What direction should I go after first brew with mini 1 gallon fermenter?

[truckinusa]

My wife bought me a mancrate beer kit as a gift for Valentine's day. I cooked it up in my 2 gallon stainless stock pot and I have been fermenting for around 3 days now.

My question is: Where should I go from here?

My main reason for not acquiring a bunch of brewing equipment was lack of space, storage and extra money. The little brewing kit is small enough to put away. Am I really just making bad beer for an expensive price though? I wasn't sure where I should go with this hobby. It interests me, but I don't think I'm ever going to be a running a beer factory from home. Where should should I acquire my next batch of ingredients? Maybe I shouldn't even bother? I dunno.

 

[kh54s10]

Look into small batch BIAB (brew in a bag). You can use your existing equipment without adding too much. All grain is cheaper to brew than extracts also. There are some online stores that sell ingredient kits.

 

[MyQuL]

What the above poster said, they're also know as stove toppers (usually 1 gallon), plenty of online shops sell the complete ingredient kits for 1G here in the UK, so I assume they do too in the US, having never had any reason to look

 

[truckinusa]

I guess I am confused what the difference is between a recipe kit and BIAB(brew in a bag)? Does the LHBS usually carry that type of stuff? I'm in Oklahoma City so I'm sure there are a couple.

 

[NSMikeD]

1 gallon can go fast and create a temptation to rush the "conditioning" - after the yeast is done fermenting, it then "cleans up" the beer, improving the flavor.

1 gallon jugs are inexpensive, take up little space and give you the ability to brew additional batches without having to stock pile bottles. You let the beer ferment and condition in the jugs for a few weeks (perhaps a month), then bottle and in a week, you have a new beer ready to drink.

Trust me, 1 gallon jugs are neater and take up less space than a few cases of bottles.

Here is the thread dedicated to 1 gallon brewers. Lots of good information and helpful members in this thread. While we can get crazy with equipment - even at 1 gallon batches, you can still keep it very simple and brew great beer.


https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=311884&page=625


I started with one gallon, but after building my mini-kegerator, I upgraded to 2.5 gallons and begging. When I was doing one gallon exclusively, my LHBS was very knowledgeable, helpful and the place I went for ingredients once I moved on from kits. That was the real fun, using beer software (initially BIABacus and then BeerSmith), scaling recipes and tweaking them.

I do think for small batches, spend the $40 for opt for a refractometer over the hydrometer. While the hydrometer is great, there isn't that much volume of wort/beer to spare to fill up the hydrometer, and if you are like me, it will start bothering you.

On that note, I do use BIAG, Hop bags, Irish Moss and whirlpool (don't worry both these yet) to maximize the wort that goes into the fermentor and minimize the trub, so I can get as close to 1 gallon of bottled beer as possible.

Of course, extract kits produce less trub, so this is more of a concern if you go all grain.

 

[NSMikeD]

I guess I am confused what the difference is between a recipe kit and BIAB(brew in a bag)? Does the LHBS usually carry that type of stuff? I'm in Oklahoma City so I'm sure there are a couple.

Kits come with all the ingredients for the batch in a single package with instructions. So you follow the instructions - like making a cake.

They can be extract, partial extract with special grains, partial mash (equal parts extract and grain) or all grain. It's up to you.



BIAB is merely a brewing method for all grain. There are several ways of converting the sugars from malt grain in the wort (the liquid that becomes beer). Traditionally this would involve a number or steps and different containers.

BIAB and specifically stove-top brew in a bag is an effective and simple method of making beer in the kitchen with a single vessel (the brew pot). You simple put the water into the pot and bring it to strike temperature, the put all the gains into a mesh bag and let the grains steep. When this is done, you simply pull the bag and let it drains (squeezing is often employed) and there you go - you are ready to boil.

There is section here dedicated to BIAB and there are lots of you tube videos showing this method. Keep in mind, like anything else, there are brewers who can geek out the BIAB process. Ignore those folks for now - Stove Top BIAB can produce great beers with minimal equipment and steps

 

[truckinusa]

I got this old freezer that I don't use. Is that helpful? Its like 6ft long chest freezer. I also have unlimited liquid nitrogen and oxygen since I make the stuff.

