1-Gallon Brewers UNITE!

[fuzzy2133]

Just confused on how much water to use with their chestnut brown ale if I do biab to end up with a gallon of wort

Boil 2 gallons of water for 60 min then cool it off and measure what you have left. Cook tops/stoves vary too much to give a standard boil off number.

 

[Stigy]

Just confused on how much water to use with their chestnut brown ale if I do biab to end up with a gallon of wort

I did BIAB with 1.5 gallons this weekend and came up a bit short and had to top off in the jug with water. I am going to start off with a bit more next time.

 

[rave808]

Is their an equation on how much water per pound of grain?

 

[bleme]

Is their an equation on how much water per pound of grain?

You usually want at least 1.33 quarts per pound. You can do more or less (down to about 1qt/lb minimum) with a little loss of efficiency.

 

[sumbrewindude]

Completely slipped my mind until tonight, but if you're doing a brown ale (and haven't sparged yet) I saw this thing on Brewing TV called a "Hot Scotchie", so I tried it this weekend with the BBD recipie I got from our recipie section. Oh man was it good. I only snitched 3oz of the first runnings for a small one, but I could easily see a "Scotchie" becoming a new favorite addition to a brew day.

Anyone making a brown is highly encouraged (provided you like scotch) to make a sampler.

Almost makes me want to play around with the thought of putting an ounce or two into the priming bucket on bottling day...

 

[Phoenix7801]

Couldn't take it any longer so I pulled the trigger and brewed up my Everyday IPA tonight. I had no idea the mash would smell that delicious. Had a bit of trouble initially keeping it between 144 and 152 but nothing burned or anything and eventually I got it under control

As for the sparge, I really need to get a bigger mesh strainer so that it'll go easier. I timed the hops well and right now it's cooling. As soon as that happens I'll pitch the yeast and set up the blowoff tube. Ill try and post some pictures of the fermentation tomorrow.

 

[schweedo]

Couldn't take it any longer so I pulled the trigger and brewed up my Everyday IPA tonight. I had no idea the mash would smell that delicious. Had a bit of trouble initially keeping it between 144 and 152 but nothing burned or anything and eventually I got it under control

As for the sparge, I really need to get a bigger mesh strainer so that it'll go easier. I timed the hops well and right now it's cooling. As soon as that happens I'll pitch the yeast and set up the blowoff tube. Ill try and post some pictures of the fermentation tomorrow.

I'm a new 1-gallon homebrewer myself, 5 batches in and just about to be drinking my first (the warrior double IPA from BBS) for the Super Bowl. I also had to get a new stainless steel strainer since the one I had didn't quite cut it my first brew. I've also adopted a technique that I learned on here for keeping mash temps consistent you could most likely use. I heat my oven up to it's lowest setting, which is 170 on mine, once you get your mash to temp, put the lid on it, put it in the oven and then turn it off. I pull it out to check the temp and stir it real good at 30 min and also turn the oven back on to warm up again (turning off after it's reached temp). The heat is not enough to raise the temp of your mash but doesn't let the heat escape from it like being on a stove top. I doubt that I could point out a beer that was mashed too high, or inconsistently at this point but I'm sure it is better to keep temps steady unless otherwise called for. Just thought I'd share my limited experience after reading your post since I had the same issues.

 

[Phoenix7801]

Hey man that's a good tip! I think I will try that next time to stay consistent. One thing that I didn't get to do is check the OG. I forgot to get a test tube for my hydrometer so ill have to check the FG when its done fermenting.

 

[FatsSchindee]

I posted this in the recipe/ingredients section, but haven't had any replies, so I thought I'd post it here, too, as I'll be splitting it up into five 1-gallon batches. Any advice or experiences would be appreciated!


My in-laws were nice enough to give me a five gallon stout kit (extract) for Christmas, and I was thinking of brewing it up per the directions (well, modified with what I've learned about "lowest common denominator" directions that come with kits - so maybe it'd be better to say "per the ingredients it came with" instead), and then after primary fermentation is complete, racking it into five different one gallon jugs... With different extra ingredients in each one (or maybe just four, and leave one gal as-is, for comparison).

As part of my research into which ingredients work best, and how much of each to use for one gal of stout, I thought I'd ask any of you for any advice on what has worked for you in the past... Please let me know if you think any of these combos sound like they'd work or not work (and why), and how much of each ingredient (per gallon) has worked for you.

Here's some if the ideas I'm thinking about:

1: Chocolate and cherries. I have some cacao nibs (8 oz natural/unsweetened), and a can of the Oregon cherry purée. Randy Mosher suggested 1-4 lb/gal of cherries (on the BB fruit beer podcast), so was thinking maybe toward the heavier end for a stout?

