1-Gallon Brewers UNITE!

[BigRock947]

@Battlegoat: How long has it been fermenting? Why would you think it wasn't done?

 

[BigRock947]

I just brewed yesterday a "German" IPA using unfortunately domestic Munich Malt and imported German Magnum and Perle hops and K-97 German Ale yeast.

I have two recipes listed under my Avatar that have proven to be very good and brewed a number of times each.

I bottled your Kona Chocolate Coffee Stout yesterday...the sample tested amazing. My wife really noticed the chocolate...I noticed the coffee more. We both thought it was very good. Can't wait until its done carbing...

 

[rawkstar320]

Well, I made a significant error in schedule a Christmas beer gift. I started a brown ale for my dad on Dec 2nd, and it's still fermenting! In planning on bottling it on Friday and just telling him to wait a few weeks...

But the lesson here is that beer takes time, so plan ahead! Way ahead!

 

[user 83772]

@BigRock947: On the 19th it will be three weeks in the primary. I think it's probably done - there's been virtually no activity, either in the airlock or visually within the beer itself for quite awhile now. However, I know that's not a surefire indicator of whether it's done or not, which is why I want to make sure before I bottle. I'm also really curious to see where my final gravity ended up.

If the general concensus is "it's good to go" I suppose I'll just take a reading to ascertain where my FG is at, then bottle it up.

 

[bleme]

I always ferment at least 3 weeks then take one reading at the end. If it is close to the calculated FG, I am good to go.

 

[BigRock947]

I'm guessing its done....myself. I wait 4 or 5 weeks before I bottle. 1. To make sure its done. 2. To let the yeast finish its job. 3. Lets the beer clear. 4. My schedule seems to work out that way.

Ps: Last month, I bottled a barley wine...long story short. The OG was like 1.100 and when I transfered to secondary it was 1.016 after only 10 days.

So my point is. Your probably good to go. Get your bottling stuff together and take a FG on bottling day. Good luck and RDWHAHB.

 

[mb82]

Just scored 4 2 gal buckets w/ lids from the local bakery. One is being turned into bottling bucket. Debating what to brew in them first.

 

[dadshomebrewing]

Been away from the thread for awhile, but I just have a quick question for y'all. It's just about bottling time for my first brew (the stout I posted about a few weeks back) and I'd like to take the usual three hydrometer readings before actually bottling, but I'm not sure how to go about it.

I ended up with a tad less than a gallon in the fermentor, so I'm really, really not looking forward to pulling and subsequently discarding three full sample vials of beer for these tests. How many of y'all pull samples at testing time and then return 'em to the rest of the beer when you're done? I'd like to think that I'm one of the more diligent ones when it comes to sanitation, but if it's really a bad idea I suppose I'll just have to suck it up and deal with less finished product this time around.

don't discard the samples you take for your hydrometer readings, or there won't be any beer left to drink.

here's what i do.

1. I have measured EXACTLY how much beer it takes to fill the hydrometer flask, so I know how much i lose every time i sample.

2. I wait a little longer for fermentation than absolutely necessary (like 15 days instead of 14, or 22 days instead of 21), before i take my first reading.

3. sanitize the heck out of the hydrometer tube, hydrometer, and turkey baster.

4. take my sample, record the result, and put the sample back in. record the results.

almost always, when i wait a little longer i'm at my target FG when i take that sample.

5. wait one (or two, or three) more days, and just plan on bottling it. I take another reading to be sure it's stable (also using an uber-sanitized flask, hydrometer, and baster)

i use a cup of water when i mix my priming sugar, and my hydrometer flask takes half a cup, so i figure that if i take 2 readings and dump them out i break even, if I take two readings and put them back i'm a little ahead.

and, don't get freaked out by dumping the samples back in. just sanitize the heck out of it.

for what it's worth, i've been making a "study" on how to squeeze every drop out of a one gallon batch, and this is the best approach i've come up with.

 

[dadshomebrewing]

@BigRock947: On the 19th it will be three weeks in the primary. I think it's probably done - there's been virtually no activity, either in the airlock or visually within the beer itself for quite awhile now. However, I know that's not a surefire indicator of whether it's done or not, which is why I want to make sure before I bottle. I'm also really curious to see where my final gravity ended up.

If the general concensus is "it's good to go" I suppose I'll just take a reading to ascertain where my FG is at, then bottle it up.

you said it's your first home brew, which means you are about ready to eat the carboy because you want to get your beer into bottles, right?

and the 19th is 3 weeks, and today is the 17th.

and, since it's your first beer you have a little bit of the nervous first daddy thing going, right?

well, it's probably not recommended, but if it were me i would sanitize the crap out of my gear, test it today, put the beer back in the fermenter, and test it again on Wednesday to be sure.

if you hit your FG today, you should be absolutely good to go on Wednesday.

you will probably be good to go, on Wednesday, if you don't mess with it, too, but we all understand what it's like waiting for that first brew.

