1-Gallon Brewers UNITE!

[user 263363]

I use the Little Big Mouth Bubblers for my one gallon test batches. No spigot so I have to siphon. Very easy to clean, as you point out. I don't care for the lid gaskets so I bought a thin sheet of silicone and had the local HS Technology teacher cut out some gaskets on his laser trimmer for me. And finally, yes, I also have trouble removing the lids after fermentation is complete. I use something similar to these which makes it a bit easier.

That seems like a simple solution for the troublesome lid. I also like the idea of the silicone gaskets. I’ll see if the mechanics at work can hook me up. Thanks!

 

[user 263363]

I have been curious about what size they actually hold. It sounds like it is more than 1 gal? Have you checked the amount that they hold to the top. (I looked at the site and I see info that they hold 1.4 gals...I recall trying to find that info before...I also see a 1.4 gal PET Little Mouth Bubbler with a spigot!!!)

I have been using some containers that I got from Walmart (pic somewhere in this thread). I like them in general and like that they hold ~1.5 gal total. I drilled them for spigots, but I often have a hard time getting the spigots to seal.

The 1.4 gal PET models must be fairly new. I really like the looks of those, just too bad they are flirting with double the cost of the glass model.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

I have been curious about what size they actually hold. It sounds like it is more than 1 gal? Have you checked the amount that they hold to the top. (I looked at the site and I see info that they hold 1.4 gals...I recall trying to find that info before...I also see a 1.4 gal PET Little Mouth Bubbler with a spigot!!!)

For the glass LBMB, I measured 152 oz (1 gal + 1 pt + 1 cup) to the top horizontal rib. (1.25 gal = 160 oz). I could see fermenting 1.25 gal batches (with a blow-off tube) in them, but I haven't tried it.

edit: missed the question on the maximum capacity. May have time to measure this later in my evening. IIRC, 1.4 gal (1 gal 3 pt) is roughly to the bottom of the neck.

 

[BongoYodeler]

For the glass LBMB, I measured 152 oz (1 gal + 1 pt + 1 cup) to the top horizontal rib. (1.25 gal = 160 oz). I could see fermenting 1.25 gal batches (with a blow-off tube) in them, but I haven't tried it.

I always go to the top of that horizontal rib, maybe even a scoonch higher. Never used a blow-off tube either. I do tend to ferment cool though, usually with Nottingham or US-05, first week or so at around 63° No blow outs yet.

 

[OnePlate]

I always go to the top of that horizontal rib, maybe even a scoonch higher. Never used a blow-off tube either. I do tend to ferment cool though, usually with Nottingham or US-05, first week or so at around 63° No blow outs yet.

I go a little past that top rib too and because I use WY 2565 for the majority of my beers, I almost always have tons of blow-off, even when I ferment at 60F. 002 and 004 are pretty tame though, never had any blow-off from those.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

For those who fill to the 1.25 gal line, do you also try to keep trub out of the LBMB when transferring from the kettle? If so, what techniques work well for you to leave the trub behind?

 

[user 263363]

For those who fill to the 1.25 gal line, do you also try to keep trub out of the LBMB when transferring from the kettle? If so, what techniques work well for you to leave the trub behind?

I have been using just a strainer that fits across the mouth. After my last couple brews I’ve decided that I need a little more filtration. I haven’t decided on a solution yet though.

 

[BongoYodeler]

For those who fill to the 1.25 gal line, do you also try to keep trub out of the LBMB when transferring from the kettle? If so, what techniques work well for you to leave the trub behind?

I haven’t found an effective way to do that so I just don’t worry about it. I typically leave it in the fermenter for 3-4 weeks and by that time the trub is fairly compacted. I usually get 11 or 12 bottles out of a 1.25 gallon batch which is fine for me.

 

[InspectorJon]

I always go to the top of that horizontal rib, maybe even a scoonch higher. Never used a blow-off tube either. I do tend to ferment cool though, usually with Nottingham or US-05, first week or so at around 63° No blow outs yet.

I typically aim for 1.25 gallons into the fermenter. I boil enough to leave a couple cups in the boil kettle which leaves the majority of trub behind. I needed a blow off tube a couple of times but mostly not. I just measured mine. It holds 25 cups to the brim.

Simple blow off tube setup:

 

[ba-brewer]

Is anyone using the 1gal fermonster or know how much that size holds?

 

[CascadesBrewer]

Is anyone using the 1gal fermonster or know how much that size holds?

