1-Gallon Brewers UNITE!

[InspectorJon]

I’ve been working on a small batch continuous hop recipe and have decided I’m going to brew this tomorrow. The IBU number comes out high in the software but all of these recipes do compared to what the given and tested numbers are. I decided if I’m going to go to this trouble, I’ll make it a double IPA.

I worked it out so I can do this in my Anvil Foundry 6.5. Most of the time I can’t do these tiny batches in it because there’s not enough grain. The Foundry has dead space under the basket and it takes just about an extra gallon over and above the grain mash water to fill that before any water touches the grain. For this recipe it works out perfectly, I just don’t use any sparge water.

I’m planning this as a 2 gallon batch pre-boil and there should be hopefully a gallon and a half into the fermenter after boil off and hop loss. I do have a spider. Maybe I’ll be able to get a 12 pack out of it. I made 2 other beers with this BRY-97 yeast and I am liking it.

Continuous Hop IPA
22-A Double IPA

Boil Size: 2 gallons pre-boil, 1.5 gal post boil

Original Gravity: 1.082
Terminal Gravity: 1.013
Color: 8.88 SRM
Alcohol: 9.11%
Bitterness: 156.5**

Ingredients:

2 lb (46.4%) Breiss Pale Ale Malt
1.5 lb (34.8%) Breiss 2-Row Brewers Malt
6 oz (8.7%) Munich TYPE II (dark)
3 oz (4.3%) Cara-Pils® Malt

.25 lb (5.8%) Corn Sugar - added during boil, boiled 60 m

Hop Mixture = 65 grams of hops (roughly 8g each) Average 10.1%. (About 2.3 oz total, mostly high alpha) All mixed up. (It’s Shake and Bake, and we helped)

- Columbus 15%
- Nugget 11%
- Centennial 9%
- Cascade 5.5%
- Citra 12.2%
- Simcoe 11.3%
- Mosaic 11.3%
- Lemondrop 5.7%

one 5g additon every 5 min from start of boil to knockout (13 additions)

5 g Hop Mixture (10.1%) - 60 m
5 g Hop Mixture (10.1%) - 55 m
5 g Hop Mixture (10.1%) - 50 m
5 g Hop Mixture (10.1%) - 45 m
5 g Hop Mixture (10.1%) - 40 m
5 g Hop Mixture (10.1%) - 35 m
5 g Hop Mixture (10.1%) - 30 m
5 g Hop Mixture (10.1%) - 25 m
5 g Hop Mixture (10.1%) - 20 m
5 g Hop Mixture (10.1%) - 15 m
5 g Hop Mixture (10.1%) - 10 m
5 g Hop Mixture (10.1%) - 5 m
5 g Hop Mixture (10.1%) - 0 m

1.0 ea Lallemand BRY-97 American West Coast

Ph and water - adding 88% Lactic Acid, Gypsum, and Calcium Chloride to get:

Predicted Ph: 5.38

Calcium 97
Magnesium 7
Sodium 25
Chloride 60
Sulfate 179

Results generated by BeerTools Pro 2.1.4

Did you make this? How did it go?

 

[bwible]

Did you make this? How did it go?

I liked it alot. 8.5% Not as clear as I’d like. But yeah, I’ll do it again. Great thing is you can try it with different hops.

I did this fermented in a keg (no pressure) and then O2 free transfer to a 1.5 gallon serving keg.

 

[bwible]

This is my latest project. I just got this today:

https://www.kohls.com/product/prd-6240995/product.jsp

They list it as an 8qt multicooker with insert for pasta and such. I’m going to drill a hole and put a weldless valve on it and try it as a tiny mash tun. Initial observations: there is plenty of clearance under the strainer for the valve kit. I have not measured how much water will be in that dead space. I put a couple full pound bags of grains in it and my guess is it will probably fit 5 lbs. The last 12 pack APA recipe I made was right about 2.5 pounds. So I don’t know if the grain bed will have enough thickness to act as a good filter during recirculation. They also make a 6qt version of this, which I initially looked at but decided on the 8. If the 8 doesn’t work real well I can use it for 1 gallon big beers and maybe go back for the 6. Not a huge investment but something I hope will help me out.

I thought about a small cooler, then I thought if I can go stainless steel for not a whole lot price difference why wouldn’t I?

 

[AlexKay]

My typical batch sizes are 1.25 and 2.5 gallons, which I do in an SS Brewtech Mini (5.5 gallon) kettle on my stovetop. (I also do the occasional much smaller batch, but use a different setup for that.)

