Small batch striking and sparging

[Smallbrewfunhobby]

Hi guys,

I am going to try all grain brewing but I only want to do small batches of 1 gal. I want to do this so I can experiment with many different kinds. My question is what is my striking volume and do I need to sparg?

I understand I may lose 1 gal/hour during boil and that the dry grains will absorb water during striking. I am interested to know if I still need to sparg with a small batch.

Thank you,

 

[Smallbrewfunhobby]

any information would be appreciated. I wanted to go to the shop today to get some grains and get started when I return. Thanks again.

 

[DrFun]

There are calculators out there to determine water loss. As a practical example, I just brewed what was supposed to be a 3 gallon batch. Started with 4.6ish gallons and ended up with about 2.75 in the fermentor. That was BIAB (about 6.5 pounds of grain) and a 60 minute boil on a new system. I think the boil off was more then I had anticipated, since it was a new kettle & burner.

 

[ba-brewer]

You need to do a test boil in your brew pot with some water to find the boil off rate. You dont need to boil the water for an hour maybe 15 or 20min and multiple that to get you number.

There are places that sell 1gal recipe kits that might help to get you on the right track.

Check out the this thread if you have not already
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=311884

 

[DaWhip]

I keep it pretty simple when I do 1 gallon batches.

• I brew in a bag with a a 3 gallon pot and a 2 gallon pot
• Kettle 1 - heat 1 gallon to mash temp, drop in bag of grain, maintain temp.
• Toward end of mash, heat 1 gallon in kettle 2 to mash out temp
• End of mash, pull bag from kettle 1, drop into kettle 2 for "sparge"
• Start boil with kettle 1
• As soon as it starts to get to a rolling boil, I pull the bag from kettle 2 and dump that wort into kettle 1. Sometimes I squeeze/hang the bag, sometimes I don't.
• Vigorous boil down to 1 gallon.

So to answer your questions, I have done well with 1 gallon of strike water for a variety of grain bills and I do a quick and simple batch sparge.

Adjust volumes as needed if you have a big grain bill or boil off significantly more/less. I have the 1 gallon line marked on my boil kettle, so I usually just boil till I hit that line as long as the time is within reason (+/- 15 minutes or so).

 

[Smallbrewfunhobby]

Hi Drfun, Ba-brewer and DaWhip. Thank you for your posts the information is great. DaWhip thanks for taking the time to write out exactly what to do, it makes a lot more sense to me now. I suppose this method can be adjusted for any small volume brew ( ie: after reading 200 pages of the thread Ba-brewer suggested, I think I may bump it up to 1.5 gal brew).

I suppose if I do go to 1.5 gal brew I should start with 1.5 gal mash and batch sparge with another gal? Would that be enough to batch sparge? I downloaded beer smith but I am having issues with the scaling. I think it is a problem with pot size because some of my volumes in the directions are negative. Ive tried to click other vessels but same thing happening.

Another couple of quick questions. If I use a bag, do you keep the top open over the side of the pan and add the hop additions into the bag or is the grain bag tied and the hops added to the boil outside of the bag? I suppose the final sweet wort will be cleaner if the hops are not free boiling.

Will a 2 gal bucket for primary be large enough for 1.5 gal for no blow-off? should I use a blow-off tube or would an airlock be fine?

P.S doing a boil test now for 20 min at rolling boil. will multiply by 3. Thanks Ba-brewer.

 

[Biscuits]

I am currently doing small batches (1 Gallon to 1.65 Gallon) with a 3 Gallon pot using BIAB full volume method. My rough process is as follows:

Calculate full volume of liquor needed using https://pricelessbrewing.github.io/BiabCalc/
Heat full volume to strike temp (also calculated using said website)
Insert bag/grain and maintain temp for my required mash time, making sure to stir every 10-15 minutes
When mash is complete, lift bag, start heating while bag drains...squeeze if you so chose.
Begin boil...

Typically for a 1.65 gallon batch I am starting with a total of @ 2.75 gallons of water, but like someone mentioned above...you need to, at very least, figure out your boil off rate...for my 3 Gallon kettle it is .65 Gal/hr

 

[ba-brewer]

I suppose if I do go to 1.5 gal brew I should start with 1.5 gal mash and batch sparge with another gal? Would that be enough to batch sparge? I downloaded beer smith but I am having issues with the scaling. I think it is a problem with pot size because some of my volumes in the directions are negative. Ive tried to click other vessels but same thing happening.

Go into the beersmith profiles, find a similar equipment profile and make a copy. Modify the copied profile to represent your equipment characteristics. There are plenty of videos on youtube on how to use beersmith.

Another couple of quick questions. If I use a bag, do you keep the top open over the side of the pan and add the hop additions into the bag or is the grain bag tied and the hops added to the boil outside of the bag? I suppose the final sweet wort will be cleaner if the hops are not free boiling.

Will a 2 gal bucket for primary be large enough for 1.5 gal for no blow-off? should I use a blow-off tube or would an airlock be fine?

P.S doing a boil test now for 20 min at rolling boil. will multiply by 3. Thanks Ba-brewer.

I am assuming you are referring to a separate bag for the hops and not the bag you are mashing your grain in. If your hops are pellets you can just throw them in loose they will sink when the wort is cooled. You can also put hop pellets in a mesh bag too, but I have found most of the hop material seems to end up in the kettle anyway. If they loose leaf hops put in a appropriate size mesh bag and allow to freely move about the kettle. Loose leaf hops can be tossed loose into the kettle too I just find it easier to deal with as I siphon the wort off of the kettle trub.


I use a 2gal buckets for 1.5gal batches without a blow-off, but I have had to clean the airlock on a couple occasions. I have extra airlocks so I remove the messy one and put in a spare.

 

[DrFun]

Another couple of quick questions. If I use a bag, do you keep the top open over the side of the pan and add the hop additions into the bag or is the grain bag tied and the hops added to the boil outside of the bag? I suppose the final sweet wort will be cleaner if the hops are not free boiling.

Brew In A Bag refers to mashing your grains in a mesh bag in your kettle, then pulling that grain bag out before the boil. As mentioned, hops can be in smaller bags to free float in the boil. I use hop bags, but yea...using pellets most of the hop matter ends up at the bottom of the kettle anyway.