1-Gallon Brewers UNITE!

[InspectorJon]

If anyone knows of a source of good one gallon recipes (all grain or extract) or has already properly converted 5 gallon to 1 gallon it would be appreciated.

This has been posted several time before but spaced repetition is good for us I hear. Beer CraftR He has added some new recipes since I last looked.

 

[bwible]

I'm going to start brewing beer soon and I will be making one gallon batches for the foreseeable future. I want to try different recipes and I don't have enough space or enough people for five gallon batches.

I also think I can do all grain in one gallon batches with the regular kitchen equipment I have and a normal stove.

I have taken a look at a few recipes and I'm not sure how to scale them down to 1/5th. But I also don't have a clue what I'm doing with beer in general.

Beertools has a free recipe calculator. You have to sign up for an account but its free to use their site. I bought their software years ago for my own computer and its all I use. The site also has recipes that others have contributed.

https://www.beertools.com/

I haven’t actually looked but I would not be surprised if there were one gallon recipes there. If not you can use their free calculator to work with any recipe that looks interesting to you.

In general if you start with extract as most new brewers do, you have two types of extract. Liquid and dry.

Liquid usually comes in a 3.3 or 3.5 lb can and is too much for a 1 gallon batch. Though you might be able to split a can for (2) 1 gallon batches. Liquid extract, also called LME for short yields about 38 points per pound. One pound of LME dissolved with enough water to make one gallon of wort will give you an og of 1.038.

Dry Malt extract, also called DME, is a powder like brown sugar that usually comes in bags. 1 lb, 2 lb, or 3 lb. DME comes in extra light color, light, amber, and dark. DME yields about 45 points per pound.

Because of the known values, this is a great place to start with one gallon recipe formulation. Some extract and you can also steep specialty grains such as crystal malt for pale ales or chocolate malt and darker grains for darker beers to add additional flavors. You won’t need much for 1 gallon. Maybe 1.25 pounds dry extract and 2 or 3 ounces total steeping grains. If a recipe is calling for half a pound specialty grain for 5 gallons.

Brew in a bag is becoming more common. Many here swear by it and its certainly another place you can go easily with one gallon batches. I have found I don’t really get clear beers this way and this bothers me enough that I’m not a fan. YMMV.

There is a crazy math formula you can find if you want to calculate hop bitterness yourself. But its much easier to use the software. There are so many new hop varieties now that even the old timers haven’t been able to keep up and know them all. Many recipes are tried and true. Experimentation is always fun though and 1 gallon batches should easily allow that.

Yeast is going to be the most expensive item relative to a one gallon batch. Liquid strains are about $7.50 and are geared to making 5 gallons. You can get dry yeast packets. I think even those are $3 or $4 now. You can also save yeast from previous batches in a sanitized jar or beer bottle. It doesn’t last forever but it will keep for a little while in the fridge. Be sure to attach an airlock to the yeast bottle. Yeast ranchin’ can become its own hobby.

I’d also recommend a good entry level book such as John Palmer’s “How to Brew”. There is also plenty of information online, such as this site. The American Homebrew Association (AHA) which publishes Zymurgy magazine has a very good site. Along with Brew Your Own (BYO) Magazine. Though these sites have clamped down in recent years and much of the content is now subscription only. Either or both of those magazines are good info and worth subscribing to. I get both.

Good luck and welcome to the hobby!

 

[bwible]

I don't plan on making my own recipes.
...
In case it isn't obvious I actually know very little about beer. Home brewing will probably be my education.

Trust me, after you get a few batches under your belt and get comfortable, you absolutely will start making your own recipes.

I liked your last comment. Because far as education, I always say that I learned about the world, history, politics, etc just from reading about beer more than I was ever taught in school. The world really does revolve around beer.

 

[McKnuckle]

A few other comments for @Nick Z...

Definitely check out How To Brew for its science aspects, but be aware of some important caveats regarding equipment: The book is based on older material, and is very biased towards a 5 gallon batch, and traditional homebrew equipment like propane burners, buckets, fly sparging, 3 vessels, etc.

