1-Gallon Brewers UNITE!

[JWW2987]

Thanks for the information! I will definitely look into those books.

 

[HardyFool]

No problem!

 

[BongoYodeler]

Good evening all!

I just got into the brewing game and started with a one gallon "Craft A Brew" American Pale Ale I received as a gift. This Saturday will be bottling day and so far everything has seemingly went well. I already have the itch to begin another beer before even knowing if I have succeeded in the first! I am interested in brewing a one gallon NEIPA and will be following the "Craft A Brew" steps for their NEIPA, however, I purchased my own variety of hops (Galaxy, Citra, Cashmere) to try instead of what their kit provides. Being extremely new to the brewing field and wishing I had paid more attention in high school chemistry, my solid plan for the NEIPA has gotten more confusing the more I read online. My question (which I am sure has been asked a thousand and one times) is is there a general rule of thumb in amount of grain, hops and yeast to follow when brewing this type of beer per gallon? I have read the 1.25-1.5 lbs/gallon for grain, but the hops and yeast amounts I am a bit confused on. Thanks in advance for the information!

Just a word of caution about being extremely new to brewing and attempting a neipa. It's not a hard beer to brew, but it's a hard beer to brew right if you're a new brewer without the ability to do a closed transfer between the fermentation vessel and your serving vessel (bottles I assume). If you have no way to limit oxygen exposure when bottling you're likely to be disappointed with the final product where neipas are concerned. Might be better to cut your teeth on a nice Porter or even a red ale, they're much more forgiving. Either way, welcome to the brewing hobby and good luck!!

 

[Samudell]

NEIPA is going to be avoiding oxidation as the biggest problem from the time you add your dry hops to keggng. You won't end up with the bright orange color if you bottle Haze you can get by using some oats also. But brew what you want and see how it ends up. You will still have beer!!!

 

[jimdkc]

In any case, my go-to for electric brewing is generally brewhardware.com, and here's the element. They have a serviceable element housing, that I actually use (it's very light which is great), but the cadillac of element housings is this, granted it's triclamp only, so you'll need something like this, and even then you'll find that you need, like, two fat silicone gaskets that you have to buy individually. Pretty insane, right?

I should have known! BrewHardware.com is awesome! It's been a few years since I looked at 1650W elements and they were usually a minimum of about 11" long. 1650W in about 8.5" and low power density to boot is great!

I was going to ask about mounting to the pot, too. I'd suspect sealing with a pot radius that small is tricky. Sounds like fat silicone gaskets do the trick. I thought this might work well, too: pull-through bulkhead tool from brewhardware.com plus silver solder.

Cheers!

 

[HardyFool]

I was going to ask about mounting to the pot, too. I'd suspect sealing with a pot radius that small is tricky. Sounds like fat silicone gaskets do the trick. I thought this might work well, too: pull-through bulkhead tool from brewhardware.com plus silver solder.

Cheers!

Woah! That thing is absolutely rad, and $30? Holy smokes, yeah, I mean screw gaskets if you have a friend with a welder, or yeah maybe silver solder - the point of the tri-clamp is for the thing you're hooking up to that to be temporary, not the connection itself, so yeah that's probably by far the best solution

And indeed, I literally had to hammer the wall of the kettle flat by hand to get it to seal - relativity 101: we almost never experience the curvature of space time because we're ants on a blanket that feels locally flat, and similarly you can get a gasket to seal for a 1/4" hole no problem, but 2" or so? No way

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

I am interested in brewing a one gallon NEIPA

Some people will tell you NEIPAs are hard to bottle, others will talk about how they bottle NEIPAs.

Limiting oxidation: effect of purging headspace O2 in a bottle conditioned IPA

and a picture from the OP in that article:

 

[JWW2987]

Thanks everyone for the replies/information! Seems as though there is a lot less room for error when bottling as opposed to kegging. I am thinking my next purchase will be a 128 ounce pressurized keg being that they are fairly affordable and will help out in the long run, cheers!