 

[dadshomebrewing]

hey battlegoat... since you are bottling later in the week, here's something for you to be aware of.

you need to do a little math on how many FULL bottles you want (or expect) to get, and plan accordingly.

somehow try to estimate how much beer you currently have in your carboy. then add one cup to that amount (for the priming solution).

if you fermented in a carboy, you will probably have a little less than 3 quarts left, after you get it off the yeast and trub.

divide by the size of the bottles, and what is your yield, in bottles?

3 qts is 96 oz, and assuming you use 12 oz bottles, that is an 8 bottle yield.

if you have total volume of less than 96 oz, then you have a 7 bottle yield.

if you have total volume of 108 oz, then you get 9 bottles.

don't do partial bottles or fractions. the fractions are for the hydrometer (or for the brewer).

so, you probably have about half a cup of beer to waste anyway.

so, don't freak out over the half cup for a hydrometer reading

 

[BigRock947]

don't discard the samples you take for your hydrometer readings, or there won't be any beer left to drink.

here's what i do.

1. I have measured EXACTLY how much beer it takes to fill the hydrometer flask, so I know how much i lose every time i sample.

2. I wait a little longer for fermentation than absolutely necessary (like 15 days instead of 14, or 22 days instead of 21), before i take my first reading.

3. sanitize the heck out of the hydrometer tube, hydrometer, and turkey baster.

4. take my sample, record the result, and put the sample back in. record the results.

almost always, when i wait a little longer i'm at my target FG when i take that sample.

5. wait one (or two, or three) more days, and just plan on bottling it. I take another reading to be sure it's stable (also using an uber-sanitized flask, hydrometer, and baster)

i use a cup of water when i mix my priming sugar, and my hydrometer flask takes half a cup, so i figure that if i take 2 readings and dump them out i break even, if I take two readings and put them back i'm a little ahead.

and, don't get freaked out by dumping the samples back in. just sanitize the heck out of it.

for what it's worth, i've been making a "study" on how to squeeze every drop out of a one gallon batch, and this is the best approach i've come up with.

This...

Oh....excellent write up.

 

[dadshomebrewing]

hey bigrock

i'm a little obsessive with total yield of a batch of beer.

can you imagine what the big-batch brewers would be like if they dumped 10% of their batch down the drain every time they took a hyrdometer reading?

 

[BigRock947]

hey bigrock

i'm a little obsessive with total yield of a batch of beer.

can you imagine what the big-batch brewers would be like if they dumped 10% of their batch down the drain every time they took a hyrdometer reading?

I imagine it would involve a lot of crying.

So glad I bought a refractometer...3 drops and I'm good.

 

[dadshomebrewing]

I imagine it would involve a lot of crying.

So glad I bought a refractometer...3 drops and I'm good.

it's on my santa list.

if it isn't here next Tuesday, it will be 'amazon prime' for me

 

[user 83772]

Great information, as always. Thanks to you both.

 

[cheesecake]

The waiting game is on.....ordered the rest of the electronic components for my brew pot

 

[Mooglebass]

Hoping for a giftcard or some grains from NB for Christmas. Any thoughts? I was thinking maybe 10 pounds of 2 row, and a few one pound specialty grains to play around with.

 

[cheesecake]

thats what i started with....then i bougth 25lbs and a ton of specialty grains

 

[divrguy]

don't discard the samples you take for your hydrometer readings, or there won't be any beer left to drink.

here's what i do.

1. I have measured EXACTLY how much beer it takes to fill the hydrometer flask, so I know how much i lose every time i sample.

2. I wait a little longer for fermentation than absolutely necessary (like 15 days instead of 14, or 22 days instead of 21), before i take my first reading.

3. sanitize the heck out of the hydrometer tube, hydrometer, and turkey baster.

4. take my sample, record the result, and put the sample back in. record the results.

almost always, when i wait a little longer i'm at my target FG when i take that sample.

5. wait one (or two, or three) more days, and just plan on bottling it. I take another reading to be sure it's stable (also using an uber-sanitized flask, hydrometer, and baster)

i use a cup of water when i mix my priming sugar, and my hydrometer flask takes half a cup, so i figure that if i take 2 readings and dump them out i break even, if I take two readings and put them back i'm a little ahead.

and, don't get freaked out by dumping the samples back in. just sanitize the heck out of it.

for what it's worth, i've been making a "study" on how to squeeze every drop out of a one gallon batch, and this is the best approach i've come up with.

Excellent explanation dads!

Truthfully I use to dump samples back in after following good sanitizing but.....

There is one more trick. If you can find one of the long skinny single rose type vase, you can sub it for a a sample tube or check your sample tube to see how much beer you will have to use to get a 12'oz sample. I found one that if I filled it with 12 oz beer, my hydrometer would work. So, sanitize, pull sample and leave it in the vase. Stick foil over the top sanitized. It will still ferment if not ready. Wait two days and when it's the same, bottle it. I'd you sanitization sucks, you wasted one sample. If you did good, you saved a bottle. Now I have refractometer.