Nowadays, things have changed. There are many purpose-built electric gizmos for homebrewing that obviate the older equipment, especially for smaller batch brewers. There are small kegs, small fermenters, and Amazon - with its jillions of random products that can be adapted for homebrewing.

Also, the online community, including right here (HBT), Brulosophy, and numerous popular Youtubers have busted myths, tried new and weird things, and shared techniques with all of us.

Today's world of homebrewing is not John Palmer's world of yesteryear. So take some of that material with a grain of salt, useful though it may be for learning how brewing works.

 

[Dwight]

Thank you. I'll look into those. I am thinking I will need to figure out how to make from a recipe and not a kit at some point. The simplicity of the kits is tempting but they get expensive and I'm not sure I'm learning much.

If anyone knows of a source of good one gallon recipes (all grain or extract) or has already properly converted 5 gallon to 1 gallon it would be appreciated.

I do fear it may not be as simple as just dividing by five though. You can't always just cut down a recipe in baking. Beer may be similar.

I think the divide by 5 can come pretty close and with only 10 or so bottles, not a major loss if the recipe is off a little. I've brewed for a long time, but not very consistent lately. Currently coming back from a couple year pause because of health issues. Mostly 5 gallon batches in past, but looking at 1 gallon batches to experiment currently. I just like the brewing process. So many new varieties of malt, yeast, hops, equipment, techniques. The combinations are mind boggling.

Just did a Google search on "1 gallon homebrew recipes". Following might be of interest.
https://www.gallonbrewing.com/brewing/small-batch-beer-recipes
https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/calculator

Nothing against the kits, but that gets awfully expensive. Probably could get something converted here, if you find something that looks good to you. I'd be happy to run one thru BeerSmith. Currently learning that myself and sure others would be happy to comment on.

P.S. First site on small batch recipes was about all-grain, so probably not starting there. But the calculator works with all-grain or extract. Wouldn't be hard to convert recipes with it.

 

[bwible]

A few other comments for @Nick Z...

Definitely check out How To Brew for its science aspects, but be aware of some important caveats regarding equipment: The book is based on older material, and is very biased towards a 5 gallon batch, and traditional homebrew equipment like propane burners, buckets, fly sparging, 3 vessels, etc.

Nowadays, things have changed. There are many purpose-built electric gizmos for homebrewing that obviate the older equipment, especially for smaller batch brewers. There are small kegs, small fermenters, and Amazon - with its jillions of random products that can be adapted for homebrewing.

Also, the online community, including right here (HBT), Brulosophy, and numerous popular Youtubers have busted myths, tried new and weird things, and shared techniques with all of us.

Today's world of homebrewing is not John Palmer's world of yesteryear. So take some of that material with a grain of salt, useful though it may be for learning how brewing works.

You got that right. We have a whole new generation of brewers now who definitely all have their own ideas. And I’m going to say not all of them are good.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

@Nick Z : you will want to buy a jewelry scale - a scale that measures in .01 gram accuracy.

I do fear it may not be as simple as just dividing by five though. You can't always just cut down a recipe in baking. Beer may be similar.

What aspects of baking cause you to be concerned?

I got the Complete Joy of Homebrewing and How to Brew and am reading them now. It all seems rather complicated at the moment but hopefully it will click into place.

Chapter 1 of How To Brew, 4e walks one through a brew day. Consider focusing on that chapter, adjusting it to brew a gallon batch, and brew a batch. Read the other chapters (and Complete Joy of Homebrewing) while the yeast are doing that "beer making thing" that the do so well.

The guy who owns my local home brew shop is definitely a knowledgeable and experienced dude. Nice guy too.

And he is telling me not to worry about the freshness of liquid and powdered malt extract. Yet I am hearing all kinds of concerns on podcasts and here about the freshness of extract. I think the extract he is selling from large containers is pretty fresh because his customers go through it pretty fast.

If he is telling you to not worry about the freshness of his store's DME / LME, consider following his advice. If you get off flavors from a beer (or have other concerns) that uses those ingredients, take it to him for advice.

I think I would like to do both all grain and extract. I'm not married to one approach or another. But from what little I've read all grain can really open up your options as to what you can make. And I'm going to have to learn to do things like mashing and sparging (I still don't know the lingo) sooner or later.

