1-Gallon Brewers UNITE!

[Oilerfan_55]

Usually if you use it within maybe two weeks at the most it should be ok. This is part of the reason I bought starter equipment and started a yeast library so I can use how much I need way cheaper and without waste.

So once I activate the pack (and wait 3 hours), I can dump half of it into my fermenter, and the other half into a sanitized contained and put it back in the fridge for up to 2 weeks?

 

[Ostomo517]

So once I activate the pack (and wait 3 hours), I can dump half of it into my fermenter, and the other half into a sanitized contained and put it back in the fridge for up to 2 weeks?

Ive done it before but I would say one week is better you have no tools to make a starter

 

[divrguy]

Do 3 gallon brewers count here? lol... I considered 1 gallon, decided it was too little, 5 gallons too much. I want a quick turnover so i can brew more often and try new things!

Heck yes it counts! I do 1-1.75gallons in winter and 3-5 in summer cheers!

 

[divrguy]

I have come to the rather obvious conclusion that the perfect batch size is 2.4 gallon BIAB size.

Here is my logic: 2.4 gallons should fill up a case of 12 ounce bottles with about 20 ounces left for waste/trub/minor spills etc...

That being said my last 3 or 4 perfect size 2.4 gallon brews seem to leave me with 1 or 2 bottles short of a full case. 2.5 gallon would probably be even more perfect, but I think it could get pretty tight on head space in a 3 gallon carboy. Might be OK with a blow off tube, but I haven't tried that yet.

I really like a 2.7 gallon batch.

Edit: meant 2.4 as it fits a 3 gallon bucket nicely!

 

[Oilerfan_55]

Ive done it before but I would say one week is better you have no tools to make a starter

What type of container would I need to keep the 2nd half in while it's in the fridge? Does it need to be able to get oxygen?

Thanks

 

[Calichusetts]

What is your post-boil volume, when you use a pre-boil volume of 2 gallons?

I've been reading about 1-gallon batches, and one book (Beer Craft) recommends a 2-gallon pre-boil volume, however another book (Brooklyn Brewshop's Beer Making Book) recommends a 5 quart pre-boil volume.

I don't understand how their can be such a discrepancy. The beer craft book suggests that you will lose 1 gallon to boiling (1 hour), however I did a test boil with 2 gallons of water, and only lost 1.75 quarts (which is much less than the 4 quarts Beer Craft suggests, however also higher than the 1 quart that Brooklyn suggests).

I also noticed that the recipes in the Beer Craft book call for significantly more grain on average than the Brooklyn book (Beer craft is on average 2.5 to 3 lbs for standard beers, and Brooklyn is 1.8-2.2 on average).

Any help understanding this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

No way in an hour boil you are getting .25 gallon evaporation no matter what your setup. 2 gallon seems like the right choice. I aim for 2.25 gallons and hit it almost every time. I FWH then check 20-30 minutes in for my boil off depending on the time of year. I vary from a 75-90 minute boil but never really any different. That is a .7 gallon per hour boil off to leave me with 1.15 gallons or so for cooling. Chilled, its literally exactly 1 gallon or slightly more. I use a very slim 3 gallon pot so I don't see how you can get much different than that. Maybe I have a newer, better stove, but if you are not getting anything more than .3 gallons an hour, I would be concerned if you are really reaching a true boil. I want a vigorous boil to get more mallard reactions, but even when I tone it down, I still hit .4 gallons at least an hour at minimum. Just my experience...

Also, if I remember (over two years ago) BBS called for a 4 quart mash and 5 quart sparge. That is around 2 gallons post-mash...maybe they have change but something seems amiss...

 

[Calichusetts]

Wow...I just checked their website and it seems they do recommend a 6 quart total mash. This seems remarkably low IMO, but I am far removed from kits and have my own system. Still, I highly recommend getting at least 1.5 gallons, even if it means a longer boil to get you to 1 gallon. No harm, only benefits

 

[Oilerfan_55]

No way in an hour boil you are getting .25 gallon evaporation no matter what your setup. 2 gallon seems like the right choice. I aim for 2.25 gallons and hit it almost every time. I FWH then check 20-30 minutes in for my boil off depending on the time of year. I vary from a 75-90 minute boil but never really any different. That is a .7 gallon per hour boil off to leave me with 1.15 gallons or so for cooling. Chilled, its literally exactly 1 gallon or slightly more. I use a very slim 3 gallon pot so I don't see how you can get much different than that. Maybe I have a newer, better stove, but if you are not getting anything more than .3 gallons an hour, I would be concerned if you are really reaching a true boil. I want a vigorous boil to get more mallard reactions, but even when I tone it down, I still hit .4 gallons at least an hour at minimum. Just my experience...

