Experimental 1 Gallon batches - What can I do safely?

[Bradinator]

Being a newbie home brewer I found I love to experiment with recipes, just to see how they will turn out, drinkable or not, for my own educational experience. What I hate is investing lots good dollars into something I end up pouring down the sink. Personally I feel the risk vs. investment in the experimental 5 gallon recipes is not just worth it anymore.

Finding glass 1 gallon carboys in my city is next to impossible and very expensive, so I am looking for a cheap, easily available alternative. I am wondering if food grade plastic water/juice bottles would work for this? If so what 'rating' does it need to be to prevent oxidization/leaching of chemicals?

If not, what are the hazards of brewing small batches in my 5 gallon glass carboys?

Also, if I were to attempt smaller beer batches, would dry malt extract be my only viable choice for brewing? An all-grain batch is also difficult here as there is only a single store that sells grains and I need to order it far in advance.

Thanks for any advice!

 

[jamesnsw]

Try going to whole foods if you have one- they have apple juice in glass 1 gal jars. Make your first batch an experimental apfelwein or graff, then you have an empty carboy.

 

[Nurmey]

Plastic bottles can be controversial but basically you want to look for a 1 on the bottom. Also, you might be able to find 1 gallon plastic buckets at a bakery for free or cheap. The smaller buckets are not as common as the 5 gallon (which you could also use) but they can be found. Not really any issue fermenting smaller batches in a larger bucket either.

I sometime do small all grain batches either for experimentation or when I'm too wimpy to brew outside in the winter.

Mostly I think you need to find a good online store because smaller carboys, buckets, and grain shouldn't be that hard to find or expensive.

 

[Hodor_Baggins]

Carlo Rossi wine comes in one gallon jugs that you could use. That is, of course, if you can choke down the wine.

 

[weirdboy]

I have reused milk and juice containers. You don't get a gallon of beer in it, though.

Also, I stopped by my local grocery store and asked at the bakery for food-grade plastic buckets and they hooked me up in exchange for the occasional homebrew. Just this weekend, they gave me a 4-gallon and a 2.5 gallon.

 

[Poindexter]

+1 on the gallon size apple juice jugs at the organic food joint. You can do meads in those later and age them for months as long as you keep them away from sunlight.

 

[Bradinator]

Fan-freaking-tastic idea with the organic juice bottles. I never even considered that and there is a huge organic foods store right across from my office. Best of all I can use the juice to make another batch of cider of Edwort's apfelwein!

The funny thing is I live in a pretty large city, its just home brewing supplies seemed to be tailored to wine and beer making kits and even those stores are rare.

 

[craven_morhead]

I've had good luck with 3.5 gal frosting buckets at grocery stores. I like experimenting with them, and tend toward that size instead of 1 gal.

 

[SmugMug]

Carlo Rossi wine comes in one gallon jugs that you could use. That is, of course, if you can choke down the wine.

+1 for CR bottles. They're my apfelwein mainstay.

 

[Catch-22]

IMHO, I like the 3 gal carboys better. They obviously offer more beer to consume which allows me to determine the correct aging time. Otherwise, I would finish all the beer out of a 1 gal before it hit it's peak. I now use my 1 gal jugs for my yeast starters. What do I know though? I'm usually drunk all the time.

 

[pilotdane]

I like using the Mr. Beer kegs. I can only fit one 6 gallon fermentation bucket/carboy in my fridge but there is also room for two Mr. B kegs. They are larger than the 1 gal you are looking for, but they have a large enough lid so you can easily get you hands inside for cleaning, they lid works as your airlock (with no liquid to dry out, spill or get sucked back inside) and have a spigot for easy transfers or bottling.