1-Gallon Brewers UNITE!

[burninator]

Dang no luck with my imgur link tips anyone?

try this: ["IMG]http://i.imgur.com/dEtdpsP.jpg[/IMG]

remove the quotation inside the first bracket

 

[MaddDogg84]

Got it. Thanks!

 

[MaddDogg84]

Another project I am starting with small batches is bourbon oaking.

I recently made a RIS and Wee Heavy. I am soaking oak cubes in bourbon and will add to .5 gallon of each beer. There are various opinions and advice on amount and time. I added .5 oz of bourbon cubes to a mason jar and covered w Wild Turkey 80, which will be split between the two beers. I will soak the oak while they are in primary and add to secondary.

Ideally I'll have the discipline to let all bottles sit for 6 months 😁

View attachment 1432752127857.jpg

 

[ba-brewer]

Question about gravity readings, since I an brewing small one gallon batches I have never taken a gravity reading for not wanting to waste the sample, is it worth looking into a refractometer? Is it as accurate as a hydrometer?

I originally got a refractometer for small batches because I did not want to loss a beer or two to take hydometer reading. For pre-fermentation it is as accurate as a hydrometer as long as you put a consistent amount of wort on it. As others have said the calculations for determining the gravity once fermentation begins is questionable, for me the Sean Terril calculator works well for FGs over 1.010, below that beersmith seems to work better. A refractometer will give consistent numbers post fermentation so if you are only looking for stable gravity they work great.

What I started to do to not lose beer on small batches and still use a hydro is to let the left over trub and break material to separate over night and collect the clear wort on top to take a OG reading. Have not found a good way to save a beer for FG, so I just ferment a little extra.

 

[Opiate42]

Now do not forget to update us (me ) with tasting notes!

Will do! Should be able to sample some it this weekend!

Another project I am starting with small batches is bourbon oaking.

Ideally I'll have the discipline to let all bottles sit for 6 months 😁

Have some oak chips and plan on using brandy, just haven't figured a recipe yet, but it's in the works Will be the first time oaking anything.

 

[MaddDogg84]

Will do! Should be able to sample some it this weekend!



Have some oak chips and plan on using brandy, just haven't figured a recipe yet, but it's in the works Will be the first time oaking anything.

Brandy sounds awesome. Mother In Law sent us home w what I thought was Apricot Brandy, but w help realized it was Apricot flavored Brandy liqueur. Bummer as I had my heart set on oaking my Wee Heavy w that instead of the bourbon. Man, Apricot Brandy Wee Heavy sounds awesome but don't want to ruin my first batch w a new fermentable variable. Maybe 2016.

View attachment 1432772817580.jpg

 

[Opiate42]

Brandy sounds awesome. Mother In Law sent us home w what I thought was Apricot Brandy, but w help realized it was Apricot flavored Brandy liqueur. Bummer as I had my heart set on oaking my Wee Heavy w that instead of the bourbon. Man, Apricot Brandy Wee Heavy sounds awesome but don't want to ruin my first batch w a new fermentable variable. Maybe 2016.

Whoa factor: HIGH

 

[BlackSheep92]

Hoping y'all could give me a hand or offer me some advice. I've recently transitioned from 5 gallons to 1 gallon and 2.5 gallon brewing and from extract brewing to all grain brewing. Can you recommend any equipment: i.e. a false bottom mash tun or any other equipment that would be smaller and more focused for brewing smaller batches like the 1 or 2.5 gallons?

I know it is a silly question but was hoping maybe someone would have some insight.

Thanks and cheers

 

[MadHomebrewer]

Hoping y'all could give me a hand or offer me some advice. I've recently transitioned from 5 gallons to 1 gallon and 2.5 gallon brewing and from extract brewing to all grain brewing. Can you recommend any equipment: i.e. a false bottom mash tun or any other equipment that would be smaller and more focused for brewing smaller batches like the 1 or 2.5 gallons?



I know it is a silly question but was hoping maybe someone would have some insight.



