1-Gallon Brewers UNITE!

[Owly055]

This idea isn't too far out at all - I can think of a couple large scale breweries that do this kind of thing, almost like a rolling Grand Cru. I could see this working for a couple styles, and might not even need a conical for it.

Provided you could keep everything sanitized, you could run a while with it.

The reason for the conical is to be able to draw off the trub so you can keep going without a huge amount accumulating. An investment of $395 for a SS Brewtech cone bottom is a pretty significant outlay, but it is a once in a lifetime investment....... Short of a nuclear attack or major destructive earthquake or mudslide................ or divorce, it will last a lifetime. I think nothing of spending that kind of money on a rifle or pistol....... Why not a fermenter? It's not uncommon for me to make that amount of money in a brief day trade in less than 15 minutes a the stock market opening......
14" diameter, 31" tall on it's legs, it's not a very large item........It's pretty enough it could be an attractive piece of living room furniture ;-)......

H.W,

 

[sumbrewindude]

The reason for the conical is to be able to draw off the trub so you can keep going without a huge amount accumulating. An investment of $395 for a SS Brewtech cone bottom is a pretty significant outlay, but it is a once in a lifetime investment....... Short of a nuclear attack or major destructive earthquake or mudslide................ or divorce, it will last a lifetime. I think nothing of spending that kind of money on a rifle or pistol....... Why not a fermenter? It's not uncommon for me to make that amount of money in a brief day trade in less than 15 minutes a the stock market opening......
14" diameter, 31" tall on it's legs, it's not a very large item........It's pretty enough it could be an attractive piece of living room furniture ;-)......

H.W,

For that kind of money I'd almost go the induction tank route. Almost. I really can't understand why we can't have a 7gal stainless conical for less than 150 bucks, China is turning out crap stainless pots for less than 60 in the same volume or more.

Heck, for that matter, make it aluminum. Seriously.

I do like the idea - the problem is I've yet to find a beer that I'd like to make time and time again.

However, just playing with the thought of something like a Brett Saison or a farmhouse ale with no rules - something where you could brew it loosely in style, then add it in and let the funk take over while you decant off a gal or two to enjoy...

Hmmmmmmm - this idea has some legs, Owly.

 

[sumbrewindude]

Just settling into the long boil - thought I'd sneak a quick taste of the Festbier that I made a few weeks back and is two weeks old in the bottle today.

Oh my, this one's way too good. Thankfully the stout has only one addition, I might have to crack open another one of these. I'm thinking the double brewday may be canceled.



EDIT -

Yup - double brew day canceled.

Gonna play around with the extra second runnings, see what's out and about in the backyard (came in at 6B pre-boil for second runnings, mid 50's today and no bugs!)

 

[Owly055]

For that kind of money I'd almost go the induction tank route. Almost. I really can't understand why we can't have a 7gal stainless conical for less than 150 bucks, China is turning out crap stainless pots for less than 60 in the same volume or more.

Heck, for that matter, make it aluminum. Seriously.

I do like the idea - the problem is I've yet to find a beer that I'd like to make time and time again.

However, just playing with the thought of something like a Brett Saison or a farmhouse ale with no rules - something where you could brew it loosely in style, then add it in and let the funk take over while you decant off a gal or two to enjoy...

Hmmmmmmm - this idea has some legs, Owly.

I would boil or mash in aluminum........but I wouldn't ferment in aluminum. You can get plastic conicals by minibrew here for $229. Not as fancy, they don't have the tri clamp fittings and stuff................ But it's a lot cheaper. Inductor tanks are a lot cheaper yet. My only concerns with them are that the cone is not as steep..... I don't know how much slope is necessary to settle the trub. But if you give it a whack every so often, everything should slide to the bottom, so it's probably a non issue. It has the advantage of being translucent.......the other concern is cleaning........ Scratching is probably an issue, but frankly, I wouldn't touch it internally anyway. That's what the pressure washer is for! If you don't have a hot pressure washer, and many folks don't.......... Use the car wash!
I would probably start out with a pale ale / Amber ale......my general area of preference, and alter each input just a bit as my interest in various hops and malts changed. You want to know what a little Motueka would do, or perhaps play with Amarillo, or Nelson Sauvin.... Introduce them gradually. Got a notion to try a new malt......... I just bought 10 lbs of RedX, feed that into the process. Keep it to a once a week brew schedule, and you have all week to decide how you are going to tickle it next.........

