1-Gallon Brewers UNITE!

[Yesfan]

Just a question regarding 1G homebrewers - do you use dry yeast or do you use liquid yeast and create a yeast starter in order to keep it for a couple of brews ?

Good question. If you use dry yeast, do you just divide it accordingly as well? I imagine spreading the dry yeast out on a mirror and dividing it in lines with a razor blade as if it were cocaine.

What about those who are still extract brewing? How would you split the extract if it's based on a 5 gallon recipe. That stuff's pretty thick.


I don't plan on doing this with my next batch, but it would be something I would like to give a go when I hone my skills.

 

[UnderThePorchBrewing]

most of my batches I do as now as partial mash. I found this to be the easiest for me. this way I can adjust the extract/basemalt bill to change base liquid/DME/Grain ratios as needed for whatever size batch I brew. when going to 1.25 I usually get a 1 pound dme and adjust the other grain around this. for larger "small" batches 2.5 or 3 gallons you can use DME or LME 3 lbs and again add base grain for the mash to get where the recipes call for. have also mashed 1.25 as all grain and found it was very easy and actually not near as long as 3 and 5 lb ag days

for dry yeast I use a half packet. for liquid I use White labs and a half vial sanitised well without a starter for 1.25gallon batches. occasionally i try and time brews so a 1.25 gallon can act as the starter for a 2.5 to 5 gallon larger batch saving the yeast cost

 

[BrewHobby1]

This thread rocks! I have been listening to podcasts from Basic Brewing Radio as well as watching their video podcasts. They focus a lot on trying new things or experimentation. The small batch is often used on the show. The small batch approach for me seems to fit the Aussie trend of BIAB and No Chill brewing. I am almost ready to start. I just need to figure out how to build up a yeast supply and/or start using dry yeast.

My interest is in only making bigger batches of things I have tried in smaller quantity and liked. I have made good and not so good. This will give me the chance to experiment (which I enjoy) and hopefully increase my experience in brewing faster. Cheers!

 

[N3rdM3t4l]

I am just getting into the homebrew game and space is at a premium in my tiny apartment. Also I LOVE to experiment and ifan off the wall 1gal goes wrong and I have lost a gallon of beer, big deal. A 5gal batch goes awry and 5gal of beer gets dumped down the drain. Not afraid of 5 gal, just can't make it work right now. No need to step up to 5, it isn't an upgrade just a transfer to a diff department at the same pay grade.

 

[rhogg]

Would be cool to see some recipes!!!

 

[Revvy]

Would be cool to see some recipes!!!

Take ANY recipe you like, and divide it by 5.....You don't need special recipes to brew smaller batches. You can even use brewing software to do the work for you. Just grab your favorite recipe and have at it.

 

[kitchensqueen]

Good question. If you use dry yeast, do you just divide it accordingly as well? I imagine spreading the dry yeast out on a mirror and dividing it in lines with a razor blade as if it were cocaine.

Heh. While that is an amusing image, I just divide a packet of dry in half for a one gallon batch. Much easier to measure and the beer turns out great.

 

[cwdrake]

Are there any places besides Brooklyn Brew Shop that sell 1 gallon ingredient kits?

 

[2ned-up]

I just read this whole thread and have to say.....I can't wait to use the one gallon jugs that have found there way into my brew house!

 

[Justintoxicated]

Brewing one gallon is a great way to learn how to make a starter

I'm tempted to buy a bunch of 1 gallon carboys and brew like 10 batches of apfelwein so I can pick my favorite yeast / ingredient combo. But seriously the cost of 10 1 gallon carboys is about $100. Plus I don't think they would all fit in my fermentation freezer as well as larger batches would?

You need a growler larger than 1 gallon to brew a 1 gallon batch don't ya?


I have to admit this kit has some appeal, but I'm not sure if it's worth buying this or just building a mashtun myself.
http://www.austinhomebrew.com/index.php?cPath=178_452_547

 

[Calichusetts]

You need a growler larger than 1 gallon to brew a 1 gallon batch don't ya?

A 1 gallon jug is larger than a gallon, but not by much. The one gallon wording on the side of the carboys is actually the one gallon level

 

[TimpanogosSlim]

There is limited headspace in a 1 gallon jug so you will want a blowoff tube for the most vigorous early days of fermentation but unless your volume is high you usually won't lose beer through it.

 

[gwdraper4]

We use 2 gallon buckets, which gives about 1.5 gallons of fermenting beer plenty of head space and my finished volume is always about a 12 pack. We tried many different fermenting vessels and sizes...this way seemed to give us exactly what we were looking for. Cheers!

