2 Gal small batch

[Syncman]

Was strictly a MR Beer brewer, but branched out to all grain. stiil 2-3 Gal. Ordering ingredients for 2 gal is occasionally more expensive than 5 gal. So i split a 5 gal grain order into 2. [a session ale] Question is how to completely change the second batch, so it doesnt taste the same, without too much work? different hops? The end result is not too important as i am not a "connoisseur" Another question. Is the white layer yeast, and can I just dump that into another batch?

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

So i split a 5 gal grain order into 2. [...] Question is how to completely change the second batch, so it doesnt taste the same, without too much work? different hops?

Assuming you don't have a grain mill ...

• Different hops. Different yeast.
• Various kitchen ingredients (spices, flavored honey, simple sugar, ...).
• Dry malt extract (traditional dark, wheat, extra light)
• Split the malts 75/25 (rather than 50/50) to make a "big" beer and a "small" beer.
• more ideas in the recent Partigyle & Extract (link) topic
• more ideas in the book Mastering Homebrew. It's occasionally available for less than $5 in ebook form.

 

[RM-MN]

Assuming you have a grain mill or will buy milled grain, adding a half pound of C60 or C80 would change the flavor and color of the beer. Another idea would be half a pound of C20, then dry hop the beer when fermentation is complete.

 

[hotbeer]

I'm doing 1 to 1½ gallon batches. All grain BIAB, but I've been experimenting with more traditional mash and sparge too. Now that I've gotten away from ingredient kits, I've found it reasonable cost too just buy a base malt, specialty malts, hops and everything else can be bought in package quantity that is reasonable for two to three batches.

At 2 gallons or less, you probably won't go long between batches. So really not much worry about things going bad in storage. I just cut the top off the packet of hops, dry yeast, grains and whatever else, measure out the recipe amount and then seal it back up with a long piece of shipping tape folded over the cut edge after pushing as much air as I can out of the bag or packet.

So you can change up the recipes just varying the hops, and the specialty grains you get in small quantities.

I have a very old crystal coffee grinder almost exactly like this one that uses a bur to grind.

So for the little bit of grain I need for a batch it's not to much to turn a hand crank. I do plan to get a regular grain mill, but since wife and kids need ideas for useful things to buy me for special occasions, I'm using the coffee grinder till they can "surprise" me with a better mill than I would have bought myself. Or at least I hope it works that way.

 

[Drewch]

Yes, there is yeast (and other sediment) in the collection jar -- I have successfully repitched from my 3-gal FastFerment. I have no idea how to estimate cell counts for this method; so I don't know how many generations you could take it before it started going sideways.

That said, using a different yeast would be the first and easiest (IMHO) thing I'd do to make the second batch taste different.

You could also reserve all the dark specialty grain and use that to make the first batch a pale and the second a stout or something like that.