now for fun and headspace games) that are destined for 3gal batches once it warms up a bit. I still need to figure out why the burner is acting stupid and bypass the timer on it - but it's stinkin' cold out in the garage and I could just as soon whip out another two batches on the stove.

Come summer I hope to have a few "keepers" I'll scale up, I've already got a few pokes for the ESBee I did but I'm not totally happy with the recipe yet so I've got to tweak it.

Not to mention looking into an induction system so I can get off the coil top and into something with some boil power!

 

[Scout001]

I hear you, Scout001.

I've got two 4gal carboys (that I'm using with 1.5gal right now for fun and headspace games) that are destined for 3gal batches once it warms up a bit. I still need to figure out why the burner is acting stupid and bypass the timer on it - but it's stinkin' cold out in the garage and I could just as soon whip out another two batches on the stove.

Come summer I hope to have a few "keepers" I'll scale up, I've already got a few pokes for the ESBee I did but I'm not totally happy with the recipe yet so I've got to tweak it.

Not to mention looking into an induction system so I can get off the coil top and into something with some boil power!

You using a turkey frier? Mine has a timer on the burner, I just reset it every 10 mins or so

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[Beersnob16]

I hear you, Scout001.

I've got two 4gal carboys (that I'm using with 1.5gal right now for fun and headspace games) that are destined for 3gal batches once it warms up a bit. I still need to figure out why the burner is acting stupid and bypass the timer on it - but it's stinkin' cold out in the garage and I could just as soon whip out another two batches on the stove.

Come summer I hope to have a few "keepers" I'll scale up, I've already got a few pokes for the ESBee I did but I'm not totally happy with the recipe yet so I've got to tweak it.

Not to mention looking into an induction system so I can get off the coil top and into something with some boil power!

Was the esbee recipe for a 1 gallon batch and if so would you be willing to post it here? I would love to brew something like that and if it is a hit scale it up to 5 gallons.


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[sumbrewindude]

Scout001 - Right now I'm using the coil top on our Hotpoint. It can boil, but with large volumes it takes it's merry time. I got an unused turkey kit at a garage sale a year ago and we use the burner for canning, but the pot's been sitting idle so it's definitely got a purpose now. I've never used either for beer yet, as I need to bypass the PITA timer (easy enough, just haven't had time) and look into the regulator/jet (can't get a strong blue flame out of it, but it's been sitting out in the garage and it's a cheap Chinese burner). I'm thinking the cheap regulator may be my issue, but I'll play with it this summer as propane costs right now are through the roof up here.

Ideally, I'm going to go induction - wiring in a 220VAC outlet is easy, and being able to brew indoors in the cold is awesome.

Beersnob16 - It's for 1.5gal and should clear about 1.3-1.35gal into the bottling bucket, should be enough for 12 bottles and an 8oz vol for the hydro/sampler.

It's still a work in progress - I'm trying to tweak it in, honey malt is some powerful stuff.

XP EALE - ESBee - Extra Special/Strong Bitter (English Pale Ale)
========================================
Batch Size: 1.437 gal
Boil Size: 2.343 gal
Boil Time: 60.000 min
Efficiency: 70%
OG: 13.9 P
FG: 3.6 P
ABV: 5.5%
Bitterness: 38.2 IBUs (Tinseth)
Color: 13 SRM (Morey)

Fermentables
======================================
Name Type Amount
Simpsons - Maris Otter Grain 2.750 lb
Simpsons - Crystal Dark Grain 5.000 oz
Oats, Flaked Grain 4.000 oz
Honey Malt Grain 3.000 oz
Total grain: 3.500 lb

Hops
======================================
Name Alpha Amount Use Time Form IBU
Kent Goldings 4.8% 0.250 oz Boil 20.000 min Pellet 8.0
Kent Goldings 4.8% 0.250 oz Boil 5.000 min Pellet 2.6
Warrior 16.2% 0.140 oz First Wort 60.000 min Pellet 27.5

Yeast
=======================================
Name Type Form Amount
Safale S-04 Ale Dry 0.194 oz

For some reason the copy/paste to the clip board screwed up the hop additions so watch the times - Warrior is FWH, EKG is 20min/5min

Take your first runnings and boil for 10min to caramelize, then add the second runnings/FWH and start the boil.

Warning ** It's a work in progess - still trying to get it where I want it, and if you follow the ESB standard it's light on the hop side (which is fine for me as I want more balance than face slapping hops) **


Have fun!

 

[Beersnob16]

Thanks. I'm gonna brew this up next weekend.


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[sumbrewindude]

NP, let me know what you think!

