5 gallons is too much!

[ch1719]

So I really want to get into home brewing, but the beer would mostly only be drank by myself. It seems like all malt extracts are designed to make 5 gallons at a time, and I just feel that is way too much for me. It would take me forever to go through that many beers, and I'm afraid I would get sick of one particular type of beer before I went through all 5 gallons.

Is there any easy way to cut down on the amount of beer brewed from these extracts? Thanks!

 

[E_Marquez]

As a beginning brewer, you'll likely end up with 41-48 bottles from a starting 5gal brew.

It's a 6 week or more cycle if bottle conditioning.
48 bottles of beer over 6 , 10, 12 weeks.. not as much as it seems.

Specific to your question,,,yes there are 1, 2, 2.5 gal recipes and methods... many threads here I found when looking at doing this... but after 4 partial mash brew batches..... I've found i'm not interested in a batch under 5 gal.. work and time invested in a 2 gal batch is the same as a 5 gal batch.

 

[BGBC]

Most places do sell kits for 5 gallon batches, but you can also find plenty of smaller kits out there. Recipes can be scaled, so if you have a 5 gallon recipe, divide by 2 or 5, for example, to get the corresponding 2.5 gal or 1 gal recipe. A lot of brewers brew smaller batches for various reasons (space, experimentation, etc).

If you're just starting out and want to brew small batches, I'd recommend finding a 1-gallon kit. Northern Brewer, Brooklyn Brew Shop, Austin Homebrew, etc all sell 1-gallon kits (both equipment and recipes). If you decide you like it, you can keep going with small batches or scale up to larger ones later on.

Check out this thread too. There is a ton of info on brewing smaller batches. 1-gallon brewers unite

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

So I really want to get into home brewing, but the beer would mostly only be drank by myself. It seems like all malt extracts are designed to make 5 gallons at a time, and I just feel that is way too much for me. It would take me forever to go through that many beers, and I'm afraid I would get sick of one particular type of beer before I went through all 5 gallons.

Is there any easy way to cut down on the amount of beer brewed from these extracts? Thanks!

Austin Homebrew does offer a limited supply of small batch kits.

I do love to brew but I, like you, do get tired of a beer by about the 3rd gallon and any attempt to brew up a variety just means that everything has to be able to age.

 

[Ridire]

As a beginning brewer, you'll likely end up with 41-48 bottles from a starting 5gal brew.

It's a 6 week or more cycle if bottle conditioning.
48 bottles of beer over 6 , 10, 12 weeks.. not as much as it seems.

Word.

When I brew my Blonde (which I love), I feel like I'm in beer heaven the first day it is ready for drinking. By the time I'm ready to brew again (usually at least a month after the first brew day), I am out of beer and wishing I had done a 10 gallon batch.

And I am not a 5-10 beer a day kind of guy. It is not unusual for me to have 1 (or none) per day.

 

[LandoLincoln]

You lost me. How can somebody have too much beer on hand? Do you not have any friends or people that need to be bribed?

Anyway...for the sake of argument, let's say that a madman has tied a bomb to your stomach that monitors how much beer you drink in a week and it will explode if you drink more than two bottles of beer a week.

Yes, you could simply halve the amounts of a given recipe or extract kit and make 2.5 gallons of beer at a time. Or a third of a 5-gallon kit and make 1.6 gallons at a time.

There's a risk that the unused ingredients will not be as fresh for future batches, but that's about the only drawback.

Keep in mind that, depending on the style of beer, some beers become quite tasty 3-6 months after bottling. Some beers are really tasty 1-2 years down the road.

 

[Mozart]

Dry malt extract keeps very well provided you store it in an airtight container. Even if you buy ingredients for a 5 gallon batch, extract recipes scale very easily. Just use half the ingredients for a half size batch, and store the remainder for your next brewday.

It's not the question you asked, but if you have a 5 gallon brewpot (like a lot of extract brewers out there), one possible way to both brew 'smaller' and step up your game at the same time is to do a 2.5 to 3 gallon AG BIAB batch. Six lbs. of grain and 2 gallons of water fit pretty nicely into a 5 gallon pot for BIAB, and depending on what gravity you are going for, there are a lot of BIAB AG recipes you can do with a 5 gallon brewpot given that smaller batch size.

Just a suggestion, but again, extract recipes scale very, very easily to whatever batch size you'd like to brew.

 

[jonnyp1980]

48 bottles of beer is too much?? Damn. I got worried about the 250 sitting in my closet and that I needed to get brewing again :/

 

[jjefrey]

I felt the same way when I first started, but now have several batches bottled and 2 kegged. It's nice to be able to pick from different beers I brewed depending what I'm in the mood for, plus lots of them improve over time. If you only brew small batches and drink them before brewing the next, you will never experience the changes that happen.

 

[hunter_le five]

5 gallons sounded like a LOT when I first started brewing. Now, it's never enough. I'm always shocked by how fast it runs out.