 

[HardyFool]

Thanks everyone for the replies/information! Seems as though there is a lot less room for error when bottling as opposed to kegging. I am thinking my next purchase will be a 128 ounce pressurized keg being that they are fairly affordable and will help out in the long run, cheers!

Speaking of that, I love my Torpedo kegs, but I've been eyeing these KegLand ones for quite some time now...if you think you might want a 2L once in a while, this offers some flexibility since much of the cost is in the (transferable) lids

 

[JWW2987]

Update! Here’s a pic of my “DDH Triple Threat” on day 6. Reading up on a bunch of tips so will be kegging it around day 12. The strange looking black line is a result of my cracked iPhone lense, but I’m happy with the color so far!

 

[Panderson1]

I'd love to be able to brew 1 gal extract batches to experiment. But it seems like a lot of work/time for 1 gal unless there's an easier way than what's in my head. The thought of bottling is a NO. Is there a way to carb up the entire gallon at once? I could then drink it with friends/family. Even if the yeast cake was still on the bottom i could pour from the carbed gallon fermenter somehow? Lol sorry this is probably confusing.

I'd be cool if they made something with a few CO2 cartridges. One to push out any oxygen and the other to force carb. Then it would be read to drink after a few days.

 

[Samudell]

Here is my neipa with hothead and dry hopped with Nelson sauvin and styrian wolf experiment. Will be doing the dry hops in a 4 lt minikeg with shorter diptube and pressure transfer to drink from the keg

 

[JWW2987]

Here is my neipa with hothead and dry hopped with Nelson sauvin and styrian wolf experiment. Will be doing the dry hops in a 4 lt minikeg with shorter diptube and pressure transfer to drink from the keg

Looking strong!

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

I'd love to be able to brew 1 gal extract batches to experiment. But it seems like a lot of work/time for 1 gal unless there's an easier way than what's in my head. The thought of bottling is a NO. Is there a way to carb up the entire gallon at once?

The book Speed Brewing (chapters 1 & 2) covers BIAB / kegging with 1.75 gal kegs.

 

[ba-brewer]

I'd love to be able to brew 1 gal extract batches to experiment. But it seems like a lot of work/time for 1 gal unless there's an easier way than what's in my head. The thought of bottling is a NO. Is there a way to carb up the entire gallon at once? I could then drink it with friends/family. Even if the yeast cake was still on the bottom i could pour from the carbed gallon fermenter somehow? Lol sorry this is probably confusing.

I'd be cool if they made something with a few CO2 cartridges. One to push out any oxygen and the other to force carb. Then it would be read to drink after a few days.

Kegland has mini kegs of varying sizes at williams brewing, amazon has knock offs too. 2 liter soda bottles for short storage. Can use a carbonation cap to speed up carbonation.

 

[AustinBeerBill]

Hi, I am new to brewing: daughter bought me a 1gal starter kit for Christmas.

It's the Refinery and Co. Beer Making Kit.

https://www.staples.com/Refinery-3345022-Beer-Making-Kit/product_2396122
The ingredients/recipe is supposed to be for an ale (doesn't say what kind).

Followed instructions to the letter, but after three weeks, the beer still hasn't clarified. See pic.

It followed the fermentation cycle outlined in the instructions: krausen after 48 hours, then CO2 bubbling and stopping after 8 or 9 days.

Temperature has been kept between 56 and 69-70 but never a degree higher. It spent most of its time at 58-65, raised it to 65-70 for a couple of days to see if that would complete any straggling yeast fermentation and force the remaining yeast in suspension to settle (read that somewhere), but no luck.

I would like to bottle soon (also read being in fermenter for more than a month can make beer go stale?).

I read that if the beer doesn't clarify in the fermenter, then it will eventually in the bottle while carbonating.

I am thirsty, so thoughts as to how I should proceed would be most appreciated.

 

[Samudell]

Hi, I am new to brewing: daughter bought me a 1gal starter kit for Christmas.

It's the Refinery and Co. Beer Making Kit.

https://www.staples.com/Refinery-3345022-Beer-Making-Kit/product_2396122
The ingredients/recipe is supposed to be for an ale (doesn't say what kind).

