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RevA said:
I'm curious about something. I've been brewing one gallon batches for about six years, but almost never brew the same recipe back to back, often I will only repeat a recipe when I drank the last bottle of that specific batch. Someone mentioned that it is not really possible to brew consistent batches on a small scale. Does anyone have info on whether one can really be consistent on a small scale, where a fraction of an ounce of Hops can make a huge difference in IBU's?
Click to expand...
I recenty brewed the same recipe on three consective days. The only thing I changed was the hops used in each. I bought 10 lbs of base grain (2-row) and used 3.33 lbs in each of the first two and 3.50 lbs in the third as there was a shade more than 10 lbs in the bag which I didn't actually weigh initially. I briefly thought about using only 3.33 lbs of the final 3.50 but decided to throw it all in.

Numbers for each:
SG: 1.050, 1.049, 1.051
OG: 1.064, 1.062, 1.064
FG: 1.014, 1.014, 1.014

So, they were all quite close, and likely within the margin of error considering the manual process of biab as opposed to a more automated brew process.

The hopping amounts and times were the same for all three, as was the dry hopping amounts and days.

The color appeared to be very close between all three, but I'll know better when I pour them side-by-side.

They were bottled on three consective days and in the same order they were brewed. I'm shooting to open a bottle of each on or around the 2 1/2 week mark of being bottled, which is the weekend of May 9/10.
 
Idea for small batch brewer's to take SG measurements without oxidation.

Do a "side batch" from the same wort so that you can make fg measurements from there without oxidizing the main batch. And you get some more beer (and you can compare how much the oxidation effects the final beer).

I have done this few times now.

And when the side batch has reached its FG I can compete it to the main batch to make shure it is all fermented completely.

Anyone else done this?
IMG_20200509_003813.jpg

Any thoughts?
 
BrewnWKopperKat said:
Looks like an interesting approach for those who ferment with one gallon carboys.
Click to expand...
I do something similar with a extra hydrometer & flask I have so I get constant gravity readings. No airlock. Plus it takes less volume since I'm only using enough to float the hydrometer.
 
BrewnWKopperKat said:
Do you have photos you can share?
Click to expand...
I don't have anything fermenting at the moment as I just bottled up a batch. What I do though is pull a sample after I have added, oxygenated, and mixed the yeast and add this to the hydrometer flask and place it in the ferm chamber with my fermenter. When the hydrometer sample reaches my anticipated fg I give it a couple days to be sure there's no change and then package.
 
I’m new to this, and starting out with 1 gallon batches. I really like the smaller size. Might want to do some 2-3 gallons at one point to get more out of a specific recipe I really like or something. But for now, I’m enjoying the versatility. I have two batches going right now. A simple porter and a low hop IPA or high hop pale ale. (It’s right on the cusp of both). Anyway, it allows me to try different recipes and see how much I enjoy all this without feeling like I’ve gotta guzzle so much beer to be able to have room for the next batch. Lol!

also for the hydrometer issue of loosing so much of your beer. I have been sanitizing it and checking the gravity right before putting in fermenter, then since it’s sanitized, drooping that liquid back in. Seems like it’s working so far. Although I saw on northern brewer they have a hydrometer you sanitize and then leave in the carboy... that looks awesome! But it’s pricy!
 
nbolmer said:
My suggestions were more along the lines of bringing together a sub-community of people with a common interest; properly scaled recipes, smaller equipment, etc... just an idea.
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I would be interested in that! Currently only brewing 1 gallon BIABs because it allows me to brew more frequently.
 
Shawnstve said:
Although I saw on northern brewer they have a hydrometer you sanitize and then leave in the carboy... that looks awesome! But it’s pricy!
Click to expand...

If you are referring to TILT, this is an interesting read: TIL that Tilt Hydrometers don't fit in 1 gallon carboys

There appears to be a hydrometer that will float in a one gallon carboy - whether or not one can read it with all the crud that's often on the top of the carboy during fermentation is the next question.
 
BrewnWKopperKat said:
If you are referring to TILT, this is an interesting read: TIL that Tilt Hydrometers don't fit in 1 gallon carboys

There appears to be a hydrometer that will float in a one gallon carboy - whether or not one can read it with all the crud that's often on the top of the carboy during fermentation is the next question.
Click to expand...
Ohhh I didn’t know it doesn’t fit. And I think it’s digital. Like it sends the info to your phone, so you can read it if your semi close to it without needing to visually see it. At least from what I read. Yeah seems cool! Didn’t know it didn’t fit a 1 gallon. Darn!
 
Many "problems" that involve fermenting in one gallon carboys seem to disappear when using NB's Little BMB or a two gallon food grade bucket. Also, the FAQ at TILT's web site has dimensions, so one could do some measurements before spending money on one.
 
