Talk to me about 3 gallon batches

[Cyclman]

I also do 2.5G BIAB stovetop, fits great in 3 gallon carboys.

 

[TheHappyHopper]

I have been brewing 5 gallon partial mashes lately using my Mini Mash Tun. I can mash about 5 pounds of grain, so it would be perfect for doing 2-3 gallon all-grain batches, depending on your grain bill.

The time and money savings vs. doing a 5 gallon batch would be pretty minimal, especially if you still have to buy yeast...but you have the huge benefit of being able to brew more often and testing out more recipes.

 

[joe_four_strings]

How big of a kettle and bag would I need to do 2.5 or 3 gal BIAB?

 

[carlk47]

How big of a kettle and bag would I need to do 2.5 or 3 gal BIAB?

It's typically recommended for BIAB to get a kettle twice the size of the batch size. So a 5-6 gal pot would work great!

 

[carlk47]

Double post

 

[chickypad]

I love doing 3 gal batches (I plan for 3 gal post boil, 2.5 finished in the keg). I mash in my old 5 gal pot but have to do a small sparge as I can't quite fit a full volume mash. I use a preheated oven for mash temp control. As far as liquid yeast one pack should usually be enough if it's fresh, but I always feel better doing a starter. What I do is a make a double size then pitch half and harvest half. For the average 3 gal ale it usually works out to about a 1.7-1.8 L starter, giving 100-150 billion cells to pitch and the same amount to bank. I much prefer it over washing yeast post fermentation.

 

[estresipsabeer]

How big of a kettle and bag would I need to do 2.5 or 3 gal BIAB?

I do 2.5 gal BIAB on my stovetop and use a 6 gallon kettle. Haven't yet had any boil over or volume issues. Also, I can fit the 6 gallon kettle into my oven for the mash which is convenient.

For the bag, I have a 24" x 24" bag.

 

[loeks]

I have been brewing 5 gallon partial mashes lately using my Mini Mash Tun. I can mash about 5 pounds of grain, so it would be perfect for doing 2-3 gallon all-grain batches, depending on your grain bill.

The time and money savings vs. doing a 5 gallon batch would be pretty minimal, especially if you still have to buy yeast...but you have the huge benefit of being able to brew more often and testing out more recipes.

That is really cool! I do BIAB now, and that looks like a relatively easy way to switch to AG.

 

[dudash02]

I just started with 3 gallon batches and was wondering I put the whole packet of dry yeast into my fermentor, now I read on this post about doing half the packet Im assuming nothing bad will happen but im wondering is there any downfall to using ths whole packet.?

 

[RM-MN]

I just started with 3 gallon batches and was wondering I put the whole packet of dry yeast into my fermentor, now I read on this post about doing half the packet Im assuming nothing bad will happen but im wondering is there any downfall to using ths whole packet.?

There is very little downfall for that amount of yeast. Here's an experiment that a guy did with different pitching rates. Note that for the overpitch he used about 5 times the recommended while you are using less than 2 times.

http://sciencebrewer.com/2012/03/02/pitching-rate-experiment-part-deux-results/

 

[dudash02]

There is very little downfall for that amount of yeast. Here's an experiment that a guy did with different pitching rates. Note that for the overpitch he used about 5 times the recommended while you are using less than 2 times.

http://sciencebrewer.com/2012/03/02/pitching-rate-experiment-part-deux-results/

thanks for the info

 

[phyllobeddo]

I just started with 3 gallon batches and was wondering I put the whole packet of dry yeast into my fermentor, now I read on this post about doing half the packet Im assuming nothing bad will happen but im wondering is there any downfall to using ths whole packet.?

I've done it both ways, pitched the whole pack and pitched half the pack. I've not noticed any off flavors before when pitching the whole pack. That doesn't mean that it won't happen though. And that doesn't mean that off flavors were were there and I just missed them. You can always get an estimate of how much you need to pitch by using this link. http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html
For the last few batches, I've used half the pack. I think the leftover yeast is only viable for maybe a week or so, however.
Another thought when using liquid yeast is to make a starter and then half the starter so you can get two batches out of one pack.