Also, if I remember (over two years ago) BBS called for a 4 quart mash and 5 quart sparge. That is around 2 gallons post-mash...maybe they have change but something seems amiss...

On my test boil (8 quarts for an hour), I lost 22%, which seems about right when looking around at other statistics.... I think that since the recipe calls for so much grain though, it is anticipating having unused wort. If you boiled it more than 60 minutes to concentrate it more, the gravity would be too high. That's just my hunch though. I am going to follow the recipe from the book exactly tomorrow, and see how it turns out (first ever brew, wish me luck)

 

[Oilerfan_55]

Wow...I just checked their website and it seems they do recommend a 6 quart total mash. This seems remarkably low IMO, but I am far removed from kits and have my own system. Still, I highly recommend getting at least 1.5 gallons, even if it means a longer boil to get you to 1 gallon. No harm, only benefits

If you have the right amount of grain though, and you end up with too much wort, you can always add water to fermenter and the original gravity will be correct. That's how I understand it at least. It has more to do with the proper amount of grain for a 1 gallon finished product....

 

[Ostomo517]

What type of container would I need to keep the 2nd half in while it's in the fridge? Does it need to be able to get oxygen?

Thanks

A small sanitized jar or old WL vials work great if you have any lying around

 

[Oilerfan_55]

A small sanitized jar or old WL vials work great if you have any lying around

Awesome, thanks.

 

[Amesanite]

First let me say thanks to this thread. It inspired me to start brewing and start with all grain too. Seemed much less intimidating to start all grain with small batches. My question: I brewed Edwort's Haus pale ale and will bottle it tomorrow. It's a 1.5 gallon batch in a 2 gallon bucket. Ill be using corn sugar but how much do you guys think I will lose to the yeast cake? Should I calculate for 1.25 gallons when figuring the sugar to add?? Thoughts?

 

[D-Wes]

So started with 1 gallon recipes (paired down from 5) and now I have my first two batches fermenting! A RIS and a Railside Red clone with more hops at 60 mins

 

[Ostomo517]

So started with 1 gallon recipes (paired down from 5) and now I have my first two batches fermenting! A RIS and a Railside Red clone with more hops at 60 mins

You need to get some Star San in that glass for that blowoff tube pronto!

 

[D-Wes]

You need to get some Star San in that glass for that blowoff tube pronto!

The glass is actually filled with an iodophor solution

 

[Ostomo517]

The glass is actually filled with an iodophor solution

Ohhh ok sorry bout that lol "Move along people, nothing to see here"

 

[divrguy]

The glass is actually filled with an iodophor solution

Sure doesn't look like there is enough!

 

[hoppyhoppyhippo]

Keep missing my targets, need to change up my mashing I think since I would guess that's my biggest problem. Was doing warm oven trick but that may be too much, I'm gonna soon be getting a ton of old egg crate things and a comforter which should do the job.,

 

[D-Wes]

Sure doesn't look like there is enough!

As long as the tube is submerged I should be good right?

 

[divrguy]

As long as the tube is submerged I should be good right?

Technically yes but it's cheap insurance to have a good enough amount over it so you're assured you don't have an open tube

 

[dp_brew]

How does everyone deal with yeast on 1g batches? I usually do half a packet toss the rest. But last 2 batches I did half and stored 2nd used it next time. I tend to brew every few weeks.

 

[Kahless]

I occasionally do several at once to share the initial yeast supply. There is only really dry yeast available here, so If I only have one batch going then I fold the packet over, coat it in aluminium tape and store it in the fridge. I also re-use the yeast from the yeast cake. If i'm going to have extra yeast then I never toss - £3 of apple juice and I'll see what the yeast can do in terms of a Turbo cider! I've also tried this with store bought grape juice to make an 8% dry wine (I call it a "session wine" ) and mead and so on.