I have been curious as well I see the following from http://www.thevintageshop.ca/products/fermonster.html

• When completely full the 1 Gallon can accommodate up to 4.1 Litre (1.08 US Gallon)
• When completely full the 3 Gallon can accommodate up to 12 litre (3.2 US Gallon)

I have a few of the 3 gal Fermonsters, and I measured 3 gals + 20 oz (3.2 gal would be 26 oz). Based on this, it seems that the 1 gal is very close to only 1 gal. My small batches have been mostly 3/4 gal hop samplers (using 1 lb of DME), so they might work for me.

 

[OnePlate]

For those who fill to the 1.25 gal line, do you also try to keep trub out of the LBMB when transferring from the kettle? If so, what techniques work well for you to leave the trub behind?

This is how I minimize trub in my fermenters:

• Whirlfloc at 5-10 mins. Since I do BIAB, whirfloc is a must to get the fine grain particles and break material to settle out.
• Giving the wort time (30-60 minutes) to settle properly is vital (and probably most important, especially if not using kettle finings).
• I do my hop additions BIAB style, with the same size paint strainer bag that I do with the grain. This does a damn good job of keeping hops sludge out of the wort while giving the hops about as much contact time with the wort as if it was loose.
• My kettle has a trub dam on the dip tube. Works well to keep most of the settled trub at bay.
• I slowly open the ball valve only partway for the wort to drain. This keeps the suction current in the kettle small so not much trub will make it around the dam.
• I put a 1-gallon size paint strainer bag in the little BMB to catch any bigger clumps of coagulated grain/protein/sludge that may have gotten through when I first open the valve and when the wort level nears the bottom of the dip tube and creates bigger suction that pulls more trub with it. Most of the time, this bag catches very little material but sometimes it catches a lot if I've been impatient and not allowed enough time for the trub to settle.

My process still allows some break material through, which is good for the yeast but for the most part my end wort is very clean.

 

[ba-brewer]

@

I have been curious as well I see the following from http://www.thevintageshop.ca/products/fermonster.html

• When completely full the 1 Gallon can accommodate up to 4.1 Litre (1.08 US Gallon)
• When completely full the 3 Gallon can accommodate up to 12 litre (3.2 US Gallon)

I have a few of the 3 gal Fermonsters, and I measured 3 gals + 20 oz (3.2 gal would be 26 oz). Based on this, it seems that the 1 gal is very close to only 1 gal. My small batches have been mostly 3/4 gal hop samplers (using 1 lb of DME), so they might work for me.

I looked at a few homebrew sites and amazon but did not think about going to the vendor. Thanks for finding the information.

 

[Immocles]

This is how I minimize trub in my fermenters:

• Whirlfloc at 5-10 mins. Since I do BIAB, whirfloc is a must to get the fine grain particles and break material to settle out.

Why is that a must for biab? I use whirlfloc my biab brews as well, even though I battle chill haze anyway. I’m still very new to the process, just curious why it’s more important than other processes?

 

[HardyFool]

Why is that a must for biab? I use whirlfloc my biab brews as well, even though I battle chill haze anyway. I’m still very new to the process, just curious why it’s more important than other processes?

If you recirculate your wort, like in a RIMS system, the grain acts as a filter bed and filters out fine particulate matter from your wort; in BIAB, the pore size of your mesh bag defines the size of particle which gets through, which in all systems I've ever seen means you let more grain "dust" through than you would were you vorlaufing.

You could, of course, drain your wort into what amounts to a big grant, and then pump past a filter (hell, even a hop randall filled with rice hulls or something, or even hops!) into your boil kettle, but nobody (?) does that.

As for chill haze, two thoughts that seem like easy partial solutions:

• if you're fermenting in a chest freezer, set that sucker to 34˚ (assuming a 2˚ tolerance), and transfer that chilled beer to a keg or bottles
• and/or use a fining agent, like gelatin, or kieselsol and chitosan, or biofine, or isinglass, in your beer once fermentation has stopped, or even adding some directly to your keg pre-transfer (so that the filtering agent won't be largely wasted filtering out particulate matter that naturally settles out towards the end of fermentation anyway, and pre-transfer to stimulate thorough mixing)

 

[Pugnacious Brewing]

I’ve brewed quite a few of one gallon BIAB batches on my stove top using a paint strainer bag. They turned out fine but nothing in quality that compared to my 3-5 gallon batches with my grainfather. I usually just start with 2 gallons of water and no sparge. I’m going to give another shot at a batch tomorrow. Any tips on improving this process?

How did your brew day go? It has been over a year since I last brewed... due to some life changes, so I am now looking at smaller Bach brewing. When I did 4-5 gallon BIAB’s, I would always sparge with a gallon or 2, and that worked for me. Then I would squeeze the hell out of that bag.

