Doing 1 gallon BIAB's

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mfranzer

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Hey guys. I love this hobby, and can't get enough of it. I currently do 2.5 gallon BIAB batches, but I am thinking of switching to 1 gallon. Here are my reasons.

I don't have a whole lot of room in my house, and even 2.5 gal kind of maxes out my space. It's just me drinking the homebrew, and it takes a long time to get rid of the batches. Mostly though, I want to brew more styles, more often, and get techniques down. I already have all the equipment to switch to the smaller batches so that is not an issue. I know it takes just as much time and effort to brew 1 gal vs. 2.5 gal, and I am perfectly OK with that.

So, is there any difference to doing 1 gal batches vs. my 2.5 gal from a technical aspect? I've heard something once on the BN about having a high percentage of boil off affecting the beer. Something like greater than 18% causes off flavors? Anyone else heard this or know of something else I should be aware of before switching?
 
I only brew 1 gal batches and I've gone through about 5 different brews this month. I use a 2 gal pot fill it with water bring up to temp mash and sparge with a colander I have marked off lines in the brew kettle so I know where I'm at for volume. Boil off was something I noticed in early batches but I've kind of dialed it in now and know I need right around 2 gal to end up with 1 which is pretty standard. I have three 1 gal car boys and need to get more lol one gal batched are just so easy and I personally have to stop my self from trying to brew every day/
 
All I do is one gallon BIAB currently, the one thing to me that seems slightly more difficult is your strike and mash temp. You have smaller quantity of water and grain, so it doesn't take near as much heat to change the entire kettles temperature so hitting the strike temp takes a close eye. Also you have less water at your mash temp so temperature change over an hour can vary so keep it wrapped up after you mash in... And the small batch makes any errors more noticeable.

That being said it is a great way to get your technique down I enjoy it and am about to go to 5 gal.
 
I make a starter and use about a quarter to half a pack depending on the gravity I'm shooting for
 
Like you mentioned.. Little bit more boil off but once that's figured out no biggie. More trub for me because I started to use a paint strainer instead of voile (for bigger batches). But I love doing small batches in the winter. Keeps me indoors, I get to do small darker beers and I love to brew!
 
I use a whole pack of us-05 most batches, I talked to the guys at my lhbs and they put it in a way that made so much sense. More yeast to complete the job no way 1 pack is too much and as far as strike temp and all that jazz I mash in my full volume so about 2.5 gal to account for grain absorption and boil off puts me around 1 gal of wort.
 
I agree one pack of yeast isn't too much, but why use a .30-06 when a pellet gun will do?
 
I get about 1/2 gallon of boil off in my 2.5 gallon tabletop batches. I haven't noticed any presence of off flavors and prefer using small batch BIAB brewing on the stove top until I get my recipes dialed in. Since beer is scalable, it's very easy to convert batch sizes to suit my needs and I can handle up to ten gallon all grain BIAB batches with no issues if I need to.

I'll also pitch a whole packet/vial on 2.5 gallon BIAB batches. I don't mind overpitching a little but most of my beers are medium to high gravity anyway, so the extra yeast seem to do the trick pretty well.

My main reasons for doing small batch sizes are: A) If I have to drink it, it better not suck, B ) If it does suck, then it's far less heartbreaking and inexpensive to drain pour a small batch than a big batch and, C) I've got so much homebrew, I can barely store it all.
 
I've been doing one-gallon BIAB too for the same reasons OP.

I always use dry yeast and here's what I do to reduce the amount of yeast I have to buy:

1. sanitize the packet
2. sanitize the scissors
3. have a ziplock bag on hand
4. make sure everything is dry
5. pitch, eyeballing about 1/4 of the pack
6. put the leftover yeast pack in the ziplock and put that ziplock inside another ziplock and store in the fridge for next weekends batch (I almost exclusively use us-05 but I also keep some English ale and lager yeast on hand)
 
For those that do this, do you just use a 1 gallon bucket? Carbon? I have 1 gallon bottles. But, there would be no headspace. I'm guessing that would be a problem?
 
You are correct.. there is little to no headspace. Small frosting buckets from the bakery work great. I got mine from a supermarket that has a bakery. You can do your batches in a 2 or even 3 gallon bucket if you like w/o any problems. I now use my glass jug for a secondary fermenter as necessary. However, I haven't used the frosting buckets recently as I bought 2 MrBeer fermenters. I think I paid $10 ea + shipping. I only do about 1.25 gallons in it and rack to the jug. That gives me 1 gallon to bottle.. leaving all the trub behind.
 
HD sells 2 gallon white paint buckets. I use them all the time for my 1.9 gal batches. I get about 3 six packs per brew and am the only drinker in the house. I pitch about 1/2 the pack and toss the rest. Never wanted to chance bad yeast on the next brew.
 