 

[Owly055]

I would suggest all grain brew in a bag. It's simple, and it's fast. All grain gives a lot more flexibility and lower cost, and is fundamentally more satisfying. Design your brews on Brewer's Friend http://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/calculator/ Which you can use free online. Use existing recipes from the recipe section here, altering and simplifying the grain bills and hop additions, but not straying a long way from original. It's really hard to make bad beer! You can mash in as little as 30 minutes with a good fine crush, or you can leave you mash for an hour or many hours, or overnight, to suit your schedule. You can also boil for 30 minutes instead of the usual hour, simply by adjusting your hop additions. One hop addition for bittering......... say Magnum or Summit, etc, and the rest late in the boil for lots of flavor and aroma, etc. You can do pretty much anything that tickles your fancy.
I would suggest glass ice tea dispensers, they've worked best for me, and are available in 1 gallon or 2 gallon sizes. I no longer worry about fementation locks / bubblers. I just screw the lid on or sit it on and don't worry about it, and I do not get spoiled batches. But I don't live where the air is full of spoilage microbes either. 2 gallons has proved the magic size for me. Small enough to do on the stove top, but enough yield that I don't run out immediately. Read about no boil / no chill brewing. It works well but does not yield crystal clear beer. I've done this process in as little as an hour and 20 minutes, yielding excellent if not crystal clear beer.

You are entering a whole new world........... a fun and interesting hobby....... or would you call it a "hoppy"? If you have a tendency to experiment, you'll love it. Keep your brews small, and UNLEASH YOUR IMAGINATION.............. BREW!!

H.W.

 

[dwhite60]

There are a lot of us "in betweeners" brewing 2 to 3 gallon batches. I just did a 3.5 gallon IPA this past weekend. I did 3.5 because I had the stuff laying around to do it. I usually do 2.5 gallons.

2.5 gallons is one case. Enough to enjoy without getting burned out on it. Smaller batches let me brew monthly. I like the process as much as I like the beer. Brewing monthly I keep a lot of styles in the rotation and on hand.

You can make surprisingly GOOD beer one gallon at a time. Like someone else said, read the "One Gallon Brewers Unite" thread. It's a great read with some GREAT ideas in it.

All the Best,
D. White

 

[truckinusa]

I would suggest all grain brew in a bag. It's simple, and it's fast. All grain gives a lot more flexibility and lower cost, and is fundamentally more satisfying. Design your brews on Brewer's Friend http://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/calculator/ Which you can use free online. Use existing recipes from the recipe section here, altering and simplifying the grain bills and hop additions, but not straying a long way from original. It's really hard to make bad beer! You can mash in as little as 30 minutes with a good fine crush, or you can leave you mash for an hour or many hours, or overnight, to suit your schedule. You can also boil for 30 minutes instead of the usual hour, simply by adjusting your hop additions. One hop addition for bittering......... say Magnum or Summit, etc, and the rest late in the boil for lots of flavor and aroma, etc. You can do pretty much anything that tickles your fancy.
I would suggest glass ice tea dispensers, they've worked best for me, and are available in 1 gallon or 2 gallon sizes. I no longer worry about fementation locks / bubblers. I just screw the lid on or sit it on and don't worry about it, and I do not get spoiled batches. But I don't live where the air is full of spoilage microbes either. 2 gallons has proved the magic size for me. Small enough to do on the stove top, but enough yield that I don't run out immediately. Read about no boil / no chill brewing. It works well but does not yield crystal clear beer. I've done this process in as little as an hour and 20 minutes, yielding excellent if not crystal clear beer.

You are entering a whole new world........... a fun and interesting hobby....... or would you call it a "hoppy"? If you have a tendency to experiment, you'll love it. Keep your brews small, and UNLEASH YOUR IMAGINATION.............. BREW!!

H.W.

How does that work? Are you saying it is possible to ferment in a bottle? I thought an airlock was a necessity? I don't quite understand the process but I am familiar with aerobes and anaerobes. I am just thinking that would be hard to clean? Maybe there is a trick to cleaning bottle with a smaller neck? Is there anything wrong with using the 1 gallon bubbler I got?

I went to the recipe site you suggested. That is pretty cool. Is there a particular BIAB recipe that tastes decent? Can I purchase a 5 gallon recipe and divide by 5 to make 5-1 gallon recipes? Maybe I would be sick of that particular beer after 5 gallons though?