Followed instructions to the letter, but after three weeks, the beer still hasn't clarified. See pic.

It followed the fermentation cycle outlined in the instructions: krausen after 48 hours, then CO2 bubbling and stopping after 8 or 9 days.

Temperature has been kept between 56 and 69-70 but never a degree higher. It spent most of its time at 58-65, raised it to 65-70 for a couple of days to see if that would complete any straggling yeast fermentation and force the remaining yeast in suspension to settle (read that somewhere), but no luck.

I would like to bottle soon (also read being in fermenter for more than a month can make beer go stale?).

I read that if the beer doesn't clarify in the fermenter, then it will eventually in the bottle while carbonating.

I am thirsty, so thoughts as to how I should proceed would be most appreciated.

It will clear some in the bottle. It looks really good.

 

[BongoYodeler]

Here is my neipa with hothead and dry hopped with Nelson sauvin and styrian wolf experiment. Will be doing the dry hops in a 4 lt minikeg with shorter diptube and pressure transfer to drink from the keg

What fermenter is that? Am I seeing a ball lock post on it? In/out ball lock posts on a one gallon fermenter would be a game changer for me when I do one gallon experiments.

 

[Samudell]

What fermenter is that? Am I seeing a ball lock post on it? In/out ball lock posts on a one gallon fermenter would be a game changer for me when I do one gallon experiments.

Utz pretzel container and the lid is from the gallon jar at the brew places online. I have to get a silicone gasket to make it a little more air tight. Right now using saran wrap in the threads and it works for closes transfer

 

[AustinBeerBill]

Thanks for the encouragement that my beer doesn't look bad. I was definitely worried.

Will carbonate (any sugar recommendations: instructions say 1oz for a gallon) bottle it (16oz snap tops) in the next couple of days.

Good call on the saran wrap. I use it all the time on a newly opened brake fluid bottle, so why not my caryboy as well.

Kit came with a racking cane (siphon). Instructions say to preload it with some water to prime it, does that sound right?

 

[Samudell]

Thanks for the encouragement that my beer doesn't look bad. I was definitely worried.

Will carbonate (any sugar recommendations: instructions say 1oz for a gallon) bottle it (16oz snap tops) in the next couple of days.

Good call on the saran wrap. I use it all the time on a newly opened brake fluid bottle, so why not my caryboy as well.

Kit came with a racking cane (siphon). Instructions say to preload it with some water to prime it, does that sound right?

Use one of the calculators for caribng. I also preferred to carb each bottle. Not sure what others like. I bought 4 4 liters mini kegs going to try and dry hop and pressure ferment for the first time

 

[JWW2987]

In my excitement and anticipation of starting my next batch of beer, I committed a true rookie mistake (first of many to come), I refrigerated my bottled kit beer instead of letting it sit in room temp. Silly mistake, but after reading up on others miscues, seems as though I can let it sit out at room temp and have to wait longer than planned. As soon as I opened the bottle yesterday and saw no carbonation/tasted flat I realized what I had done wrong. So now both my batches will be ready around roughly the same time.

 

[bwible]

What fermenter is that? Am I seeing a ball lock post on it? In/out ball lock posts on a one gallon fermenter would be a game changer for me when I do one gallon experiments.

They sell a kit to make these yourself. Most of the ones I’ve seen are modified Fermzilla. But if you get the kit you could use any plastic container like the one you saw. There is also another thread here discussing modified fermzilla

https://www.morebeer.com/products/plastic-pressure-kit-27l-fermzilla.html

 

[mashpaddled]

Hi, I am new to brewing: daughter bought me a 1gal starter kit for Christmas.

It's the Refinery and Co. Beer Making Kit.

https://www.staples.com/Refinery-3345022-Beer-Making-Kit/product_2396122
The ingredients/recipe is supposed to be for an ale (doesn't say what kind).

Followed instructions to the letter, but after three weeks, the beer still hasn't clarified. See pic.