2: Raspberries and vanilla. Heard of a good rasp. van. porter recipe, and thought that would work well with a stout, too. Have 10 whole vanilla beans to be used (and extract if necessary), but no raspberries yet.

3: Choc and coconut. Also heard of this in a porter; think a stout might be good too. Have unsweetened shredded coconut, and was thinking of toasting some of it in the oven, and then adding with some of the nibs.

4: Mint and choc? Love a peppermint mocha, and was thinking some mint leaves and nibs might work, with peppermint extract as a backup if not enough mint flavor from the leaves.

5: Orange/tangerine and choc? Heard Jamil mention this one in is fruit beer podcast. I love a chocolate orange combo. Was thinking of mixing sweet and bitter orange peel?

6: Mole. James and Steve have a recipe on BBV - was thinking about trying this. Choc, cinnamon, vanilla, and chiles, IIRC.

Sounds like I'll need more nibs! Just about all those have choc in them. On second thought, I think I'll add some Hershey's unsweetened cocoa powder (1/2 lb?) at the end of the boil, since all these have choc in them (except the raspberry/vanilla, but it'd be good with it too)... Then I can add more flavor with the nibs in secondary if needed.

Any suggestions? Thanks!

Just to update my above post - I brewed up the stout kit (with a few changes - added some Maris Otter, chocolate malt, and flaked oats to make a partial mash and turn it from a dry stout into an American/Oatmeal stout hybrid, and almost into Foreign Extra territory), and pitched it with the WLP004 cake from a 2.5 gal dry stout I had just done (one of the reasons I decided to change it from a dry stout - I had just done one!). It fermented strongly and quickly, as one would expect from pitching on a healthy batch of fresh yeast cake. OG planned at 1.056, hit 1.057.

One week later, FG was 1.014 (planned 1.016 - my first two batches of 004 also attenuated better than the listed %). So last night I racked the 5 gallons out of my bucket and into five separate one-gallon jugs. These are the final recipes I decided to use for each:

1. Opted to keep one unchanged, to use as a "control group" in this experiment. Having never brewed this kit (or my changes to it), I wanted to make sure I could possibly assign blame to the base beer if they all turned out undrinkable! So no additions to this gallon.

2. COCONUT CHOCOLATE: 1 oz cacao nibs, 1/2 vanilla bean (split, scraped, and chopped), and 1/4 oz unsweetened shredded coconut, soaked in white rum for one week. Also toasted 3 oz of unsweetened shredded coconut (spread out on cookie sheet at 350 for about 6 min; toasted quicker than I'd thought - glad I kept an eye on it!) and racked onto that.

3. MINT CHOCOLATE: 1 oz cacao nibs, and 1/4 oz fresh mint leaves, chopped and muddled, soaked in vodka for one week.

4. ORANGE CHOCOLATE: 1 oz cacao nibs, and 1/8 oz fresh orange (Navel) zest, soaked in vodka for one week. Added 1/8 oz dried sweet orange peel (from LHBS) and racked onto that.

5. MOLE: 1/2 oz cacao nibs, 1/2 cinnamon stick, 1/2 vanilla bean (split, scraped, and chopped), soaked in vodka for one week. Took one whole dried Ancho chile, cut out the pith and seeds, and rehydrated in boiling water. Chopped that up and put into a muslin bag with some sanitized marbles to weight down, and used sanitized fishing line to suspend that in the gallon jug so I could remove the pepper when the heat is just right (thinking between 3-7 days?).

I put them all back into my ferm chamber at 66 (same temp at which I fermented all three beers with the 004). I'm thinking wait a few days to a week for each and check flavors, and bottle when ready. I wanted to use a bag for all the toasted coconut also, based on many of the posts I've read about using coconut on here... but those gallon jug necks are pretty limiting in size, and that's a lot of coconut. I figure I'll just wrap a bag around my auto-siphon and hope for the best when racking to bottle.

Anyway, thanks for the recipe advice... I'll let y'all know how they turn out later on down the line.

 

[Phoenix7801]

Wow Fats that is some "outside the box" thinking if I ever saw some but it a good way. What are you using to cap those jugs? I'm in San Antonio so we have the exact same apple juice jugs here also and I could use some extra fermentors.

 

[Phoenix7801]

18 hours later and the fermentation has started. It's around 68° If the blowoff invades the blowoff tube and the sanitizer water, should I clean the tube and replace with new sanitizer?

 

[Calichusetts]

Couldn't take it any longer so I pulled the trigger and brewed up my Everyday IPA tonight. I had no idea the mash would smell that delicious. Had a bit of trouble initially keeping it between 144 and 152 but nothing burned or anything and eventually I got it under control

As for the sparge, I really need to get a bigger mesh strainer so that it'll go easier. I timed the hops well and right now it's cooling. As soon as that happens I'll pitch the yeast and set up the blowoff tube. Ill try and post some pictures of the fermentation tomorrow.