 

[AZCoolerBrewer]

If you don't want to make your own recipe, use a tried and true five gallon recipe, divide by 5 and then purchase the supplies for your one gallon recipe from your local homebrew store or purchase another one gallon kit online. Also you can look into mead or cider depending on what you want.

 

[truckinusa]

If you don't want to make your own recipe, use a tried and true five gallon recipe, divide by 5 and then purchase the supplies for your one gallon recipe from your local homebrew store or purchase another one gallon kit online. Also you can look into mead or cider depending on what you want.

What is a tried and true recipe example? I have heard mead is horrible tasting although I have never tried it. Cider sounds interesting, but haven't tried that either.

 

[Owly055]

I'm not sure where ferment in a bottle came from?? The containers I was speaking of normally have a screw on lid or one that just sits on, neither of which is air tight. A fermentation lock is good procedure. It lets pressure out without allowing microbes in, but I just don't seem to have a problem with microbes as a rule, though I did briefly a couple of years ago. In well over 100 brews, I've had two lacto infections (at about the same time), and most of those brews didn't use a bubbler, or were in a fermenter that wasn't very tight, so the bubbler / fermentation lock never bubbled.

A bubbler is good insurance. I dislike small neck fermenters like carboys for the reason you mentioned...... cleaning. Everything I use is wide mouth. I use two 2 gallon ice tea dispensers with spigots, both with very large lids that do not seal, and I use one 7 gallon Fast Ferment conical, which does seal, and has a bubbler.

Most any recipe you will find in the recipe section here or on Brewer's Friend, or elsewhere will product good beer. They are not always easy to scale down, and often contain numerous ingredients in small quantities that have small impact on flavor. An ounce of this and 3 ounces of that, etc.... When you scale a recipe you have to be creative and open minded. You don't need to scale all ingredients exactly, as you are not necessarily needing to absolutely duplicate the original. Be careful with specialty malts when scaling a recipe....... if you have to change proportions, usually you want to make them smaller rather than larger. Read up on malts and find a listing on line of hops and print it off...... one that includes good descriptions. When scaling, look at other recipes for similar beers. If one recipe has 7 different kinds of malts, and 5 hop additions at different points, look for a simpler one. Many are absurdly complex.

A recipe will list the IBUs, OG, and SRM. Use Brewer's friend to adjust quantities of malts and hops. You can increase or decrease IBUs by changing when hops are introduced into the boil. For example if you want a lot of hop flavor, you can use late additions, whirlpool, and dry hopping, using a small amount of very bitter hop early in the boil, while if you don't want a lot of hop flavor and aroma, use less hops and add them earlier. Whatever you smell in the boil isn't going to make it to the fermenter, much less the bottle.

Brewing is fun, and in your small brews you cant go very far wrong..... jump in and experiment......... make a few mistakes, etc.

H.W.

How does that work? Are you saying it is possible to ferment in a bottle? I thought an airlock was a necessity? I don't quite understand the process but I am familiar with aerobes and anaerobes. I am just thinking that would be hard to clean? Maybe there is a trick to cleaning bottle with a smaller neck? Is there anything wrong with using the 1 gallon bubbler I got?

I went to the recipe site you suggested. That is pretty cool. Is there a particular BIAB recipe that tastes decent? Can I purchase a 5 gallon recipe and divide by 5 to make 5-1 gallon recipes? Maybe I would be sick of that particular beer after 5 gallons though?

 

[AZCoolerBrewer]

What is a tried and true recipe example? I have heard mead is horrible tasting although I have never tried it. Cider sounds interesting, but haven't tried that either.

There are a ton of recipes on line, but I can't direct you there since early I was creating my own recipes. Here is a one gallon recipe that is simple and I have made it before with excellent results.

Landing Strip Blonde Ale
.75 lbs. Light DME
.5 lbs. Vienna
2 oz. Carapils

1/4 oz. Saaz 60m
Pinch Irish Moss 15m
1/4 oz. Saaz Whirlpool.

1/2 package US-05

1/8 cup Table Sugar at bottling.

One reason I brew two gallons is that yeast is one of the bigger costs unless you re-use it and a whole package of dry yeast for a gallon is usually too much.