H.W.

 

[sumbrewindude]

I would boil or mash in aluminum........but I wouldn't ferment in aluminum. You can get plastic conicals by minibrew here for $229. Not as fancy, they don't have the tri clamp fittings and stuff................ But it's a lot cheaper. Inductor tanks are a lot cheaper yet. My only concerns with them are that the cone is not as steep..... I don't know how much slope is necessary to settle the trub. But if you give it a whack every so often, everything should slide to the bottom, so it's probably a non issue. It has the advantage of being translucent.......the other concern is cleaning........ Scratching is probably an issue, but frankly, I wouldn't touch it internally anyway. That's what the pressure washer is for! If you don't have a hot pressure washer, and many folks don't.......... Use the car wash!
I would probably start out with a pale ale / Amber ale......my general area of preference, and alter each input just a bit as my interest in various hops and malts changed. You want to know what a little Motueka would do, or perhaps play with Amarillo, or Nelson Sauvin.... Introduce them gradually. Got a notion to try a new malt......... I just bought 10 lbs of RedX, feed that into the process. Keep it to a once a week brew schedule, and you have all week to decide how you are going to tickle it next.........

H.W.

Now that I think about it, you're right on the aluminum. Still, I can't imagine why the "cheapest" stainless conical out there is around 400 bucks.

Tank wise I'm referring to something like this Ace roto-tank:
http://gototanks.com/shop-by-catego...-square-cone-bottom-specialty-rinse-tank.html

The angle on the shoulder is more than enough to promote settling, it's square so easy enough to make a stand for it, and the bottom opening is 1.25", more than enough to dump trub without plugging.

I'm still thinking about grabbing one, even if it's plastic - only problem is once I funk it up, it'll stay funky. That's why stainless has a better nod...

Just thinking, even if you pitch to a primary and transfer out after the initial rush, it'll still have a fair amount of yeast in suspension to add with whatever's in the tanks (and give a bonus to allow most of the trub to settle out before transfer).

Hmmmm.. my own little funk farm. Oh, the possibilities...

Just got the stout into the carboy - man, if it tastes as good as it did going in, this batch is going to be amazing - coffee, roasty, just a hint of the floral hops. Going in with 14.5P, and pitched Notty (3G). This one's gonna be bully!

:rockin:

 

[beerlover87]

Now that I think about it, you're right on the aluminum. Still, I can't imagine why the "cheapest" stainless conical out there is around 400 bucks.

Tank wise I'm referring to something like this Ace roto-tank:
http://gototanks.com/shop-by-catego...-square-cone-bottom-specialty-rinse-tank.html

The angle on the shoulder is more than enough to promote settling, it's square so easy enough to make a stand for it, and the bottom opening is 1.25", more than enough to dump trub without plugging.

I'm still thinking about grabbing one, even if it's plastic - only problem is once I funk it up, it'll stay funky. That's why stainless has a better nod...

Just thinking, even if you pitch to a primary and transfer out after the initial rush, it'll still have a fair amount of yeast in suspension to add with whatever's in the tanks (and give a bonus to allow most of the trub to settle out before transfer).

Hmmmm.. my own little funk farm. Oh, the possibilities...

Just got the stout into the carboy - man, if it tastes as good as it did going in, this batch is going to be amazing - coffee, roasty, just a hint of the floral hops. Going in with 14.5P, and pitched Notty (3G). This one's gonna be bully!

:rockin:

Demon brew has conical fermentor that's what is use 75.00 bucks for the kit works well 2.5 gallon

 

[Owly055]

Now that I think about it, you're right on the aluminum. Still, I can't imagine why the "cheapest" stainless conical out there is around 400 bucks.

