Two Recipe Ideas - Suggestions?

[flushdrew42]

I'm pretty green at brewing, but have definitely caught the bug, so while my first attempt is bubbling in the fermenter. i'm planning my next go
(ok batch #1 is a MrB i bought off of woot)

i'm pretty limited on space for fermentation, so i bought a 2gal fermenter from Northern Brewer, and got some ingredients to brew one of these and then the other. after a fair amount of reading, both of these will be 1.5 gallon batches, with a blowoff tube if necessary, due to the size of the fermenter.


1. A Golden Ale (with help from a local home brewer and Justibone)

1lb NB Golden Malt Extract (UME)
1Cup Dark Brown Sugar
.5oz fuggle hops at 60 min boil
.5oz fuggle hops at 5min boil

basis of recipe comes from here
TastyBrew.com | Recipes - substituting DBS for the Light Malt Extract


2. Damned Easy Dark Ale

1.5lb Dark Malt Extract (UME)
.5oz cascade hops 60 min boil
.5oz cascade hops 18 min boil

basis of recipe comes from here - TastyBrew.com | Recipes and Brew Your Own: The How-To Homebrew Beer Magazine - Beer Styles - Birth of a New Style: Cascadian Dark Ale



i'd love to hear your thoughts, suggestions, and concerns over these proposed small batch recipes. (i seriously wish i had more room, but, sadly, i don't) but, the hope is to be able to rotate batches every few weeks, and have a pipeline of micro-homebrews. thanks in advance everyone!

 

[KevinW]

Well it looks like you are on the way to good beer! It is all about time, space, money, and convenience. Saving time costs money, convenience costs space (and sometimes money).

Keep on brewing, reading/researching, and asking questions and one day you will be ready for bigger batches and will brewing like a pro!

 

[HopHeadGrady]

Looks good. I like the smaller batch approach. There's some beers I like, but not enough to brew 5 gals. I am thinking of getting a 2.5 gallon carboy from my LHBS myself. Pretty fool proof easy sippin beers you have planned... good stuff.

 

[flushdrew42]

thanks!

i really want to engineer some easy successes in these early batches, and i'm not interested in overly complicating things just yet. some of my favorite beers are basic microbrews from my local pub, and after watching tons of videos on youtube(craigtube, immo, terpsichoreankid) it seems that the KISS method(keep it simple stupid) will probably result in what i'm looking for.

i also thought the smaller batch idea would cause less of a problem to me should i find something i don't like. dump it, and tweak the recipe.

also, i'm a single dad of two boys, and we live in a fairly small house, so i don't have the need for a large quantity, and, literally my kitchen space is 5x11. the one spot i have available for fermenters to sit won't hold a 6gal bucket, but the MrB and a 2Gal will, so i'm hoping it goes as well as i have imagined it...

 

[flushdrew42]

as i was thinking about all of this, i'm wondering, if i'm scaling down a recipe, how do i go about making sure i get the appropriate amount of yeast pitched?
Most of the recipes i'm reading don't have a whole lot in the way of measurements of the yeast. "one packet" i've seen from a 2.5 gal recipe, to one designed for a 6.5gal carboy...

any help would be massively appreciated!

 

[NordeastBrewer77]

as i was thinking about all of this, i'm wondering, if i'm scaling down a recipe, how do i go about making sure i get the appropriate amount of yeast pitched?
Most of the recipes i'm reading don't have a whole lot in the way of measurements of the yeast. "one packet" i've seen from a 2.5 gal recipe, to one designed for a 6.5gal carboy...

any help would be massively appreciated!

MrMalty.com. just adjust your batch size. also, most software will adjust your pitch rates based on batch size.

 

[flushdrew42]

brew pr0n!

my Northern Brewer order showed up!

i'm going to brew the dark tonight, and get it into the fermenter. my currently fermenting batch will be ready to bottle on thursday, so i'll do the golden ale next friday.

it feels good to be getting a rhythm.
thanks guys!

 

[flushdrew42]

an update.
i brewed the Dark Ale on saturday mid-afternoon.
1 gallon partial 1 hr boil 1/2 oz cascade hops, 5 min 1/2oz cascade hops for bitterring, used the ice/sink/salt/water trick to get my wort cooled to 80F, took less than 10min. strained hops out during pour into fermenter, pitched yeast. let it sit atop the bubbles for 10 min, stirred it in *vigorously*
then put the lid on, airlock in, and left it alone...

i'm a web developer by trade, and while bored after done brewing saturday, i quickly photoshopped a "brew label" for my home brews...
my birthday is april 2, (4-2) and i love poker, (four deuce) i jokingly play that hand as if it's aces occasionally, and the nickname/favorite hand just stuck.
so i thought, what better to call my homebrew?


within 2 hours of pitching yeast, i was getting bubbles out of the airlock, and a krausen ring was forming. within 12 hours i was counting 45-50 bubbles a minute... got a little concerned i'd get a blowoff, but i did what they say... relaxed, drank a brew from my coworker who is a homebrewer. it's all good.





here's some action shots.

 

[flushdrew42]

moved the dark to a secondary today, and immediately brewed the Golden ale, which looks, as the title suggests, gold both in the brewkettle and in the fermenter.
pretty pleased with my saturday really!