I'm a new 1-gallon homebrewer myself, 5 batches in and just about to be drinking my first (the warrior double IPA from BBS) for the Super Bowl. I also had to get a new stainless steel strainer since the one I had didn't quite cut it my first brew. I've also adopted a technique that I learned on here for keeping mash temps consistent you could most likely use. I heat my oven up to it's lowest setting, which is 170 on mine, once you get your mash to temp, put the lid on it, put it in the oven and then turn it off. I pull it out to check the temp and stir it real good at 30 min and also turn the oven back on to warm up again (turning off after it's reached temp). The heat is not enough to raise the temp of your mash but doesn't let the heat escape from it like being on a stove top. I doubt that I could point out a beer that was mashed too high, or inconsistently at this point but I'm sure it is better to keep temps steady unless otherwise called for. Just thought I'd share my limited experience after reading your post since I had the same issues.

The oven completely changed my brewing and took it to a new level. Spot on temps. I do a 170 preheat, turn it off, then add the pot. Maybe raises 2 degrees but initial conversion is so quick I don't take a hit to efficiency. Take it out every 15 minutes to stir. 30 minutes in I "preheat" to 170 again as I stir. Moving up to 2.5 gallons but still in search of a 5 gallon pot that will fit.

As for the strainer. I measured the diameter of my two pots (same) and found a deep strainer on amazon that perfectly fits. Holds up to 4 pounds and I line it with a paint strainer bag for the sparge. Very clear runnings. I run it through a few times, same with the sparge. I hit around 75% efficiency

Couldn't find the strainer on amazon but its a lot like this without handles. Lower ring as well to support the wait and squeezing:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000I9OF0Y/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

 

[bford]

Dumb me... I didn't try using the oven since mine didn't go below 170...


Of course... preheat then turn it off.. and watch it help you hold your temp...

You guys are geniuses.

 

[FatsSchindee]

Wow Fats that is some "outside the box" thinking if I ever saw some but it a good way. What are you using to cap those jugs? I'm in San Antonio so we have the exact same apple juice jugs here also and I could use some extra fermentors.

They take a #6 or #6.5 stopper/bung (I think mine are 6.5, iirc), with a standard airlock inserted. They are handy to have around. I use them mainly for cider and mead, but occasionally (like above) for beer, too. The mini auto-siphon fits perfectly for them.

 

[schweedo]

Hey man that's a good tip! I think I will try that next time to stay consistent. One thing that I didn't get to do is check the OG. I forgot to get a test tube for my hydrometer so ill have to check the FG when its done fermenting.

Hope it helps you as much as it did me!
I have a hydrometer that I haven't used yet, not sure if I want to risk pouring a sample back in or not, I know I definitely don't want to waste ANY amount from my already small 1 gallon batch. Does anybody have a method they use to test gravity from 1 gallon batches and safely return it?

 

[Stigy]

Hope it helps you as much as it did me!
I have a hydrometer that I haven't used yet, not sure if I want to risk pouring a sample back in or not, I know I definitely don't want to waste ANY amount from my already small 1 gallon batch. Does anybody have a method they use to test gravity from 1 gallon batches and safely return it?

I was always told to sanitize the hydrometer and the test tube, but I still would rather not risk it. I feel the same way though.

 

[kombat]

I know I definitely don't want to waste ANY amount from my already small 1 gallon batch. Does anybody have a method they use to test gravity from 1 gallon batches and safely return it?

I would never risk returning a sample back to the beer, even if I sanitized the hydrometer. I'd be worried about infecting it, or oxidizing it as the sample splashed back in.

I use a refractometer for checking the gravity of my my 1-gallon batches, and correct for the presence of alcohol. Although if you're just checking to see if it's done, you don't even have to do the correction. Just verify that it hasn't changed in 3 days, and you're good to go ahead and bottle.

 

[sumbrewindude]

Hope it helps you as much as it did me!
I have a hydrometer that I haven't used yet, not sure if I want to risk pouring a sample back in or not, I know I definitely don't want to waste ANY amount from my already small 1 gallon batch. Does anybody have a method they use to test gravity from 1 gallon batches and safely return it?

Before I got my refractometer (which is a cool toy for 1Gal AND AG brewing, let me tell you..), I would use my hydrometer essentially 3 times -

1) After mashing and before I turned on the stove to boil - just sanitize and spin it in the pot to take the measurement.
2) After the boiled wort had cooled - again sanitize and spin in the pot.
3) After the fermented wort had been transferred to my bottling bucket - once more, sanitize and spin.