 

[Cino]

I use http://www.mrmalty.com/yeast-tools.php to determine how much yeast i need. Usually 3 grams. I fold over the packet, tape it then put it into bag and vacuum the air out. From there, it goes into the fridge until I use it again.

 

[Mooglebass]

Got a quick question on this one. A buddy of mine recently gave me a bottle of hickory syrup. Said he would like me to figure out a way to use it in a beer. After some looking online Im thinking maybe a farmhouse ale will be a good place to use. I am not sure how to use it in the beer per say though. Only thing that comes to mine if back sweetening it or using it in secondary. Any Suggestions? Or a good extract farmhouse recipe?

 

[divrguy]

How does everyone deal with yeast on 1g batches? I usually do half a packet toss the rest. But last 2 batches I did half and stored 2nd used it next time. I tend to brew every few weeks.

I usually did 3-4 grams per batch. You can get 3-4 batches easy out of a packet. 5 if you measure really well. Just tape it up and stick it in the fridge. Cheers!

 

[ianmatth]

I use this calculator to figure out how much I need to pitch: http://www.brewersfriend.com/yeast-pitch-rate-and-starter-calculator/#cells_per_gram

The problem with mrmalty is that they are assuming 20 billion cells per gram and in reality most dry yeasts don't even have half that. For my last batch, I needed 90 billion cells so I pitched 11.5g of S-04 since the research shows it has 8 B cells/g, thus the entire large pack only has 92 billion cells. mrmalty would have told me I only needed 4.5g, so I would have been majorly under-pitching as that only has 36 B cells.

 

[divrguy]

I use this calculator to figure out how much I need to pitch: http://www.brewersfriend.com/yeast-pitch-rate-and-starter-calculator/#cells_per_gram

The problem with mrmalty is that they are assuming 20 billion cells per gram and in reality most dry yeasts don't even have half that. For my last batch, I needed 90 billion cells so I pitched 11.5g of S-04 since the research shows it has 8 B cells/g, thus the entire large pack only has 92 billion cells. mrmalty would have told me I only needed 4.5g, so I would have been majorly under-pitching as that only has 36 B cells.

Don't know where you are getting your numbers from but S-05 can handle 6 gallons of avg gravity wort. 1/3 or 1/4 pack per gallon is plenty

 

[larrybrewer]

Don't know where you are getting your numbers from but S-05 can handle 6 gallons of avg gravity wort. 1/3 or 1/4 pack per gallon is plenty

He is getting his numbers from peer reviewed scientific research:
Van Den Berg, S., & Van Landschoot, A. (2003). Practical use of dried yeasts in the brewing industry. CEREVISIA, 28(3), 25-30 (Table 1).

Yes, 1/3 of a pack would get you beer, and most of the time it might be okay, but it might also turn out thin, estery, laggy, etc...

If you want to pitch 'like the pros', which not only good insurance, it leads to superior results, you are looking at 0.75 million cells / ml / degree plato, or higher.

 

[divrguy]

He is getting his numbers from peer reviewed scientific research:
Van Den Berg, S., & Van Landschoot, A. (2003). Practical use of dried yeasts in the brewing industry. CEREVISIA, 28(3), 25-30 (Table 1).

Yes, 1/3 of a pack would get you beer, and most of the time it might be okay, but it might also turn out thin, estery, laggy, etc...

If you want to pitch 'like the pros', which not only good insurance, it leads to superior results, you are looking at 0.75 million cells / ml / degree plato, or higher.

Again, don't see those. Safale recommends a pitching rate of 50 grams per hectoliter which would be 10 g of dry yeast per 5 gal of beer. A packet has 11.5 enough for roughly six. 1/3 of a packet for one gallon is plenty of viable cells and I have done hundreds of batches without esters, side effects, lagging or whatever. You will also find tons of brewers that will suggest the same that 1 packet is plenty for 5 gallons. Every kit from every online seller that will supply dry yeast for a 5 gallon batch (average gravity) recommends 1 packet. So....... There must be some sort of conspiracy right? Lol cheers!

 

[cheesecake]

How's everyone been