I brew in 1 gallon batches too, I'm just starting a souring program now, will be hard to do but it can be done

How do you deal with the kettle? I use a cooking one (not designed for brewing I mean) that I bought only to brew beer but it doesn't have a tap or anything at the bottom, obviously, it's for cooking, but it would be really useful to have one to drain the wort and avoid part of the turb getting into the fermentor, I use a roughly 2.3 gallon kettle (9L) but are there any specialized kettles for brewing? Like with a tap at the bottom, a couple litres more would help me when making big beers too
 
OldDogBrewing said:
I brew in 1 gallon batches too, I'm just starting a souring program now, will be hard to do but it can be done

How do you deal with the kettle? I use a cooking one (not designed for brewing I mean) that I bought only to brew beer but it doesn't have a tap or anything at the bottom, obviously, it's for cooking, but it would be really useful to have one to drain the wort and avoid part of the turb getting into the fermentor, I use a roughly 2.3 gallon kettle (9L) but are there any specialized kettles for brewing? Like with a tap at the bottom, a couple litres more would help me when making big beers too
Click to expand...
I use a 4 gallon kettle when I brew one gallon batches. It's just a stainless steel pot I bought at Ross (a discount store), that has a small dent in it. I got it for $25.

I do biab and what I've started doing is to empty the bag after mash is complete, wash it and throw it in the bucket of starsan/water to soak. One my wort has cooled down to pitching temperature I put the bag in the fermenter and just pour into the bag. Lift the bag out and set it in a bucket and empty and clean it later. A lot less trub this way.
 
BongoYodeler said:
I use a 4 gallon kettle when I brew one gallon batches. It's just a stainless steel pot I bought at Ross (a discount store), that has a small dent in it. I got it for $25.

I do biab and what I've started doing is to empty the bag after mash is complete, wash it and throw it in the bucket of starsan/water to soak. One my wort has cooled down to pitching temperature I put the bag in the fermenter and just pour into the bag. Lift the bag out and set it in a bucket and empty and clean it later. A lot less trub this way.
Click to expand...

I do all grain and what I do is filter the worth through a colander which aerates the wort too but it's not fine enough and I keep having a lot of turb, that's why I was thinking that a whirlpool and leaving some wort behind by pulling it out by gravity through a tap with a bazooka filter, that way the turb would be left with some wort in the kettle

I might consider doing it by myself, shouldn't be rocket science as long as I use thermal resistant and food safe materials
 
Just let settle for 45min to an hour then siphon off the clear stuff. Don't whirlpool it just let it settle out in single layer and slowly tip toward the siphon as you get close to the trub level.
 
ba-brewer said:
Just let settle for 45min to an hour then siphon off the clear stuff. Don't whirlpool it just let it settle out in single layer and slowly tip toward the siphon as you get close to the trub level.
Click to expand...
I will try that method too and see how it goes, I will be brewing just a few beers this summer, until I run out of Kveik, I will try different methods and see what works the best
 
bleme said:
Voss can be bottom harvested so just dry out your trub. A single dry flake will ferment a fresh batch so you are set for life.
Click to expand...
That's my idea too, to repitch it on my high gravity beers and see how it evolves,
Joshua Hughes said:
I way over pitch with Voss. I need to scale back. I just keep slurry
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I pitch 0'5 gr of dry yeast per litre but I want to try with less yeast to see if it's more expressive
 
OldDogBrewing said:
That's my idea too, to repitch it on my high gravity beers and see how it evolves,


I pitch 0'5 gr of dry yeast per litre but I want to try with less yeast to see if it's more expressive
Click to expand...
I’m really going for speed on it. I keep another brew with 04 or 05 in it so that is 2-3 weeks. This gives me a nice quicker beer and lets me brew more often. Today I just bottled and although it was ready there was tons of yeast chunks. I need to use less for sure.
 
I did a 2 gallon batch on an induction plate a couple of weeks ago. It's in bottles carbonating now. But, I cheated... It was an extract Hefeweizen.

I tried something different on this: I only boiled for 20 minutes and added all the hops at the beginning of the boil, calculated to deliver the same bitterness as a 60 minute boil. Here's my recipe:

20-Minute Hefeweizen

2-Gallon Batch

2.25 lbs. Breiss Bavarian Wheat DME (65% Wheat, 35% Barley)
0.75 oz Tettnanger Hops (4.5% AA) @ 20 minutes
Danstar Munich Classic Dry Yeast - 5.5 Grams (1/2 packet)

Bring 2.25 gallons distilled water to a boil on induction burner. Remove from heat and stir in DME. Add 4 drops FermCap-S (to help prevent boilover). Return to boil. Add the hops and boil for 20 minutes. Chilled in an ice bath. Transferred to fermenter. Topped off with distilled water to 2 gallons. Pitched 1/2 packet of Danstar Munich Classic yeast. Fermented for 1 week at room temperature. Bottled with 3.7 oz. Corn Sugar for 4.0 volumes of CO2.

