Batch size

[Steveruch]

What's everyone's normal batch size?

 

[day_trippr]

My recipes are tuned to keg a full 10 gallons...

Cheers!

 

[hilljack13]

I can only drink 5 gal at a time...not in one sitting

 

[tdf]

I brew 12 or 15 liters. Rarely more and even more rarely less.

 

[MaxStout]

I have 7 gallon Brew Buckets, so 5 to 6 gallons. I occasionally brew 10-12 and split it between 2 fermenters.

 

[CascadesBrewer]

Around 60% of my batches target 2.5 gals of finished beer (done via BIAB on my stove in a 5 gallon kettle).

Around 35% are 5 gal batches (via BIAB outside on a propane burner in a 15 gal kettle). About half of these are split into two different fermenters and about half are just standard 5 gal batches.

Then I occasionally brew 11 gals of wort so that I split into 2 or 3 fermenters.

I have played around with brewing 3 to 3.5 gal batches on my stove that I ferment and serve out of the same keg. I like that size and approach, but I have limited room in my kegerator for kegs and it works better to have a full 5 gal keg, or a pair of 10L Torpedo kegs stacked.

I used to brew 1 gallon extract batches often, but I have not done that much in the past few years. In the past I also did a series of 1 gallon all-grain batches to try out base malts.

 

[Lampy]

Final yield of 6L (~1.5gal) per batch. Or even just 3.5L for many meads/ciders.
I am essentially the only one drinking what I make and I enjoy being able to rapidly try new things.

 

[Hoochin'Fool]

2.75 to 3.00 gallon batches, on my crappy glass stovetop, mashing at most about 7 lbs of grain (in a bag). For higher gravity beers, I do partial mash with DME.

 

[hout17]

I did 5 gallon batches (batch sparge with 12 gallon cooler mash tun and a 10 gallon kettle) for quite a long time, but I've started moving to stovetop BIAB with a 5 gallon kettle doing 2.5 gallon batches. The smaller batches are a better fit for me although I'll still do the occasional 5 gallon batch.

 

[BeerAndTele]

2.5 - 2.75 gals stovetop BIAB batches for me.

 

[Dog House Brew]

Fill 2 or 4 kegs. 12-22g for the batch size

 

[Drinking Sensibly]

22 litres. Enough to ensure I have enough to fill a Corny. 25 litres if I intend to package in bottles. 25 litres is a squeeze, probably involves replacing some boil-off at some point in the boil.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

Aim for 22 litres

 

[Ninoid]

A few months ago, I started to brew a double batch in a 30L pot (BIAB) and then dilute it in two fermenters of 23L each, so that I get 40L of beer in bottles. This significantly shortened my brew time and energy consumption, without noticeable loss in quality.

 

[scrap iron]

I started out with 5-gallon batches then after a few years went to 10 gallons. The 10-gallon batches when I lived around more people and had parties. Then back to 5-gallons. Lately I've been doing 3-3.5-gallon batches because I've moved and don't have as many people to help drink them. That and I don't drink as much now.

 

[Broken Crow]

Since buying a "5 Gallon Kit" is kinda like buying a "1TB" hard drive, I didn't care when I was bottling. When I moved to kegging and using floating diptubes int the FV's though, I got obsessed with getting a full 5 G keg of clear beer so I adjusted my batch sizes to 6 or 12 G...the remaining beer from the bottom of the FV which is sometimes cloudy or picks up a bit of trub goes in bottles or baby-kegs.

 

[Much2Brew]

I recently went down to 3 gallon batches (get 2.5 finished after kettle and fermenter loss). I used to do 5.5 in kettle to get 5 finished. Surprised to see how many people are going to smaller batches, thought I was the outlier.....

 

[AZ Maverick]

All grain, full volume boil, final batch size 5.4 gallons.
I have a kegerator that holds two 5-gallon kegs, and two more 5-gallon kegs that I keep full and chilled for when the time comes to swap out an empty keg in the kegerator.

 

[mac_1103]

5 gallons, absent excessive boil-over, blow-off or spills.

 

[Willy]

What's everyone's normal batch size?

Almost always a 5.5 gallon batch. Sometimes that gets split into 2 small corny kegs - 1 for drinking before it's ready (impatient me) and 1 to fully lager as needed.

 

[JohnDBrewer]

5 is typical, but a few 10's of stuff I want to lager a good while. I tend to nip at them while lagering and just when the beers get great, I blow the keg, so two kegs it is. Also, when I'm brewing for a festival it's usually 10 gallons - 5 for me and 5 for the people. (Think I just got a new name for a beer.)

 

[Wigglebutts Brewery]

BIAB w 10g kettle so 5g for most beers and 3g for higher ABV styles.

 

[Closet Fermenter]

I’m still trying to find the sweet spot. A few weeks ago, I did a 5 gallon batch on consecutive days for 10 gallons. A couple weeks later, I did a single 10 gallon batch that I split into two 5 gallon corny kegs. I’m still using a small keezer, so I can’t accommodate the 15 gallon sanke keg I recently picked up. I would like to try a 15 gallon batch sometime.

 

[kevin58]

My batch size is 5.5 gallons into the fermenter. My packaging size is right around 5 gallons into the keg.