 

[Richard Hemmerde]

Hi all.
I am fairly new to brewing and have been fermenting in 1 gal jugs but I just got a couple of 3 gal carboys. Is there any issue with using a 3 gal fermenter for a 1 gal batch?
Thanks for any help.

 

[Immocles]

I've never done 1 gallon in a 3G fermenter, but I have done several 2.5G batches inside of a 6.5G fermenter with little to no issues

 

[bernardsmith]

Hi Richard - and welcome. It depends. Fermenting 1 gallon of wine or beer in a 3 gallon fermenter poses no problem. Period. But after active fermentation has ceased and there is virtually no more sugar for the yeast to ferment then the protective layer of CO2 the yeast belch out, very rapidly dissipates. If you are brewing beer you will be bottling or kegging at that point so again there is no problem, but if you are making wine you typically need to age the wine for a few months or longer and so when active fermentation ends you need to transfer (rack) the wine into a vessel where there is no headroom ie space for air. (Oxygen is what yeast need as they reproduce and build up their bio-mass. Oxygen is what wine does NOT need as wine ages, because the O2 oxidizes the wine and so damages its flavor and color. This applies to fermenting honey (mead) and cider (which is really a wine too except that the ABV is more like a beer)

 

[Richard Hemmerde]

Thank you guys. I am brewing beer and my concern was, precisely, the CO2 cushion (or lack of) on top of the beer while fermenting. I'll go ahead with the bigger bottles then.

 

[Immocles]

Also forgot to mention that this is for primary only. If you do a secondary (which most do not) you will want as little headspace as possible.

Just adding, I’ve only dry hopped once in a half full fermenter and didn’t have great luck with those results. That particular beer oxidized very quickly. But my other beers have been perfectly fine. I do not brew hoppy ales often and I don’t think I’d dry hop another half capacity batch, personally.

 

[Richard Hemmerde]

Also forgot to mention that this is for primary only. If you do a secondary (which most do not) you will want as little headspace as possible.

Just adding, I’ve only dry hopped once in a half full fermenter and didn’t have great luck with those results. That particular beer oxidized very quickly. But my other beers have been perfectly fine. I do not brew hoppy ales often and I don’t think I’d dry hop another half capacity batch, personally.

Thank you Immocles, I do not plan to do secondary any time soon so I'm safe on that one!!

 

[RatsoRizzo]

I'm sure this has been covered before but feels easier to ask than trawl through 170 pages.

A question about liquid yeast when fermenting 1 gallon: do you pitch the whole pack or split it somehow? Using a whole pack seems like an overpitch and given the cost, I assume you'd want to ferment more than one small batch with a vial/pack. I have taken up brewing again after a lengthy break and before I used to use White Labs as you could pitch half a vial, reseal and then pitch the rest later but now that they have changed packaging that isn't possible. Appreciate any tips.

 

[Oldskewl]

I'm sure this has been covered before but feels easier to ask than trawl through 170 pages.

A question about liquid yeast when fermenting 1 gallon: do you pitch the whole pack or split it somehow? Using a whole pack seems like an overpitch and given the cost, I assume you'd want to ferment more than one small batch with a vial/pack. I have taken up brewing again after a lengthy break and before I used to use White Labs as you could pitch half a vial, reseal and then pitch the rest later but now that they have changed packaging that isn't possible. Appreciate any tips.

You could make a small vitality starter and then split into 1/2 pint or smaller sanitized mason jars. Then store in the fridge for the next brew day.

 

[mashpaddled]

I'm sure this has been covered before but feels easier to ask than trawl through 170 pages.

A question about liquid yeast when fermenting 1 gallon: do you pitch the whole pack or split it somehow? Using a whole pack seems like an overpitch and given the cost, I assume you'd want to ferment more than one small batch with a vial/pack. I have taken up brewing again after a lengthy break and before I used to use White Labs as you could pitch half a vial, reseal and then pitch the rest later but now that they have changed packaging that isn't possible. Appreciate any tips.

I pitch about 2/5 of the slurry directly into the wort and then pour the rest into a sanitized mason jar with extract. I make a small starter out of the jar and when fermentation ends I stick it in the fridge. When I want to brew another beer I pour off some of the beer on top, shake everything up and then pour about half of the liquid into a flask to make a starter for the next beer. I also add more wort to the mason jar to keep the jar full of protective beer and keep the yeast healthy. Doing this I always have a protective layer of beer on the yeast and do not worry about getting the culture infected or transferring infected yeast from one batch to the next.

 

[HardyFool]

A question about liquid yeast when fermenting 1 gallon: do you pitch the whole pack or split it somehow?

