1 gallon resources / questions

[mmonacel]

Ok - I'm sure there's a ton of information out there on doing mini-batches or one gallon batches, but I'm guessing I'm not really finding them due to bad terminology? I'm interested in finding out what would be a good set of equipment do to 1 gallon batches so I could test drive some beers without committing to 5 gallons. Can someone point me to:

• the rirght terminology to use for these mini-batches
• the right size fermenter and carboy to use
• whether I can simply use BeerSmith to convert to 1gal recipies or if something special needs to be done
• any other special considerations (how to easily size my yeast pitch, etc.)

Thanks!,
Mike

 

[krops13]

Kinda tough to do. the recipes are linear

 

[mullenite]

I use a 2 gal bucket for one gallon beers, easy enough to pick up from my LHBS.

Beersmith can scale down any recipe to 1 gallon. Find a 5 gallon recipe, enter it in to Beersmith and use the scale feature to make it 1 gallon. Ben's Homebrew (www.benshomebrew.com ) sells premade 1 gallon recipes as does Brooklyn Brew Shop (www.brooklynbrewshop.com ). Both of them also sell equipment kits.

Consider your reasoning for doing small batches, they really aren't a significant amount cheaper than a 5 gallon batch and are much harder to perfect as smaller errors are more magnified.

EDIT: Forget to cover yeast pitching. I use dry yeast and basically do half a packet or so for a low gravity beer and a whole packet for a higher gravity. With liquid yeast you could probably pitch the whole thing with no starter.

 

[sivrat]

Hi,

you are pretty much right about there not being a lot of info out there for 1 gallon brews. Before we begin though, it must be said that I am by no means an expert, having only done 2 AG brews so far. I aim for a 2 gallon brew to fit my little corny's, but the process would be the same for 1 gallon or 5 gallons AFAIK.

I use some beer software called beer engine, and plug in a normal 5 galon recipe. Then I adjust the recipe to the required brew length (2 gallon).

My first brew I used the standard AG techniques, mash tun, boiler etc. Then I found this site :

http://www.thebrewingnetwork.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4650

The method is called Brew in a bag BIAB. It really does work well.

Mashing and boiling are done in one pot, so you equipment list is a lot less than normal.

The boiler/Pot your will need has to be big enough to hold all your water, so for a 1 gallon (roughly 4 liters)
you would need a total liquor of 6.5 liters or around 2 gallons. Add in another 20-30% space for boiling and the pot size should be around 2.5 gallons. as you only need 1 pot for this, get the biggest one you can store easily.

One thing to remember is that your strike temperature need only be about 2-4 degrees hotter than your required mash temp.

It is a simple method, but gives good results so far with me. If you want some more info, give me a shout.

Travis

 

[nhman]

I'm also trying to learn what's involved in brewing smaller batches, 2 gallons for me. I think Sivrat is right about the ease of the Brew In A Bag method. It will require the least amount of equipment and can save a bit of time when it comes to cleaning.

If Sivrat is still following this thread it would be great if he could elaborate on his method a little bit. I'm curious how much water he uses at the beginning for his 2 gal batch, what his bag is made of, and what he ferments in (corny's? 3 gal carboys?).

I know I have more questions but I wont bombard the thread with any more right now, does anyone else have any experience with doing smaller batches? Here's a site I found with good info regarding the small batch Brew In A Bag method.

http://brewing.lustreking.com/articles/stovetopallgrain.html

 

[malkore]

BYO magazine has covered this a few times. Search their online articles for some pointers.

 

[Dave11980]

I do mine in a 1 gallon carboy and just do my best to divide all ingredients by 5.

 

[nhman]

BYO Article -

http://***********/component/resource/article/1410-small-scale-brewing

 

[sivrat]

Hi,

Just checked my notes, I used 10 liters to mash. Lost about 500ml to grain and boiled of about 2 liters and lost about 700ml to trub etc. left me with a little under 7 liters, which was what I was aiming for.

Basically, just figure out your normal mash and sparge volumes and go with that all in.

I ferment in 10 liter food grade buckets and just use a blow off hose into a bowl of water.

easy as

Regards

Travis

 

[nhman]

Thanks for the info, how about your bag, what did you make it out of?

 

[torbanac]

I have done a few 2.5 gallon AG Brew in a bag brews. I also use beersmith and just scale down the recipe. I just figure all of the mash and sparge water from beersmith and start with that. For 5.5 lbs of grain it works out to around 3.5 gallons to start . I made the bags from a set of sheer curtains (nylon) from Target for $9.00 If you were doing smaller 1 gallon brews you could use the 5 gal pail paint strainers from Home Depot or Lowes. I have a 3.5 gallon bucket to ferment in.

 

[sivrat]

Oops, forgot to add that.

I made the bag from cheese cloth. I bout about 2 meters of it from a fabric shop and made 2 of them. You can use the voile curtaining too, but the cheese cloth seems to work.

Put your kettle in the cloth and fold up the edges till you have a bag with the kettle inside. twist that a bit then cut that twists with some scissors, and there you go.

If you have access to a sewing machine, then you can neaten up the edge, but it is not that serious.

Hope that helps.

Travis