With one gallon batches, one can brew often. And one doesn't have to decide either 5 gal of extract+steep or 5 gal of all-grain. One can view fresh DME and LME as another base malt (granted fresh DME and LME has some special properties that base malts don't have ).

Liquid usually comes in a 3.3 or 3.5 lb can and is too much for a 1 gallon batch. Though you might be able to split a can for (2) 1 gallon batches. Liquid extract, also called LME for short yields about 38 points per pound. One pound of LME dissolved with enough water to make one gallon of wort will give you an og of 1.038.

Northern Brewer kits often come with 1.5 gal of LME. Recently, they added a variety of sizes to some of the LME products. Williams also has a variety of sizes for their wide variety of LME.

Dry Malt extract, also called DME, is a powder like brown sugar that usually comes in bags. 1 lb, 2 lb, or 3 lb. DME comes in extra light color, light, amber, and dark. DME yields about 45 points per pound.

Wheat DME has been around forever. Briess has been offering Pale Ale, Munich, and Vienna DME since the middle of the last decade.

Brew in a bag is becoming more common. Many here swear by it and its certainly another place you can go easily with one gallon batches. I have found I don’t really get clear beers this way and this bothers me enough that I’m not a fan. YMMV.

With regard to clear beers with BIAB, I made a couple of process changes and MMDV. It will take a bunch of additional batches to confirm what I'm seeing.

There is a crazy math formula you can find if you want to calculate hop bitterness yourself.

For a specific batch size, that crazy math formula reduces to a simple lookup table.

For hop substitutions (or AA changes) it's basic math:

AA1 * Weight1 = AA2 * Weight2​

or

Weight2 = AA1 * Weght1 / AA2​

Yeast is going to be the most expensive item relative to a one gallon batch. Liquid strains are about $7.50 and are geared to making 5 gallons. You can get dry yeast packets. I think even those are $3 or $4 now. You can also save yeast from previous batches in a sanitized jar or beer bottle. It doesn’t last forever but it will keep for a little while in the fridge. Be sure to attach an airlock to the yeast bottle. Yeast ranchin’ can become its own hobby.

For one gal batches, pitch a quarter packet (or a third packet) of yeast. Store the remainder in the fridge. Plan brew days to use opened packages of yeast quickly.

 

[RainyDayBrewer]

I have been enjoying the brew cloud app on my phone for recipe design. Give it a try. Plugging in different fermentables and watching what they theoretically do to your abv and color really help to get your head around what you’re doing. Once you brew a bunch of beers you get the hang of your water volumes, boil off rates, and temperature drop mashing in, and average efficiency, you can get the software dialed in. The hop IBU calculations are a little off from reality with late additions. It has nice catalogs of ingredients with descriptions, and style guides. Also, your recipe and calculator is right there with you at the store if you have it on your phone... and then it is really easy to substitute if something is out of stock.

Anyway, interactive recipe design along with gallon batches to test really ratchets up the learning.

 

[Nick Z]

Ok, this is where I have to ask some questions about yeast and starters.

When I've pitched yeast for cider and fruit wines I have either dry pitched or rehydrated the yeast in warm water for just half an hour or so. Those were the directions and it has always worked (with one exception being the mead but that's a different story).

But I am reading about having to create starters for beer years that take a day or two. And that the yeast must be started in at least a liter of wort.

Why can't I just rehydrate beer yeast as I would wine yeast before pitching? Is it really necessary to make a starter a day ahead of time?

And when using cider and wine yeasts the directions were just: "1 gram per gallon" basically. Which works out to be about 1/4 teaspoon. When doing one gallon batches that meant that one yeast packet went a long way and yeast was a pretty minor expense.

But when I look at beer yeast directions it says to to pitch "X billion cells per liter per degree plato" or something. What the hell does that mean? I'm guessing there isn't anything as simple as "X number of grams per gallon of wort"? Why is that?

Are beer and wine yeasts such different critters? I know they are different species.

Also, my hydrometer does not have a scale for degrees plato. It has specific gravity, potential alcohol, and brix.

Thanks everyone, for the replies. Very interesting stuff.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

Why can't I just rehydrate beer yeast as I would wine yeast before pitching? Is it really necessary to make a starter a day ahead of time?

