One Gallon Batches

[muse435]

This might be a very dumb question, but how do you do a one gallon batch. I live in an apartment so space is an issue, I have a full keg plus another brew about to transfer to my secondary. All of my recipes in BeerAlchemy are for five gal batches, can i simply scale the recipe by .2? Is everything else the same? And do i also scale the yeast?

 

[Skyforger]

Sure, you can do that. I did that for my first 3 batches or so. You can scale the yeast if you use starters or dry yeast, but if you just use liquid yeast straight from the package, that's not enough for a full 5 gallon batch anyways so I would add a greater proportion of that - maybe all of it or 2/3, depending on how clean you want it to be.

 

[mullenite]

You can scale it linearly but be aware that you might need to make some tweaks after you brew it the first time to account for the different losses that come with the smaller batch.

 

[muse435]

what size carboy should i use? I was thinking 2 one gal glass jugs, is that what i should do or one 3 gal?

 

[muse435]

You can scale it linearly but be aware that you might need to make some tweaks after you brew it the first time to account for the different losses that come with the smaller batch.

Since i have never done this, what do you mean?

 

[weirdboy]

Since i have never done this, what do you mean?

There are systemic losses that occur throughout the brewing process. For example, you lose some of the wort due to hot & cold break, from wort that remains in tubing or in the bottom of your brew kettle, from beer that stays in the primary fermenter when racking to another fermenter or kegging/bottling, or from absorption from dry hopping or adding fruit or other stuff.

For some of these, the amounts tend to be roughly the same no matter what size batch you do, although that is not always the case. For that reason, simply scaling your recipe by 1/5 could leave you less than 1 gallon even if you end up with 5 gallons normally.

Also, as a result scaling can also lead you wrong on hops additions, because the preboil gravity might be different than it would be for a larger batch, which changes the amount of alpha acids that get isomerized during the boil, affecting bitterness.

 

[muse435]

I completely understand that logic, thanx

 

[jonmohno]

I would recommend getting a 2 gallon bucket and thirding everything for 1.7 gal or getting a 3 gallon carboy and you could just halve it. I started with one gallon and with my learning mistakes and all once you learn how to make a beer "good" your going to wish you had a little more.Although one gallons arnt a bad idea to experiment but youll find youll end up getting more than a few vessels.Your going to wait at least 5 weeks before getting a decent beer and you may as well brew up some more in the mean time.

 

[KevinM]

I've done eight, single gallon batches and I've scaled down the yeast, even without rehydrating or creating a starter on some of those and it seems to work just fine.

As mentioned, the loss amount is probably about the same between a 5 and 1 gallon, but it looks like you lose a lot more. I wind up with only 8, maybe 9 bottles per gallon batch.

I'd honestly go with the 3 gallon if your stove and space and pot handle it easily enough, because those 8 bottles go pretty quick. I just did singles because I had a single gallon stock pot on hand more than my limited space.

 

[Torg]

I would aim for at least a 20% overage to at least count for trub. It will also help with krausen. So for example I use a 6 gallon fermenter for a 5 gallon batch. This makes it so I do not have a blow off tube and when I transfer it the loss I have do the trub will result in a 5 gallon keg.

If you use a 1.5 or 2 gallon bucket you should be fine.

 

[muse435]

Once i started to add all of the ingredients to my cart, it seams like making a 2.5 gal batch is much more cost efficient, i have to by the ingredients anyway. Will a 3 gal better bottle work for 2.5 gal. I figure i use a six gal for a five gal batch, but i understand not everything can be extrapolated linearly.

 

[jonmohno]

Yes in fact you cant do 3 full gallons in a 3 gallon jug because the neck is 3 full gallons. so that would be perfect. My 2 gallon jars dissapointed me because thats max and i cant get more than 17 beers out of it,max. So i may end up getting a 3 gallon to make more of my experimental batches that turned out really good or if i want to buy a kit and just split it in 2 someday.

 

[muse435]

Yes in fact you cant do 3 full gallons in a 3 gallon jug because the neck is 3 full gallons. so that would be perfect. My 2 gallon jars dissapointed me because thats max and i cant get more than 17 beers out of it,max. So i may end up getting a 3 gallon to make more of my experimental batches that turned out really good or if i want to buy a kit and just split it in 2 someday.

If you half a kit how do you store the other half once the seal is broken on the packaging, ie. LME and hops

 

[jonmohno]

Im not experienced with Liquid malt extract but recently bought some and had an idea. Steralize a jar and put the rest in that. Use the bag weigh your malt for your batch and rinse it in the boil. When you use your jarred malt either pour it to another jar or pyrex measuring jar to use what you need. Or if you use it all pour it into the wort and rinse the jar with the hot wort carefully.
As for the hops i asked Santa for a vaccume sealer this year and i was a good boy( was that gay? or what) Oterwise seal them up and store them wrapped with rubberbands tightly in a cool dry place and use them within a few months.

 

[muse435]

Since i'll have to buy a 3 gal carboy should i get a BetterBottle or Glass? I currently have a 5 gal BB and a 6 gal bucket.