It followed the fermentation cycle outlined in the instructions: krausen after 48 hours, then CO2 bubbling and stopping after 8 or 9 days.

Temperature has been kept between 56 and 69-70 but never a degree higher. It spent most of its time at 58-65, raised it to 65-70 for a couple of days to see if that would complete any straggling yeast fermentation and force the remaining yeast in suspension to settle (read that somewhere), but no luck.

I would like to bottle soon (also read being in fermenter for more than a month can make beer go stale?).

I read that if the beer doesn't clarify in the fermenter, then it will eventually in the bottle while carbonating.

I am thirsty, so thoughts as to how I should proceed would be most appreciated.

The yeast will eventually drop out for the most part with time/cooling.

As far as bottling--hook the tubing to the L shaped plastic tube on the short end. That black plastic cap should fit at the end of the long end. The white clip goes on the tubing and it will squeeze the tube closed and should hold that way. You'll want to start with the white clip open.

Sanitize everything including your bottles. The instructions should tell you how much sugar to add per bottle. You can do that now. Set the fermenter on the counter and your bottles on the ground with a bowl.

Fill the tube and tubing with water. Stick the L tube with the black cap in first and direct the end of the tube into the bowl. As the water pours out beer takes its place. As beer hits the end of the tube clamp the white clip. You may lose a little beer but it's better than getting a watery beer. From there stick the tube in an empty bottle, release the clip until it is close to filling, then activate the clip. Remove the tube, repeat until you're out of beer. Then cap all the bottles. Give them 2-3 weeks around 70F and they should be ready to go in the fridge to chill and start drinking.

 

[JWW2987]

Here’s the finished product! Tapped keg today, smells and looks great. Taste isn’t bad either, may need a little more time to mellow out. Overall, I am happy with the finished product!

 

[Samudell]

Looks great. Congrats

 

[HardyFool]

Solid haze, mission accomplished

 

[CascadesBrewer]

Speaking of that, I love my Torpedo kegs, but I've been eyeing these KegLand ones for quite some time now...if you think you might want a 2L once in a while, this offers some flexibility since much of the cost is in the (transferable) lids

hmm...I had not seen the Kegland options. It is interesting that they have larger options (5L and 10L). By the time you add on the "ball lock lid" adaptor you are above the price of Torpedo kegs, but you have some potential flexibility between different sized kegs.

 

[HardyFool]

hmm...I had not seen the Kegland options. It is interesting that they have larger options (5L and 10L). By the time you add on the "ball lock lid" adaptor you are above the price of Torpedo kegs, but you have some potential flexibility between different sized kegs.

Exactly, you really do have to kind of choose one for the economics to work out, but my god is that insane volume flexibility worth it. I would love to have even a single 2L and, dare I suggest this should exist, 3L keg (for split batching if nothing else)

 

[mashpaddled]

Speaking of that, I love my Torpedo kegs, but I've been eyeing these KegLand ones for quite some time now...if you think you might want a 2L once in a while, this offers some flexibility since much of the cost is in the (transferable) lids

Are these different from the keg-shaped growlers?

 

[noisebloom]

Didn't know where to put this, but really wanted to show off my first beer ever.

Hazy citra-hopped IPA:

My second beer (a Columbus/Simcoe Amber) is nearly done fermenting, as well.

 

[treacheroustexan]

Didn't know where to put this, but really wanted to show off my first beer ever.

Hazy citra-hopped IPA:

View attachment 718811

My second beer (a Columbus/Simcoe Amber) is nearly done fermenting, as well.

Looks delicious! We also have a thread called “what are you drinking now” you can show off your beers in

 

[HardyFool]

Are these different from the keg-shaped growlers?

Yes, they're lit - the big difference is that they use normal 5 gallon corny keg lids, meaning the O-rings match those you'll find in O-ring replacement kits, and ditto the lids themselves. That's not a huge deal, but the big opening makes them very easy to clean

 

[ba-brewer]

Speaking of that, I love my Torpedo kegs, but I've been eyeing these KegLand ones for quite some time now...if you think you might want a 2L once in a while, this offers some flexibility since much of the cost is in the (transferable) lids

hmm...I had not seen the Kegland options. It is interesting that they have larger options (5L and 10L). By the time you add on the "ball lock lid" adaptor you are above the price of Torpedo kegs, but you have some potential flexibility between different sized kegs.