Thanks and cheers

I recommend doing BIAB for small batches of all grain. I do one gallon batches of Brooklyn Brew shop kits in a two gallon pot and a 5 gallon paint strainer bag from Lowe's.View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1435069492.819488.jpg

And my fermentor is a little 2 gallon bucket I got from my local homebrew store.View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1435069586.966487.jpg

 

[TheMadKing]

I just started all-grain brewing and I just had a couple of 2 gallon jugs lying around so I decided to get my process down on 1 gallon batches and I have no regrets! I went with the BIAB method and just mash in my pot and it couldn't be simpler.

The only complaint I have with BIAB with batches this small is that its harder to maintain mash temps in a pot, so it might be worth it to spend $15 or so and buy a mini-cooler for a mash tun that you can just plop a bag into and keep your temps more even.

Just my $0.02

 

[MadHomebrewer]

I just started all-grain brewing and I just had a couple of 2 gallon jugs lying around so I decided to get my process down on 1 gallon batches and I have no regrets! I went with the BIAB method and just mash in my pot and it couldn't be simpler.

The only complaint I have with BIAB with batches this small is that its harder to maintain mash temps in a pot, so it might be worth it to spend $15 or so and buy a mini-cooler for a mash tun that you can just plop a bag into and keep your temps more even.

Just my $0.02

You are correct, it is hard to maintain your mash temps for batches this small. However, I built a mini mash tun, pics below, and found it easier with BIAB and the pot because you can turn back on the heat easy. It was harder to maintain temps in the mini tun. I have gone back to BIAB. View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1435070367.527692.jpg

 

[TheMadKing]

You are correct, it is hard to maintain your mash temps for batches this small. However, I built a mini mash tun, pics below, and found it easier with BIAB and the pot because you can turn back on the heat easy. It was harder to maintain temps in the mini tun. I have gone back to BIAB. View attachment 286305

I just mash with 0.75 gallons of strike water in my bag in my cooler, and if it gets too cold I pour in some hot water from my preheated teakettle, or some ice cubes if it gets too hot. That way if my water/grist ratio gets a little off its no biggy and I don't wind up with a crazy amount of volume for the boil. Different stroke I guess

 

[TheMadKing]

General 1 gallon question though, does anyone have experience bottling in growlers or gallon jugs with these small batches? If so, how has it worked for you? I've been considering it lately and would love to hear some horror/success stories.

 

[Sharkbrewingco]

I agree with trying to keep a consistent mash temp. I tried several thing, yet I wasn't satisfied. I went with the oven trick to keep my mash temp. I then transfer my wort to the tun for vorlauf and transfer to kettle.

 

[Sharkbrewingco]

General 1 gallon question though, does anyone have experience bottling in growlers or gallon jugs with these small batches? If so, how has it worked for you? I've been considering it lately and would love to hear some horror/success stories.

I have never bottled in that size. Never really even thought about it.

 

[Sharkbrewingco]

During Fall, Winter and Spring, I usually put my 2 gallon fermenter in an ice chest with some water. It was easy for me to regulate the temperature. As we now move into the summer months, I am having problem with controlling the temperature. Its fluctuates between 64 - 70 degrees. I would like to brew some more, but afraid what the changes in temperature will do to the beer as ambient temperature rises. I am curious to where people put their fermenters during this time. I know I will have to move mine.

 

[rich5665]

General 1 gallon question though, does anyone have experience bottling in growlers or gallon jugs with these small batches? If so, how has it worked for you? I've been considering it lately and would love to hear some horror/success stories.

I'd think you could use the same 1 gallon jug I use for my meads. I've seen them in amber to.

 

[Avocado_Power]

General 1 gallon question though, does anyone have experience bottling in growlers or gallon jugs with these small batches? If so, how has it worked for you? I've been considering it lately and would love to hear some horror/success stories.

Only bottle bomb I ever had was in a 32 oz growler...after that I went back to 12 and 22 oz bottles. Still not sure what happened, but it was conditioning at high temps, so more likely that was the problem.

 

[fuzzy2133]

Problem with growlers is the glass thickness is not as consistent like bottles. A local newer brewery was storing yeast in growlers in a fridge and one of the growlers exploded so they switched to small 2 gallon kegs.

