1-Gallon Brewers UNITE!

[aceluby]

To date Lutra has been the most explosive yeast I've used.

I lost at least one bottle of beer in the active fermentation process to blowoff. Next time I’m planning to pitch half and see where that goes.

On a side note, I bought a 5 gallon amber ale extract kit from northern brewer and have brewed with it twice and it tastes like absolute garbage. I have dozens of brews under my belt and have used different carboys for each with two different yeasts, and both have this just awful taste. I thought it was a water issue, so used bottled the 2nd time and the same flavor came out. The only thing common between the two is the LME, so is it possible the LME was brewed wrong or has gone rancid? It smells fine and no visible mold, but good god is the final product just terrible. I only paid $20 for the kit, so I think I’m just gonna toss it

 

[lumbergh]

Bad/old/expired LME is probably the reason. There are plenty of accounts of that making not so great beer. I personally won't use it.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

so is it possible the LME was brewed wrong or has gone rancid?

[...]
I only paid $20 for the kit, so I think I’m just gonna toss it

Color of wort made from just LME could be a way to visually estimate LME quality. BYO's Big Book of Homebrewing, 1e, p 19 offers a technique to test color of extract. There is this (link) article on LME freshness and color. Finally, note that ome supplier product information sheets include color information.

I did a similar 'test' back in March when brewing a test batch with LME. I took a sample the wort (no steeping grains in the wort at that point in the process), diluted it to OG 44, and viewed the color in a hydrometer tube. The expected color was around 4, the actual color was around 10 - and some those off flavors from stale LME were present in the final beer. I suspect I could have made a recipe adjustment - brewed a hoppy amber / brown instead of an APA by adding more hops.

It may be possible to do a similar test by making a small wort sample at the start of brew day.

 

[aceluby]

Yeah, that’s a good idea since I’ve only tasted the beer and not the wort. Worth a shot before I toss it. The beer tastes like plastic, which is usually a water problem, but this is the only time it’s ever showed up and I controlled for it the second time (btw, hoppy plastic is really gross)

 

[MrClint]

I'm a one gallon beer brewer just getting started. I've been brewing fruit juice wines and meads for a few years now, also one gallon. There doesn't really seem to be a downside that I can pinpoint with one gallon brews. The brews are easy to move around and are pretty low effort. Keep things simple, small, manageable and experimental. If I discover something that is "off the hook" great, I could easily step up to bigger brews.

 

[aceluby]

The only downside is the good beer you brew you only have 9-12 of instead of 50. My DIPA I just brewed was gone within a week, so now I’m making a double batch this weekend

 

[aceluby]

I haven’t seen it mentioned in this thread, but if you are a single gallon brewer and don’t have Emma Christensen’s “Brew Better Beer” book, do yourself a favor and pick it up. It has recipes for all the major styles in both 1 gallon and 5 gallon increments, and I have yet to find a bad one, just ignore all the secondary fermentation stuff.

I’ve made the Pale Ale, Smash, IPA, DIPA, Black IPA, Cali Common, Pilsner, and have the Oktoberfest fermenting now. Not only does it have all the recipes, but it also gives ideas on how to tweak them - which I did with a bunch of extract hefes I made (apricot, mango, blueberry). It’s been my go-to for the last dozen or so brews and can’t recommend it enough. Just a great book.

 

[MrClint]

I haven’t seen it mentioned in this thread, but if you are a single gallon brewer and don’t have Emma Christensen’s “Brew Better Beer” book, do yourself a favor and pick it up. It has recipes for all the major styles in both 1 gallon and 5 gallon increments, and I have yet to find a bad one, just ignore all the secondary fermentation stuff.

I took your word for it and bought the kindle version sight unseen. Off to do some reading now. Cheers!

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

kindle version sight unseen

A couple of years ago, I purchased a couple of kindle books that "didn't work out" for me. At that time, I was able to return them, within a day or two of purchase, without any additional questions. Times change, so YMMV.

And, FWIW, the Kindle edition of Mastering Homebrew (Mosher) is still $2.99 today. IMO, it's a god book from a good author (HomeBrewFinds (link) mentioned the book was on sale recently).

 

[aceluby]

I took your word for it and bought the kindle version sight unseen. Off to do some reading now. Cheers!

