Yeast ok for 1 gallon kit?

[TripelDubbel]

I'm having a brew day with a friend tomorrow. I am more experienced and he is a first timer. I need some help advising him...

My experience - I have brewed 20, 5 gallon batches, all extract. I have two turkey fryers with a 5 and 8 gallon pot. I have a fermentation chamber and understand basics of cleaning and sanitizing. So nothing special, but not a complete newbie.

My friend is brewing a one gallon batch. This caught me by surprise as I thought we would be each brewing 5 gallon batches side by side. I had him send me pictures of his kit and equipment. He seems to have a one gallon starter set and a kit with a dry yeast packet with an expiration of 12/2016. He hasn't been refrigerating yeast or hops.

Finally to questions:

1) is yeast ok to use?
2) I'm assuming hops are ok?
3) any general advice with advising on brewing a one gallon batch? Can he do on a turkey fryer? Should I start with 1gallon water or more?

The mini brewing has me nervous when I'm supposed to be the "expert"!

Thanks in advance!

 

[Brownalemikie]

Well, below is the recipe/directions I use for 1-gallon of brown ale. Maybe it will help:

Caribou Slobber Brown Ale (1 Gallon Homebrew Recipe Kit)
It’s brown, it’s named after a large North American ungulate, and its name suggests oral incontinence. Ah, we market product with our minds, but we drink beer with our mouths! Which is why this American brown ale
is your new favorite session beer. Dense layers of malt, caramel, baking chocolate, and a hint of light-roast coffee give way to reveal a hop character you’ll be surprised to find if you’re used to drinking English brown ale. The finish is complex but balanced, and the gravity is not so high as to keep you from having another.
These instructions are a simple, walkthrough of the brewing process.
If you’re brewing for the 1st time, don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. We understand that the process can appear to be a bit intimidating. We’ve taken our years of experience and put together the ultimate package of materials to make your brew day simple, fun and trouble free.
Sharing our passion for home brewing is a priority for us. We are committed to making your brewing experience a success and adding another home brewer to our family.
You will need: recipe kit, kettle, 1 gallon fermen- tation jug, airlock, screw cap, blowoff tube, Auto- Siphon and hose, sanitizer solution, scissors
Your Caribou Slobber Brown Ale Kit Includes:
- Steeping grains and mesh bag
Steep approx. 10 minutes—Brew Day, step 2
- 1.5 lbs. Northern Brewer Gold malt extract syrup
Boil for 45 minutes—Brew Day, step 4
- 7 grams Willamette hops
Boil for 45 minutes—Brew Day, step 4
- 3.5 grams Willamette hops
Boil for 15 minutes—Brew Day, step 4
- Windsor Ale brewer’s yeast
Add HALF packet to cooled wort—Brew Day, step 9
- Northern Brewer “Fizz Drops” carbonation tabs
Add one per 12 oz. bottle—Bottling Day, step 18
Brew Day:
First step. WATCH THE VIDEO! Our brewmasters will take you through brew day, step by step. And it’s not just an informational video, it’s entertaining as well. Watch it!
Next. Familiarize yourself with the laminated instruction sheet included with your Starter Kit. The illustrations and tips on that sheet make the steps even easier to understand and follow.
Now we’re ready to brew
1. Collect and heat 1.25 gallons of water in your kettle. Any good-quality drinking water will work for our purposes—if the water tastes OK, it will make good beer.
2. Steep grains in the mesh bag. Just think of this as making tea with barley malt—steep for approximately 10 minutes as the water heats, then remove the grain and discard. These grains will add desired color, avor, aroma, and body to our nished beer.
3. Bring the liquid to a boil. We now have wort (brewing term for unfermented beer). Crank up the heat and bring it to a boil.
4. Boil the wort for 45 minutes total, with the following additions and times:
- A. Add the malt extract syrup (1.5 lbs. Gold) and the rst hop addition (7 grams Willamette) at the beginning of the boil; stir to dissolve and boil for for the full 45 minutes.
- B. 30 minutes after the malt extract and rst hop addition, add the second hop addition (3.5 grams Willamette) and boil for 15 minutes.
- C. 15 minutes after the second hop addition, the 45 minute boil ends—turn off the burner and proceed to Step 5.
5. Cool the wort. Fill a sink with cold water and ice, then put the covered kettle in the ice bath. The goal is to cool the wort to approx. 60–70° F—the kettle should be cool to the touch. Our yeast will be happiest at these temperatures.
6. Sanitize the gear. While the wort cools down, sanitize the 1 gallon fermenting jug, airlock, screw cap, Auto Siphon and hose, PLUS the yeast pack and a pair of scissors.
Finally, read through the detailed directions below. These are more detailed than those on the lami- nated instruction sheet. Pay particular attention to steps 4 & 9. They refer to the speci c extract, hops and yeast used to create this beer.
Once you’ve done the three things above you’re ready to brew! But we warn you, home brewing is addictive.
7. Siphon the cool wort from the kettle into the jug. There will be some trub (naturally-occurring but gross-looking hop-malt sludge) at the bottom of the kettle—try to leave this behind.
NOTE: Make sure you do not ll the jug higher than the “ONE GALLON” raised lettering. The yeast needs a little room to work. If the foam starts
to push through the airlock, slowly remove the airlock and replace it with the length of smaller diameter tubing.
8. Aerate the wort. Cover the fermenter with the sanitized screw cap and gently rock back and forth for a few minutes to slosh the wort and mix some air in—yeast cells need some oxygen for a healthy fermentation.
9. Add HALF of the yeast packet. Use the sanitized scissors to cut open the yeast pack and pour HALF of it into the wort in the jug (you can discard the remainder, or use it to bake beer bread—just don’t use it for beer).
10. Seal the fermentor. Either ll the sanitized airlock with approx. 1 tbsp. sanitizer solution or tap water, and t the airlock into the hole in the screw cap; or insert the length of smaller diam- eter tubing into the hole in the screw cap, with the other end submerged in a small glass of water ... then pour yourself an end-of-brew-day beer.
11. Move the fermenter to a dark, quiet spot until fermentation begins.
Tip: Your Caribou Slobber will ferment happiest at a temperature of 60–75° F.

