Just brewed my 1st ever 1-gallon batch

[kombat]

I've done over 50 all-grain batches so far, but they've always been 5-gallon batches, with the occasional 10 gallon batch. I've been wanting to dabble in 1-gallon batches for a while now, and I've slowly been acquiring the equipment, but today I took the plunge and actually brewed a batch.

I did the Nut Brown AG recipe from the recipe forum here. I wanted to brew it as a small 1-gallon "test batch" to see if I want to brew it as a full 5-gallon batch. I'm pretty sure I will, but it was a serviceable excuse.

I didn't think my stove would boil that much liquid (a gallon and a half), but I was pleasantly surprised to find it did.

I weighed out and milled my grains, then heated up the strike water. I doughed-in, stirred it well, then covered the pot and put it in my oven which I'd pre-heated to around 150 F. It held the temperature remarkably well. I took the pot out once mid-mash to give it a stir and check the temperature.

After an hour, I lifted out the grain bag and set it in a colandar to drain out the liquid as I began heating the wort.

Quick question: How do you guys clean your grain bags? I dumped the grain in the compost, then turned the bag inside out and soaked it in Oxyclean, then rinsed it well, but there are still a few bits of grain here and there. Do you just run it through the laundry or not worry about it?

Anyway, I boiled, did the hop and Irish moss additions, chilled in an ice bath in my kitchen sink (about 20 minutes), transfered to my little 1-gallon jug/carboy, shook to aerate, then pitched 1/4 pack of US-05 (rehydrated in 50 mL of 80 F water). It's now sitting in a Home Depot bucket filled with water to sink the heat and keep the temperature in the low 60's.

I'm going to bottle-carb this one (another first for me), as I don't want to waste a whole 5-gallon keg (and the CO2) on 1 gallon of beer. I can't wait to see how it turns out!

 

[kombat]

I couldn't believe how much faster it was to brew a 1-gallon batch, and how much less cleanup there is afterwards! With a 5-gallon batch, I have to dissassemble and clean my HopStopper, not to mention my plate chiller and all the hoses. Today, all I had to clean was 1 pot! I can see the attraction of 1-gallon brewing.

 

[Stauffbier]

I brew a small (1-2 gallon) batch every now and then. It's a great way to test a new ingredient or recipe. Plus sometimes I get the itch to brew between batches, so it's a great way to do a spontaneous brew session.

I just rinse the bag really well, go outside and give it a shake, and hang it on the clothes line to dry. I don't bother with cleansers or machine washing.

 

[Hjandersen]

Cheers!
This is pretty much my exact procedure for pilot-brewing apart from my kitchen stove setup being 2.5 gal!
Great idea with the oven to avoid heat loss during mashing
Regarding the grain bag I normally turn the kitchen tap to maximum an try to flush it from the inside out. This leave 3-5 ever so small grain pieces still in the bag (i doubt they'll have any detrimental effect on the next batch)

 

[kombat]

It seems to be taking a while to get going. I checked it this morning, around 14 hours after pitching, and it doesn't look like much is happening yet. Usually, with a 5 gallon batch, fermentation takes off pretty quickly (within a few hours) when pitching a properly rehydrated packet of US-05. With this batch, however, I rehydrated about 1/4 of a packet (I had used 1/2 of it in another batch a couple of weeks ago, then just taped the packet shut and put it back in the fridge). It formed the expected cream when rehydrating, but isn't showing any action in the jug/carboy yet.

I expected a smaller batch like this to take off quicker. I guess I just have to be patient? I'll give it another day or so to see what happens before I really give any serious consideration to re-pitching.

 

[fartinmartin]

It's great, so many of us will be saying "hey thats how I do it, but-" finding that we have minor little differences, I haven't been using a bag, I just pour the wort with the grain through a sieve with a muslin on it, same difference.
I currently have four one gallons fermenting, oh and two 5gallons.
It's a great hobby.

 

[Corey_SS]

Is it in a cool area? With a smaller volume it may be more affected by the ambient temperature. Other than that it's still early so who knows.

It's a great hobby.

Agreed and that's a great username.

 

[kombat]

It's in a Home Depot bucket filled with tap water pretty much up to the beer line inside the jug. I have other carboys (5 gallons) in laundry tubs with a water bath in the same area and they all ferment fine. Whenever I check the temperature of the water baths, they're always around 62-64° F.

 

[kombat]

When I got home last night, the airlock had started bubbling, and a young krausen had formed (you know what I mean, when there's a layer of bubbles, but they're still "normal" sized bubbles instead of the tiny, creamy foam you get later on when the krausen is a few days old) with visible chunks of darker brown yeast on top. Water bath temperature was 64° F. Looking good!

 

[Corey_SS]

Sounds good.

 

[stonecutter2]

I like 1 gallon batches because it lets me make a variety of beers recipes to try. It is pretty fast, both in process and clean up. I've got a few recipes now that I'd like to step up to 5 gallons, I just don't have the equipment to do a larger batch. My larger batches usually involve extract at this point.

Regarding grain bags, if the grains are particularly sticky and won't get off the bag, I pitch the bag. I get the cheap muslin kind. Not worth the hassle to me to get it super clean. If i have a few bits and pieces left, no biggie, it'll all get boiled next time so nothing can really harm anything.