I think the Lallemand Munich Classic yeast did a great job! I got a decent amount of both clove and banana aroma. It fermented out to 5.0% ABV. The uncarbonated beer tasted pretty darn good! I can hardly wait for it to carbonate!

I'm not sure how controllable an induction burner is for mashing. But you could mash with a Sous Vide stick and then boil on the induction burner.
 
So I finally decided to upgrade my brew house, I'll be getting a 4 gallon kettle that will act as a sort of mash tun with a valve at the bottom and a bazooka filter and maybe I will do the same with the boil kettle, everything in stainless

I'm doing that so I can do proper mashes and I can mash more comfortably big beers, as I like to brew a lot of tripels and dark imperial beers so I was quite limited with the one I had in terms of grain quantity

My setting was pretty rough with just one kettle so I hope this will improve a lot the brew day and maybe I will be able to do double batches of low gravity beers to conduct sour experiments by splitting them
 
jimdkc said:
I did a 2 gallon batch on an induction plate a couple of weeks ago. It's in bottles carbonating now. But, I cheated... It was an extract Hefeweizen.

I tried something different on this: I only boiled for 20 minutes and added all the hops at the beginning of the boil, calculated to deliver the same bitterness as a 60 minute boil. Here's my recipe:

20-Minute Hefeweizen

2-Gallon Batch

2.25 lbs. Breiss Bavarian Wheat DME (65% Wheat, 35% Barley)
0.75 oz Tettnanger Hops (4.5% AA) @ 20 minutes
Danstar Munich Classic Dry Yeast - 5.5 Grams (1/2 packet)

Bring 2.25 gallons distilled water to a boil on induction burner. Remove from heat and stir in DME. Add 4 drops FermCap-S (to help prevent boilover). Return to boil. Add the hops and boil for 20 minutes. Chilled in an ice bath. Transferred to fermenter. Topped off with distilled water to 2 gallons. Pitched 1/2 packet of Danstar Munich Classic yeast. Fermented for 1 week at room temperature. Bottled with 3.7 oz. Corn Sugar for 4.0 volumes of CO2.

I think the Lallemand Munich Classic yeast did a great job! I got a decent amount of both clove and banana aroma. It fermented out to 5.0% ABV. The uncarbonated beer tasted pretty darn good! I can hardly wait for it to carbonate!

I'm not sure how controllable an induction burner is for mashing. But you could mash with a Sous Vide stick and then boil on the induction burner.
Click to expand...

This beer came out great! And it would be really easy to scale down to a gallon.

20-Minute Hefeweizen.JPG


Label from BeerLabelizer.com
 
Lately I've been adding all my hops in the last twenty to twenty-five minutes of the boil. Takes a little more to hit the bitterness level but, you get the flavor kick too and only have to do one addition. If I want more aroma I do an addition at flameout.
 
Is there any onegalloniers who use immersion chiller? I wonder if it would be worth it to build one. I can chill wery fast in bathtub, but I think immersion chiller could be easier.
So if you use one, please tell me how good it is... How fast? And have you built it your self?
 
HemanBrew said:
Is there any onegalloniers who use immersion chiller? I wonder if it would be worth it to build one. I can chill wery fast in bathtub, but I think immersion chiller could be easier.
So if you use one, please tell me how good it is... How fast? And have you built it your self?
Click to expand...
I've been wondering the same thing, I think that the King Cobra fits one of my kettles so it might fit other's kettles, but maybe is too much
 
HemanBrew said:
Is there any onegalloniers who use immersion chiller? I wonder if it would be worth it to build one. I can chill wery fast in bathtub, but I think immersion chiller could be easier.
So if you use one, please tell me how good it is... How fast? And have you built it your self?
Click to expand...
I ended up making an immersion chiller after getting tired of filling the sink with cold water and ice packs. Got 20-25 feet of soft copper tubing from Lowes (comes pre-coiled so it's easy to manipulate). Wrapped it around a paint can which gave the perfect diameter for my boil kettle; not too wide, not too narrow. Just make sure to leave enough length at either end to bend upward, depending on kettle size.

And fair warning, the copper kinks pretty easily, so go slowly or better yet, get a small radius pipe bender. A few feet of vinyl tubing, hose clamps, and a fitting for either your sink or garden hose and bam! immersion chiller.

I have a crappy hose fitting which leaks a bit, so try to find a decent one. And check for leaks near the hose clamps before you chill your wort (found that one out the hard way). I can usually cool my ~1 gallon in 2 or 3 minutes.

This was a fun little project done at the beginning of the world shutting down, but that price in the link above is pretty good...
 

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