Tank wise I'm referring to something like this Ace roto-tank:
http://gototanks.com/shop-by-catego...-square-cone-bottom-specialty-rinse-tank.html

The angle on the shoulder is more than enough to promote settling, it's square so easy enough to make a stand for it, and the bottom opening is 1.25", more than enough to dump trub without plugging.

I'm still thinking about grabbing one, even if it's plastic - only problem is once I funk it up, it'll stay funky. That's why stainless has a better nod...

Just thinking, even if you pitch to a primary and transfer out after the initial rush, it'll still have a fair amount of yeast in suspension to add with whatever's in the tanks (and give a bonus to allow most of the trub to settle out before transfer).

Hmmmm.. my own little funk farm. Oh, the possibilities...

Just got the stout into the carboy - man, if it tastes as good as it did going in, this batch is going to be amazing - coffee, roasty, just a hint of the floral hops. Going in with 14.5P, and pitched Notty (3G). This one's gonna be bully!

:rockin:

Nothing survives high temp steam............ Raise it to steam temps, and anything in it will be dead! It's a myth that once funked always funked...........The problem with plastic is that it only takes so much heat.... I like your tank....... I like the price, I like the shape. At $73............. do you care anyway? I've lost count of the dollars I've spent in unsuccessful endeavors. You'd have a hundred in it with freight.... maybe a bit more, but what the heck? At $3-$4 per beer in your local brew pub, how long does it take to eat up $100? At $3.50, it would take me 3 months and change...........

H.W.

 

[Owly055]

Demon brew has conical fermentor that's what is use 75.00 bucks for the kit works well 2.5 gallon

I like it!!

 

[Owly055]

Demon brew has conical fermentor that's what is use 75.00 bucks for the kit works well 2.5 gallon

I was just thinking that it wouldn't be a huge project to extend the legs so you could set it on the floor, and put a trub valve in the bottom which appears to be a flat surface. At $35 at Adventures In Homebrewing: http://www.homebrewing.org/product....m=ProductAds&gclid=COPMseqazL0CFdBqfgodRRAASQ It isn't a bad value.


Howard

 

[MedBrewer]

Could any one using one of those demon conical fermenters make a graphic of where the levels of trub and fermented wort sit at with a typical 1gal and maybe a 2 gal batch? I'm very interested in getting one of these but would like to know where these levels are. Thanks!

 

[beerlover87]

Could any one using one of those demon conical fermenters make a graphic of where the levels of trub and fermented wort sit at with a typical 1gal and maybe a 2 gal batch? I'm very interested in getting one of these but would like to know where these levels are. Thanks!

The trub on mine always sits below the spigot don't have any that has came out in my brew yet

 

[sumbrewindude]

Those Demonbrew conicals are neat for sure. I'm just hung up on how well my 5buck waterbottles are working, so I'm going to stick with what works for me. I do like the fact that you could feasably bottle out of them, though. Any issues with leaking/sanitization?

Bottled up the LIVID IIPA today. Holy cow is it tasty, the combo of Simcoe and Mosaic really make something like a passion fruit/ruby red grapefruit type flavor that just blends so nicely. Warrior did a nice job again with a subtle bittering for the citrus. Only downer was how much I lost to trub - usually I can pull at least 14 bottles from a batch, this time I could only squeek out 13.5, so I got to sample a half while bottling. Tasty!! If the calculations are right, this one will clock in at 8%ABV, and I can't taste the alcohol at all in the sample..

Also - because I'm a glutton for punishment and couldn't blame a great idea for my own stupidity, I managed to track down the Domino sugar dots finally (2.5g per cube) and used them to individually prime the bottles this time. So easy - I'm curious to see how the carb levels look after this, but at 1.80 a box, this could become my new favorite method of priming.

Owly -

I'd consider the 5gal roto tank, but it's only a few dollars more for the 10 (and then only a few more for the 15 - funny how that works), and as I'm looking to step up to 3gal batches, that'll feasibly let me run ~3 batches into the FunkFarm before pulling a set out.

If I was staying with the 1.5gal, I'd go the 5gal route. Hmm... Maybe the 5gal would be the better route, I'm not sure how 3gal of weird would go over every other week.

