1-Gallon Brewers UNITE!

[Iceman6409]

I have just completed my first one gallon beer, a spiced blonde. I made it in a one gallon jug and I now have about 2/3 left to bottle. Can anyone suggest about how much priming sugar I should use. Thank you

 

[EndOfLine]

I just bought two, two gallon fermenting buckets! Hoping to join this club soon!

Cheers!

 

[Stigy]

I have just completed my first one gallon beer, a spiced blonde. I made it in a one gallon jug and I now have about 2/3 left to bottle. Can anyone suggest about how much priming sugar I should use. Thank you

I use this bottle priming calculator here: http://www.thescrewybrewer.com/p/brewing-tools-formulas.html

But FYI I have found that Domino's Dots (2.54g dots) are perfect for 12 oz bottles. Just drop one in and you are good to go unless you planned on batch priming?

 

[dadshomebrewing]

It does and it surely puts a show on for you. I could sit and watch if for hours.

better than a lava lamp... and you get to drink the result

 

[Jbird]

This is what I plan to make. Sounds good to me. I will scale it down to make 1gallon. What do you guys think.

 

[Jsslack]

Ok this maybe out there some where but instead of trolling through the 2700 plus posts i'll just ask. What is the typical boil off rate you fellas get for these one gallon batches? I'm thinking about doing some one gallon SMaSH beers.

 

[BGBC]

Is there a hop or malt I could add to make it not so dry?

See: Graff

 

[BGBC]

Anyone have experience with oaking a one gallon batch? I'm thinking of doing 2 batches of barleywine, one oaked (rum or bourbon soaked) and one un-oaked. I know technically everything in a recipe should scale down, but I've also seen some people mention that spices and other additions seem stronger in the smaller batches.

 

[dadshomebrewing]

Ok this maybe out there some where but instead of trolling through the 2700 plus posts i'll just ask. What is the typical boil off rate you fellas get for these one gallon batches? I'm thinking about doing some one gallon SMaSH beers.

I start with 1.5 gallons, in my 2 gallon pot and hit a gallon on the nose, every time.

That said, I know the exact setting on the stove to get my boil going, and to just barely avoid boil over and hit my 1 gallon number.

I started with about 1.66 gallons, and learned a little about cleanup after boil over, and adjusted downward.

Start with something similar, and then adjust accordingly.

Btw... I would recommend against the aforementioned boil over test. SWMBO will not be pleased with you

 

[user 83772]

Kinda like @dadshomebrewing, I did a boil-off test. I filled my (12 quart) pot with two gallons of water, got it boiling, then set a timer for 60 minutes. When the timer dinged, I measured what I had left in the pot and it was just a touch over 1/2 gallon less than I started with.

Of course, not everyone's setup is the same, but the test to find out your specific rate is dead easy, so...

 

[dadshomebrewing]

Just don't try the boil over test with 1.6 gallons of good wort in a 2 gallon pot, at a rolling boil.

Oh... And there is a similar lesson to be learned if you try to ferment a gallon of beer in a one gallon carboy without a blowoff tube.

Don't do that, either.

 

[dadshomebrewing]

Hey battle goat... I said boil over, not boil off.

Boy was I in trouble.

Btw... It's good to be back in here

 

[user 83772]

Btw... It's good to be back in here

Yeah, it is. Been busy for awhile (and about to be busy again real soon) but I had to check back in with you fine folks. :rockin:

 

[dadshomebrewing]

I've been on the road since New Years. Haven't brewed a batch since before Christmas.

And, as much as I like to brew, you gotta earn a living when it's there to be earned, so I'm not complaining too much.

Busy is a good thing... Damn sight better than the alternative.

See you around when I can.

Later

 

[ericbw]

This is what I plan to make. Sounds good to me. I will scale it down to make 1gallon. What do you guys think.

I think it looks interesting. It will get some residual sweetness from the crystal, which is good. I would give it a try.

 

[Leadgolem]

This is what I plan to make. Sounds good to me. I will scale it down to make 1gallon. What do you guys think.

View attachment 105964

I think it looks interesting. It will get some residual sweetness from the crystal, which is good. I would give it a try.

Yeah, definitely worth a try. Then again, I'll ferment anything...

I just cracked a bottle of cider I made last august. I'd forgotten I had a few 12oz bottles left. Oh yeah, this is the good stuff. 16% and no alcohol flavor or aroma at all. This was back sweetened, then bottle pasteurized. No carbing though, bottled it still.

 

[Jbird]

Yeah, definitely worth a try. Then again, I'll ferment anything...

