Returning to Brewing

[MikeBergan]

I have been a longtime forum member, but had to step away from brewing due to life issues. I'm at a place where I can try to get back to it, and will start being more active again. Might start with some smallish batches, so will be looking for help to scale top a 2-2.5 gallon size. I hope everyone has been well, and am interested to see how many of the 'old hands' are still around.

 

[GilSwillBasementBrews]

Welcome back. Still some old hands around some new. Still lots of info to get lost in. Enjoy the addiction….I mean hobby.

 

[madscientist451]

When I first got on HBT I asked about BIAB brewing and some of the "old hands" suggested I learn how to brew the "right way", which I did.
But later I downsized to making 2.5-3 gallon batches using the BIAB method on my kitchen stove. I don't think there's a lot of scaling up to do, all you need is a cheap 16 qt pot and a BIAB bag and some grain. I enjoy making smaller batches and having a lot of variety.

 

[RM-MN]

When I first got on HBT I asked about BIAB brewing and some of the "old hands" suggested I learn how to brew the "right way", which I did.
But later I downsized to making 2.5-3 gallon batches using the BIAB method on my kitchen stove. I don't think there's a lot of scaling up to do, all you need is a cheap 16 qt pot and a BIAB bag and some grain. I enjoy making smaller batches and having a lot of variety.

I'd suggest a 20 qt pot or larger. A bigger beer with more grains will be limited in a 16qt pot.

 

[palmtrees]

I took a few years off for life reasons, myself, and like you, I decided to move to smaller batches when I came back. So I now do 2.5g Biab batches on my stove. I like that the equipment is very simple, and it makes it easier to fit in a brew day. Plus I have more variety of beers around. I just use a cheap 5 gallon stainless pot (the kind you can find as the very basic option on any homebrew website) and a nylon grain bag. It's worked great for me, even for big beers, including the time my scale broke and I accidentally doubled my grain bill!

Since coming back to brewing a couple years ago, I've focused a lot of my time and equipment investments on the cold side. Got a mini fridge for temp control in fermentation, and I modified the lid of a 3 gallon fermonster so I can do closed transfers to a keg. Also got some stuff to do yeast starters and an oxygen wand for oxygenation wort. All that stuff combined has really improved my beer. And it's all much easier to accomplish for a 2.5g batch, in my opinion. In the end, I'm happy I took a brewing break because I don't know if I would have downsized my process had I continued on as I was going before.

Welcome back, and happy brewing!

 

[Sammy86]

Welcome back!

 

[GrowleyMonster]

Welcome!

BIAB is definitely getting more popular and winning a bit of respectability. Should work great for small stove top batches. Australian style "no-chill" brewing is becoming popular, too. You probably already got all the gear you need for stove top brewing. I would go for a 5 gallon pot though, if you don't have one that size. Or do one gallon batches with whatever you got in the kitchen that is stainless. For cheap fermenters that are easy to get your arm in for cleaning, I like the Big Mouth Bubbler but the Fermonster looks good, too, maybe better. You could probably use one gallon water jugs for no-chill, not sure, I need to try filling with hot boiled water and see if they get too soft. There are some cheap bladder type "jugs" that would work too. MoreBeer has captured a pretty big market share for grains, with good prices and free shipping over $59 and $7.99 flat shipping for smaller orders, 55lb sacks excepted. No time like the present.

I doubt that you would have any trouble sizing down popular recipes. For simplicity, maybe use half or quarter size versions of popular recipes or your own old recipes. As far as new gadgets go, the Tilt floating bluetooth hydrometer / thermometer is cool.

You could easily enough do 5 gallon batches on the stove by splitting into two kettles. Just sayin.

Happy brewing!

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

I'm at a place where I can try to get back to it, and will start being more active again. Might start with some smallish batches, so will be looking for help to scale to a 2-2.5 gallon size.

2.5 gal is a nice batch size for many people here at HomeBrewTalk.

Dry yeast (sprinkled or re-hydrated) continues to improve in both quality and variety. Over the past couple of years, there have been discussions where brewers, who used to use only liquid yeast, started using dry yeast and got good results.

 

[CascadesBrewer]

will be looking for help to scale to a 2-2.5 gallon size

I am a huge fan of that size batch:
https://www.cascadeshomebrew.com/stovetop-biab-intro/
My core equipment is a 5 gallon kettle, BIAB bag, and 3-gallon Fermonster fermenters. I use an immersion chiller, but an ice bath works okay for that size batch. I have several of the 2.6-gallon Torpedo kegs. They are great, but not cheap. I acquired one of the small Brew Buckets last year from a friend. I have only used it for one batch so far, but it seems like a nice quality option for a small fermenter. The small Anvil Foundry would be a great option to move the brewing out of the kitchen.

Scaling recipes can be as simple as taking a 5 gallon recipes, multiplying all the ingredients by 0.4 or 0.5, then adjusting water volumes. With all-grain brewing, it is generally a good idea to tweak recipes based on your actual efficiencies.

 

[bobeer]

Welcome back! I keep taking breaks from brewing as well. Needed to make time for other hobbies and also for health reasons. When I was cranking out 5 gallon batches and running kegs for years and years on end I found, for one, it was way too much beer for one person to drink, and 2, I'd get pretty tired of drinking the same beers for that long of a time. Now I enjoy brewing, and bottling, 2.5 gallon batches. It gives me about a case of said beer and I think the bottle conditioning is way better than force carbing the beer. I still brew and keg 5 gallon batches a few times a year but it's usually for lighter summer beers and oktoberfests. Clean up is way easier with 2.5 gallon batches too. The one thing I need to tweak in my process is the sparge/bag draining part. I always end up having to hold the bag with the wet spent grains while it drains and it's a pia to do.
If you don't have beersmith I have found it's a great tool to invest in. You can scale batches with the click of a button.
Good luck!