1-Gallon Brewers UNITE!

[VagueSkunk]

Does anyone have 1 gallon NE IPA recipes, either all grain or extract? I'm not sure how to go about converting down from 5 gallon batches for this, and haven't been able to find any info elsewhere in the forum.

Thnaks!

To convert, just multiply by .40 (for a 2 gallon batch, 3 gallons would be .60 etc. ). So if a 5 gallon recipe calls for 10 pounds of two-row, a 2 gallon batch will use 4 pounds. A 3 gallon batch would use 6, and a 4 gallon batch would use 8 pounds.

 

[Sadu]

I'm curious how everyone goes about using yeast for small batches? I have been doing 2.5g batches, but still using an entire smack pack.

Are there any adverse effects from doing this?

I don't know how much you pay for yeast but where I live that approach would increase my costs by 400% which doesn't work. Instead I save slurry in the fridge and pitch that according to the calculators.

 

[NSMikeD]

I'm curious how everyone goes about using yeast for small batches? I have been doing 2.5g batches, but still using an entire smack pack.

Are there any adverse effects from doing this?

I've become a fan of dry yeast. The quality is no longer inferior (they survive shipping and store better). Once you hydrate dry yeast, you have liquid yeast in 20 minutes- plus they come with their own nutrient reserves. I like that I don't need to attend to the yeast until I actually start brewing.

For 99% of my brewing, there is a quality dry yeast available and for when I want a special stain that isn't available in dry, I'll use a smack pack.

I used to use a half pack for my 2.5 gallon batches but now I use the whole packet. When I was splitting the packs, since they were dry - the unused portion stored away in the fridge until the next batch with no issues.

on another note, you can calculate how much yeast to pitch. a 2.5 gallon beer with 1.048 gravity will need about 90 billion cells. A typical liquid yeast contains 80-120 billion cells averaging 100 billion, so without using a starter, a full smack pack is probably spot on. Note adjust liquid yeast by 20%/month loss

 

[Uncruliar]

So my first brew was bottled seven weeks ago. I drank the last but one bottle last night and it is certainly not as good as it was a couple of weeks ago. So that has got me thinking about a brew that I am planning on doing for a special event in August and wondering when I should brew it to make sure that it is in good condition at the right time.

The beer that I was drinking yesterday was quite a hoppy amber ale, 3.7%, and bottled in PET bottles.

The beer that I am planning on brewing will be an oatmeal stout at 7% and will be bottled in glass.

I suppose that the other thing to think about is how long it will take to ferment out. My smaller beer have been ready to bottle in three weeks but I've got one that still doesn't seem to have finished after five weeks.

 

[CrixusOfCapua]

Divide by 5 🖒

 

[Uncruliar]

I have been a one gallon all grain brewer for a few months now and I have had 8 brew days. The first couple were a steep learning curve as my mash temperatures were all over the place. Then I got on top of that and started hitting 70% efficiency. But I was getting an awful lot of true in my primary. I mash in a stock pot in the oven and I was just using a colander to strain the wort from the grain and then for my sparge. A lot of flour was getting through into my hop boil and then the primary. I thought that I should try to reduce that so I started to strain the wort through muslin. That has eliminated the flour and reduced the trub but it makes the so argue extremely slow and my efficiency has dropped down to the low 60s. Wondering whether to go back to just using the colander or maybe straining the wort through muslin after the sparge. Any thoughts?

 

[z-bob]

I have been a one gallon all grain brewer for a few months now and I have had 8 brew days. The first couple were a steep learning curve as my mash temperatures were all over the place. Then I got on top of that and started hitting 70% efficiency. But I was getting an awful lot of true in my primary. I mash in a stock pot in the oven and I was just using a colander to strain the wort from the grain and then for my sparge. A lot of flour was getting through into my hop boil and then the primary. I thought that I should try to reduce that so I started to strain the wort through muslin. That has eliminated the flour and reduced the trub but it makes the so argue extremely slow and my efficiency has dropped down to the low 60s. Wondering whether to go back to just using the colander or maybe straining the wort through muslin after the sparge. Any thoughts?

Many years ago, I did partial mash brewing. I used an aluminum pasta cooker to sparge, and it could handle up to about 5 pounds of grain. The secret for getting rid of flour is called 'Vorlauf' -- when you sparge, you pour the cloudy first running back into the grain bed until it runs clear and then you sparge with hot water.