 

[HumboldtBrewer]

So I've been getting incredibly low efficiency with my BIAB 1-gallon process. I am wondering if anyone does this similar process and gets at least 75% efficiency? I've consistently been getting 60% and it's cramping my style.

Here's my process:
Add grains in a bag to a pot with my strike water. Stir until all clumps are gone and I hit the mash temp. I then stick the pot in a preheated oven to keep the mash temp.

Once the mash is over (60 minutes), I squeeze the grain bag into the mash pot and move it to a second pot with a strainer, then I take the wort and run it over the grains slowly (vorlauf). I then move the grain bag with strainer back to the original pot which is now empty, and run my sparge water over the grains slowly, then I move my grains and strainer to my empty boil kettle and sparge the grains one more time with the original sparge water. Squeeze the bag, add first runnings to second runnings and begin boil.

With this process I am consistently getting 60%. I do not own my own grain mill yet but that's coming shortly, so my LHBS does my milling. That being said, when I do my all grain 5 gallon batches with my mash tun cooler, I get 75 to 82% efficiency, so not sure it's my LHBS grain mill setting.

Thanks for the help in advance.


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[GeorgiaMead]

Why the "vorlauf"? After I mashin I stir every 15 min so 4 times for a 60 min. Then I mash out, And then I rinse the grains using 175 degree water (what I call a redneck sparge). This process I usually get high 70's or low 80's


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[mirogster]

Exactly, why the 'vorlauf'??It's really not needed in BIAB! Mash with approx. 1.70 qt/lbs ratio. Calculate the rest of the needed volume. Sparge with it (dunk sparge), and all should be good. This way I'm mostly hitting 75-80 % efficiency.
Btw. maybe you should prolong the mashing, to at least 75min or even 90min. This also should help a bit.

 

[Calichusetts]

Thats pretty close to what I do. I don't use a bag at first so the "vorlauf" really is to get the grains out of the pot and all into a bag. The only difference is I put the bag back in my original pot and add the sparge and let it set for a few minutes.

I hit around 75% or very close to it.

 

[kombat]

I do not own my own grain mill yet [...], so my LHBS does my milling.

There's your problem.

#1, LHBS grain mills are set notoriously coarse because they don't want customers complaining that their grains were milled too fine and they got a stuck mash/sparge. Also, a coarse mill lowers efficiency, which increases the required amount of grain, meaning the LHBS sells more grain. And finally, over time, the mill rollers will "drift" apart a bit simply through frequent use, and the store might not be diligent in recalibrating it regularly to ensure it is set properly.

#2, grains should be milled finer for BIAB batches anyway, because a stuck mash/sparge is not a risk. Efficiency with coarser milling is higher for regular (non-BIAB) batches because they typically use a proper sparge and have properly-designed manifolds to increase grain yield without having to pulverize the grain husks as much. But with BIAB, without the benefit of fly sparging, you need to really mill that grain down to expose the starches to the enzymes.

Efficiency problems are almost always rooted in the grain crush setting. Other factors can affect it by a few points either way, but the bulk of your efficiency yield can be attributed to the crush.

 

[bleme]

After the mash, turn your heat back on and warm everything up to 170F, stirring constantly, before you pull the bag out.

I don't vorlauf, but I can see how it might filter some flour out. If you do continue to vorlauf, squeeze the bag AFTER. Otherwise they will just suck those sugars back in.

Sparge with 170F water and squeeze again. I got almost 92% efficiency on my last batch but that is crazy high. I usually figure 80%. I do own a Barley Crusher.

 

[HumboldtBrewer]

Thanks guys, I am gonna change my process a bit and see what happens. Gonna get rid of the vorlauf and mash without a grain bag. Then I'll pour the grains into a grain bag lined in another kettle, and finally add my sparge water in another kettle and dunk sparge the grains. Hope it helps, if it doesn't then I'll be positive that its my LHBS grain mill.


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[roastquake]

Try a mash-out rest, I see a huge difference in efficiency in BIAB between the mashes that just end at 150 (60-75%) and those that get a 20 minute mash-out at 170 or higher (80-90%!)

edit: I do use a fine mill setting, so with the coarse mill you are getting, I'm guessing you could get your efficiency into the 70s with a mash-out

 

[sumbrewindude]

I tried the small batch BIAB thing two times, both of which ended up with spectacularly low effeciency. That ended me up with a cooler and a more traditional mash tun, which combined with a manifold got be back up to the upper 70's.

Knowing now what I didn't then, the solution was definitely to get a mill and do the crush myself. LHBS crush is sub-optimal at best, in fact now (when I get grains from them) I end up triple crushing them to get where I want them. That leads to some interesting faces from the counter, but no one's said anything.

