Photos from first ONE gallon brew day...

[mlg5039]

Thats awesome.

 

[Benthic]

What are you using to make those labels? (Both for the bottles & the six-pack carriers)

Brian

 

[DubbelDach]

I used to use removable labels, but since I rarely bottle anymore, I don't bother with reusing bottles. So they are Avery full page labels, cut apart with a paper cutter.

Sent from my DROIDX using Home Brew Talk

 

[Benthic]

Actually, I was thinking more of the software you used to lay them out rather than the label stock...

Brian

 

[DubbelDach]

Oh, sorry..... Did the backgrounds with Photoshop and pulled them into Illustrator to do the copy and vector imagery.

 

[Benthic]

Thanks!

Brian

 

[ImperialLover]

Love the stout project! Great way to test a bunch of flavors at once! How'd the coffee stout turn out? If you like it; let me know your recipe. I'm looking at tackling a Schlafly Coffee Stout Clone. Again, great job!

 

[DubbelDach]

Dry Stout Base Recipe

8 lbs. American 2-row
.5 lbs. American Chocolate Malt
.5 lbs. American Black Patent
.5 lbs. Roasted Barley
1 lbs. Oats Flaked

.85 oz. Centennial (Whole, 10.00 %AA) boiled 60 min.

Safale S-04

For the coffee addition, I cold (French) pressed Guatemalan coffee and added that to secondary. I wish I remembered amounts and such.... I have an 8 cup press and it was about half full. And then I just poured it in and my gut told me when to stop. Not very scientific, I know...

And my wife called the Coffee Stout my best beer ever (that only took 70-some batches, lol), Going so far as to say that it's blows away Troegs JavaHead (really?!?). I think it's pretty good, but her reaction to it surprised me, guess I struck a chord. Needless to say, I will be making a full 5 gallons of it in the future!

In pairing up with her, I really "outkicked my coverage", so to speak. So if she thinks that I'm the best guy in the world, then this *might* not truly be the best beer ever, haha....

 

[Ghostly]

Man, I'm liking this idea. And the mini-mash tun is great, but I'm wondering (being a noob interested in this sort of mini-batch) wouldn't it be fairly suitable to do stovetop full-volume-mash BIAB on this scale? It seems like that would be pretty easy. In my limited experience, it can be somewhat difficult to maintain uniform mash temp with so little water, but full volume with no sparge would eliminate that issue, wouldn't it? Anyone see a potential problem with doing that?

 

[beetlbumjl]

Ghost - I've started doing one gallon BIAB stove-top and can confirm that it's really difficult to maintain mash temperature. I've even tried sticking it in the oven set at 170 and the door slightly ajar. After take it out and stir, the temperature drops like a rock (tens of degrees). Once I get it back up to 160-ish, the oven does an OK job maintaining that temp (of course the lid of the pot is probably doing most of the work by insulating). I'm curious to know what other people might be doing to mitigate this.

 

[Ghostly]

beetlbumjl, how about if you very gently and carefully swirl the pot while holding the lid on instead of taking the lid off? It does seem like stirring is the biggest issue (perhaps moreso with a small volume like this?), and it reminds me of boiling pasta - i.e. tradition said you need to stir a few times throughout to keep it from sticking together, but in reality if you just give it a decent stir right at the start it does fine. I wonder if the mash might work similarly (I notice in Deathbrewer's stickied BIAB posts he only stirs a couple times.) That is my completely uninformed, speculative opinion.

 

[McDingleberry]

Bottled my brown and hefe almost a week ago... I'll tell you... The one flaw in the system is that auto-siphons are too big for mini-buckets... They need to make a super small one. They do make a smaller one, but it's not THAT much smaller.

I used Carbtabs to bottle for the first time... Didn't feel like weighing out and boiling the sugar twice. We'll see how it goes! I got 6 bottles of the brown (had been racked and 2ndaried) and 10 bottles of the hefe (which I got more volume out of anyway...). maltbarleyhops: I think you're right, every measurement has to be more precise because there's not much wiggle room at these volumes!

Northern Brewer makes an auto siphon just for gallon jugs.
http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewi...pment/racking-canes/mini-auto-siphon-3-8.html

 

[lex990]

very cool idea... i need to look into this has anyone ever used glass gallon wine jugs with carboy bungs added?

 

[McDingleberry]

very cool idea... i need to look into this has anyone ever used glass gallon wine jugs with carboy bungs added?

Yup. I brew hard cider in Carlo Rossi bottles. A number 6 stopper fits perfect.

 

[DoctorDuvel]

you may want to think twice about using rubber bungs on the one-gallon jug - for some reason on these one-gallon jugs the rubber odor can be quite powerful...some have reported that it ends up tainting the beer - i believe it...i just use foil or parchment with a few pin holes to let the gas escape, secured by a rubber band

 

[Guess42]

For the one gallon BIAB. I just put my 2gallong pot in the oven without turning it on. I only lose about two degrees across an hour. There's no need to stir if your not heating. Have made several good beers this way.

 

[DoctorDuvel]

guess42, brilliant!

 

[Guess42]

Gotta admit, wasn't originally my idea. But thank you

 

[nilswhite]

+1

 

[KingHippo]

I love it.. Its giving me some ideas about brewing in my tiny 3rd floor apartment. Smaller batches isn't exactly a bad thing,,, Brilliant! thanks

 

[Scottatron]

So I finally have a cooler this size that I would like to convert into a mash tun. I was wondering what size hole did you drill in the side? Also, what size nipple did you use (length and diameter) ? Thanks in advance.

 

[DubbelDach]

Hmmm... I want to say that everything is based on 1/2". The CPVC is half inch... Without checking, maybe a 5/8" hole? What I did was basically grab some 1/2" CPVC in Home Depot and fit everything there. Then when I got home, I just used my $6 hole saw set from Harbor Freight.

 

[brehuh]

Sorry to bring up an old thread, but I would like to know how these ~1 gallon test batches converted to 5-10 gallon brews. Were they consistent tasting when they were up scaled or did you notice more bitterness with the hops and what have you?

 

[mike_23us]

pretty awesome, I have that same sink and countertop!

 

[Nierika]

I'm digging the color coordinated caps! Nice attention to detail!

 

[TheG3RG]

Nice set up!

 

[bobeer]

Resurrecting this old thread because I'm bored and looking through the photo forum. I dig the stout experiment! I might do that with my next 5 gal batch of stout. Might be cool to do with an IPA as well and using different dry hops, oak, fruit, etc.

Brewing 1 gallon batches seems pretty cool too. My wife and I just had a baby a couple months ago so right now I have zero time to brew. Maybe I can do this so it cuts down on the brewing time and I can stay inside. Or maybe I'm just going through serious brew withdrawal...