The One Pint Challenge!

[neilpcraven]

I've had this crazy idea bouncing around in my head for a while. Who's in?

The One Pint Challenge

The challenge: Brew one pint of all-grain beer of any recipe.

The hard part: Brew ONLY ONE pint of all-grain beer of any recipe. Not two, four, a gallon, a barrel, but one singular tasty pint from scratch.

There's no end-date to this challenge and only you can judge if you succeeded.

Your prize: One pint of tasty beer (yes, the one you brewed).

The only condition of entry is that you post a summary of your process, with pics, in this thread. Of course, one of the pics should be of the finished product and an impression of the flavour.

There is no dishonour in posting the story of a failed attempt :rockin:

 

[mtnagel]

That's pretty much what I do when I make a ~500 ml starter. Of course I don't drink it, but it's still a pint of "beer."

 

[neilpcraven]

That's pretty much what I do when I make a ~500 ml starter. Of course I don't drink it, but it's still a pint of "beer."

All-grain? With hops? Carbed? Tasty?

 

[Hello]

That feels like too much work for a pint of beer. Cute idea, but I'd rather mash for 5 gallons than one pint.

 

[RD400F]

I might have to try this, sounds ridiculous but fun.

 

[neilpcraven]

I might have to try this, sounds ridiculous but fun.

That's the spirit!

 

[mtnagel]

All-grain? With hops? Carbed? Tasty?

No, no, no, no.

 

[b-boy]

Well - here's my new mash tun and boil kettle. Also, for the BIAB fans....

 

[opiate82]

Hmmm... how much priming sugar would you need for 1 pint of beer?

 

[Yooper]

That feels like too much work for a pint of beer. Cute idea, but I'd rather mash for 5 gallons than one pint.

That's what I'm thinking.

It's just as much work to make 1, 5, even 10 gallons of beer, so I generally make 10 gallon batches. Brewing is fun, but it's a lot of time and effort for a pint of beer. No way would I want to do it!

 

[BadWolfBrewing]

One of them carb caps to screw on to a plastic bottle might make it easier

http://morebeer.com/products/carbonator-cap.html?gclid=CMXOuN7I-b0CFYsWMgodL0QA5Q

Also, a very odd trip to the LHBS:

"Let's see, I need 4 oz of 2-row, a half an oz of munich, and 13 grains of pale chocolate malt. Throw in 7 hop pellets of East Kent Goldings. Do you sell dry yeast by the miligram?"

 

[MarathonMurse]

I might actually give this a try. While there might not be a difference in the amount of work between brewing 3 and 60 gallons, brewing a pint shouldn't be any more work than making a nice cup of tea.

Let's see, I don't have much in the way of base grains on hand, but maybe an oatmeal stout? I'll have to dig around and see if I have any foam tape so I can seat an airlock in the spout of a thermos.

As a bonus, anyone that pulls this off will be the undisputed king (or queen) of small-batch brewing.

 

[MarshmallowBlue]

I'm in, subbing for future when I get around to this. I'll just order a bit extra/ save stuff form my next batch to try the 1 pint brew.

 

[BadWolfBrewing]

I'll give it a try next time I brew. Ferment in a growler, naturally carb in a flip top bottle. Racking might be a challenge though.

I wonder what the expected boil off rate would be.

 

[neilpcraven]

I'll give it a try next time I brew. Ferment in a growler, naturally carb in a flip top bottle. Racking might be a challenge though.

I wonder what the expected boil off rate would be.

Yeah I think the boil is the interesting bit to get right. I haven't worked through the practicalities of it yet; might have to start with a really dilute 1 gallon wort and boil it down?

 

[BadWolfBrewing]

If somebody really gets the hang of this, it could be a good way to do experiments. This grain vs that, yeasts, ferm temps, stuff like that. I have plenty of growlers sitting around, too.

 

[jleiii]

Do quarts count? I did a 7 way SMASH recently, but it was from a single MO mash then 7 different hops, divided into 7 quart mason jars and boiled in a pot. No measurable boiloff by doing it this way so OG pre-boil=post-boil, but I expected that. Used standard mason jar lids but left them loose, fermented about 3 weeks, then carefully poured each into 2 bottles with 3 carb tabs each.
Tried 1 but was not carbed enough, so waiting a little longer. I need to do a tasting party so I can try all 7 and compare, as 7 beers is too much for me in any 1 sitting. Measuring hops for 30 oz was not easy, so I resorted to estimating uniform amounts. Hops in a pint would be 1 - 1/4" pellet?

Got the idea from a post here on HBT IIRC.

 

[neilpcraven]

Do quarts count?

Close! But I'm keen to see people try it with 1 pint in mind from start to finish

I like the idea of the thermos as the mash tun, any old saucepan can be the BK and an electric kettle can be the HLT.

The thing I'm not sure about is racking - I'm thinking a 1L plastic bottle would be good as the FV. Then I can use the pointy injector nozzle from my turkey baster to pierce the plastic bottle just above the trub to drain it, rather than syphon it out the neck.

 

[Revvy]

Many of you probably weren't brewing yet when this started hitting the internets and the forums. It'd be worth a try.

Brewing Beer in a Coffeepot

And here's a few recipes for that. LOL.

 

[jleiii]

The question of where I got my idea from came up - Brewgeeks