12. Fermentation begins. Within a day or so of Brew Day, fermentation begins—as yeast cells convert malt sugars into CO2 gas and alcohol, you will notice bubbles come through the airlock and a cap of frothy foam form on the beer.
13. Fermentation ends. Roughly one to two weeks
You will need: Auto Siphon & hose, bottle ller, bottle caps & capper, sanitizer solution, 1 dozen clean 12 oz. pry-off beer bottles
Two weeks after Brew Day, your beer is ready to bottle. There’s a lot going on during bottling day—a second set of hands is a big help ... and can usually be paid in beer!
14. Move the fermentation jug to a table or coun- tertop. Do this early, so the yeast and sediment has a chance to re-settle!
15. Sanitize the gear. Namely the Auto siphon
& hose, bottle ller, all of the bottles, about 20 bottlecaps (you won’t need them all, but may need extras in case a couple drop on the oor). Refer
to the beginning of this document if you need a refresher on sanitizing!
You will need: a little more patience, your favorite beer glass, appreciative friends
20. Wait just a little longer! It’ll be worth it— promise. Keep the lled, capped bottles at room temperature for approx. 1–2 weeks to let the beer carbonate.
What’s happening: Because our beer is natural and un ltered, there will always be a few yeast cells hanging around, and just like in primary fermen- tation, these remaining cells will consume the small dose of priming sugar and convert it to a little bit more alcohol and just enough CO2 gas to
Fermentation:
from Brew Day, fermentation will end—the exact timing depends a lot on temperature and also on wort biochemistry that we won’t worry about right now. Don’t be alarmed if it takes a few less or a few more days—brewing is an art as well as a science, and your beer will be ne. When the supply of
malt sugars in the wort is depleted, the yeast cells
Bottling Day:
(2 weeks after Brew Day)
Tip: Use a clean plastic tub or bucket, or your boil kettle, to mix the sanitizer solution and sanitize all the gear—don’t dump the solution out right away, in case you need to re-sanitize a piece of equipment during the bottling process!
16. Connect one end of the hose to the Auto siphon, and the other end of the hose to the bottle ller.
17. Start the siphon and ll the bottles. Remove the airlock and stopper from the jug and place the Auto-Siphon into the beer; while holding down the bottle ller to keep the valve open, have your helper pull up, then push down on the siphon piston to begin the ow of beer. Just lift up on the ller to stop the ow of beer. Try to leave about 1” of headspace in each bottle.
Conditioning and Enjoying:
(2 weeks after Bottling Day)
add some zz. Because we’re using yeast fermen- tation to naturally carbonate the beer, the exact timing of this step is squishy; 7 to 14 days is a safe bet, but don’t be dismayed if it takes a little less or more time.
Test a bottle at one week—did it hiss when you opened it? If not, wait a week and try again. After this point, the bottles can be stored cold and upright.
21. Imbibe! As if we really need to tell you how to do this! Assemble your tasting panel, clean
Cheers!
begin to go dormant and sink to the bottom of
the fermentor. Bubbles come through the airlock very infrequently or stop entirely, and the cap of foam starts to subside or disappears. If you have it attached, remove the blowoff tubing once things have settled down, and replace it with the airlock until you’re ready to bottle.
Tip: Stop lling when the liquid level is just about to spill over—when you pull the ller out, you'll have the perfect amount of headspace.
18. Add one Fizz Drop tablet to each bottle. This small charge of sugar will carbonate (or “prime”) our at beer—the CO2 gas created by this mini- fermentation will be absorbed by the liquid since it can’t escape the sealed bottle—thanks, science!
19. Cap the bottles. Put a sanitized bottlecap on a lled bottle. Center the bell of your bottlecapper on the cap, and push down on the levers, then release. The cap should be crimped tightly.
Repeat Steps 17–19 about dozen times ... now is when a helper really earns his or her keep!
your favorite beer glass, and crack open a bottle of fresh, handcrafted beer. Decant the beer
into your glass.
Tip: The fermentation we used to naturally carbonate the beer will leave a thin layer of yeast at the bottom of the bottle—leave this behind when you pour for maximum clarity ... or pour it on in for an extra dose of vitamin B12!
Admire the appearance, savor the aroma, discuss with your friends, and then enjoy a sip
... homebrewer!

 

[Aristotelian]

For one gallon there is no reason to go outside and use a turkey fryer. Just use a decent sized stockpot in your kitchen. It's just extract, water, and hops, I don't see anything that can go wrong. I am sure his yeast and hops will be fine as long as they have been sealed.

 

[Aristotelian]

By the way, if it is a typical packet of dry yeast, you will want to use about 1/4 of the packet. Seal it as best you can to use on future batches.

 

[TripelDubbel]

Thanks!