 

[bellmtbbq]

I've been fermenting in a 1 1/3 gallon Heinz vinegar jug with a wine cork as a stopper. It's really not a smart setup, so today I was in Walmart and found something similar to this, but it holds about 5 1/2-6 quarts, so I'll be doing 1.25 gallon batches. It'll fit into my fridge so it lets me lager and has a spigot for bottling. Cost me 5 bucks. Any 1 gallon brewers should pick one or four of these up!

 

[Calichusetts]

One other alternative for a fermenter while not as cheap are wine bottles. If you go to a nicer liqour store, ask them to order you an Imperial of a table wine. These bottles are very strong and they are about 1.6 gallons. While more expensive, what I like about them is they usually have punted bottoms (the center comes up like a mountain) which means the trub will settle down in the valley and its very easy to siphon.

PS- There are other sizes as well. Mordechai or Salmanazar sizes come out to 2.3 gallons. Heavy duty. You are probably better off searching them by their liter sizes...6 or 9 liters and getting them that way if you want.

 

[ReaderRabbit]

What about those who are still extract brewing? How would you split the extract if it's based on a 5 gallon recipe. That stuff's pretty thick.

When I was brewing small batches, I was basically weighing what I poured out. In the end, the storage was the inconvenient part.

That's why I made the transition to all-grain pretty quickly. If I want to make recipes out of Brewing Basic Styles with extract, I'd end up with all kinds of leftover extract, which is sticky too. With all-grain I can go to my LHBS and buy exactly the amount of grain I need for a small batch recipe.

I don't get real exact with the sparging temperature, though. I just follow the Brooklyn Brew technique of just trying to keep the temperature close, but under 170, and stirring frequently, so it's not a typical all-grain technique.

 

[gwdraper4]

What about those who are still extract brewing? How would you split the extract if it's based on a 5 gallon recipe. That stuff's pretty thick.

If you use DME then you don't have the problem of dealing with the wet sticky mess of LME. To scale down a 5 gallon batch, which is typically formulated for 6 gallons post boil, then you can scale it down by 1/4 to get you a 12 pack...which is about 1.25 gallons of finished beer (or 1/4 of a 5 gallon batch!). So to scale down a recipe if it calls for 1 oz of hops at 60 min, then you would just use 1/4 ounce or 7 grams. For yeast, you want to rehydrate about 1 teaspoon for anything around 1.060 OG in 1/4 cup sterilized water. This is a great way to experiment with ingredients or hone in recipes before you scale them up. Cheers and happy brewing!

 

[ZedBrewer]

Are there any places besides Brooklyn Brew Shop that sell 1 gallon ingredient kits?

I don't know of any place that does 1-gallon kits in the same way as BBS, but Brewmaster's Warehouse has a "recipe builder" that will probably let you put together a grain bill for a 1-gallon recipe.

 

[gwdraper4]

Are there any places besides Brooklyn Brew Shop that sell 1 gallon ingredient kits?

We do! Well...actually they are 12 pack kits, which is a little over 1 gallon, but it's the same concept. Check us out: www.smallbatchhomebrew.com.

 

[Peppers16]

When I first saw this thread my first thought was 'does anyone actually have anything against gallon batches?', then sure enough I quickly came across some good-intentioned bloke saying 'maybe It's time you upgraded to bigger batches' on a different thread.
It's a shame, because to me this attitude seems to deviate away from a hobby and towards a business!
I don't actually get through much booze at all in an average week (odd choice of hobby, I know) and for me 1 gallon batches are ideal for giving me something to do without needing to limit my brewing to three times a year just to stay on top of it !

 

[bellmtbbq]

We do! Well...actually they are 12 pack kits, which is a little over 1 gallon, but it's the same concept. Check us out: www.smallbatchhomebrew.com.

They look like really cool kits but why can't anyone release some lager kits? AHS, Brooklyn, or you guys don't make a single one. I'd love to try a lager kit for once instead of building one for myself.

 

[bleme]

They look like really cool kits but why can't anyone release some lager kits? AHS, Brooklyn, or you guys don't make a single one. I'd love to try a lager kit for once instead of building one for myself.

Their reason for doing ales only is stated in the mission statement on their homepage:

We have designed our 12-pack easy brew process to keep time, space, and cost to a minimum.

Lagers require both more time (lagering) and cost (dedicated refrigerator). Everyone has their own comfort zone...

 

[TimpanogosSlim]

When I first saw this thread my first thought was 'does anyone actually have anything against gallon batches?', then sure enough I quickly came across some good-intentioned bloke saying 'maybe It's time you upgraded to bigger batches' on a different thread.
It's a shame, because to me this attitude seems to deviate away from a hobby and towards a business!
I don't actually get through much booze at all in an average week (odd choice of hobby, I know) and for me 1 gallon batches are ideal for giving me something to do without needing to limit my brewing to three times a year just to stay on top of it !

I switched to 5 gallon batches because my brew days are limited and 1 gallon at a time was leaving me frustrated.

