1-Gallon Brewers UNITE!

[jwalk4]

Woot! Finally brewing after little more than month away from it. I have a simple extract brown ale on the go right now. Just had to get something in the carboy.

Light Dry extract, Crystal and chocolate malts, and Willamette for hops.

Will do an all grain pale ale again soon, that stuff evaporated quickly.

 

[dadshomebrewing]

my dunkel is in the pot... came within an eyelash of a boil over... but i caught it.

that's the good news.

the bad news is that after next weekend i'm going back out on the road every other weekend for a bit. will definitely "truncate" my brewing weekends a bit

 

[dadshomebrewing]

I set my blowoffs that way it works amazing

what size is that tubing?

 

[Lanceman]

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.

I got five 3.5 gallon buckets and one 2 gallon bucket all with lids from the supermarket bakery this week. Have a three gallon batch of cider going in one of them already. A side effect of that is now I have two nice one gallon glass carboys left over from the apple juice and am planning on experimenting with some one gallon batches

Great thread to study, thanks.

 

[divrguy]

I got five 3.5 gallon buckets and one 2 gallon bucket all with lids from the supermarket bakery this week. Have a three gallon batch of cider going in one of them already. A side effect of that is now I have two nice one gallon glass carboys left over from the apple juice and am planning on experimenting with some one gallon batches

Great thread to study, thanks.

Glad to have ya lanceman.

 

[divrguy]

my dunkel is in the pot... came within an eyelash of a boil over... but i caught it.

that's the good news.

the bad news is that after next weekend i'm going back out on the road every other weekend for a bit. will definitely "truncate" my brewing weekends a bit

Time to stock up Dads! If you timed your batches right, you could be pulling one out of the fermenter just as you were back and then into bottle conditioning.

I had a great day today. Did a batch and bottled one.

 

[jwalk4]

So my brown ale is showing no signs of fermentation after 12 hours....

I know I shouldn't panic, and I'm not, after all it was a freaking extract batch for goodness sakes.

 

[dadshomebrewing]

Aren't weall just like a bunch of nervous, first time fathers, when we put our beers in the carboy?

Back in the day when we worried about every belch, burp, snort and fart?

And, I promise, I'm exactly the same. I'm wondering if I could hook up a baby monitor kind of thing so I can hear the steady burp, burp, burp, from the blowoff tube to know things are ok.

Somehow though, I doubt that would be well received .

 

[dadshomebrewing]

Time to stock up Dads!
I had a great day did a batch and bottled one.

I bottled four gallons of beer this week, and have a couple more coming up.

I should be ok for beer.

The problem is that when I'm only home two days a week swmbo sort of has this expectation that I do something other than play golf or brew more beer.

 

[divrguy]

So my brown ale is showing no signs of fermentation after 12 hours....

I know I shouldn't panic, and I'm not, after all it was a freaking extract batch for goodness sakes.

That's funny! I've done it!

Aren't weall just like a bunch of nervous, first time fathers, when we put our beers in the carboy?

Back in the day when we worried about every belch, burp, snort and fart?

And, I promise, I'm exactly the same. I'm wondering if I could hook up a baby monitor kind of thing so I can hear the steady burp, burp, burp, from the blowoff tube to know things are ok.

Somehow though, I doubt that would be well received .

The batch I brewed Friday just got going tonight but I checked it last night ( like it really had time to start fermenting) then this morning at 6 - 9 - noon and then about an hour ago it finally went!! Ahhhhhh I can relax now lol

 

[cheesecake]

what size is that tubing?

Its the tubing from my racking cane. Ill get the size

 

[JollyIsTheRoger]

probably 3/8" unless its the large size and thats 1/2", but most likely 3/8"

Just bought a bunch more fruit for my cyser and a batch of grain, gotta make more recipes up soon to get some back stock of grains.

 

[cheesecake]

probably 3/8" unless its the large size and thats 1/2", but most likely 3/8"

Just bought a bunch more fruit for my cyser and a batch of grain, gotta make more recipes up soon to get some back stock of grains.

You sir are correct. . Brewed 10 gallons of cream ale today in the big pot. . I really cant wait to finish my smaller pot

 

[Leadgolem]

You sir are correct. . Brewed 10 gallons of cream ale today in the big pot. . I really cant wait to finish my smaller pot

Yep, it's legal some places now..... wait what are we talking about again?

 

[cheesecake]

Lol

 

[wmarkw]

My tubing is 3/8 as well

 

[dadshomebrewing]

Its the tubing from my racking cane. Ill get the size

that's ok, i have that. i can just look myself

thanks

 

[dadshomebrewing]

grand opening of my first hefe last night... i thought it was really good.

my son says to me... "it's really good dad, nice a fruity, almost has a wine taste to it.".

my reply, of course, "glad you like it, that's how it's supposed to taste".

that nice fruity taste was a very, very, faint 'apple' kind of flavor.

is a hefe supposed to have that?

still... it was really good.

