1-Gallon Brewers UNITE!

[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.

 

[sumbrewindude]

Trub happens.

My first few batches I was insane about letting the cold break settle out, then ever so carefully siphoning from the edge to keep the wort as clear as possible. I figure I left at least a bottle and a half in the pot, for no real reason.

Lately I've taken to just stirring like mad to get all the hops into the center of the pot, and siphoning from the edge - trub and all. Yeah, there's trub in the fermenter, but after a bit it all settles out anyway, and after cold crashing/etc it's a non-issue.

Keep in mind, though, I'm using a larger fermenting vessel than a 1gal jug.

Next thing I want to try is a hop bag for boil additions to keep the hop debris to a minimum - but I sort of subscribe to the idea that if you let them roam free in the boiling wort you get more out of them than in a bag (right or wrong).

I need to try the bag thing and see if it's worth it. As it works now my system is fine.

 

[MT2sum]

I live in a 16' x 16' cabin with the wife and 2 dogs (right now, for the next week or so, we have an orphan lamb in a furniture box as well to take up what little floor space we have!). I've been wanting to get back into homebrewing, but a lack of space has prevented that ...... 1 gallon batches is right up my alley, so to speak!

Old age and Social (in)Security SUX!!

We're living on my son's goat farm in Tennessee in what was built to be a storage shed - now it's a home LOL - My son's family are health nuts and they drink organic apple cider by the gallons (literally by the gallon jugs ) so I have unlimited access to gallon jugs for brewing. Also, I've been drinking micro-brews since we got here so I've got a lot of cappable beer bottles saved under the 'barn' as it's known.
I've brewed a couple of 5 gallon batches when we lived in Montana, but lost most of them to early freezes, I think I can control the temp in this small space a little better. I'm looking forward to being more involved in this forum and hope to see more 1 gallon brew recipes for my brewing pleasure .

By brewing in gallons I can brew more than one type at a time, (and if I have a bad batch, I don't lose 5 gallons) - IPA's, Porters and Stouts are my faves, not really interested in Pilsners, light Lagers or any other Budweiser-type beers. Since serving in the military in Germany in the early '60's, I aquired a taste for the darker beers. "The Mo' Bitter, the Mo' Better!"

It doesn't bother me that there's only 9 0r 10 bottles of beer in a gallon because I can brew enuff 1 gallon batches to have 1 or 2 beers each day and still experiment with the different flavors at the same time
Just my 2 centavos.....

 

[ericbw]

Trub happens.

My first few batches I was insane about letting the cold break settle out, then ever so carefully siphoning from the edge to keep the wort as clear as possible. I figure I left at least a bottle and a half in the pot, for no real reason.

Lately I've taken to just stirring like mad to get all the hops into the center of the pot, and siphoning from the edge - trub and all. Yeah, there's trub in the fermenter, but after a bit it all settles out anyway, and after cold crashing/etc it's a non-issue.

Keep in mind, though, I'm using a larger fermenting vessel than a 1gal jug.

Next thing I want to try is a hop bag for boil additions to keep the hop debris to a minimum - but I sort of subscribe to the idea that if you let them roam free in the boiling wort you get more out of them than in a bag (right or wrong).

I need to try the bag thing and see if it's worth it. As it works now my system is fine.

A bag will reduce the amount of crap in the kettle by a lot. That alone might solve the problem.

 

[rockstarpotion]

Just purchased my small batch and I am excited to get started! Last weekend my bf and I brewed his 5 galloner for the first time. It was awesome. Now I can't wait to start with mine. I feel like I'm going to be brewing a different batch every other week! :rockin:

I am happy this thread exists.

 

[BigRock947]

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).

What helped me was to brew slightly larger batches of wort...like 1 1/2 gallons. So when it was time to pour into my fermenter, I would get a whole 1 gallon and leave most of the hops and trub in the kettle.

Lately, I've been using 2 gallon buckets and pouring everything into the bucket...all 1 1/2 gallons. When its time to bottle, I'll transfer 1 to 1 1/4 gallons to the bottling bucket and I'll get 10 to 12 bottles when I'm done.

 

[harrke]

This^.

I use the 2-gallon buckets now. Still have the glass jugs for secondary when appropriate.


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[Groo]

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).

I fill up a 1 gallon jug to the very top and fridge it over night to settle everything out. The next day I rack it off to a clean jug. I've only done this twice and it's worked well. Before that I did the stir and rack from the side of the kettle trick which was also somewhat effective.

 

[FatDragon]

No love in my "General Techniques" thread, so I wonder if I might get some help by asking the experts, although this might be out of your experience as well.

In the next couple weeks, I want to split a mash into four one-gallon boils. I have a nine-gallon brew kettle (35x35cm) and a couple of one-gallon pots that I use for cooking. Can I do it without buying any new equipment, or do I need to get a moderate-sized brew kettle (20x20cm - 7 liters) for the task? The requirement to buy a new kettle, while it would only cost about 40 RMB/$7, would not be well-received by the SWMBO, so I'd like to explore alternative options before I resign myself to that path, since it might be wiser to skip the brew altogether if it's a decision between the IIPA and the doghouse.

