My plan. I want to brew high gravity imperial stouts, 10% to 14% abv, extract only, 3-gallon batch size. I plan to split the batches into 1 gallon glass jars for aging, mostly with bourbon-soaked oak cubes. That’s as far as I’ve gotten. I’m hung up on the in-between primary stage.
I want to be able to control the temp digitally (hands-off) in primary. I’m trying to figure out a cheap, efficient way to do that with minimal equipment. I don’t want to buy a chest freezer or refrigerator if I don’t have to. My garage has too much junk in it now and we have a chest freezer for food out there. I don’t really want two of them running.
Next: I’d like to be able to do closed transfers from primary into the glass jars. I understand the risk of putting pressure in glass, but since it would be the receiving vessel I’m thinking (hoping) it might not be an issue. If closed transfers aren’t possible then I’d like to hear suggestions for other ways to transfer with minimal oxygen exposure, since the beer will be in the glass jars for several months.
For primary, I’ve been looking at the 3.5 gallon SS Brewtech bucket, the 4 gallon Anvil, and I noticed Delta Brewing has two 4 gallon conicals for a half-way decent price. As far as I know, they’re all safe for closed transfers. Or I might just go with a 5 gallon corny keg. Since I’m only doing 3 gallon batches I wasn’t sure if a 5 gallon corny keg would be too much head space?
Anyway – that’s the plan. Any suggestions are GREATLY appreciated.
This part doesn’t have anything to do with the above plan. I just thought it might be helpful info to know where I’m coming from.
I brewed my first beer in 2013; typical extract kit with a homebrew plastic bucket starter kit. I was retired at the time, (still am in fact), so I had nothing but time on my hands. I became obsessed, (literally), with the hobby. For the next 5 years I devoted (easily) 75% of my time to home brewing. By 2018 I had a three-vessel keggle system, I was buying base grains in 50lb sacks, had a two-tap keezer I built, and was doing all closed transfers with the cartridge filter setup. Temp control was precise for both lagers and ales.
In June or July of 2018 I brewed my last 6 gallon batch. I didn’t know it was my last at the time. I had two partial 5-gallon corny kegs in the keezer, one full 5-gallon corny keg on deck, plus the 6 gallons that was going into the primary. My wife doesn’t drink, and we don’t have a lot of people over. So aside from an occasional glass here or there, I was pretty much the only one drinking all the beer I made. Since I only owned four corny kegs, and they were being used, I decided to take some time off brewing. A week turned into a month, then another month. I kept putting it off because of the thought of all the time and work involved in brewing a batch.
In 2019 I realized that it had been over 8 months since I brewed. But more than that, I had absolutely no desire to brew in the foreseeable future. I sold off everything in an “All-or-nothing” bundle deal for a fraction of what I paid. That was 5 years ago.
That experience is front and center now as I consider getting back into it. I’m not interested in going down that road again. I don’t want to spend thousands of dollars on equipment and have it stacked, ceiling to floor, in my garage, (been there, done that). I don’t want my “brew day” to start Friday night and end Sunday morning.
All I’m trying to do is make small 1 gallon batches of imperial stout. 1-gallon glass jars are cheap, (which is why I chose them). I’m not concerned with how many I have aging at any one time. The more I have, the longer they’ll age.
I didn’t like bottling, although in retrospect it was a lot easier and less hassle than kegging. I have no problem bottling a gallon at a time.
I want to be able to control the temp digitally (hands-off) in primary. I’m trying to figure out a cheap, efficient way to do that with minimal equipment. I don’t want to buy a chest freezer or refrigerator if I don’t have to. My garage has too much junk in it now and we have a chest freezer for food out there. I don’t really want two of them running.
Next: I’d like to be able to do closed transfers from primary into the glass jars. I understand the risk of putting pressure in glass, but since it would be the receiving vessel I’m thinking (hoping) it might not be an issue. If closed transfers aren’t possible then I’d like to hear suggestions for other ways to transfer with minimal oxygen exposure, since the beer will be in the glass jars for several months.
For primary, I’ve been looking at the 3.5 gallon SS Brewtech bucket, the 4 gallon Anvil, and I noticed Delta Brewing has two 4 gallon conicals for a half-way decent price. As far as I know, they’re all safe for closed transfers. Or I might just go with a 5 gallon corny keg. Since I’m only doing 3 gallon batches I wasn’t sure if a 5 gallon corny keg would be too much head space?
Anyway – that’s the plan. Any suggestions are GREATLY appreciated.
This part doesn’t have anything to do with the above plan. I just thought it might be helpful info to know where I’m coming from.
I brewed my first beer in 2013; typical extract kit with a homebrew plastic bucket starter kit. I was retired at the time, (still am in fact), so I had nothing but time on my hands. I became obsessed, (literally), with the hobby. For the next 5 years I devoted (easily) 75% of my time to home brewing. By 2018 I had a three-vessel keggle system, I was buying base grains in 50lb sacks, had a two-tap keezer I built, and was doing all closed transfers with the cartridge filter setup. Temp control was precise for both lagers and ales.
In June or July of 2018 I brewed my last 6 gallon batch. I didn’t know it was my last at the time. I had two partial 5-gallon corny kegs in the keezer, one full 5-gallon corny keg on deck, plus the 6 gallons that was going into the primary. My wife doesn’t drink, and we don’t have a lot of people over. So aside from an occasional glass here or there, I was pretty much the only one drinking all the beer I made. Since I only owned four corny kegs, and they were being used, I decided to take some time off brewing. A week turned into a month, then another month. I kept putting it off because of the thought of all the time and work involved in brewing a batch.
In 2019 I realized that it had been over 8 months since I brewed. But more than that, I had absolutely no desire to brew in the foreseeable future. I sold off everything in an “All-or-nothing” bundle deal for a fraction of what I paid. That was 5 years ago.
That experience is front and center now as I consider getting back into it. I’m not interested in going down that road again. I don’t want to spend thousands of dollars on equipment and have it stacked, ceiling to floor, in my garage, (been there, done that). I don’t want my “brew day” to start Friday night and end Sunday morning.
All I’m trying to do is make small 1 gallon batches of imperial stout. 1-gallon glass jars are cheap, (which is why I chose them). I’m not concerned with how many I have aging at any one time. The more I have, the longer they’ll age.
I didn’t like bottling, although in retrospect it was a lot easier and less hassle than kegging. I have no problem bottling a gallon at a time.
.. ooooh choices choices haha
