2 nubee questions...

[Mismost]

New guy, these may be dumb questions...

1. I am interested in both beer and wine. The equipment is very similar. A friend said yeah but....don't use wine buckets for beer...use separate equipment....beer for beer, wine for wine. WHY? Are the buckets smart enough to know what they hold? In my case buckets are cheap, but space is very expensive!

2. I do not want to make 5 gallon beer batches, yet most kits are 5 gallons. Can you make 5 gallons or wort, use one gallon, and freeze the other 4 for future use (with out the yeast of course)? I have plenty of Freezer space.

 

[Rockn_M]

I'm not sure about question #1, I'll let someone knows more about wine than I.

#2) I wouldn't go the freezing route, it could work but seems like a lot of work. Plus how fresh would that be. Most kits are geared to the 5 gallon crowd but there are kits out there strictly for the 1 galloners. I've purchases a few 1 gallon recipes from http://www.austinhomebrew.com/. You can also create your own extract or brew in a bag recipe.

Good Luck!

 

[mkyl428]

As long as you practice good sanitation I don't see why you couldn't use the same equipment for both.....

IDK About freezing wort why don't you make less than 5 gallons at a time?
1 gallon batches maybe? You might want different equipment for the different batch sizes...

 

[RandallFlag]

1. I am interested in both beer and wine. The equipment is very similar. A friend said yeah but....don't use wine buckets for beer...use separate equipment....beer for beer, wine for wine. WHY? Are the buckets smart enough to know what they hold? In my case buckets are cheap, but space is very expensive!

I've made wine for 10+ years and have never had an issue using the same buckets and carboys for my beer as well. I just started with beer about 6 months ago and have made 15 batches....all but the first was a success and that was only because I made common rookie mistakes. I have continued to make wine during this timeframe with the same equipment. No worries IMHO.

 

[botigol]

I have heard that said about buckets before as well, but I use mine for both without issue. The most-often cited reason that I have come across is that the residual odor crosses from wine to beer or vice-versa. If that were the case, then a light lager following a stout or IPA would also have this problem.

 

[rodwha]

Mismost: Go to HEB's bakery dept. and ask for their used icing buckets. They have a size that's about 5-5.25 gals and a smaller one that holds about 2 gals. If space is an issue you could more easily stack several 2 gal buckets in less space.

I took mine out back and sprayed them with the hose to get a good bit out. I did several, and later noticed the grass was dead there! I then ran them through the dishwasher to remove the rest.

The lids aren't quite airtight, but they do seal.

 

[Trollheim]

Normally this is because of residual coloring, flavors and aroma. If you use that same bucket for 2 years worth of dark red cabs, the perception is that part of that flavoring will remain with the plastic/bucket for your beer.

You will also find a lot of wine people keep red and white buckets separate for the same reason.

In the beer world this would be similar to those who keep "sour" buckets only for Sours.

I have never had this problem personally and would only see it plausible with plastic fermenters.

If you are using glass carboys you don't need to worry about it at all.

Regarding your second question, my answer would depend on your reasoning.

If it is space I would tell you not to worry about it and just go with the 5g, you are only looking at a few typical 24s, or less then two if you are using 500ml bottles.

If it is because of kettle or equipment restrictions I can understand. I would suggest using a program to reduce your batch to 3G instead.

Cheers!

 

[Mismost]

IDK About freezing wort why don't you make less than 5 gallons at a time?
1 gallon batches maybe? You might want different equipment for the different batch sizes...

I do want to make one gallon batches...in fact I was thinking of freezing the excess wort in one gallon jugs. Reason being my lack of space and trying out additives like peppers, vanilla, or orange on different one gallon batches from the same Mother Batch. Seems simple enough to pull out a jug, thaw, and pitch in the yeast and extras.

Perhaps I should brew 4 gallons and only freeze one and find out if it works. But being new, how would I know if it worked well or not? But, I have always been happy dwelling in my own ignorance! I have also been known to simplify things to the point of failure.

 

[beergolf]

If you are interested in one gallon batches there is a big long thread about it here.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/1-gallon-brewers-unite-311884/

 

[rodwha]

If you have a LHBS or online source that sells the amounts you need you can easily scale down recipes to 1 gal (or whatever).

And if you get a cheap grain mill you can get your grains unmilled so they last a long time and use what you need as you need it for your specialty grains and whatnot.

If not I'd look into any extract kits that use nothing but DME for extract as LME is hard to measure out without making a mess (for me at least). I think Austin Homebrew Supply sells them.