Now I'm doing BIAB 4 gallon batches, and I'm getting a lot of flour again because my bag is too loose a weave and I don't vorlauf, but in the larger batch it doesn't really hurt much. Someday I'll sew a new bag out of muslin or voile fabric to reduce that.

 

[Uncruliar]

Many years ago, I did partial mash brewing. I used an aluminum pasta cooker to sparge, and it could handle up to about 5 pounds of grain. The secret for getting rid of flour is called 'Vorlauf' -- when you sparge, you pour the cloudy first running back into the grain bed until it runs clear and then you sparge with hot water.

I have always done that. Be for using the muslin it didn't seem to be help in much. I assumed that was because the hole sin the colander were so big. Maybe I should have run the wort through a few more times.

 

[StateRoad84]

My batches are 1.25 gallons. I use a 10 inch double mesh strainer that sits in a colander which sits on a cookie cooling rack on top of my boil kettle. My last batch yesterday I used a permanent golden coffee strainer that has been sitting in my cupboard to get the flour out while pouring into my primary. Yes, I pour through a strainer into my primary, aerates the wort real well for the pitch.

 

[BykerBrewer]

I have been a one gallon all grain brewer for a few months now and I have had 8 brew days. The first couple were a steep learning curve as my mash temperatures were all over the place. Then I got on top of that and started hitting 70% efficiency. But I was getting an awful lot of true in my primary. I mash in a stock pot in the oven and I was just using a colander to strain the wort from the grain and then for my sparge. A lot of flour was getting through into my hop boil and then the primary. I thought that I should try to reduce that so I started to strain the wort through muslin. That has eliminated the flour and reduced the trub but it makes the so argue extremely slow and my efficiency has dropped down to the low 60s. Wondering whether to go back to just using the colander or maybe straining the wort through muslin after the sparge. Any thoughts?

I tend to think a 10% decrease in efficiency is the result of something other than using a colander or a muslin bag to strain. Look at other variables. That said, you can try this if you want... The method I use removes the flour you speak of, holds the mash temp well, and results in good efficiency for me.

I mash in a paint strainer in a 2 gal cooler. When the mash is done, I pull out the whole bag with all the grain in it and set it on a colander resting over my brew pot. Then pour the wort left in the mash tun through the grain bed that is suspended over my boil pot. The wort is strained through the grain bed & then the paint strainer (and then colander technically, however, it is well strained by this point). This removes the flour your talking about. The wort falls into the boil pot, then I simply pour my sparge water over the grain bed & start the boil. Very easy.

Good luck

 

[Partagas]

6274 posts later...can we revisit the idea of a dedicated section for 1 gallon brewers?

 

[ericbw]

6274 posts later...can we revisit the idea of a dedicated section for 1 gallon brewers?

You mean like how there's a mead section and a cider section?

 

[GrimBrewer]

Im making my first small smal on Saturday.
2.5 liters.
Can we get a 0.66 gallon section too!?

I have enought beer to last me 4 months.
So desided to do some experiments wth new recipes. Just doing one small fermenter to see how much diffrent the process will be and to test the small glass jug as a fermenter. Future I can do 2 or 3 wth split dry hops or yeast etc. Will all still fit into my small fermenter chamber.

 

[ericbw]

What are you using for a fermenter? A gallon jug?

 

[GrimBrewer]

3 liter jar.Thats about 0.8 gallons.They were very cheap so didnt think to much about it. Not yet been able to get 1gallon container. Wth 2.5 in 3 i may get spill over. Why im only doing one and will be using a blow off tube and bt a air lock. Will also ferment a bit colder to slow yeast down a bit.

All in the name of beer and experiments!

 

[AZCoolerBrewer]

A little trick to avoid excessive blow off is to extend your blow off tube about an inch below the stopper. It seems minor, but is the difference between 24 oz. or 4 oz. of blow off loss.

 

[GrimBrewer]

AZCoolerBrewer, you mean the blow off tube should be deeper inside the fermenter? I was thinking you want as little tube inside the fermenter.

 

[AZCoolerBrewer]

AZCoolerBrewer, you mean the blow off tube should be deeper inside the fermenter? I was thinking you want as little tube inside the fermenter.