Overpitching is not as bad as underpitching, but yeah, best avoided, and I agree, the cost of yeast hurts. Here are some notes:

• for lagers, one pack is actually pretty close to the recommended amount, so I pitch whole packages when doing these one gallon
• you can brew, say, 1.1 gallons of wort (post boil), pitch into the (obviously chilled) .1 gallon excess, and then dole out the appropriate pitch if your concern is pitching a good amount for ales
• you can also, once you've bitten the bullet, brew up to, say, 5 beers on one yeast cake if you play your cards right (I suspect you'd have to rack to secondary as fermentation slows so the yeast stays active, use pure O2, nutrient, not cold crash, etc)
• with dry yeast, you could gamble and use a .01g scale (<$20, necessary for salt additions anyway) to dole out the yeast on a batch-by-batch basis, but each time you open and close the packet, you risk infection
• with the above, I've found that those little plastic cups you pump mustard and ketchup into at burger joints are perfect for yeast and salts

 

[user 263363]

I’d like to hear some experience of gallon brewers making big beers.

I am beginning to work on a RIS so that I can have a good base to experiment off of. Do you all bulk age in a secondary? Or go straight from primary to bottle conditioning.

I just hate the act of racking beer from one container to another. I still get nervous on bottling day going from the big mouth bubbler to my bottling bucket.

Any other tips for big beers you all might have?

 

[InspectorJon]

I’d like to hear some experience of gallon brewers making big beers.

I am beginning to work on a RIS so that I can have a good base to experiment off of. Do you all bulk age in a secondary? Or go straight from primary to bottle conditioning.

I don't think there is really any significant difference between the process with a small batch and an 5 or 10 gallon batch. The predominant current thinking is that there in no need for secondary unless you plan to bulk age for more than a couple months or you want to add flavoring agents or fruit without the yeast cake being present.

One of the nice things about the Big Mouth Bubbler is that you can fill it full enough initially that you should have enough finished beer to fill a one gallon jug to the top for secondary and minimize oxygen exposure.

Tips for big beers: Mash at lower temperature than you think, lots of oxygen before fermentation, aerate again at 12 hours if it is a really big one, lots and lots of yeast (even more than you think), yeast nutrient, slow ramp up in temperature starting at the recommended low end for the yeast and ending at the high end and do the high gravity voodoo dance. High gravity ferments are hard on yeast. You want to do everything you can to make them healthy and comfortable

Regarding long term bulk conditioning or bottle conditioning, it seems the consensus is that they are somewhat different and it depends on your preference. I don't have enough experience to recommend one or the other.

 

[user 263363]

I don't think there is really any significant difference between the process with a small batch and an 5 or 10 gallon batch. The predominant current thinking is that there in no need for secondary unless you plan to bulk age for more than a couple months or you want to add flavoring agents or fruit without the yeast cake being present.

One of the nice things about the Big Mouth Bubbler is that you can fill it full enough initially that you should have enough finished beer to fill a one gallon jug to the top for secondary and minimize oxygen exposure.

Tips for big beers: Mash at lower temperature than you think, lots of oxygen before fermentation, aerate again at 12 hours if it is a really big one, lots and lots of yeast (even more than you think), yeast nutrient, slow ramp up in temperature starting at the recommended low end for the yeast and ending at the high end and do the high gravity voodoo dance. High gravity ferments are hard on yeast. You want to do everything you can to make them healthy and comfortable

Regarding long term bulk conditioning or bottle conditioning, it seems the consensus is that they are somewhat different and it depends on your preference. I don't have enough experience to recommend one or the other.

I am not entirely sure how long I need to age this beer. I figure at least a month in primary and then bottle or possibly to a gallon jug.

Brewer's Friend has my recipe at 1.109 OG, so this is quite a large beer gravity-wise. I planned to mash at 150degf and pitch a full pack of dry yeast where I would normally pitch around 1/3 to 1/2 for any other beer.

I will definitely admit that sometimes I would love to scale up my batch size just for simplicity sake, but there's very few times I wish I had more than 9-10 beers at a time. The beauty of small batches is that if I brew something I love, I can just brew again fairly easily.

 

[InspectorJon]

Brewer's Friend has my recipe at 1.109 OG, so this is quite a large beer gravity-wise. I planned to mash at 150degf and pitch a full pack of dry yeast where I would normally pitch around 1/3 to 1/2 for any other beer.

From the folks at Alvarado Street Brewery who make some amazing imperial stouts:
"We mashed low, around 145, to make sure our wort sugar composition was as simple as possible to get it to "dry" as far as it could go. With these stouts they can stall rather high and leave you with a beer that's unpalatable (but good barrel candidates)."