 

[gromitdj]

It is generally not recommended to perform natural carbonation in growlers, I don't believe they are designed to handle the pressure. Placing an already carbed liquid in the growler is apparently not the same as allowing it to naturally carbonate.

 

[pointlessbrew]

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1435732069.349596.jpg
My awesome wife just got me a 1-gallon set-up that arrived today. I recently purchased a new house and had been brewing with a neighbor and using his burners and my converted kegs for 10g batches, so I lost access to the burners after the move. Well life, a new house with all the projects and a 3 year old have put setting up my brewery in my new dedicated garage on the bottom of the to-do list.

I'm really excited to get back into brewing and to be able to do some small batch brewing on the kitchen stove until I can get the full set-up running again. Started off the with a couple of extract kits from Northern Brewer to get my feet wet in the this process with the goal of moving to all grain.

 

[TonyKZ1]

My awesome wife just got me a 1-gallon set-up that arrived today. Started off the with a couple of extract kits from Northern Brewer to get my feet wet in the this process with the goal of moving to all grain.

That kit looks pretty good. I've seen Wil Wheaton's Devil's Gate Vandal Eye's in the NB catalog, was kinda wondering how it tastes. I might have to get that recipe/equipment kit and try one for myself.

 

[flipfloptan]

Brooklyn Homebrew shop recipes at Bed Bath and Beyond.

Stopped in bed bath and beyond to pick something up and to my suprise 1 gallon recipes displayed at BBB.

$14.99 list. 20% off coupon made it 11.99. Cashier took $5 off coupon eventhough price was .01 short of $15. Made final price $10.

Picked up two of their rendition of Evil Twin Bikini Beer.

 

[tblume]

Excited to find this thread! Been brewing 1 gallon batches for about 8 months. No room for bigger equipment. Today is a big day for me as I have ventured past kits and am brewing a recipe that I created! Didn't venture far from scaling down something, but a big step.

 

[TonyKZ1]

Saturday was a 1st for me, I brewed an All Grain 1 Gallon Recipe, it's a BIAB Amber Lager recipe from Bigtimberbrewingsupply. It's a Lager recipe but I'm going to ferment it close to the ale temperature range, high 50s to the low 60s, it's in a cooler with an ice bottle so we'll see how that goes. It's fermenting in the 1G bottle with a blow-off tube, I'm supposed to put an airlock on it in 2-3 days or so. This is the equipment/recipe kit my daughter bought me and that got me interested enough in brewing to buy the Mr. Beer LBKs and the BrewDemon LBCs and start there.

 

[ericbw]

Is it a lager yeast?

 

[Darth_Beer]

I am looking for a quick recipe critique. 1gal English barleywine:

2.25 pound Marris Otter
1.00 pound Pale LME
0.15 pound C10
0.10 pound Chocolate

.40 oz Willamette 7.1% @ 60 min
.20 oz EKG 4.3% @ 15 min
.20 oz Fuggle 5.1% @ 5 min

EST OG: 1.103
EST FG: 1.026
EST IBU: 44.6
EST ABV: 10.12%

Debating either WLP002 English ale yeast, or Nottingham. Will be fermented around 60F

Brewmate says its a perfect style match, but what do you guys think?

 

[TonyKZ1]

Aloha everyone! Been watching this thread for a while and love it! I made my first batch, an Oatmeal Brown Ale kit from Big Timber Brewing over a month ago and tried it out tonight with the wife. It was amazing!

Congrats, I just made their Amber Lager. I'll have to try that Oatmeal Brown Ale as that sounds pretty good.

 

[TonyKZ1]

Is it a lager yeast?

Yes, it is. Saflager S-23 Dry Lager Yeast. However reading on the yeast packet it said "Temperature Range: 51-59° F (optimal) for lagers, up to 75° F only for certain styles like California Common." so I thought I'd go ahead and try it at the high 50s to the low-mid 60s, low ale temperatures. It was pretty active the first few days, but it's calmed down somewhat now but never did go out of the top of bottle into the blow off tube.

 

[brew703]

Started with this hobby two months ago. Already itching to go bigger. The one gallon batches will allow me to hone my skills and figure out which beer styles I like.
Started to brew BIAB and moving away from extract.
I do see a 10 gallon kettle in the near future.