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I like to be contrarian, but I boiled my SHaME beer for 60 minutes with .5 oz. of Nelson Sauvin and then tossed in the other half ounce of hops at flame out. Calling it Walk of Shame Scottish IPA since I used 1728.
 
AZCoolerBrewer said:
I like to be contrarian, but I boiled my SHaME beer for 60 minutes with .5 oz. of Nelson Sauvin and then tossed in the other half ounce of hops at flame out. Calling it Walk of Shame Scottish IPA since I used 1728.
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Let us know how it comes out. That is one of the hops I've been wanting to try for a long time since my wife loves white wine.
 
Do any of the online places sell 1 or 2 gallon all grain of Partial mash kits?

I used to be an avid homebrewer from 2011-2014, but fell out of the hobby due to moving to a small apartment and a life change. I'm still not active, but brew at least one small batch every year just to stay in practice and keep in touch with the hobby.Well, the time has come again to brew my annual "proficiency batch", but unlike past years, I don't even have time to convert a 5 gal recipe through Beer Smith into a 1 gal, then drive out to my nearest HBS to buy the ingredients as is my normal routine.

Thus I'm hoping that small batch brewing has become popular enough for any of the online places to carry small batch kits (preferably for one or two gallons). And oh, I'm not interested in extract... then would be no point as my purpose is to simply stay in practice with grain brewing during this phase of my life.

So is anyone aware of any online retailers that offer small batch kits?
Thanks!
 
This post was well worth reading over...In fact it's been quite a spirit booster. I was very ill a few years back and had to cut back on my beer consumption...drastically, (is a good word)...I had to lose a lot of weight and cut back my drinking to 4, YES four beers a week...I stopped brewing, I just couldn't see brewing 5 gals of something really good and have it just sit for months while I tipple away at it 4 beers at a time...
But this would give me a new lease on brewing...one and a half gal...12 beers drunk over 3 weeks and then on to the next great brew...falls not far away and I could start with a dark beer or even an Irish Stout...Joy Joy JOY!
 
KiwiBruce said:
This post was well worth reading over...In fact it's been quite a spirit booster. I was very ill a few years back and had to cut back on my beer consumption...drastically, (is a good word)...I had to lose a lot of weight and cut back my drinking to 4, YES four beers a week...I stopped brewing, I just couldn't see brewing 5 gals of something really good and have it just sit for months while I tipple away at it 4 beers at a time...
But this would give me a new lease on brewing...one and a half gal...12 beers drunk over 3 weeks and then on to the next great brew...falls not far away and I could start with a dark beer or even an Irish Stout...Joy Joy JOY!
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Same here minus medical issue. Some weeks I may only drink 3-4 beers. It takes me 6 months to drink 5 gallons. Then I can’t brew. So I’m going to 1.5 gallon batches
 
I'll go find my brewing log and dig up my Irish...need to do a scale down, but this was one of the best stouts I ever brewed...I will post the scaled down recipe.
 
amd133mhz said:
I have been brewing partial extract kits 5 gallons,and I want to make a 1 gallon batch but have no idea how to either cut ingredients from a 5 gallon kit,which I wouldn't really wanna do anyways. I was thinking cutting a mr beer kit between two 1 gallon fermenters,

any ideas on that?

any ideas on making 1 gallon batches?

Thanks
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Why not just buy a one gallon kit from say, Brewer’s Best?
 
Westwind7 said:
Why not just buy a one gallon kit from say, Brewer’s Best?
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2012 post.

But hey, welcome to the forum!
I started with (all grain) kits too but for me they quickly lost their appeal. I like to adjust recipes to my taste, mill my own grain, etc. etc.

Cheers
 
Kits are a great "dip your toes in the water and try it out" deal. Slowly you get ready to jump in...not the deep end, just the "half grain and half extract" shallow end...then you get up the guts to go off the diving board "All Grain" and brewing is exciting and great...then one day you look in the mirror and your an "Old Fat Fart" and the diving board starts to lose it's appeal. You look back and say to yourself..."The shallow end, half and half, may not have the thrill of jumping off the diving board...but they were still pretty damn good!"...so why would I get out of the pool and just stick my toes in again? In a 1 to 1.5 gal batch my grains would only be for taste and color... the "work" would be carried by the malt extract , and I still have almost all the range and variety that I used to have with "all grain"
Kits are for Kids...silly wabbit!
 
Stout time
IMG_20180806_190940.jpg
 
You know... a 5 gallon kit divided into quarters would work for a 1-1/4 gallon batch... or 1 gallon that's 25% stronger!

Then you could brew it again... Maybe with different hops. Or different yeast.