Fermentis, Lallemand , and Mangrove Jacks make dry yeast that you can either

1. pitch directly into the wort (without rehydration) or
   
2. rehydrate then pitch into the wort.

• http://fermentis.com/fermentation-solutions/you-create-beer/
• https://www.lallemandbrewing.com/en/united-states/products/brewing-yeast/
• https://mangrovejacks.com/collections/craft-series-yeasts

(if the links are "too general", let me know and I'll link to specific pages).

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

But when I look at beer yeast directions it says to to pitch "X billion cells per liter per degree plato" or something. What the hell does that mean? I'm guessing there isn't anything as simple as "X number of grams per gallon of wort"? Why is that?

With dry yeast, for my one gallon batches, I will typically pitch 2.5-ish grams (roughly 1/4 of of a "normal" sized packet of dry yeast) when the OG is less than 70; with higher OGs, I pitch 5.0-ish grams (roughly 1/2 of packet of yeast).

Yeast package sizes:

• MJ: generally 10 grams
• Lallemand: generally 11 grams
• Fermentis: generally 11.5 grams

Some dry yeast providers will have smaller package sizes, often in the 6 gram per package range.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

Also, the online community, including right here (HBT), Brulosophy, and numerous popular Youtubers have busted myths, tried new and weird things, and shared techniques with all of us.

A careful read of
http://brulosophy.com/2015/09/24/be-a-homebrewer-an-open-letter-from-denny-conn/ suggests that new ideas have been appearing in "online" discussion (Usenet, compuserve, AOL, ...) for decades. "Busting myths" (in the style of the TV series Mythbusters?) and "challenging the conventional wisdom" isn't really new.

Today's world of homebrewing is not John Palmer's world of yesteryear. So take some of that material with a grain of salt, useful though it may be for learning how brewing works.

My day job involves reading online "information technology" articles where new ideas seem to be presented in the "Men in Black II" meme: old and busted vs new hotness.

If one has to tear down existing ideas ("John Palmer's world of yesteryear") to promote new ideas, anticipate that knowledgeable portions of the "audience" may "walk away" without offering suggestions as to where the "old and busted" is actually based on solid science.

Finally, books are a snapshot in item. I find that it is easy in 2020 to see the faults in a book written in 1999 (and published to the web in 2000). It is harder (but more interesting) to see where a book written in 2017 is years ahead of what is frequently repeated in online forums.

 

[McKnuckle]

I was mainly focusing on equipment, which was more limited when How to Brew was penned.

Case in point with another author, Charlie P.: When’s the last time you saw a person using a “Zapap“ lauter tun?

Of course that thing works. But today, we have better options, and a newbie who only reads the classics may not realize that. That’s my real point.

Learn from the pioneers, but don’t stop there.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

Of course that thing works. But today, we have better options, and a newbie who only reads the classics may not realize that. That’s my real point.

So make your real points(s) without tearing down the pioneers ("John Palmer's world of yesteryear").

If the point(s) are valid, they will stand on their own.

 

[RainyDayBrewer]

I just pitch the entire bag of liquid yeasts directly in 2.5 gallon batches, I save the gunk in the bottom, after fermentation, in pressure sterilized jars, and put them in the fridge. I get about 4 pints ready to pitch in new batches. For one gallon, maybe pitch half a pack of liquid yeast, or the whole thing just for simplicity, and you could pour the gunk from the bottom in half pint jars when the beer is done, for 4 ready to go “starters”. The yeast multiplies... and soon you have more little jars, ready to go, than any person can use. That’s good because each new pack is about $10.

My beers started tasting much better when I started using liquid yeasts (appropriate for my seasonal ambient temperatures and tastes), and simplified my recipes.

 

[Nick Z]

Interesting... So why is wine/cider yeast rehydration based on volume of being pitched into without regards to specific gravity? Whereas the gravity appears to matter for beer yeasts. This is really more of a technical curiosity than anything else. But the more complex formula is a mild annoyance.