For the 2.5-gallon batches, I usually drop 5 F over a 60-minute mash, which I've never loved, but it didn't seem too bad, and seemed to still make good beer. In the past week I've been taking a closer look -- that is, frequent temperature measurements during the mash -- and the picture is not a pretty one. It turns out the temperature first goes up by about 4 F over 10-20 minutes, then drops 9 from there. I'm using a glass-top radiant range, so clearly there's a lot of thermal input even after the heat is turned off.

Here is my solution:

View attachment 865905

I had to muscle it on to my kettle (which is pretty svelte, even for 5 gallons), but it fits well -- so check your dimensions!

I still use my stovetop to get to strike temperature, but then I place the kettle onto an insulated trivet, and turn this thing on. It took some fiddling, but I was able to hold mash temperature at +/- 1 degree, measured every 10 minutes for a 90-minute mash. I've only done it twice so far, so it could get even better once I figure out the details.

It's thermostatted, which might be a good thing, or might not. I'm thinking I might try turning that thermostat all the way up so that it's always on, then using a variable-AC supply I have.

Update on this: the thermostat is a pain. As planned, I am now bypassing it by turning it all the way up and using a variable-AC driver. It now works really quite well.

The springs have stretched a bit, so it no longer requires a lot of force to get back on. Still fits snugly, though.

I personally think this is less of a pain than going back and forth between the oven, but to each their own.

 

[bwible]

This is my latest project. I just got this today:

https://www.kohls.com/product/prd-6240995/product.jsp

They list it as an 8qt multicooker with insert for pasta and such. I’m going to drill a hole and put a weldless valve on it and try it as a tiny mash tun. Initial observations: there is plenty of clearance under the strainer for the valve kit. I have not measured how much water will be in that dead space. I put a couple full pound bags of grains in it and my guess is it will probably fit 5 lbs. The last 12 pack APA recipe I made was right about 2.5 pounds. So I don’t know if the grain bed will have enough thickness to act as a good filter during recirculation. They also make a 6qt version of this, which I initially looked at but decided on the 8. If the 8 doesn’t work real well I can use it for 1 gallon big beers and maybe go back for the 6. Not a huge investment but something I hope will help me out.

I thought about a small cooler, then I thought if I can go stainless steel for not a whole lot price difference why wouldn’t I?

Update: I bought a 7/8” hole saw called a dozer and was able to pretty easily drill a hole. The weldless fittting sits perfectly under the strainer insert. I measured about exactly 1/2 gallon that sits under the basket. I have a stainless ball valve and 1/2” barb on the way. I should be able to brew with this soon.

 

[bwible]

Update: stainless valve came today. Drilled an additional hole and added barb for recirculation in. I found the pickup tube from my anvil Foundry works perfectly. I’m going to order these parts again from Anvil or Blichmann. Basic setup shown. Have to mess with hoses some more and get it just right.

 

[hilljack13]

Update: stainless valve came today. Drilled an additional hole and added barb for recirculation in. I found the pickup tube from my anvil Foundry works perfectly. I’m going to order these parts again from Anvil or Blichmann. Basic setup shown. Have to mess with hoses some more and get it just right.
View attachment 876178
View attachment 876179
View attachment 876180
View attachment 876181
View attachment 876182

Very cool. I am super jealous of you folks that have the mind to do these things.

 

[bwible]

Very cool. I am super jealous of you folks that have the mind to do these things.

It’s not rocket science and not like I created or designed anything new. I have the Anvil Foundry 6.5. I mostly use it for 3 gallon batches of avg strength beer. When I wanted to start doing smaller batches that presents a challenge because of the gallon of dead space under the basket. Because of that there’s kind of a minimum amount of water you have to use if you want any water to contact your grain. I wanted something smaller and nobody makes one.

Its the same idea as the Foundry and is even borrowing some of its parts. It has a strainer basket, even with dead space, just about 1/2 gallon instead of a gallon, making it more conducive to small batches. I’m using the pump that came with my Foundry as part of the recirculation kit and it’s pick up tube is being used the other way as an out tube for recirculation.

Now if it just had a heating element and a processor to control temp it would be perfect. There’s no room for any of that. I saw where somebody actually did make one but that creates other problems. I’m not intending to use this as an all in one and boil in it or anything. I want this strictly as a tiny mash tun.

Anyhow, between this, my Foundry, and my old cooler I should have the capability to brew various size batches of different things. And it really didn’t cost a whole lot.

Next I have an old 8 gallon brewpot I haven’t used in ages I’m thinking of putting a valve on, buying a false bottom for, and also turning into another mash tun. 8 gallons would probably hold 16 or 17 pounds for 3 gallon big beers like barleywine and such.