Do you have any problems with no headspace in your primary using a 2 gal bucket? Blowoff tube?
 
No worry about too MUCH headspace in the primary. CO2 fills that. IF you rack to a secondary, which I almost never do… THEN headspace becomes a bit of an issue. If you have enough headspace, you will likely not need a blowoff tube… assuming it's not a BIG beer.

If I make a big beer, which is almost never, I don't even use an airlock. Simply loosely fold a piece of aluminum foil or saran wrap or plastic bag over the mouth and let er rip in a large bucket. When things settle down, I will add my airlock cuz I like to watch bubbles at times.
 
HD sells 2 gallon white paint buckets. I use them all the time for my 1.9 gal batches. I get about 3 six packs per brew and am the only drinker in the house. I pitch about 1/2 the pack and toss the rest. Never wanted to chance bad yeast on the next brew.

Will second the white 2gal HD buckets. I've got 3 going right now, they work great for 1.5gal batches that render up a 12pack.

Only thing I'm not a fan of are the lids - they're cheap enough, but I've broken a few of them already using a lid tool to open them up for dryhopping/etc. They cracked right at the cut notches over the top.

Again, not a huge deal as the lids don't seal full tight anyway, but tight enough to keep anything bad out.

Best part about them, I can fit two in the dish washer on cleanup day. :rockin:

Been kicking around the thought of picking up a few of these for larger brew days:

http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.aspx?itemid=22692&catid=816&clickid=searchresults
 
Will second the white 2gal HD buckets. I've got 3 going right now, they work great for 1.5gal batches that render up a 12pack.

Only thing I'm not a fan of are the lids - they're cheap enough, but I've broken a few of them already using a lid tool to open them up for dryhopping/etc. They cracked right at the cut notches over the top.

Again, not a huge deal as the lids don't seal full tight anyway, but tight enough to keep anything bad out.

Best part about them, I can fit two in the dish washer on cleanup day. :rockin:

Been kicking around the thought of picking up a few of these for larger brew days:

http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.aspx?itemid=22692&catid=816&clickid=searchresults

That's the same volume as the Mr Beer LBK's and harder to clean :)
 
I was actually afraid of not enough headspace in the primary. I'd like to ferment as much as I can in a 2 gall bucket. Just didnt know how full I could go. Seems like a lot of work for a 12 pack. But, a person could possibly try more styles that way and boil on the stove.
 
Do you use a normal sized bottling bucket when doing 1 gal batches?
 
Skitter - Yeah, I know - I'm just not a fan of that spiggot on the Mr.Beer tank. If they had one without the spiggot I'd grab a few as they look like they'd stack great on my shelf in the cold storage. That's why I love the buckets - remove lids/grommets, up-end into dishwasher, and done.

rdbrett - I drilled a hole into another 2gal bucket, put in one of those red tap spiggots and use that for bottling. Using a #2 stopper and a 1/4" copper elbow forced into the spiggot lets me drain everything but a few ounces in the bucket.

I suppose it could be considered work, but I enjoy the act of brewing. Being able to experiment and try new techniques without the worry of choking down 5gal of "Oops" is a bonus for me. Variety is good!
 
For those that do this, do you just use a 1 gallon bucket? Carbon? I have 1 gallon bottles. But, there would be no headspace. I'm guessing that would be a problem?

Home Depot sells 2 gallon paint buckets. I use them all the time for my 1.9g batches.

Not sure what yo mash in now, but the do have 3 gallon coolers. Not sure about 2 gallon round coolers.
 
Right now I have 5g of APA fermenting in two 12qt pots. The pots fit in a 54qt cooler for temp control, are cheap, and easy to clean. When I bottle, I'll do them on successive days for less hassle. I can pitch different yeasts, or dry hop one. And I use them for smaller batches. I have another 4g batch split into the MrBeer and BrewDemon fermenters, different yeasts. I have one Ale Pail, and 5 smaller fermenters. Go small or go home!
 
C-Rider -

They do have 2gal round coolers, but to be honest the insulation sucks on the ones I looked at. They have some square coolers in the 10-12qt area, but they're not drilled for a spiggot so you'll have to punch your own to drain it. Not a big deal, but it's more work.

The cost difference between the 3gal round cooler and the 5gal round cooler was minimal at best, in fact at a couple of places I found the 5gal to be cheaper. I got mine(Rubbermaid) for $16, which was cheaper than all the other options I found in that size/capacity.

Don't be afraid of going larger on the tun - makes sparging super easy, no issues with large grainbills, readily available false bottoms if you ever want to upgrade, and temp regulation is as easy as putting a piece of tinfoil over the mash before you close up the tun.

If I ever need a tun larger than my 5gal, I'm going to a rectangular Coleman Extreme. I just can't see that happening right now.

Maybe I'll get fancy and get a Yeti or the like. Ha. :D
 
I take it you guys do not BiAB? Or why do you mash in a cooler & not your pot?
 