 

[beerlover87]

Those Demonbrew conicals are neat for sure. I'm just hung up on how well my 5buck waterbottles are working, so I'm going to stick with what works for me. I do like the fact that you could feasably bottle out of them, though. Any issues with leaking/sanitization?

Bottled up the LIVID IIPA today. Holy cow is it tasty, the combo of Simcoe and Mosaic really make something like a passion fruit/ruby red grapefruit type flavor that just blends so nicely. Warrior did a nice job again with a subtle bittering for the citrus. Only downer was how much I lost to trub - usually I can pull at least 14 bottles from a batch, this time I could only squeek out 13.5, so I got to sample a half while bottling. Tasty!! If the calculations are right, this one will clock in at 8%ABV, and I can't taste the alcohol at all in the sample..

Also - because I'm a glutton for punishment and couldn't blame a great idea for my own stupidity, I managed to track down the Domino sugar dots finally (2.5g per cube) and used them to individually prime the bottles this time. So easy - I'm curious to see how the carb levels look after this, but at 1.80 a box, this could become my new favorite method of priming.

Owly -

I'd consider the 5gal roto tank, but it's only a few dollars more for the 10 (and then only a few more for the 15 - funny how that works), and as I'm looking to step up to 3gal batches, that'll feasibly let me run ~3 batches into the FunkFarm before pulling a set out.

If I was staying with the 1.5gal, I'd go the 5gal route. Hmm... Maybe the 5gal would be the better route, I'm not sure how 3gal of weird would go over every other week.

Nope no leakage or any problem so far I would recommend them to anyone and I bottle straight out of mine 2.5 gallons at as time

 

[beerlover87]

I was just thinking that it wouldn't be a huge project to extend the legs so you could set it on the floor, and put a trub valve in the bottom which appears to be a flat surface. At $35 at Adventures In Homebrewing: http://www.homebrewing.org/product....m=ProductAds&gclid=COPMseqazL0CFdBqfgodRRAASQ It isn't a bad value.


Howard

Yea you could definitely do that but like I said I never get any trub and it fits perfect on the counter or in a corner somewhere

 

[Owly055]

Could any one using one of those demon conical fermenters make a graphic of where the levels of trub and fermented wort sit at with a typical 1gal and maybe a 2 gal batch? I'm very interested in getting one of these but would like to know where these levels are. Thanks!

Now if it had a racking arm................. Suppose someone built a simple replacement for the spigot that had a racking arm........... and a trub drain..... and extended legs.... and...........


H.W.

 

[doc8402]

Bottling done! First 2 batches in bottles NB Caribou Slobber and Radical Red. I am ready to drink them already.

I have a couple of questions I only got 14 12oz bottles from the 2 1gal batches. I know the Caribou Slobber was only about 3/4 gal just because I did not check boil off rate prior. It just seems like I should have gotten more then 8 from the other. It seemed like there was a lot of trub for only 1 gal. I think this is normal but I welcome ideas.

Next up is the Bourbon Barrel Porter. The directions say to use only 1/2 of the wheat malt powder. Just wondering if this is a typo on the NB kit. Any tips on this one? Thanks for all your help fellas!


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[Calichusetts]

Bottling done! First 2 batches in bottles NB Caribou Slobber and Radical Red. I am ready to drink them already.

I have a couple of questions I only got 14 12oz bottles from the 2 1gal batches. I know the Caribou Slobber was only about 3/4 gal just because I did not check boil off rate prior. It just seems like I should have gotten more then 8 from the other. It seemed like there was a lot of trub for only 1 gal. I think this is normal but I welcome ideas.

Next up is the Bourbon Barrel Porter. The directions say to use only 1/2 of the wheat malt powder. Just wondering if this is a typo on the NB kit. Any tips on this one? Thanks for all your help fellas!


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

8-10 is the norm. I actually put 1.1 gallons in the carboy and with temp control, do not see any blowoff. I usually get 8 and a hydrometer sample I just drink instead of bottle.

 

[matthewmurray]

What type of yeast did you use? A highly flocculant British strain left in the fermenter for about three weeks will make a really compact cake and you should get 9+ bottles, even after vigorous blowoff.