The brew shop guy cautioned me against just picking up random information on the Internet. And he's not wrong. It is hard to separate the wheat from the chaff (lots of wheat on this board, fortunately). I know it's this way in gardening. There are tons of practices that just aren't supported by research. Like spraying your plants with epsom salts. Or putting anything but the original dirt into a planting hole (your tree will never get out of the hole and will strangle itself). As a Master Gardener in my area I'm supposed to stick to scientifically proven stuff.

The problem is that the vast majority of research into agriculture is done for commercial agriculture. And what works (and doesn't work) in a large agricultural setting does not often translate to a backyard garden. Even the researchers acknowledge this. I wonder if it's the same for home fermenting vs commercial production.

 

[Mumathomebrew]

If anyone knows of a source of good one gallon recipes (all grain or extract) or has already properly converted 5 gallon to 1 gallon it would be appreciated.

I do fear it may not be as simple as just dividing by five though. You can't always just cut down a recipe in baking. Beer may be similar.

I don't divide by 5... I often brew in 2L water bottles or 4L in the demijohn so there is room for the Krausen. I find it easier for the maths to work in litres and grams for more accuracy in smaller sizes.

Most recipe sizes usually give gallons so my method is to convert the gallon figures to litres, making sure you know whether the original recipe is UK gallon (4.54609 litres) or US gallon (3.78541 litres). Then convert the figures in oz to grams.

Divide all the figures down by the pre-boil batch size to be correct for 1 Litre, then scale up to the size you need. So far it's worked fairly accurately. If needed, the SG can be adjusted with extra water accordingly at the end of the boil. I was told smaller quantities didn't need to be boiled so long, but I haven't tried a shorter boil yet because of the hops @60'.

I'm finding a rough overage of 3+ litres boils to 2 and 6 litres boils to 4 but that's very, very rough calc. and usually needs extra water to lower the SG unless I'm more gentle with the boiling.

These comments are only in my experience as a relative newb so feel free to crit/help.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

So why is wine/cider yeast rehydration based on volume of being pitched into without regards to specific gravity? Whereas the gravity appears to matter for beer yeasts. This is really more of a technical curiosity than anything else

You may want to repost this question over in the "beer science" forum. There are a number of people there who are active there who likely won't see your question here.

 

[ESBrewer]

Interesting... So why is wine/cider yeast rehydration based on volume of being pitched into without regards to specific gravity? Whereas the gravity appears to matter for beer yeasts. This is really more of a technical curiosity than anything else. But the more complex formula is a mild annoyance.

I'm not an expert in winemaking but a couple of possible explanations came to my mind. The original gravities of wort tend to vary more than the gravities of typical wine must. The yeasts are also different. I think most wine yeasts are rather neutral in character and well adapted to the high abv conditions in wine whereas beer yeasts tend to produce more flavors (in good and bad) and those flavors and the ability to withstand alcohol are affected by pitch rates. Also, the composition of the wort varies more in terms of all kind of flavor precursors when compared to wine where the must probably contains more simple sugars and the nutrient mix for yeast is provided from a package. So the gravities, yeasts and conditions are not the same and together they could make it more important to control the amount of yeast. In a high gravity beer (12%), pitching too little yeast means that the fermentation may stall prematurely. So we need to pitch more. If we would pitch the same high amount in a 3.5% session beer, a lot of the character that could be offered by yeast may be lacking and we would also consume excessive amounts of yeast. After all, you don't need to calculate the amount exactly if you find it annoying. Just use a little bit more for high gravity beers and lagers and a bit less for the session ales.

 

[bleme]

I have taken a look at a few recipes and I'm not sure how to scale them down to 1/5th. But I also don't have a clue what I'm doing with beer in general.

Way back when, I created a simple spreadsheet that both scales and converts to grams because most recipes are in pounds but my scale is in grams. Feel free to try it yourself, just don't change any of the yellow calculated fields.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/16ct2kuaSymd8EEv2rRhpdQzTcesGAVLgOrguu1kqets/edit?usp=sharing

 

[Nick Z]

You may want to repost this question over in the "beer science" forum. There are a number of people there who are active there who likely won't see your question here.

Done! A good suggestion, thank you.

I believe my beer kit is arriving today or tomorrow. It's probably unwise to start with an all grain kit but I liked the cider kit from Brooklyn Brew Shop and the equipment that came with it is pretty standard stuff that I can use for things.