I have two of the 2L and one 4L, I have had issues with oxidation with mine and also issues with foaming. I figured out the foaming issue but not the oxidation. I am about 50/50 on batches that got oxidized. I was planning to used them as mini cask and to naturally carb in the keg with the provided cap, then add the ball lock top for serving to keep the cost down. They are easier to store and manage compared to the torpedo kegs. Work great for capturing any extra from a larger batch or drain off an almost empty lager keg. I actually like the small cannon ball kegs to the smallest torpedo as I can get a little more beer in those, the volume listed is filled to the gills.

 

[AustinBeerBill]

Hi all, my first kit batch (an English ale) finished carbonating and was quite drinkable.

I am ready to start a second batch and was wondering if the is a place where I can find 1 gallon recipes?

I am thinking about next trying a super hazy IPA, like one I had in NM back over New Years (it was thick like a porter, totally cloudy and opaque, almost on the verge of chunky, really tasty, can't remember if it was from a brewery in Albuquerque or Santa fe).

 

[AustinBeerBill]

Or if IPA is too ambitious for my 2nd batch, maybe an Irish or red ale.

 

[HardyFool]

I am ready to start a second batch and was wondering if the is a place where I can find 1 gallon recipes?

So there are two basic resources for small batch recipes: first, you have the books written for one gallon brewing, like these two (different links) which are solid; and second, good news! All recipes are one gallon recipes

If you don't have BeerSmith (fair enough!), you have two options: first, you can take any ol' five gallon recipe and just divide literally everything (except time measurements) by five, and you'll get pretty close to what the one gallon version would be. There is one major problem, in that (I've found that) the boil off rates for one- and five-gallon batches are different (there are reasons why this should and shouldn't be the case - my boil off rate is a super consistent .3 gal/hr, while 5 gallon batches have I guess 1-1.5 gallon boil off rates, but hey, that actually looks like it does scale!), so you'll want to just add clean water at the end of your boil so you hit a gallon of wort. When in doubt, just keep a refractometer and some DME and clean (distilled, say) water on hand for adjustments.

The second option, which is better if you plan on keeping up this whole brewing thing, is to get BeerSmith (there's a trial that should get you through a full first recipe), which comes with super handy tools like a recipe-scaling option, and equipment profiles, both of which let me scale recipes to 1.25 gallons and hit gravity to within .001, and even pH to within, oh, .1. This is pretty much your only play for modern recipes like Hazy IPAs, since people don't exactly write new one gallon recipe books every year.

Finally, you could trust us and ask for specific recipes, but forums are completely hit and miss; heck, years into this, I only have a handful of recipes (two? three?) that I'm confident enough to recommend over recipes from BYO or Brewing Classic Styles

Oh yeah, and option three (which I'd hold off on for, oh, a year or two) is to just clutch out and design recipes yourself

Good luck!

 

[AustinBeerBill]

Thanks, registered on BeerSmith.

Is there a section/forum for 1 gal recipes or do I just have to search for them under each style?

 

[HardyFool]

Is there a section/forum for 1 gal recipes or do I just have to search for them under each style?

No problem! And I've never even looked, but you might as well get practicing with that "Scale Recipe" function, so just plug in any old 5 gallon recipe and give it a whirl

The "Add Equip" wizard is the best way to enter your brew system's info, but for reference I've included my system's sheet below. I use almost none of that info (besides the thermal constant, straight from the wizard) indirectly; I manually set the boil off to .3 gallons, and manually set the boil size to 1.55 gallons, so it's not a huge deal

 

[AustinBeerBill]

THANKS.

What do you suggest I try next on the difficulty scale as my 2nd batch?

As I like all beer, whatever I brew< i'll drink -- if it's drinkable.