 

[mullenite]

I love my 3 gallon plastic carboy, but it is not a BetterBottle. The BetterBottle ones were cubes, I got a round one ordered from my LHBS.

 

[KevinM]

Not sure about the LME either, since my lhbs had 1.4 pounds sorghum which was enough for my 1 gallon. Everything else, I rubber band and put into ziploc bags in a mini fridge. I try to use it within the next week though.

 

[jonmohno]

Since i'll have to buy a 3 gal carboy should i get a BetterBottle or Glass? I currently have a 5 gal BB and a 6 gal bucket.

Its up to you what you want to spend ease of cleaning wide mouth versus narrow. I preferr glass but there are pros and cons in one of the stickys posted with this

 

[JMSetzler]

I made multiple attempts at doing 1-gallon all-grain batches just as an experiment last year. It does take a lot of accounting-for when it comes to things like figuring out your boil-off percentage. If you decide to do this, you should probably conduct a test boil based on the volume you expect to get out of your mash (if you are doing all-grain.) I found that My boil-off during a 1-hour boil was nearly 40%. I was using an 8-qt stock pot on my stovetop for these experiments.

I also had a rather difficult consistency problem. I tried three different recipes scaled to 1-gallon and was never able to nail my expected numbers at those volumes.

 

[Skyforger]

I find it convenient to have 2 3-gallon carboys around. That way, I can make a full batch and split it for experiments (i.e. different yeast strains), or I can just make 2.5 gallon batches.

I did 1-gallon batches back when I first started, all-grain. Allowed me to do everything with minimal equipment and investment. But it certainly wasn't effective; that's a lot of work and planning for six pints of beer.

 

[Aerolithe]

My first batch of beer is getting bottled tonight, and my second batch is in the primary. Both of them are 2 gallon batches in two 1-gallon jugs. Hoping I can start doing all grain soon since I only have to deal with limited volumes. I make sure to check my hop utilization with the different boil size and keep my IBUs in range, although I think I'm going to try using only a half-package of dry yeast, fermentation started and slowed down incredibly quickly for both batches. On this most recent one, when I came back after 12 hours of fermenting, the two jugs had lost a noticeable volume through the blowoff tubes, and after 48 hours the krausen has completely subsided and there is over a half inch of yeast sediment at the bottom of the containers. Fortunately, I have enough jugs that I can keep several batches in various stages, so I won't have to store any extra yeast or ingredients for long.

About 12 hours in. The cup the blowoff tubes feed into was almost completely full of liquid, I had filled it up about 1/3 of the way with water when I put the tubes in. Lots of foam, too.

 

[weirdboy]

You need to use larger containers for primary fermentation. Headspace makes a huge difference. maybe next time split those two gallons up into three jugs instead of just two.

 

[Aerolithe]

You need to use larger containers for primary fermentation. Headspace makes a huge difference. maybe next time split those two gallons up into three jugs instead of just two.

I was under the impression that I should minimize the surface area at the top, so I usually filled them as much as was reasonable knowing that a lot would be lost in the first couple days blowoff. I also heard this was beneficial in that a lot of the nastier stuff in the krausen was removed from the container. If I need more headspace, I have more jugs. If you have any in-depth resources on the subject I'd be interested, something else I'd been considering was getting a three gallon carboy for primary and racking two jugs filled to the neck after activity subsided, but if headspace is desirable I shouldn't do that.

 

[muse435]

I was under the impression that I should minimize the surface area at the top, so I usually filled them as much as was reasonable knowing that a lot would be lost in the first couple days blowoff. I also heard this was beneficial in that a lot of the nastier stuff in the krausen was removed from the container. If I need more headspace, I have more jugs. If you have any in-depth resources on the subject I'd be interested, something else I'd been considering was getting a three gallon carboy for primary and racking two jugs filled to the neck after activity subsided, but if headspace is desirable I shouldn't do that.

My understanding (but remember i am not yet a seasoned brewer, and i only have 4 batches under my belt) is that for the primary headspace is needed/desired, however for the secondary you should minimize the head space as much as possible. Right now i primary in a 6 gal bucket, and then transfer to a five gal BB if they are going to stay in there for a long period of time. I have never read that blow off is good, but the same is true for the opposite.

If you are able to find a source that has a valid reasoning why blow off is good i would love to read it. I am always willing to take advise.

 

[weirdboy]

That is right you want more headspace for primary and little headspace for secondary.

There is nothing nasty in krausen that you want out of your beer, and in fact you are blowing off healthy yeast, which you'd rather keep in there working.

 

[user 53515]

I've done one gallon batches in the glass 1 gallon glass wine bottles perfectly fine. I've also done 2.5 gallon batches in 3 gallon glass carboys. Both produce great beers, but I echo others' sentiments about it being quite a bit of time and effort for just a few beers. However if you're testing out new recipies or only want a few beers of a particular beer (like if you're making a big big beer), then the small batches are VERY useful.