 

[wepeeler]

I started with propane and a 15 gal kettle so I could do 5 or 10 gal batches, but I have since switched to the 10.5 Foundry. I rarely made 10 gal batches. Maybe once a year. So back to 5 gal batches exclusively.

 

[CascadesBrewer]

2.75 to 3.00 gallon batches, on my crappy glass stovetop, mashing at most about 7 lbs of grain (in a bag). For higher gravity beers, I do partial mash with DME.

I have been wanting to try some stove top batches using DME to get me up to 5.5 gals of wort (so brewing a higher gravity wort and topping up in the fermenter). It is just a lot easier for me to brew on my stovetop without worrying about weather and day light hours (vs outdoors on propane). While a 2.5 gal batch fits my needs most of the time, 5 gal batches are sometimes helpful, especially for proven recipes that I want to drink or to bring along a keg to an event (or a 5 gal batch that I split with 2 yeasts).

I once brewed 5.5 gals of Irish Red with an OG of 1.048 (as I recall) on my stove. I made around 3.5 gals of a higher gravity wort that I topped up in the fermenter. I doubt I could push this over around 1.055 without more hassle than I care to take on.

 

[DonT]

I've just done 5g into a keg, although I have the capacity to do 10g, I don't think I'll ever do that because it'll take me forever to drink it all or give it away...

 

[Yesfan]

5 gallon batches. I like to be different........

Serious note, I'm thinking about scaling down to 2-3 gallon batches. I just don't drink as much as I'd like/want plus it seems the smaller the batch, the quicker my brew day.

 

[MicroMickey]

A friend of mine does a lot of experimental batches in the 2 - 3 gallon size via BIAB. It gives him a chance to dial in a recipe without a big expenditure of time, money, ingredients, etc.

 

[OakIslandBrewery]

Ten gallon batches, all grain and everything is kegged.

 

[OakIslandBrewery]

5 gallon batches. I like to be different........

Serious note, I'm thinking about scaling down to 2-3 gallon batches. I just don't drink as much as I'd like/want plus it seems the smaller the batch, the quicker my brew day.

We're all different!

I don't drink like used to either but I do love brewing so I just do the styles like the most. I have about a dozen solid recipes brew from. I can justify ten gal batches that way. 2-3 gallon batches wouldn't work for me just yet.

 

[hotbeer]

Seems funny that you ask for the average batch size of "everyone" and people are telling what their own average batch size is. Which isn't the answer to the question, technically.

I suppose when everyone answers the question, then you can average them all together and know.

I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours!

 

[Zenmeister]

I do 15 gallon batches (actually netting out with 14-14.5 gallon batches) but usually give away 3/4 of it. Two-three growlers every week to tennis partners, then 1-2 to kids, friends, etc, and of course farming out a keg to other friends. Ultimately I brew about one batch a month at this rate.

 

[InspectorJon]

it seems the smaller the batch, the quicker my brew day.

I start at 1 gallon, bumped up to 1.3 to have a 12 pack of bottled beer. Then I moved up to 3.5- 4 gallons because twice the beer with the same amount of time and work. Slightly more time bottling but the rest is pretty much the same.

 

[OakIslandBrewery]

I start at 1 gallon, bumped up to 1.3 to have a 12 pack of bottled beer. Then I moved up to 3.5- 4 gallons because twice the beer with the same amount of time and work. Slightly more time bottling but the rest is pretty much the same.

That's how it all starts, first it's smaller batches then slowly larger ones. Before you know it you're at 15 gallon batches then you start to ramp down. It's a vicious cycle, thank God it's fun.

 

[beersk]

I brew 3.5 gallon batches to get 2.5 gallons finished beer in my 2.5 gallon kegs. I have 6 of them and they're pretty much all full. I'm barely drinking these days so I'm considering what to do. I could give more beer away, but that takes work and isn't as easy as it used to be. A lot of people I know are drinking less in general.
I'm starting to play with lower abv beers, aiming for 3.2% but trying to get full flavor. Not sure if this will be the answer or if I'll need to consider whether brewing makes much sense for me at some point. I'm not willing to go smaller than the batch size I'm currently producing. I also don't seem to enjoy brewing as much as I used to.

 

[CascadesBrewer]

I start at 1 gallon, bumped up to 1.3 to have a 12 pack of bottled beer.

I have found those little tenths of a gallon really make a big difference with "1 gallon" batches. If you are fermenting in a 1 gallon jug, you might be lucky to get 6 or 7 beers. I have some of the PET Little Big Mouth Bubbler fermenters so there is plenty of headspace to get a full 1 gallon of finished beer into bottles. It seems small, but those extra 4 or 5 beers really help if you want to share some beers with friends, or just let a few bottles age for a while.

 

[jtgoral]

5.75 to 6.00 gallons before fermentation to fit 5 gallon keg after fermentation

 

[jcav]

I still brew recipes to end up with 10 gallons of finished beer (2 full 5 gallon kegs).

John

 

[Brushwood Brewing]

I brewed 5 gallon batches for a decade, but this year I scaled down to 2.5 gallon batches in order to brew more frequently.