Then you could brew it again... and again...

Lots of experimenting possibilities.

EDIT: I bet a 5 gallon kit divided in thirds would work well for 1.5 gallon batches, too...
 
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For what it is worth, my small batch story:

I started brewing back in the late 1970s. Bought a book and plastic trash bin to ferment in and a few brewing equipment things I found a 5 gallon glass Alhambra water bottle and used mostly what was available in the kitchen to make extract brews. A few turned out good; several had weird flavors I did not like. We did not understand sanitation well. The bad flavors discouraged me and I quit brewing. Over the years I expressed to my wife that I would like to buy some better equipment and try this again.



Fast forward 40 years. SWMBO bought me a small batch brewing kit from Man Crates last Christmas. The Centennial SMASH turned out great. The yeast is US-05 for anyone that ends up here searching for that tidbit. After brewing the first batch I started researching small batch brewing on the interwebs, including this thread, and decided to try a BIAB second batch. It turned out good and I tried some more. Feeling adventurous I found a 28 barrel (882 gallon) Double Brown recipe from Biess and scaled it down to 1 gallon. It worked! I made 9 small batch beers before stepping up to 4 gallon batches using my old 5 gallon glass carboy. I’m 13 finished batches in and have not had a bad one yet. The small batches gave me a lot of experience while producing a volume of beer that I could drink without spending a lot on ingredients. I think I will cut back on batch size from 4 gallons because I don’t need several cases of beer lying around waiting for me to drink them. That is just me.

With planning I can use the carboy that came with the kit to make a 1.3 gallon batch which equals 2 six packs. My next brew attempt will be to make a 1.3 gallon California Common using methods described in this Warm Fermented Lager thread. I will then use the yeast from that to pitch into a 2.5 gallon Doppelbock. Small batch is good for me.

Here is my small batch version of the Briess Good Humans double brown recipe that I like. It is stepped up and might better be described as a Baltic Porter (8-9%). I got 8% and was unable to get it to dry out as much as the recipe calculator predicted.


Double Brown Trouble
LB
3 2 row pale malt
.6 brown malt 70L
.4 Vienna 3.5L
.4 Munich 10L
.2 Briess Victory Malt 25L
.1 Caramel Malt 80L
.05 Black Malt 500L (Used Black Barley)

Grams
5.67 Amarillo (8% AA) Pellets 60 min
8.5 Willamette (4.8% AA) Pellets 30 min
8.5 Cascade (6.6% AA) Flame out
8.5 Willamette (4.8% AA) Flame out

Procedures:
9½ quarts water heat to 164º. Add 4.75 LB malt bill (I use a bag). Mash at 156ºF for 75 min (maybe mash lower for better attenuation and I think 1 hour mash would be fine). Drain and squeeze the bag. 9 quarts wort into 60 minute boil. 1.5 gallons post boil – cool to 70º. 1.3 gallon into fermenter. 1 gallon into secondary. (I would skip the secondary now.) Adjust starting mash water volume according to your equipment to end up with 1.5 gallons post boil.
 
InspectorJon said:
For what it is worth, my small batch story:
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This system doesn't seem want me to edit the above post so here is some more info on the above recipe.

My small batch version of the Briess Good Humans double brown recipe. I like it a lot. It's kind of like an imperial stout. It is stepped up from the Briess grain to mash water ratio and might better be described as a Baltic Porter (8-9%). I got 8.4% and was unable to get it to dry out as much as the recipe calculator predicted but I like brown and on the sweet side.
My Results:
OG: 1.090 FG: 1.026 IBU: 38 SRM:26
 
Griffin495 said:
Let us know how it comes out. That is one of the hops I've been wanting to try for a long time since my wife loves white wine.
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I just had the first finished beer from this batch. I like the hop flavor and subtle aroma very much, but am not getting the white wine flavor that Nelson Sauvin is named for. The flavor and aroma remind me of Chinook, but I bittered with this hop and the bitterness is not like Chinook, I find it soft and pleasant, but still potent like Northern Brewer.
 
AZCoolerBrewer said:
I just had the first finished beer from this batch. I like the hop flavor and subtle aroma very much, but am not getting the white wine flavor that Nelson Sauvin is named for. The flavor and aroma remind me of Chinook, but I bittered with this hop and the bitterness is not like Chinook, I find it soft and pleasant, but still potent like Northern Brewer.
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Interesting. Thanks for the feedback. I brewed a one gallon batch of pale ale with all Neslson yesterday. 92% 2-row and 8% Crystal 60. Debating on whether to dry hop it or leave it as is. Around 5.3 ABV and 40 IBUs.
 