 

[Revvy]

When I first saw this thread my first thought was 'does anyone actually have anything against gallon batches?', then sure enough I quickly came across some good-intentioned bloke saying 'maybe It's time you upgraded to bigger batches' on a different thread.
It's a shame, because to me this attitude seems to deviate away from a hobby and towards a business!
I don't actually get through much booze at all in an average week (odd choice of hobby, I know) and for me 1 gallon batches are ideal for giving me something to do without needing to limit my brewing to three times a year just to stay on top of it !

Yeah, and other people say, "It's just as much work to do 1 gallon or 2.5 gallon batches as it is to make 5, so why don't you...."

My answer is "If you think brewing is 'work" then maybe you shouldn't be brewing....Homebrewing is my HOBBY, it's one of the ways I RELAX....It is FUN....It doesn't matter if it's a 1 gallon batch, a 2.5 gallon batch, a 5 gallon, 10 or a 25 gallon, which I've done all of....I do it for fun....If it were work I wouldn't be doing it...."

Just ignore them....Small batch brewing has gotten more and more popular on this forum over the last few year. To the point where (an I disagree with it) that some even think it should have it's own subforum....

 

[jonmohno]

Its probably how someone could master a style as well, I mean if your were troubleshooting or tweaking a batch you wouldnt want to make large batches? Right? Its a good reason to make small batches, I would love to split a 5 gallon batch doing 5 differnet yeasts and 5 differnt dry hopps. Its also a quicker way to learn everything also,if you brew frequently. Temps,time,grains,water,hops, there are too many variables that make a beer what it is. Its going to take longer to brew 5 gallons and tweak or use variety with that same batch to brew it over and over freqently not to mention the expense it will cost. Only because I dont think that much beer is generally brewed that frequently on average.

 

[Mooglebass]

I was looking at this thread earlier and it got me looking around at the different recipes. Right now i am not up to do an all grain brew. I am looking to see if any one has a good extract for a one gallon batch of stout. If anyone has any good ideas let me know thanks.

 

[ReaderRabbit]

I don't actually get through much booze at all in an average week (odd choice of hobby, I know)

I just wanted to comment on this and say I don't drink a lot of alcohol either but I really enjoy the taste of beer, so smaller batches works really well for me for those reasons, too.

 

[TimpanogosSlim]

Yeah, and other people say, "It's just as much work to do 1 gallon or 2.5 gallon batches as it is to make 5, so why don't you...."

My answer is "If you think brewing is 'work" then maybe you shouldn't be brewing....Homebrewing is my HOBBY, it's one of the ways I RELAX....It is FUN....It doesn't matter if it's a 1 gallon batch, a 2.5 gallon batch, a 5 gallon, 10 or a 25 gallon, which I've done all of....I do it for fun....If it were work I wouldn't be doing it...."

Just ignore them....Small batch brewing has gotten more and more popular on this forum over the last few year. To the point where (an I disagree with it) that some even think it should have it's own subforum....

A friend of mine who has a LOT more time to devote to this hobby and is sticking with small batches has also pointed out that if he screws up a batch, that's just 7 grolsch bottles, and he can drink it and console himself that at least it's not coors.

But 5 gallons of sub-par beer is a tragedy.

Oh, and i agree that sequestering small batches into their own little free speech zone is silly.

 

[Yesfan]

Their reason for doing ales only is stated in the mission statement on their homepage:

We have designed our 12-pack easy brew process to keep time, space, and cost to a minimum.

Lagers require both more time (lagering) and cost (dedicated refrigerator). Everyone has their own comfort zone...

I have to somewhat disagree about cost. There may be other reasons for cost, but I don't think a fridge would be one of them. A one gallon fermenting jug should take up no more room than a one gallon growler. If anything, I would think a cheap mini fridge big enough to hold a 6.5 gallon carboy would have more appeal to the small batch brewer as he can lager more than one style of beer at the same time.


It's kind of a shame there's no 1 gallon cornies out there, along with one gallon extract kits, etc. Since I'm the lone drinker in my house, I would rather have 5 taps of one gallon brews available as opposed to a single tap for a favorite 5 gallon batch.

A compromise I've thought about is going the "half & half" route. Splitting a 5 gallon batch to a 2.5 gallon keg and bottle the rest. I don't have to worry about so much beer on tap going stale since the kegs would be smaller and the extra beer would be just aging in bottles. The downside is the cost of 2.5 gallon cornies and since I took advantage of buying up some used 5 gallon cornies, well that thought is moot.

 

[OldBunny]

This is the closest I've seen to a 1-gal keg.
http://www.williamsbrewing.com/175-GALLON-NEW-BALL-LOCK-CORNELIUS-TYPE-KEG-P3049.aspx