I don’t think you’ll be disappointed. I have the hardcover version and constantly go back to it over many other brewing books I have, mostly because of the “make it your own” section of each style recipe for ideas to try. If you like IPAs, try either the DIPA or the Very Good IPA. Both are wonderful

 

[MrClint]

And, FWIW, the Kindle edition of Mastering Homebrew (Mosher) is still $2.99 today. IMO, it's a god book from a good author (HomeBrewFinds (link) mentioned the book was on sale recently).

I didn't get any results on a search of "one gallon" on amazon.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

I didn't get any results on a search of "one gallon" on amazon.

as an amazon search, try

mastering homebrew randy mosher

or follow the links in my previous post

 

[MrClint]

@BrewnWKopperKat, please allow me to clarify. From the Amazon page for the book "mastering homebrew", I did a search on the string "one gallon" in the reviews in the hope that someone that reviewed the book may have commented on anything related to one gallon brewing. There were no results returned.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

@MrClient : thanks for the clarification.

Mastering Homebrew isn't focused on any specific batch size. I's an "all-grain" and "how to design your own recipes" book.

Ar $4.00 - roughly half the price of a pint of craft beer - for many it could be an early purchase of a book of high value at an exceptionally low price

 

[CascadesBrewer]

@BrewnWKopperKat, please allow me to clarify. From the Amazon page for the book "mastering homebrew", I did a search on the string "one gallon" in the reviews in the hope that someone that reviewed the book may have commented on anything related to one gallon brewing. There were no results returned.

Honestly, I would look for any solid recipe book and then just scale the recipes to 1 gallon. Don't limit yourself to just the few authors that have published 1 gallon recipe books. Especially considering that "1 gallon" might mean, "enough to leave some headspace in a 1 gallon jug", "a full 1 gallon into the fermenter", or "a full 1 gallon of packaged beer".

 

[MrClint]

Honestly, I would look for any solid recipe book and then just scale the recipes to 1 gallon. Don't limit yourself to just the few authors that have published 1 gallon recipe books. Especially considering that "1 gallon" might mean, "enough to leave some headspace in a 1 gallon jug", "a full 1 gallon into the fermenter", or "a full 1 gallon of packaged beer".

I appreciate your honesty. Brew on good people!

 

[Beekeeper]

I took your word for it and bought the kindle version sight unseen. Off to do some reading now. Cheers!

$4.00 plus shipping is bringing me a used print version. Thanks for the book recommendation.

(Indirect quote.)

 

[MrClint]

$4.00 plus shipping is bringing me a used print version. Thanks for the book recommendation.

(Indirect quote.)

I like this book a lot so far. Spot on recommendation for this thread as well. The secondary recommendations are not necessary as previously suggested. Shout out to @aceluby!

 

[mashpaddled]

Honestly, I would look for any solid recipe book and then just scale the recipes to 1 gallon. Don't limit yourself to just the few authors that have published 1 gallon recipe books. Especially considering that "1 gallon" might mean, "enough to leave some headspace in a 1 gallon jug", "a full 1 gallon into the fermenter", or "a full 1 gallon of packaged beer".

Definitely this. I've been brewing one gallon recipes for a little over a decade and there's nothing particularly different about recipes at five gallons versus one gallon.

The two things you need to consider are (1) your deadspace in your system and (2) boiloff volumes. If you lose a tenth of a gallon to dead space in your system, but a recipe assumes a quarter gallon, you're going to end up with an unaccounted for fifteen percent that is enough to mess with the hopping rates and might make the batch too big for a one gallon vessel. You also need to be mindful that you keep control over your boil so you don't boil off more than expected and go the other direction. It's easier to top up and go back and boil off more but ideally you want to avoid both if you can. With small batches it's easier to have variances in your system from my small batch system, so you need to adjust recipes slightly to account for your brewing system. With software this is extremely easy to address.

 

[MrClint]

Please let me continue to clarify. I'm having fun with my one-gallon brews. It was an easy step for me coming from brewing fruit & rice wines and meads in one-gallon carboys and jars. I have all the gear right out of the gate. I'm not interested in taking five-gallon recipes and doing the maths. I'm off too a heckuva start with one-gallon beers. So any more five-gallon suggestions or book recommendations that don't give at least a passing nod to one-gallon brewing should be considered either off topic or general information (no matter how helpful and accurate) and not directed toward me. I'm in a one-gallon brewing thread and in a one-gallon state of mind, and I'm uniting with other one-gallon brewers.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

there's nothing particularly different about recipes at five gallons versus one gallon.