Right now I'm sitting on about 17 gallons from 4 different batches. Hopefully that will last me a bit...

 

[LabRatBrewer]

You are not alone, and it gets better. Here is a small batch support thread: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/1-gallon-brewers-unite-311884/

j/k but it is a good thread on one gallon batches.

 

[chezhed]

You could just give the extra to any of us......

 

[ch1719]

Ok well say I go for the full 5-gallon kit, but just want to brew a gallon or two for my first batch, in case it turns out awful. Is there any downside to using 5-gallon fermenters/carboys for only 1 or 2 gallons?

 

[freisste]

For primary, it should be fine. For secondary, you want to minimize headspace.

You can or can not use secondary - totally Brewer's choice in most cases. However, I would suggest skipping it for the first few batches. If you decide to try it (I think you should at least try sometime so you can formulate an opinion), you have plenty of future batches.

 

[rklinck]

48 bottles of beer is too much?? Damn. I got worried about the 250 sitting in my closet and that I needed to get brewing again :/

I'm with you! Right now, I feel like I really need to fill lots of my empty fermenters because I ONLY have five kegs with beer in them (pale ale, irish red, wheat pale mashup, brown, and cherry wheat), 5 liter bottles of altbier, and about a case of imperial stout bottles. Hmm, maybe I should not say these things out loud for fee of sounding like I have a problem. . .

To get back to the original question, don't worry about having too much beer. Just brew batches and bottle them. Keep brewing new recipes and you will end up having a variety around the house. I just recently cracked a brew from last November. It wasn't anything special -- an amber ale -- but it was nice to try again.

 

[twistr25]

Just because....

5 Gallons(of beer) is too much...said no one ever!!!

 

[C-Rider]

So I really want to get into home brewing, but the beer would mostly only be drank by myself. It seems like all malt extracts are designed to make 5 gallons at a time, and I just feel that is way too much for me. It would take me forever to go through that many beers, and I'm afraid I would get sick of one particular type of beer before I went through all 5 gallons.

Is there any easy way to cut down on the amount of beer brewed from these extracts? Thanks!

I'm w/you. I BIAB mashing in a 5 gallon colman cooler and boiling in a 4 gallon pot. I ferment in a 2 gallon paint bucket from HD. Love my small batches about 1.8 gallons at bottling time which gives me about 3 6-packs. and lots of different beers in my fridg to drink.
Been slacking off lately so my signature looks a bit empty.

 

[jfk69]

I suggest you brew the full 5 gallon batch. I promise to take any leftovers that you feel you can't drink.

 

[JonM]

Take any recipe, cut everything in half and, voila, you have a 2.5 gal, 1 case batch. I probably made 40 batches like that whole I was learning and experimenting with recipes. So worth it.

 

[J187]

I know exactly why you feel like 5 gallons is too much... because you haven't brewed yet. Seriously, it's my wife and I that drink most of what I brew and I need several beers in rotation to not run out and we are NOT heavy drinkers. You will DEFINITELY want to give some away to friends, neighbors, family, etc. Most beers you can keep stored for a long time - especially cold. You absolutely do not have to drink all of one brew in order to move on to the next... in fact, I highly recommend you do not take that approach. Hell, brew again after two weeks when you get your fermenter back. I usually have around 3 different beers that are drinkable at even given times.

Give 5 gallons a shot, if you don't like, downsize

 

[McGarnigle]

Half batches also make it easier to go to all grain or at least partial mash. You don't need as big a cooler, you can boil it all on the stove, etc. I have a smaller fridge I can use as a fermentation cooler for 3g batches, but not 5gs.

One piece of advice: get in the habit of re-using yeast, maybe brewing two beers in succession (brewing the second on bottling day of the first). You'll save some money.

You can also do the "small batch yeast starter," i.e., brew a 2-3g batch as a prelude to a big barleywine or something.

 

[woozy]

Jeesus. Two pages and *no-ones* gotten around to answering the poor OP's original and *very* easy to answer question.

[My apologies to JonM who slipped a correct answer in while I was typing my response.]

Answer(s):
Recipes: All recipes can be scaled. If you want to brew 2 gallons, take a five gallon recipe and multiply ingredient quantities by 2/5. It *is* that simple.

Equipment:
You want a fermenter (bucket or carboy) and a maybe a bottling bucket for your size. These can be found if you look around. A LHBS will have them. Any food grade bucket can be made into a fermenter. You can use 1 gallon Carlo Rossi Wine bottles (but you'll want a blow of tube as they do not have much head room.)

There are a couple of places that sell gallon equiment kits. Brooklyn Brew shop and, I think, midwest do. These are pretty cheap because the expensive part of the equipment is the fermenter and they get exponentially cheaper the smaller they are.

I myself have three Mr. Beer "little brown kegs" that I use two to brew 2 gallon batches and a third as a bottling bucket. You can buy these for $10 each from the Mr. Beer web site.