Yes, the tube is deeper inside the fermentor. Here's what I think is happening. If the tube is flush with the stopper all the foam from the krausen is pushed into the blow off tube, but if you have an inch or so hanging into your fermentor, only the foam that happens to be pushed up into that discreet 5mm blow off tube gets into tube and escapes the fermentor. Here you can see the orginal level of the beer in my fermentor based on the hop residue on the glass. The current liquid level shows the loss due to blow off from an extremely active US-05 ferment. I would expect double the loss i.e. 8 oz. if I used a big front end yeast like S-04.

 

[GrimBrewer]

Yea that logic make some sense. I've actually gone and reduce the length of my airlocks. I may just swap one out for with a unmodified airlock that would stick deeper into the fermenter. Or I should just add a blow of tube now.

How active is the krausen of saflager w34/70?

 

[AZCoolerBrewer]

The only lager yeast I have used is WLP810 San Fransico Lager. When active and at lower lager temps, blow off was not as active as US-05. I used that yeast twice and didn't have any real loss to blow off like I do with ale yeast. I use a blow off tube for the first week on all my brews. A minority of my beers have not needed a blow off setup.

 

[GrimBrewer]

Krausen started to fall yesterday, Thursday, after starting to form at some point early Monday morning. I am using safale w-34/70 with fermentation temp set to 11.8 and 11.9.

With 2.5 Liter wort in the 3 Liter jar, OG 1.047, only about a 1/4 to 1/3 of the headroom was filled with Krausen. So at least with w-34/70 I don't have to worry about blow offs.

Using the method I read on Brulosophy.com with "fast lager", I've started to slowly ramp up the temp now, since large part of fermentation looks done. Going to take gravity tonight.

 

[GrimBrewer]

Double post

 

[HomeBrewersBazaar]

I regularly brew 5 gallons but have just recently bought a few 1 gallon jugs to run a few experiment brews in. I'd rather waste 1 gallon of ingredients verse 5 gallons.

Brew on! Cheers! 🍻🍻

 

[GrimBrewer]

I had my first go at a braggot this past weekend, will be the first time I am making a high AVB beer. Considering the cost of honey and the duration of conditioning a high alcohol beer I didn't want to go for big volume. I would rather have multiple smaller containers aging than fewer big ones.

Currently fermenting 3.3L (0.9gal) wort/must in a 5L (1.3gal) bucket.
Plan is to rack to 3Liter secondary glass jar.

Fermenting at 65f with US-05 for 2 days now and krausen still very low. I must still add another 8.5oz honey tomorrow, so will see how krausen gets affected.

 

[treacheroustexan]

I have a few packs of wheat beer yeast to use up. I'm gonna do a few 1 gal biab brews tomorrow. Two row, wheat and munich with cascade hops.

 

[MrG]

Does anyone have any suggestions for a better/efficient method to move the wort from fermenter into bottles? Right now I use a racking cane to move from fermenter into a bottling pot (with sugar) and then from there into bottles.

Is there a better/more automated method? Or a cheaper alternative to a 128 ukeg?

Thanks

 

[ericbw]

That's the best way!

What's a ukeg?

 

[Sadu]

Yep. I can bottle a 1 gallon batch in under 20 minutes with this method, assuming bottles are clean to start with.

You could also use carbonation drops and go straight from primary to bottle, but personally I like to set the exact carbonation level to match the style of beer. I think it's worth the extra few minutes.

 

[MrG]

ericbw: https://www.growlerwerks.com/

Sadu: How are you setting carbonation levels? By measuring sugar into each bottle?

 

[Sadu]

Sadu: How are you setting carbonation levels? By measuring sugar into each bottle?

No, I rack the batch into a pot (basically a bottling bucket with no spigot) then bulk prime with a measured amount of sugar (which has been boiled in a small amount of water). You'll want to be accurate with the measurements here as a few grams makes all the difference. Then stir gently but thoroughly and siphon into each bottle. Believe it or not, siphoning into the bottles with a hose is actually easier and faster than a spigot and bottling wand once you get the hang of it. If you use a soft silicone hose you just pinch the hose to control or stop the flow.

I'll use carbonation drops occasionally, but I'm of the belief that carbonation is one of the important elements to making great beer. Stouts just taste better with low carbonation, Pilsners and lawnmower beers I like a bit more fizz.