I just cracked a bottle of cider I made last august. I'd forgotten I had a few 12oz bottles left. Oh yeah, this is the good stuff. 16% and no alcohol flavor or aroma at all. This was back sweetened, then bottle pasteurized. No carbing though, bottled it still.

Wow 16% I wanna try that. Well how do you pasteurize? The only way I know is in boiling water and I'm afraid the cap would come off.

 

[hoppyhoppyhippo]

I'm thinking of trying Barley wine on my yeast cake from my last pale ales. Just contemplating if I should make 2 bathes or merge the 2 yeast cakes.

 

[Leadgolem]

Wow 16% I wanna try that. Well how do you pasteurize? The only way I know is in boiling water and I'm afraid the cap would come off.

Unless you WAY over carbonate, pry top caps won't come off when you pasteurize. You will pop most corks though. It's really common to do this with cider, though it's just hot not boiling. I usually only take mine up to 160f, though I keep it there for 10 minutes. IMO, the lower temp with the increase in time leaves you with a better flavor. The FDA standard for apple juice is 160f for 6 seconds. I leave mine longer so I can be confident they are up to 160 all the way through.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f32/easy-stove-top-pasteurizing-pics-193295/

That batch was made with apple juice, yeast nutrient, table sugar, and dried distillers yeast. It was horrible when young, and is fantastic now.

EDIT: One thing I don't remember seeing in the stove top pasteurization thread is that you don't want to set the hot bottles on the counter directly. They can cool to quickly and crack from the thermal shock. You should put them on a towel, or something similar to act as a thermal break.

 

[jwalk4]

Has anyone tried to mix two different priming sugars before?

I have 3.5 gallons of pale ale to bottle and only 60g of corn sugar left. (which makes for 2.0 volumes of CO2 rather than 2.4 that I'm shooting for)

So can I make up the difference with Sucrose?

 

[ericbw]

Unless you WAY over carbonate, pry top caps won't come off when you pasteurize. You will pop most corks though. It's really common to do this with cider, though it's just hot not boiling. I usually only take mine up to 160f, though I keep it there for 10 minutes. IMO, the lower temp with the increase in time leaves you with a better flavor. The FDA standard for apple juice is 160f for 6 seconds. I leave mine longer so I can be confident they are up to 160 all the way through.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f32/easy-stove-top-pasteurizing-pics-193295/

That batch was made with apple juice, yeast nutrient, table sugar, and dried distillers yeast. It was horrible when young, and is fantastic now.

EDIT: One thing I don't remember seeing in the stove top pasteurization thread is that you don't want to set the hot bottles on the counter directly. They can cool to quickly and crack from the thermal shock. You should put them on a towel, or something similar to act as a thermal break.

And I THINK it mentions keeping the bottles off the bottom of the pot, especially if the flame is on. A canning rack works, but so does a towel in the bottom of the pot. And they don't have to be submerged to do this.

Also, I don't think you should do it with plastic bottles. BUT I think you should do one plastic bottle as your tester, then you know when they are carbed and can stop it then.

 

[ianmatth]

Has anyone tried to mix two different priming sugars before?

I have 3.5 gallons of pale ale to bottle and only 60g of corn sugar left. (which makes for 2.0 volumes of CO2 rather than 2.4 that I'm shooting for)

So can I make up the difference with Sucrose?

You can make up the difference with sucrose. Some people say it gives a cidery flavor, but most people say you can't tell the difference, especially in an ale. Both dextrose (corn sugar) and sucrose are simple sugars that readily convert to CO2, however sucrose has about 15% greater conversion, which means you can use 15% less of it.

 

[jwalk4]

^ Sweet (Pun intended) ^

Yeah I figured, I went ahead and did it anyways. Lol.

I will report on the flavor in 3 weeks.

 

[Ostomo517]

Has anyone tried to mix two different priming sugars before?

I have 3.5 gallons of pale ale to bottle and only 60g of corn sugar left. (which makes for 2.0 volumes of CO2 rather than 2.4 that I'm shooting for)

So can I make up the difference with Sucrose?

You can mix em, not sure what you would need to make up for the rest. But ive used maple syrup mixed with corn sugar to prime before.

Edit: I answered without noticing it had already been answered lol

 

[Leadgolem]

And I THINK it mentions keeping the bottles off the bottom of the pot, especially if the flame is on. A canning rack works, but so does a towel in the bottom of the pot. And they don't have to be submerged to do this.

Also, I don't think you should do it with plastic bottles. BUT I think you should do one plastic bottle as your tester, then you know when they are carbed and can stop it then.