I also have two a gallon glass jugs for 1 gallon batches.


5 gallons (45-48 beers) seems like a lot but it's not as much as it seems. However it's still a lot. 2 gallons is okay for me but I've done 15 batches since february and I kind of wished each batch made just a *bit* more.

You can always start small and grow.

 

[DrewschBag]

Do some "research" with commercial beers and see what style you like the best. If you love the style, it will be easy to go through 50 bottles. Also, you'll build up some tolerance so you can go through homebrew faster.

And once you've shelled out some good money on the commercial stuff, your homebrew will seem cheaper by comparison.

 

[J187]

Jeesus. Two pages and *no-ones* gotten around to answering the poor OP's original and *very* easy to answer question.

Answer(s):
Recipes: All recipes can be scaled. If you want to brew 2 gallons, take a five gallon recipe and multiply ingredient quantities by 2/5. It *is* that simple.

Equipment:
You want a fermenter (bucket or carboy) and a maybe a bottling bucket for your size. These can be found if you look around. A LHBS will have them. Any food grade bucket can be made into a fermenter. You can use 1 gallon Carlo Rossi Wine bottles (but you'll want a blow of tube as they do not have much head room.)

There are a couple of places that sell gallon equiment kits. Brooklyn Brew shop and, I think, midwest do. These are pretty cheap because the expensive part of the equipment is the fermenter and they get exponentially cheaper the smaller they are.

I myself have three Mr. Beer "little brown kegs" that I use two to brew 2 gallon batches and a third as a bottling bucket. You can buy these for $10 each from the Mr. Beer web site.

I also have two a gallon glass jugs for 1 gallon batches.


5 gallons (45-48 beers) seems like a lot but it's not as much as it seems. However it's still a lot. 2 gallons is okay for me but I've done 15 batches since february and I kind of wished each batch made just a *bit* more.

You can always start small and grow.

Plenty of people answered his question. Some of us tried to encourage him to give 5 gallons a shot and see how it goes because we think that he's underestimating the amount of beer he'll want to make, and some of us told him to cut ingredients in half, scale, use 2 gallon buckets, etc...

 

[chicken]

It's not that hard to cut a recipe in half, and there's certainly nothing wrong with doing so if that's what works for you.

You might find, though, that 5 gallons doesn't last nearly as long as you think it will! If you're worried about getting tired of drinking the same beer all the time, go ahead and brew something different as soon as possible, so you have more than one beer on hand. When friends come over, I really love being able to offer them a choice between 2-3 different beers I have brewed. And I still can't believe how quickly we go through some batches.

 

[Curtis2010]

What???

Im in the process of upgrading to 15 and thinking maybe I should go bigger!

 

[J187]

What???

Im in the process of upgrading to 15 and thinking maybe I should go bigger!

I know, this feels like "does anyone know how I could have less sex?"

 

[GuldTuborg]

You clearly have a drinking problem. More specifically, you don't drink enough beer. Send leftover bottles to me for proper, er...consumption.

 

[woozy]

edit: deleted defensive nasty reply to a comment of my original post of "two pages and no-one answered the OP's question" remark

Nemmine. I'm just in a bad mood and I see a *few* people did answer the question.

But, jeez, I get so tired of people who insist that their way is the only way and that they're only trying to help people who think differently that they might be wrong.

5 gallons is two cases of beer and two cases of beer is a *lot* for a single person to drink. If a person says that *he* will get tired of a beer after half a case than *that* person will get tired of a beer after half a case. Take his word for it. *He*'s the one who lives in his body and knows what it does and doesn't do. Not us.

 

[J187]

JonM mentioned that recipes can be scaled (not inherently obvious with anything that involves chemical processes) and one person mentioned a place to buy equipment the remaining 2 pages - 2 posts just made snide unhelpful comments about how absurd it is to think 5 gallons is too much.

Okay, half the comments were gentle and compassionate and friendly and not "snide". But they still approached the problem by discussing what wasn't pertenant and trying to change the OP's opinion rather than simply answering the question asked.

Answering direct questions should always com first.

Discussing opinions and positing alternative point of view second.

Insisting an OP readjust his opinion to suit yours never.


Why? The OP *clearly* said he didn't want to and that he felt it was too much. What he *did* ask for was how to cut the extracts down. For which there is a simple, unambiguous, and utterly undisputed answer: scale the ingredients.

Opinions as to 5 gallons *is* the right amount are irrelevant.

I don't think anything you've said here is correct.

So, if an OP says "how should I dispose of my beer, I didn't hit my exact FG"?, then you should first tell him where to dump it, and second give him the option to keep it and taste it and see how it is, but never tell him he's crazy for throwing away good beer? Doesn't make sense to me.

I think it's pretty clear that the guy is new to the hobby and uncertain. Most of us offering him alternative thoughts to his plight hardly seems detrimental to me. It's of an encouragement than anything else.