I will probably pull a recipe out of The Complete Joy of Homebrewing and snag some malt extract at the local brewing supply store. I would like to try another one gallon all grain batch soon. I figure the worst case scenario is I am out a few bucks of grain and yeast. The failure of a one gallon batch is not the end of the world.

If I wanted to push up the specific gravity of a beer do I just use a little more grain or malt extract to increase the overall quantity of wort/sugars?

 

[bleme]

If I wanted to push up the specific gravity of a beer do I just use a little more grain or malt extract to increase the overall quantity of wort/sugars?

That is usually the best, unless the other goal is to have a drier beer as well. In that case you would use table sugar, corn sugar, honey or an adjunct like rice.

 

[GJOCONNELL]

I thought this said 1 BBL brewers unite

 

[HemanBrew]

I measured the temperature drop of 4.5 litres of water in my oven for one hour. It was 3 degrees. From 68C to 65C.
Does someone know if it is the same drop with gains or more, or less?

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

Way back when, I created a simple spreadsheet that both scales and converts to grams because most recipes are in pounds but my scale is in grams.

Nice spreadsheet!

I have two scales: one for grains with .1 oz accuracy, and one for hops with .01 gram accuracy - so I work with grains in oz, hops in grams, and dry yeast in 1/4 packet increments. And I have a couple of spreadsheets (one for normal batches, one for double mash, one for cold extraction) that take care of all the tedious calculations (without making me feel like a data entry clerk).

I measured the temperature drop of 4.5 litres of water in my oven for one hour. It was 3 degrees. From 68C to 65C.
Does someone know if it is the same drop with gains or more, or less?

(68C to 65C is 154F to 149F). Over the course of an hour this is likely to be a reasonable drop (as its commonly stated that most of the conversion will occur in the first 20 to 30 minutes). I've found that grains tend to hold heat better than water, so it's likely you will see less of a temperature drop.

 

[RainyDayBrewer]

But a bigger drop initially when you add your room temp grains to the kettle... and then a little less over the hour depending on your room temp.

Nice spreadsheet!

I have two scales: one for grains with .1 oz accuracy, and one for hops with .01 gram accuracy - so I work with grains in oz, hops in grams, and dry yeast in 1/4 packet increments. And I have a couple of spreadsheets (one for normal batches, one for double mash, one for cold extraction) that take care of all the tedious calculations (without making me feel like a data entry clerk).



(68C to 65C is 154F to 149F). Over the course of an hour this is likely to be a reasonable drop (as its commonly stated that most of the conversion will occur in the first 20 to 30 minutes). I've found that grains tend to hold heat better than water, so it's likely you will see less of a temperature drop.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

But a bigger drop initially when you add your room temp grains to the kettle... and then a little less over the hour depending on your room temp.

Strike water temperature vs mash temperature. I was assuming the OP was concerned about the stability of the mash temperature (and will calculate strike water temperature appropriately) - from the description

I measured the temperature drop of 4.5 litres of water in my oven for one hour. It was 3 degrees. From 68C to 65C.

Also, from the description, @HemanBrew is using an oven to control the temperature - so room temperature isn't a factor.

 

[Nick Z]

That is usually the best, unless the other goal is to have a drier beer as well. In that case you would use table sugar, corn sugar, honey or an adjunct like rice.

No, I'd prefer not to add sugar if possible. I'm fine with having a bit more grain or extract. The beers around here are usually in the 6-7% range. I guess I've grown accustomed to that.

The Brooklyn Brew Shop kit came today. Looks decent. I am going to need a much larger strainer than what I have. I wish they would have said what the beer yeast they packed in was. It just says "beer yeast." The cider kit came with Red Star Premier Cuvee packets so at least I could figure out what went into it.

 

[RainyDayBrewer]

Why not try for a single bottle like this guy? Do you have the luxury of time to kill on a hobby? A single bottle expresses that luxury in the most pure form.

 

[HemanBrew]

Today I tasted the first beer from my first batch ever. It was 1gallon wheatbeer. It's amazing! And second batch is fermenting. I love this hobby!