Griffin495 said:
Interesting. Thanks for the feedback. I brewed a one gallon batch of pale ale with all Neslson yesterday. 92% 2-row and 8% Crystal 60. Debating on whether to dry hop it or leave it as is. Around 5.3 ABV and 40 IBUs.
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Today I had another one of these. I used a snifter glass rather than a tapered pint glass and also the glass wasn’t frozen like I do with my pint glasses. The slightly warmer temp plus the constricted mouth concentrated the aroma right after I poured the beer. I definitely got a white wine aroma with this beer, also pine.

I’m not sure if I would dry hop your beer. Normally, I would say, why not, but another flavor I get with this hop is a sort of tongue numbing thing. I don’t find it unpleasant at all, but I feel like there’s a flavor there that I could be genetically undisposed to tasting. If your taste buds aren’t like mine then tread lightly. I have the same experience but to a lesser degree with Galaxy and Cascade hops, so perhaps if those two are hops that taste super strong to you then don’t. But if you’re like me and say, I don’t see what everyone is so excited about with this Galaxy and Cascade then maybe put it in.
 
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So I’ve joined the club this week. Was using London Fog Yeast for s beer and figured I’d use the yeast on s gallon of apple juice to see what happens.
xarr78.jpg[img]
 
Last Saturday I brewed my first 1 gallon batch. Actually two one gallon batches - a pale ale and a porter. Active fermentation is now over and I'm going to let them sit for another couple weeks before I take gravity readings. That got me thinking - I only have a hydrometer and gathering a couple samples from each is quite a draw off the gallon.

Question - Would it be worth looking into a refractometer at this stage of the process for these brews? I've read they're not really meant for calculating final gravity, but I know there is some conversion you can do. I'd just hate wasting the amount of beer a hydrometer would use.
 
BongoYodeler said:
Last Saturday I brewed my first 1 gallon batch. Actually two one gallon batches - a pale ale and a porter. Active fermentation is now over and I'm going to let them sit for another couple weeks before I take gravity readings. That got me thinking - I only have a hydrometer and gathering a couple samples from each is quite a draw off the gallon.

Question - Would it be worth looking into a refractometer at this stage of the process for these brews? I've read they're not really meant for calculating final gravity, but I know there is some conversion you can do. I'd just hate wasting the amount of beer a hydrometer would use.
Click to expand...
A refractometer does need an calculator to figure out actual gravity once fermentation begins but if you are just looking for a final stable gravity you can take the reading at face value and look for when it stop changing.

.
 
BongoYodeler said:
Last Saturday I brewed my first 1 gallon batch. Actually two one gallon batches - a pale ale and a porter. Active fermentation is now over and I'm going to let them sit for another couple weeks before I take gravity readings. That got me thinking - I only have a hydrometer and gathering a couple samples from each is quite a draw off the gallon.

Question - Would it be worth looking into a refractometer at this stage of the process for these brews? I've read they're not really meant for calculating final gravity, but I know there is some conversion you can do. I'd just hate wasting the amount of beer a hydrometer would use.
Click to expand...

For one gallon batches, I just keep a gallon jug of Starsan, sink the hydrometer in it before putting it in the gallon jug of wort/beer.
 
BrewnWKopperKat said:
Where did you find a hydrometer that's short enough to float in a typical one gallon carboy available in the US?
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You know, I had not thought of how close that is (I have the Alla hydrometer from France), I probably could not get a wort measurement with a lower PABV beer - I do use the typical 1g. It is not short enough to do a measurement of the beer for a lower ABV with the trub at the bottom. I had neglected to note that, but I am less fussed about taking a hydrometer tube worth of beer at bottling, then pouring it back into the last bottle.
 
I just wait long enough and look at my beer to see if it is done. This has worked great for me until my last batch. I did a partigyle and the big beer had quite a high FG when I bottled, but I think it was because the yeast couldn’t tolerate the high ABV.
 
I typically don't do any gravity checks in the fermenter, it seems like too much of a hassle, there's not a lot to spare in a 1 gallon batch for sampling, and i don't want to drop a hydrometer into the a glass carboy. Based on my experience 14 - 21 days seems to work before bottling.
 
ba-brewer said:
I would be nervous of the hydro breaking if it hit the bottom of a glass jug too hard or possible while trying to fish it out the skinny opening.
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Not much of an issue, setting the hydrometer rather than dropping it is not hard, and the tip has been just outside the jug.

What does not always work well is the visibility to where you need to see for an accurate reading.
 