 

[wmarkw]

F me! The damn blow off tube must have sucked to the side of the milk jug. I tried to position it so
it wouldn't as it has happened to me before; but i didn't lose any beer but this batch is half gone







.

 

[dadshomebrewing]

oh boy, that sucks

what kind of beer is it?

 

[divrguy]

F me! The damn blow off tube must have sucked to the side of the milk jug. I tried to position it so
it wouldn't as it has happened to me before; but i didn't lose any beer but this batch is half gone

View attachment 89958

.

OMG I hate wasting beer like that. What a bummer man. That's why i'm not sure about those Bottles for the 1 gallon batches. I know they are slightly larger than a gallon but because of the neck getting smaller I have had blowouts too! Now with the 2 gallon buckets, I feel much better when I put the 1 gallon batch in those with a regular airlock.

 

[wmarkw]

Well this has only happened to me twice in over a year. But I think it has to do with my milk jug method as the blow off tube sucks the side of the jug. It was Ed Worts Hause pale ale. That was my last batch of the year as I'm out of supplies. I was constantly checking it too over the last 36 hrs anticipating this.

 

[wmarkw]

I know I filled this jug up to the top but I have been doing it that way for a while

 

[dadshomebrewing]

i squeeze as much into a carboy as i possibly can, too. that's never been a problem for me.

difference for me (as we have discussed) is i use 1 1/4 inner diameter hoses, so getting clogged would be next to impossible, and i also use large plastic jars (with very wide mouths) filled with star san on the other end.

the kind cashews come in at costco.

 

[dadshomebrewing]

Yep, it's legal some places now..... wait what are we talking about again?

funny post from the guy in Colorado.

 

[jwalk4]

So, I did some more reading per my slow fermentation on my brown ale (which now has some meager krausen, and regular airlock activity), and saw that someone said fermenting in the low 60's may stall yeast activity... What?

Maybe in the low 50's, I'd expect some stalled activity, but the 60's are where you want to be! I feel a little rusty after more than an month off of brewing, but some one back me up on this!?

Last post on this page: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/sluggish-fermentation-minimal-krausen-367825/

 

[JollyIsTheRoger]

Low 60's will be slow for an ale yeast, it will work fine but it is on the low end so they are going to work slower. Some ale yeasts can go really low (i.e. 54F), but they take a lot of work to get there without them just falling out. Usually they will just drop if at 60 or below.

 

[divrguy]

So, I did some more reading per my slow fermentation on my brown ale (which now has some meager krausen, and regular airlock activity), and saw that someone said fermenting in the low 60's may stall yeast activity... What?

Maybe in the low 50's, I'd expect some stalled activity, but the 60's are where you want to be! I feel a little rusty after more than an month off of brewing, but some one back me up on this!?

Last post on this page: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/sluggish-fermentation-minimal-krausen-367825/

Are you fermenting with US-05 or 1056 or ?? If it say a US-05 then you are at the bottom end of your temp. It should still ferment but it may chug along. I tend to ferment at 67 and it goes off better and I don't ever get any hot fusel's Can you warm it up a bit and roust it?

 

[jwalk4]

I'm using a new plastic 3 gal. carboy in a swamp cooler (I was getting tired of messing with various blow off tubes so I upsized) but don't have a thermometer on it yet. The water around the carboy is at 59 - 60. I figure an average ferment for me boosts my wort temp by 5-10 degrees depending on how vigorous the fermentation. The trouble is, as I'm sure you guys know, the warmer the temperatures the carboy sits in, the hotter the fermentation will be, and I've had temperatures run away on me before. I usually pull the carboy out of the swamp cooler after 3-4 days, after the attenuative stage is finished, and let it sit at air temp in my basement which is about 66.

I knew that the plastic carboy would exchange heat faster than my glass ones, but I guess I under estimated how much heat it would exchange. I'm guessing the wort is probably 62ish degrees then? And therefore a little low.... Well, there is a first time for eveything, and this is the first time that I've fermented at too low. I guess we'll see how this turns out =)

*edit* I'm using a Cooper's yeast packet I had left over from a kit a while back. If I remember correctly, it gives a nice fruity flavor, let alone if I ferment to high and get estery off flavors to add to it!

 

[cheesecake]

try to raise the temp up a few degrees to about 65 and let it go i fermented with 05 at about 60 before and it was a very slow fermentation...


BTW whose bored we should have a google+ hangout