I used to overshoot my OG by a little on purpose and then use a bit more water in the priming solution so that I could have 10 full bottles. I've learned to live with 9 and skip the batch priming.

Finally, I wish 4L jugs were more common. I have one, and the extra few ounces of headroom help to keep blowoff loss down.

 

[sumbrewindude]

MatthewMurry - If you can suffer through some Rossi sangria, those bottles are 4L.

Doc - Congrats on bottling your batches! I know the first couple batched I did I was happy to get 12 bottles out of 1.5gal, now that I've had some time/experience under my belt I can get near 15 bottles if I'm extremely careful.

Even then, like this last go around with my IIPA, I ended up with 13.5 as I completely forgot about loss to dryhopping. It happens, just got to roll with it.

Above all, cold crashing and careful use of the bottling bucket/wand help immensely. After that it's just time and experience, IMO. You'll be a pro after the 4th batch.

 

[BigRock947]

Finally, I wish 4L jugs were more common. I have one, and the extra few ounces of headroom help to keep blowoff loss down.

2-gallon buckets work great. Bakeries get frosting in 2-gallon buckets and when empty are thrown away. You could hit a few places and see if there will keep some for you and the price is unbeatable....FREE!!!! Just my .02 cents

 

[MyCarHasAbs]

As a beginner, I wish they sold ingredient kits for the mini carboy kits (if they do, I'm completely unaware..). I think when you're beginning and mistake prone, it's easier to waste a lot of beer if you make a careless mistake. Also, it's easier to test your creativity with ingredients on smaller batches. But....I do like the idea of the supply lasting longer..so I see both sides to this


Just realized this was over 400 pages long. I hope I didn't bring a thread back from the dead.

 

[BigRock947]

As a beginner, I wish they sold ingredient kits for the mini carboy kits (if they do, I'm completely unaware..). I think when you're beginning and mistake prone, it's easier to waste a lot of beer if you make a careless mistake. Also, it's easier to test your creativity with ingredients on smaller batches. But....I do like the idea of the supply lasting longer..so I see both sides to this


Just realized this was over 400 pages long. I hope I didn't bring a thread back from the dead.

Here's a link to Northern Brewers kits.....Brooklyn Brew Shop sells them along with a few others...just search "small batch beer kits" on Bing or Google

http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/brewing/recipe-kits/small-batch-beer-recipe-kits

 

[fuzzy2133]

http://www.austinhomebrew.com/Beer/One-Gallon-sm-All-Grain-Recipe-Kits/

 

[MyCarHasAbs]

http://www.austinhomebrew.com/Beer/One-Gallon-sm-All-Grain-Recipe-Kits/

Yea it's not obvious at all that I'm new haha


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[Frankbo25]

Just brewed my very first 1 gallon batch today. This size is perfect for the space I have and for my situation as a stay-at-home dad of a crawling, into everything 9 month old. Plus I got a second fermenter with my kit and another recipe kit so i will be brewing it soon and a few weeks i will have 2 different beers to drink.
Im so excited!

 

[fuzzy2133]

Yea it's not obvious at all that I'm new haha


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It is all good, some of the sites are hard to navigate and find what you are looking for.

 

[sumbrewindude]

Just brewed my very first 1 gallon batch today. This size is perfect for the space I have and for my situation as a stay-at-home dad of a crawling, into everything 9 month old. Plus I got a second fermenter with my kit and another recipe kit so i will be brewing it soon and a few weeks i will have 2 different beers to drink.
Im so excited!

Awesome to hear Frank!

What did you brew, and which kit are you going to try next?

 

[doc8402]

New question or maybe an old one. Would it work to boil 5 gal of wort and separate into 1gal containers to play with hop schedules? Would the re-boil hurt the wort?


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[doc8402]

Frank I am glad to see I am not the only one who's getting through the first batch! Congrats man!!!

 

[bleme]

New question or maybe an old one. Would it work to boil 5 gal of wort and separate into 1gal containers to play with hop schedules? Would the re-boil hurt the wort?


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It wouldn't hurt the wort. You will get more Maillard reaction so your beer will be a bit darker. You would also have to account for a bit extra boil-off but that is all I can think of.