I plan on doing mostly 2 gallon batches when I make my own recipes. And mostly 2 gallons so i can experiment with hops or another single ingredient.
I have the ability to do 5 gallons and kit pricing makes more sense for me to do 5 gallons while using only kits right now
 
Did my first go at a 1.5 gal batch yesterday, trying a recipe that I'm not sure I'll like.

I was able to get a few 3 gal frosting buckets from a bakery, and I'm using one as my fermenter.

Even for my typical brews, I do smaller-than-standard batch size, I scale recipes to 3.5 gal, but even so, what a big difference in the ease involved with doing extra-small batches like this.

Everything weighs less, way less time to reach strike temp and boil, way quicker to chill, etc.

One thing I've noted is, it seemed to take several hours longer than usual for my airlock to show signs of activity, and this morning it's not nearly as active as my standard batches are the morning after pitching.

I know airlock activity doesn't really mean much, but I found it interesting that there is a noticeable difference.

Whether it's just this particular brew, or a case of less wort = less CO2, therefore less bubbles, I don't know.

I always ferment in buckets so I never really know what the wort is actually doing, visually.
 
Quick question - how do you guys bottle from a one-gallon glass carboy?? I can't figure out a quick, clean and easy way to do it - especially since the auto-siphon I have doesn't fit inside... I have four or five one-gallon glass carboys that I'd love to use (including for hop experiments and such)....
 
surista said:
Quick question - how do you guys bottle from a one-gallon glass carboy?? I can't figure out a quick, clean and easy way to do it - especially since the auto-siphon I have doesn't fit inside... I have four or five one-gallon glass carboys that I'd love to use (including for hop experiments and such)....
Click to expand...

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/1-gallon-brewers-unite.311884/page-160#post-8329824

Buy a 2 gallon food grade bucket, drill a hole for spigot, ferment/bottle directly out of it. But if you really want to ferment in the carboys you already have, you're just going to have to buy a smaller siphon that fits.
 
surista said:
Quick question - how do you guys bottle from a one-gallon glass carboy?? I can't figure out a quick, clean and easy way to do it - especially since the auto-siphon I have doesn't fit inside... I have four or five one-gallon glass carboys that I'd love to use (including for hop experiments and such)....
Click to expand...

I use a plastic racking cane, cut short so it's the right length for a gallon jug. I wash my mouth out with vodka or whiskey first then suck-start the siphon.

I have an autosiphon but I don't use it. Not sure why I haven't thrown it out yet. It leaks air at the joint and I don't want it aerating my beer
 
surista said:
Quick question - how do you guys bottle from a one-gallon glass carboy?? I can't figure out a quick, clean and easy way to do it - especially since the auto-siphon I have doesn't fit inside... I have four or five one-gallon glass carboys that I'd love to use (including for hop experiments and such)....
Click to expand...

My auto-siphon is a gallon sized one and fits into my glass carboys fine. You could also start your siphon by submerging a tube in the beer or first filling it with water.
 
Heck yes for 1 gallon batching - i favor the Fast Ferment 3g - FFs are bomb and if you take care of the valves, they take care of you, no leaks. put them together wet each time with starsan and you will have 0 mold/infections in the valve. you can rack out the bottom to a keg or bottle bucket. i typically let 2-4 ounces run then it clears up. i do not swap yeast collection balls; i prefer to let it rest on the yeast with no secondary. Best part, not afraid of broken glass.

racking out of glass jugs or little big mouths(i have 2 for wine) i use a short/mini auto siphon like Leezer - works great, no leaks or bubbling through the line. picked it up on azon for under 10$

shooting gravity i use a refractometer - you can pick up 100 count bag of pipettes for 6$. this way you can shoot gravity with less than a few drops and you get a few to taste. SANITIZE YOUR PIPETTES :yes:! please note that you will need to factor in corrections for FG or the alch will make your refractormeter reading useless - https://www.brewersfriend.com/refractometer-calculator/. i got a cheapy refractometer off of azon, and with the calculator, it matches my hydrometer. YMMV
 
surista said:
Quick question - how do you guys bottle from a one-gallon glass carboy?? I can't figure out a quick, clean and easy way to do it - especially since the auto-siphon I have doesn't fit inside... I have four or five one-gallon glass carboys that I'd love to use (including for hop experiments and such)....
Click to expand...
I use the mini siphon which works perfectly for this size.
 
Regarding a couple questions above: Google can be your friend.

@surista I found an auto siphon pretty quickly that fits in in a common 1 gallon jug.

@BongoYodeler I also found a 100ml glass graduated cylinder that works good for gravity samples and only uses about 3 oz of wort. If you are careful and sanitize it and the hydrometer you can return the sample. I just drink it. It does not work for final gravity near zero because it is not tall enough but it works fine for beer.
 

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