Easy Splitting Batch Ideas {2.5 vs 5} gals

[1BigBear]

"I Love the idea of 10 gals of 4 styles of Homebrew -vs- just 2" :rockin: Abe Lincoln

Some brewers like to split their batches.. Just to have a 'little bit' of many different beers. Not as drastic as 1 gallon batches.
SO~ what are some key things anyone pondering the idea need to worry about.?

For basic Extract kits -

Is it always exactly 1/2 ? → of everything. ?

Are the boiling times and hop addition times and temps the same as if it were 5 gals.?

Whats the best way to store or save - Grains, malt extract, hops. etc etc= and what about yeast--(half a packet...save half ?~(no)~or dump the second half?

What about kettle size or Primary/Secondary size ?
Airspace in a Secondary glass carboy? is that an issue?

How long till you MUST use the second half of whats left over?

Any other considerations ?

Guys who have done it -- could ya help us newbies out ?

see? 4 beers.... not 2. lol →

BB

 

[RitalinIV]

1BigBear-

Nice! Here's my $0.02:
I started on Mr. Beer so the one who taught me just halved the standard 5 gal recipe. Seriously, everything was halved with the exception of the yeast. See, back then I was still using dry yeast so it was easier to dump it all in.

I would imaging the same principal applies. Perhaps if you were to use liquid yeast, and certain it was well mixed (even spore count across the vial) you could just use half in each batch.

Carboy space seems like a bigger issue. I will defer to other experts on this forum. Let me say this- I use 7 gallon carboys while making 5 gallon batches because of the extra room. I like the extra room to let my brew get freaky and have no problems. I would say that so as long as you vessel is sanitized and sealed, I see no issue.

Boiling times remain the same. They are actually predicated on pasteurization. The hour is to kill most oogies (technical word) in your wort.

The other half of your ingredients can be used whenever within reason. Just like bread, fruit and other common household foods go bad eventually, so do your beer ingredients. You can extend freshness several ways:
-Tightly seal leftovers in a food saver bag or vacuum thingy.
-Only crack half of your grains
-Refrigerate/keep stuff from direct light
-Brew your next batch sooner
Regardless, you have some time.

Kettle size is easy too. I used an 8 quart pot for 2.5 gall batches and fill with clean, cold water to capacity. This is for two reasons. It requires less energy to boil less water (duh) and helps cool my wort for yeast addition.

Does this help? Anyone else want to chime in?
Let me know how it works out... and GOOD LUCK!
-Ritalin