Hmmm. Really. I dont have that much trouble. Wrap in towels and turn on the heat every once on a while. Does your cooler keep the heat through the whole hour mash?
 
Hmmm. Really. I dont have that much trouble. Wrap in towels and turn on the heat every once on a while. Does your cooler keep the heat through the whole hour mash?

If you have your grains milled fine for BIAB you don't need to keep the temperature up for the whole hour. Conversion doesn't take long, wetting big grain pieces all the way to the center does. That's why the people who do conventional mash tun brewing do the hour. They can't mill their grains fine because it will cause them trouble when they go to drain and the pieces are too small to make a good filter and will clog up the drain.
 
I understand the conventional method and getting stuck. How long do you usually mash then? How big of a cooler if doing a 1-2 gall batch. Maybe I can simplify somehow.
 
I've done some experimentation with conversion time and using iodine to test for starch shows full conversion in less than 2 minutes.:eek: I still mash for 30 because I've heard that the beta amylase takes longer than the alpha amylase and I can't find info on just how much longer. My beers usually ferment out to a lower than predicted FG so maybe I should be cutting the time more yet. I've heard from one other brewer that does a 20 minute mash and claims that that is sufficient so maybe the next batch I will try that. I hate having my brews turn out drier than expected as they are now.
 
If you're having trouble maintaining mash temps in a pot, stick it in the oven. Most 5 gals will fit in most ovens with all but the bottom rack removed. Shouldn't gain more than a degree or 2 in an hour, even if you can't get the oven lower than 200
 
Do you have any problems with no headspace in your primary using a 2 gal bucket? Blowoff tube?

The 2 gallon buckets I have actually hold more than 2 1/2 gallons so you can ferment pretty close to 2 gallons of beer and still have plenty of head space as long as it's not a real big beer. I think I did 2 gallons once but have tried to stick with 1.8 or less.
 
Isn't it like a dollar more more for the 4 gallon buckets? Could just grab those and never worry about headspace limits.
 
Awesome. Thanks.
The 2 gallon buckets I have actually hold more than 2 1/2 gallons so you can ferment pretty close to 2 gallons of beer and still have plenty of head space as long as it's not a real big beer. I think I did 2 gallons once but have tried to stick with 1.8 or less.
 
I've done some experimentation with conversion time and using iodine to test for starch shows full conversion in less than 2 minutes.:eek: I still mash for 30 because I've heard that the beta amylase takes longer than the alpha amylase and I can't find info on just how much longer. My beers usually ferment out to a lower than predicted FG so maybe I should be cutting the time more yet. I've heard from one other brewer that does a 20 minute mash and claims that that is sufficient so maybe the next batch I will try that. I hate having my brews turn out drier than expected as they are now.

Sorry, dummy here. Whats the reason for lower FG?
Mash temp falling?
 
Isn't it like a dollar more more for the 4 gallon buckets? Could just grab those and never worry about headspace limits.

Agreed. You get more bang for your buck with the bigger buckets. I actually rarely use my 2 gal buckets anymore. I just use my 6.5gal bucket and I usually brew 2-3 gal batches. I guess if storage space is limited, might be better to go with the smaller bucket.
 
Sorry, dummy here. Whats the reason for lower FG?
Mash temp falling?

I'm still wondering about that. The thermometer in the mash only shows one degree temperature drop. I do start the ferment cool and when it slows a bit (5 to 7 days) I warm it to 72 for the next couple weeks. I'm pretty sure that that warmer temperature helps the yeast some but I'm not entirely convinced that is the entire answer.
 
RM-MN - wow, 30min on a mash? Here I've been mashing in the cooler for an hour because I thought that was the norm, but the explanation for mashing shorter (due to the finer crush) makes sense. Well, I know what I'm going to be trying out this next brew!

Unfortunately, that will screw up my cleaning/sanitizing/hop measurement schedule as I'm usually prepping other gear during that time. Not a biggy, minutes saved = more time with the fam.

AFA buckets -

Where are you all finding 4gal buckets? None of the homestores around me have anything in that size (Lowes/HD/Menards/Ace/FF). I know that US Plastics has some 3.5gal buckets that are basically a cut down 5gal, but same diameter.

The one thing I really like about the 2gal (other than they're cheap and work great) is that they fit well into the dishwasher for cleanup. I'd be worried that a 4gal or even 3.5gal bucket would be a pain for that.

Another possible "bucket" option in the 3gal range would be something like a foodservice grade food prep container like the Cambro RFSCW12, a 12qt polycarbonate (clear/boil safe/stain resistant/graduated) container. Pricy compared to a bucket, but food grade.

I'm going to grab a few here eventually to play with.
 
Home Hardware always has them when I check. Look by the cleaning supplies, lids are a couple bucks extra.
 
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