 

[dadshomebrewing]

hey divr

i think the real answer is to invest in a refractometer

 

[divrguy]

hey divr

i think the real answer is to invest in a refractometer

Yup lol
I can't believe I waited so long to buy one because its great!

 

[hoppyhoppyhippo]

Been away from the thread for awhile, but I just have a quick question for y'all. It's just about bottling time for my first brew (the stout I posted about a few weeks back) and I'd like to take the usual three hydrometer readings before actually bottling, but I'm not sure how to go about it.

I ended up with a tad less than a gallon in the fermentor, so I'm really, really not looking forward to pulling and subsequently discarding three full sample vials of beer for these tests. How many of y'all pull samples at testing time and then return 'em to the rest of the beer when you're done? I'd like to think that I'm one of the more diligent ones when it comes to sanitation, but if it's really a bad idea I suppose I'll just have to suck it up and deal with less finished product this time around.

If you properly clean and sanitize your equipment for testing it shouldn't be a problem, but it's still risky. One thing I do for Hyrometer readings if I think they're done is taking 2 instead of 3. So if I think it's done on Wednesday I'll test it then and Friday and that will tell me if it's done. The Thursday read is largely unnecessary unless it's not done.

 

[divrguy]

If you properly clean and sanitize your equipment for testing it shouldn't be a problem, but it's still risky. One thing I do for Hyrometer readings if I think they're done is taking 2 instead of 3. So if I think it's done on Wednesday I'll test it then and Friday and that will tell me if it's done. The Thursday read is largely unnecessary unless it's not done.

Excellent point! 2 readings 2 days apart is perfect if your sure you'd be at final gravity by then

 

[Fireman-Mike]

Im still very new to home brewing with my first batch currently fermenting. I was wondering if you guys could tell me some places to order one gallon kits. I know i can scale down a five gallon kit but i would perfer to just order a one gallon kit. Thanks.

 

[lumpy5oh]

Im still very new to home brewing with my first batch currently fermenting. I was wondering if you guys could tell me some places to order one gallon kits. I know i can scale down a five gallon kit but i would perfer to just order a one gallon kit. Thanks.

Northern Brewer and Small Batch Homebrew are 2 that I have been looking at.

http://www.smallbatchhomebrew.com/Beer-Ingredient-Kits_c_8.html

http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/brewing/recipe-kits/small-batch-beer-recipe-kits

 

[cheesecake]

Those 2 plus austin home brew and brooklyn brew shop also sell 1 gallon kits

 

[C-Rider]

Been away from the thread for awhile, but I just have a quick question for y'all. It's just about bottling time for my first brew (the stout I posted about a few weeks back) and I'd like to take the usual three hydrometer readings before actually bottling, but I'm not sure how to go about it.

I ended up with a tad less than a gallon in the fermentor, so I'm really, really not looking forward to pulling and subsequently discarding three full sample vials of beer for these tests. How many of y'all pull samples at testing time and then return 'em to the rest of the beer when you're done? I'd like to think that I'm one of the more diligent ones when it comes to sanitation, but if it's really a bad idea I suppose I'll just have to suck it up and deal with less finished product this time around.

I brew slightly larger brews 1.75 gallons and I never take FG readings untill I'm ready to bottle. I let my brews ferment at least 3 weeks and by they the are DONE. I sanitize by turkey baster, hydrometer and test tube at bottling time to figure ABV and then return the sample to the bottling bucket. Like you can't see wasting any bier!..

 

[C-Rider]

I bottled your Kona Chocolate Coffee Stout yesterday...the sample tested amazing. My wife really noticed the chocolate...I noticed the coffee more. We both thought it was very good. Can't wait until its done carbing...

Always GREAT to hear someone has used and liked one of my ideas. Do let us know how it tastes in 3 weeks.

 

[C-Rider]

I imagine it would involve a lot of crying.

So glad I bought a refractometer...3 drops and I'm good.

Don't forget your "alcohol" conversion table as a straight refractometer is not designed for liquid and alcohol.

 

[divrguy]

I brew slightly larger brews 1.75 gallons and I never take FG readings untill I'm ready to bottle. I let my brews ferment at least 3 weeks and by they the are DONE. I sanitize by turkey baster, hydrometer and test tube at bottling time to figure ABV and then return the sample to the bottling bucket. Like you can't see wasting any bier!..

Thats a great size to scale from a 5 gallon batch. 2 oz hops fit nicely into a 1.75 smash. 1 gallon batches are great pilot batches for new styles. 3 weeks is my standard primary because its Almost ALWAYS done unless its a biggie and then I wait 4 before I test. Great advice!