Yes to the canning rack. I've used a circular cooling rack in the bottom of the pan too. I was actually talking about putting a towel on your counter for after you remove the bottles from the hot water.

Yes to having a test bottle. Definitely do not try to pasteurize the tester. The seal on the bottle will fail and the bottle will shrink and leak large amounts of brew into the pot. Not to mention being unsealed, and the rest that's in the bottle being horribly diluted. Yes, I really did try it. Not a good idea.

 

[ericbw]

Yes to the canning rack. I've used a circular cooling rack in the bottom of the pan too. I was actually talking about putting a towel on your counter for after you remove the bottles from the hot water.

Yes to having a test bottle. Definitely do not try to pasteurize the tester. The seal on the bottle will fail and the bottle will shrink and leak large amounts of brew into the pot. Not to mention being unsealed, and the rest that's in the bottle being horribly diluted. Yes, I really did try it. Not a good idea.

I know you meant a towel on the counter, but it also works in the pot, wadded up.

The tester might LOOK ok after pasteurizing, but might also have thin spots that could blow out. Plus you prob shouldn't heat that plastic anyway because of the chemicals on them.

 

[paul_111]

After 3 long weeks in the primary and 2 in bottles, I caved. I had to try my first brews (ever). The first is Ed Wort's pale ale and the second a bitter.



When I tasted them on bottling day, the bitter was, well, disappointing. I can't place the (off) flavor, but it wasn't very good. The PA was very nice, tho.

Today the bitter was drinkable. Still green, but it cleaned up nonetheless. I figure I'll try it again in 2-3 weeks, and it should be even better.

The PA is very good; nice hop nose, nice, not overpowering cascade flavor! Nice head with good retention. Note the picture of the beers together was after drinking them a bit, hence the lack of head on the PA.

I'm so psyched! I can't wait to try the chocolate stout and caramelization experiment that are almost ready to be bottled!

It's good that I only have 3 fermenters -- it'll help slow me down (unless I start using secondaries). Since I had an empty fermentor, I went to the LHBS to get ingredients to get a jump on the summer hefeweizen. I figure it'll take a few iterations to hone in on what I think a good hefe is. Unfortunately, they didn't have most of what was needed, so it was time to experiment again.... This time, I'm using pre-fermented yeast from the PA yeast cake. It looks a bit light in the fermenter, but I can't wait to try it in ~3 weeks...

Man, this is fun!

 

[user 83772]

Just out of curiosity - you're not planning on using that 3-gallon BB to secondary any of your future brews, are you? If so, I would *strongly* suggest investing in a smaller vessel. That much headspace on a fermented beer is asking for trouble - heck, even using it as a primary for a one-gallon batch makes me nervous, but you're probably OK as long as the Co2 blanket is undisturbed.

All that aside, the brews certainly *look* great!

 

[user 83772]

Refresh my memory, folks: Cold-crashing before secondary to help squeeze as much brew out of the primary as possible - reasonable, or waste of time?

My first batch of Requiem Raspberry is due to be racked to secondary tomorrow, and I recall some folks talking about cold crashing before racking to help drop as much yeast and sediment out of solution as possible before racking to help boost the overall yield.

So what do y'all suggest? crash it, or just leave it be and rack as usual?

 

[dadshomebrewing]

After 3 long weeks in the primary and 2 in bottles, I caved. I had to try my first brews (ever). The first is Ed Wort's pale ale and the second a bitter.



When I tasted them on bottling day, the bitter was, well, disappointing. I can't place the (off) flavor, but it wasn't very good. The PA was very nice, tho.

Today the bitter was drinkable. Still green, but it cleaned up nonetheless. I figure I'll try it again in 2-3 weeks, and it should be even better.

The PA is very good; nice hop nose, nice, not overpowering cascade flavor! Nice head with good retention. Note the picture of the beers together was after drinking them a bit, hence the lack of head on the PA.

I'm so psyched! I can't wait to try the chocolate stout and caramelization experiment that are almost ready to be bottled!

It's good that I only have 3 fermenters -- it'll help slow me down (unless I start using secondaries). Since I had an empty fermentor, I went to the LHBS to get ingredients to get a jump on the summer hefeweizen. I figure it'll take a few iterations to hone in on what I think a good hefe is. Unfortunately, they didn't have most of what was needed, so it was time to experiment again.... This time, I'm using pre-fermented yeast from the PA yeast cake. It looks a bit light in the fermenter, but I can't wait to try it in ~3 weeks...

Man, this is fun!

dude... spend the 12 bucks on a glass carboy, or three, for your fermenters.

all that headspace isn't good