And given the lack of home brew recipe books and recipes for batch sizes other than five gallons, this is good thing!

Speed Brewing is an interesting exception for a couple of reasons. It covers a number of fermented beverages. For beer, it starts all grain. And it packages the beer in 1.75 gal kegs. And published in 2015.

 

[An Ankoù]

I haven't read the entire thread so I don't know if this site has been mentioned. I've made some decent beers from these recipes (scaled up to 12 or 20 litres, I have to confess).

https://smallbatchbrew.com.au/small-batch-home-brew-recipes/

 

[aceluby]

I like this book a lot so far. Spot on recommendation for this thread as well. The secondary recommendations are not necessary as previously suggested. Shout out to @aceluby!

One thing I learned is that she does suggest a bit more mash water than needed. My notes have 1/4 gallon per pound of grain and the rest of the water used to sparge.

I also target the low end of mash temps, put it in a 170 degree oven for an hour, drain into strainer over my boil pot, then fly sparge the clean water through the grain sitting in the strainer. Efficiency is not quite perfect, but the beer is still damn good.

 

[RevA]

I'm playing with yeasts the two on the sides are one two gallon batch split in two. One got kveik Voss one got SO-04. And in the middle a ½ gallon batch of cold fermented Voss.

 

[aceluby]

View attachment 777258I'm playing with yeasts the two on the sides are one two gallon batch split in two. One got kveik Voss one got SO-04. And in the middle a ½ gallon batch of cold fermented Voss.

What kind of grain/hop bill you got going there?

 

[RevA]

What kind of grain/hop bill you got going there?

4.4lb 2 row
3.5oz cara blond
1.5oz Crystal 40
¼oz of citra at 30 min
¼oz of citra at flameout
And plan on dry hopping as well

 

[CascadesBrewer]

I'm playing with yeasts the two on the sides are one two gallon batch split in two. One got kveik Voss one got SO-04. And in the middle a ½ gallon batch of cold fermented Voss.

Interesting. I posted a page up about my US-05 vs Lutra vs Voss split 1-gallon batches. I want to give those a bit more time in the bottle to make any real conclusions. I currently have a split batch of Voss with half fermenting at 85F-90F, with the other half fermenting at 65F. (Both are 2.5 gallon batches.). Visually, the hot Voss batch looked to be done fermenting in about 24 hours. The batch at 65F is acting like I would expect a vigorous yeast like Nottingham (brewed Sunday, currently about 2.5 days into fermentation). I am hoping they are both ready to keg by this weekend.

I am not sure if it counts as "1 gallon brewing" but I now have several small fermenters (6 with spigots) so I hope to do more split wort batches looking at 3 to 6 yeasts at a time (or yeasts at different temps). I find that making 7-9 bottles of these types of batches is a great size. It gives me a few bottles to sample and enjoy, and I have a few bottles to take along to a club meeting or share with other homebrewers.

 

[Drewch]

Please let me continue to clarify. I'm having fun with my one-gallon brews. It was an easy step for me coming from brewing fruit & rice wines and meads in one-gallon carboys and jars. I have all the gear right out of the gate. I'm not interested in taking five-gallon recipes and doing the maths. I'm off too a heckuva start with one-gallon beers. So any more five-gallon suggestions or book recommendations that don't give at least a passing nod to one-gallon brewing should be considered either off topic or general information (no matter how helpful and accurate) and not directed toward me. I'm in a one-gallon brewing thread and in a one-gallon state of mind, and I'm uniting with other one-gallon brewers.

Have you read Speed Brewing: Techniques and Recipes for Fast-Fermenting Beers, Ciders, Meads, and More by Mary Izett? It's all about 1-2 gallon recipes.

 

[MrClint]

Have you read Speed Brewing: Techniques and Recipes for Fast-Fermenting Beers, Ciders, Meads, and More by Mary Izett? It's all about 1-2 gallon recipes.

Looks pretty good! Nice share. I put it on my Amazon shopping list. I have two beers fermenting, three kit beers waiting in the wings, and some more SMaSH beers in the planning stages. When things clear out a little bit I will grab the kindle version. Thanks!

EDIT: Who am I kidding? I pulled the trigger on this one too. Another nice read. Thanks!

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

Looks pretty good! Nice share

... but ... but ... but ... it's not a 1 gal recipe book.

If you're still reading this reply, the book is an "all-grain" focused book and mentions 5.2 pH Stabilizer (link) which isn't needed (link).