That gives me my preboil OG (MashEFF), Boil OG, and FG. Plenty enough info to get me in trouble with a calculator.

I know a lot of folks like to take lots of measurements, but I'm in the camp that it's easier to just forget about the mess for 3 weeks and come back to it. I
m not in a hurry that way, less opportunity to introduce things to the wort, and no worries about dealing with sample stealing/returning.

I will say that the 25bucks I spent on the refractometer was worth it from the point that it allows me to take more measurements with less wort loss through out different points in the process. I don't trust it after fermentation starts, though and use it more like a "ballpark" measurement. If I get curious about what's going on, I'll disassemble my bottling wand and use it like a beer thief to steal a couple drops to put in the Rmeter, but it's usually just to see if fermentation is complete (looking for change, not taking an FG measurement).

This is beer. Don't overthink it, Francis. :rockin:

YMMV.

 

[schweedo]

Thanks for the tips guys, this place rocks! I like the idea of just taking the measurement at mash/cool time and bottling time but also may have to pick up a refractometer, little more money and effort for from what I understand is a less accurate measurement but I'm not necessarily looking for lab accurate testing just general ideas so I know alcohol content and a little more precision during my brews, thanks again guys!

 

[moski]

Pouring quietly will likely introduce less O2 than the squirt from your bottling wand. Sanitation is the key, and the law. I've had no issues with return pours.

 

[bford]

Just bottled my first batch..... woohoo... ok, well it has been a few hours now..


BUT... I can say... even the flat, young beer tasted better than Bud Light.... so it should be a pretty good and drinkable beer after another three weeks.

It's the Smoked Wheat from BBS.

I bottle another gallon this weekend... the Bourbon Dubbel.

 

[Renoun]

Does anybody have a method they use to test gravity from 1 gallon batches and safely return it?

I've done it a couple of ways with small cider batches in growlers and gallon jugs. I haven't had issues so far carefully applying StarSan and using a mini auto-siphon to fill a hydrometer flask and then transfer it back leaving the last couple of oz to drink. Since my gallon jugs are clear, unlike my brown growlers, I've also dropped my hydrometer directly in to them when I know the gravity will be high enough to retrieve it and not have it bottom out. This doesn't work well with my 10" precision hydrometer at the end of fermentation so I have to revert to removing a sample.

 

[Avocado_Power]

Just bottled my first batch..... woohoo... ok, well it has been a few hours now..


BUT... I can say... even the flat, young beer tasted better than Bud Light.... so it should be a pretty good and drinkable beer after another three weeks.

It's the Smoked Wheat from BBS.

I bottle another gallon this weekend... the Bourbon Dubbel.

Hey bford, let us know how the Smoked Wheat tastes in a few weeks. My first AG batch ever was a Beyond Blonde from BBS and it was pretty good other than a slight off-taste and it being way more yeasty/cloudy than I thought it should be. A LHBS guy said it tasted completely fine though.

I'm currently fermenting scaled down versions of a trappist ale and a Sierra Nevada clone, but if they don't turn out well I might give another BBS kit a try.

 

[bford]

Will do. I'm going to wait three weeks before cracking the first one.

It was certainly a bit yeasty... but it's a wheat beer... so I wasn't expecting super clear anyway.

 

[Bamsdealer]

I brew 1 to 2 gallon batches every now and then. Mainly when I need a decent sized starter for lagers or imperials. I just make a 1.050 beer and end up with more than enough yeast to do a full batch.

 

[sammy33]

I assume most small batch, one gallon dudes, use the stove? I have been looking at upgrading to a canning element. A power boost and better support. What do you think?

Canning element vs. standard 8" element. More turns. Higher wattage. Quicker boils! :rockin:

 

[ericbw]

It just plugs into your stove? Looks like a good enhancement for any electric stove, brewing or not!

 

[sammy33]

What I forgot to explain in my stumbling post last night was the top pic is the canning burner and the bottom pic is the standard 8" burner. The standard burner is 2100 W and the upgrade burner is 2600 W.

It also has a lift kit and sits higher off the stove. This is just an upgrade element...pull the old one out and stick the new one in.

 

[Avocado_Power]

Hey Sammy I just use the gas stove in my apartment - I get free utilities so no real interest (or permission) to modify the current setup.

 

[Avocado_Power]

I just realized that I've been screwing up something in my brewing...only after buying "joy of homebrew" did I realize that you're supposed to be filtering out the hops in the wort post-boil and right as you're pouring it into the primary fermenter. Damn. I already have two batches sitting in my closet which didn't get this treatment - though I did transfer the first batch to a secondary fermenter and am about to do the same to the second.

Does anyone know whether neglecting to filter out the hops will matter?