I keep meaning to get a Corona so I can start down that path, but something usually gets in the way or Discount Tommy's not running a sale. I want to make some "Ugly Junk".

 

[sumbrewindude]

So today may be the most ambitious boil yet - reducing 4 gal of wort to 1.5gal. So far I'm 140min in, and finally hit my original start volume of 2.34gal, so I'm an hour out now. This one's a trial for a wee-heavy later on, and is using malted oats.

Had to do it in steps, to caramelize the first runnings, then gradually bring in the rest of the wort, making sure to toss the FWH hop in at 90.

Initial numbers looked on the low side, but I royally screwed up the step mash temps. First time playing with that as well - moral of the story: don't believe the calcs, boil more water than you think.

Hopefully this ends somewhere in the 13's, because if it does it's gonna be a riot.

 

[sammy33]

HumboldtBrewer - I have the coolest LHBS I guess. When buying grain milled, they asked me if I was using a mash tun or doing BIAB. I answered BIAB of course. Their response was our grain mill is likely gapped a bit coarse for that so we will double crush for you. My small batch efficiency hovers around 70-75 depending on the recipe.

I agree with sumbrewindude: request a double crush and see if that helps.

 

[sumbrewindude]

Whew - 12.7B. Good enough for the girls I date (don't tell the SWMBO ).

Another awesome experience with the IC wort chiller. I should have made one of these things a while ago. Best $20 spent so far.

 

[Broham1]

At this size of production, I'd be shooting for consistent efficiency from consistent process, versus chasing higher efficiency.

Higher efficiency doesn't equal better beer. Get consistent, and you can account for your efficiency with an extra dollar or two of base malt per batch.

Chasing higher efficiency makes more sense in larger scale recipes, where it's considerably more expensive to add malt.

Now, I'm not saying settle with your current process. There's great advice here. Just don't over complicate things.

Get consistent with your process. If you always get 65%, you can count on that, adjust your recipes, and your beer won't taste any different than the guy with 90%.

Just my 2 cents.


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[Broham1]

Also, as I learned from experience, be a little scientific when trying to improve your process: change only one variable at a time. If you change everything, how do you identify what contributed to any gains?


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[mkh]

I've done about 3 partial kits from Northern Brewer and I have one more sitting at home waiting to be completed. After that, I think it's time to give another try to full grain. I used one of the full grain kits from Brooklyn Beer Shop and it worked well, though I made a few mistakes so the product wasn't fantastic. Hopefully nail it his time. Not sure if I should use another kit like that or try my hands at a recipe. Either way, the 1 gallon seems to work great for me.

 

[ericbw]

I've done about 3 partial kits from Northern Brewer and I have one more sitting at home waiting to be completed. After that, I think it's time to give another try to full grain. I used one of the full grain kits from Brooklyn Beer Shop and it worked well, though I made a few mistakes so the product wasn't fantastic. Hopefully nail it his time. Not sure if I should use another kit like that or try my hands at a recipe. Either way, the 1 gallon seems to work great for me.

BBS has a book of recipes that are pretty good. Also, there's a store called Homebrew Exchange that has some good 1 gallon recipes.

The BBS recipes use tiny amounts of grain and hops so they are hard to measure. HBX is a little more reasonable, like using a quarter oz of hops.

In either case, using a recipe is pretty easy. once you weigh everything out, it's like using a kit.

 

[sumbrewindude]

So I pitched Notty with the OOA I did this weekend, honestly after all the hub-bub I read about it I was certain I was in for a gyser of yeast and anger.

Instead it's happily churning away with less than a .5" kruesen. I'm fermenting at 65, but still I was expecting more drama from this yeast. I think I've had more vicious ferments with US05 than this so far...

Smells great through the airlock, though!

 

[kombat]

How are you guys keeping the cold break from going into your jug? I'm finding that with some of my 1 gallon brews, the break matter comprises a nontrivial volume of the batch, such that when I get to bottling, I'm losing a quarter of my batch. I would like to find a way to filter out the cold break and slightly increase my batch size so that I get closer to a full gallon of good beer in my fermenting jug. So far, I've tried using a fine-mesh stainless steel kitchen filter/strainer, and that caught some of it, but not all (less than half). I'd like something that can be sanitized, and ideally would catch the hop matter too (so far I've simply stopped pouring when I get to the bottom of the pot, where the hop gunk is).

 

[RhodySeth]

I just tried keeping the hops in a 1 gallon paint strainer bag during the boil for the first time. It worked very well to keep the hops separate.

 

[Calichusetts]

Place a paint strainer bag in your strainer. I do this...it will catch virtually all the hop particles and act as an actual filter as it fills up. I get about 1/2 inch on the bottom of my carboys.