Using a big carboy for less beer?

[austin_grimes]

Ive been brewing for awhile and im looking into doing other things but i want to keep making beer. Would it affect the beer if i decided to make 1 gallon brew in a 5 gallon carboy? when i do the second fermentation I will put it into a smaller carboy because of the CO2 but would it affect anything?

 

[m00ps]

1gal in 5gal is a bit big, but itd be ok. For a primary. Secondary I would definitely say no way. Too much headspace. I wouldnt open it too much though to minimize oxygen in teh large headspace

they make 3 gal carboys

 

[austin_grimes]

That's what I was thinking. Just put it into the smaller one for the second fermentation. I don't plan on doing that more then 2 brews. I want to try some cider also.

 

[RM-MN]

I do a bunch of 2 1/2 gallon batches in a 6 1/2 gallon bucket fermenter and have no problems. I never do a secondary though and I question what kind of beer you are making that you think needs secondary. Many of us have quit using secondaries as the beer does just as well in the primary and the opportunity for infections is much less.

 

[ArcLight]

The only concern I would have is if you plan on leaving the beer in the carboy for many weeks.
Because there is so much head space compared to beer volume (4:1), there will probably still be some Oxygen in the head space that could Oxygenate your beer.

 

[ibrewmyown]

I think its too much head space but that's just my opinion. I don't know how much Co2 would be made from gallon of wort. Would it fill and overflow 4 gallons of space?

Why not brew bigger batches less often? Whether you bottle or keg it will last several months or maybe years for that matter depending on the beer you make.

A little off topic but I have a special beer I made that is 11 years old in a keg (had 10 gallons of it and the first 5 went very quick) and it tastes better now than it did when I first kegged it. There's only about a 1/2 gallon left. It has a lot to do with the type of beer it is. This beer was made from re-culturing yeast from bottles of Westmalle I sent back home when I visited Belgium. It's 11.5% ABV. I tasted beer when I was in Belgium (Chimay) that was over 20 years old. Still was carbonated and tasted great!

 

[AnOldUR]

Found a 2-1/2 gallon carboy for $5.34

Never used one, but might be worth looking into.

 

[balrog]

Found a 2-1/2 gallon carboy for $5.34

Never used one, but might be worth looking into.

Unfortunately, $10.68 for 2, but $10.66 for shipping. Yikes.

But I concur heartily with those saying large bucket is fine for 1G as I've done a couple of 1G batches primary in 6.5G bucket. But I did secondary for fruit/hops in 1G jar. The headspace in the 6.5G is just too much worry for me.

 

[ArcLight]

Found a 2-1/2 gallon carboy for $5.34

Never used one, but might be worth looking into.

That may be a little hard to clean.
I'd prefer a 3 gallon Better Bottle.

Better bottles can be cleaned well, even if there is gunk inside, by inserting a wet wash cloth (let it fall in) and adding a pint of water. Then swish / rotate the better bottle and the cloth scrapes off the gunk.

When done, the cloth either pours out, or comes close enough that you can pull it out.

Now if you let the gunk harden for a week, you may have a problem.

 

[ibrewmyown]

Looks too hard to clean IMO. I also don't trust plastic, especially softer thinner plastic. It's glass and stainless for me (carboys and kegs). Again, that's just what I'm comfortable trusting. I know many have made beer for years in plastic buckets and more power to them. It's just a phobia I have that some crud will get stuck in a scratch, crevice or something......

 

[Yesfan]

Go to a local bakery or the bakery section within a supermarket the next time you get groceries and see if you can get some 2 gallon cake icing buckets. They can be had for nothing as most places just throw them away.

 

[IslandLizard]

Small 2G buckets