For those who wish to read further, the project is four one-gallon IIPAs from the same grain bill but different hop schedules. The ideal situation would be one in which I could mash enough for four one-gallon batches, then boil two batches at a time, since the stove on which I brew only has two burners. That would make for a brew day only marginally longer than a regular 5 gallon batch. I considered doing the first part of the boil in the big kettle, using the same first-wort or bittering hops for all batches and differentiating from around the 15 minute mark, but even if my two smaller pots could manage the last 15 minutes of a 1-gallon boil (they're still too small for that task), it would mean leaving two batches cooling for at least half an hour before going back to a boil, and I don't know how that would affect the brew.

 

[bleme]

While the 9 gallon pot is the right size for mashing a 4 gallon batch, the 1 gallon pots are really too small to be of much use. I'm not even sure I could make spaghetti in a 1 gallon pot. A 2-3 gallon pot would be very useful.

 

[FatDragon]

This question's about the same 4-gallon IIPA split into four one gallon batches as above:

If I could transfer my wort relatively quickly, would I be able to essentially hopburst post-boil? The idea here would be a full boil of the four gallons (plus boil-off), with a bagged first-wort hop for the primary bittering, followed by quick transfer at flameout time (via 1 liter Pyrex cup/pitcher) directly onto hop bags in the PP buckets that will serve as fermenters. Remove the hop bags after a certain amount of time, chill, and pitch. Dry hop in primary after a couple weeks, and finally bottle when the time comes.

The biggest concern there, although I know PP is supposed to withstand significantly higher than boiling temperatures, would be potential chemical leaching. Any smart or well-informed folks know if this would be a safe option?

 

[harrke]

I've got no experience with leaching at boiling temps.

You could do 4 separate boils in the one big pot, but your boil-off would be higher than normal. That's OK. I would put two gallons of water in the big pot and boil for thirty minutes to get an estimate of the boil-off for the smaller batch and use this to determine how much wort you need to start. For example, if you lost a half a gallon in thirty minutes with the water test, then you would need 8-gallons of your initial wort to start then split that into four two-gallon boils.

Best of luck!


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[sumbrewindude]

Must be getting better at this fermenting/bottling/siphoning thing. When I started out I was happy to clear 12 bottles, now with the same volume I'm clearing 14-15. Practice makes perfect!

 

[ericbw]

Must be getting better at this fermenting/bottling/siphoning thing. When I started out I was happy to clear 12 bottles, now with the same volume I'm clearing 14-15. Practice makes perfect!

14-15 bottles per gallon? 12 oz bottles? A gallon only has 128 oz, so max is 12.75 from a gallon. You can get more than 1 gallon in a jug, but you still have trub.

What's your secret???

 

[Scout001]

14-15 bottles per gallon? 12 oz bottles? A gallon only has 128 oz, so max is 12.75 from a gallon. You can get more than 1 gallon in a jug, but you still have trub.

What's your secret???

Im dying to know also

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[sumbrewindude]

I'm brewing 1.5gal, not 1gal, so 192oz/16 standard bottles not accounting for losses from particulates or headspace.

Even so, with trub and cold crashing I'm dang happy with 12-16oz loss.

Man, if I could find a way to squeeze and extra bottle or two out of nothing, well.... I'd have a book to sell let me tell you!

 

[fury413rb]

Got my second gallon going!


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[AsgardNorth]

I brew 1 and 5 gallon batches. I love 1 gallon batches for the fact I can try something stupid like a Wintergreen Stout. (not for drinking, but for dessert making). If I find a 1 gallon I really like, I make it in a 5 gallon batch.

I 7 1-gallon carboys at my apartment. On the weeks I do not have my son. (1 week on, 1 week off, that myself and my son absolutely hate). On the weeks I do not have my son it is not uncommon for me to make 2 batches of 1 gallon something or other. (Or in this week, a 5 gallon batch of Kolsch).

Also, I brew 1 1-gallon batch during the week I have him as he really enjoys helping me. He loves holding the carboy while I dump in the brew.

Right now, I have 11 different styles of beer in my fridge. Most were created in 1 gallon batches. Now would I love to have 5 or 6 kegs on tap to offer variety, absolutely, but that has to wait for some time.

 

[fury413rb]

View attachment 183109View attachment 183110View attachment 183111
Got my second gallon going!


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[FatDragon]

I'm brewing 1.5gal, not 1gal, so 192oz/16 standard bottles not accounting for losses from particulates or headspace.

Even so, with trub and cold crashing I'm dang happy with 12-16oz loss.

Man, if I could find a way to squeeze and extra bottle or two out of nothing, well.... I'd have a book to sell let me tell you!

Easy, just mix your priming sugar with 24 oz. of water

 

[sumbrewindude]

HA!

Though really not a terrible idea, the last three batches jumped from 65% to 80% EFF which is boosting the crap out of my projected ABV. Not terrible, but my APA's are now Extra's/borderline underhopped IPAs.

Also - to whoever suggested the hop bag (Rave808? Someone in here, I know it - I'll have to go back through and see) THANK YOU! Tried it out tonight with a 1gal paintstrainer bag and was amazed at the hop goop it kept out of the wort. Siphoning was a piece of cake!

Going to be using that trick from now on, just curious to see if anything changes in the beer!