Brewing Master

Question:

Looks like the setup costs for home brewing are much less than I expected.  I may be brewing sooner than planned. Real post: Five gallons is way too much beer for me.  However, I do realize more volume allows for more slop in the process, and that recipies don’t scale perfectly.  I’m thinking the best compromise for me is to get a 5 gallon (rather than a 6.5) carboy for my primary.  I’d like to use just an airlock and avoid the whole blowoff hose issue.  So how much headspace do I need to reserve? Brewing 3.5-4 gallons would leave me 1-1.5 gallons of headspace which seems just right to me, assuming there isn’t a vast (non-linear) difference of foam between a 5 gallon batch and a 3.5 gallon batch. Would 3.5 be too little to push out all the oxygen? Thanks, -Ed

Response:

rec.crafts.brewing: Looks like the setup costs for home brewing are much less than I expected.  I may be brewing sooner than planned.

I found out the same thing: $100 got me set up with everything I needed for my first batch from stove to bottling, so now I just buy ingredients.  Sweeeeeeeeet! Real post: Five gallons is way too much beer for me.  However, I do realize more volume allows for more slop in the process, and that recipies don’t scale perfectly.  I’m thinking the best compromise for me is to get a 5 gallon (rather than a 6.5) carboy for my primary.  I’d like to use just an airlock and avoid the whole blowoff hose issue.  So how much headspace do I need to reserve?

I’ve got a whole 1 1/2 batches under my belt so I’m not going to speak from authority <g but I’ve used a blowoff hose both times and don’t find it to be a hassle.  My first brew lost some volume due to blowoff as I primaried in a 5 gallon carboy, but I made 5 gallons in a 6.5 gallon plastic bucket primary this last time and lost less than a cup – and that was all icky foamy crap.  With that kind of headspace you should be fine either way (blowoff or bubbler) in my ignorant opinion. Would 3.5 be too little to push out all the oxygen?

If you’re doing a 3.5 gallon batch (you can use http://www.beertools.com to modify your recipe for volume) I’d go with a 5 gallon primary rather than 6.5, but I’ll defer to those who know what the heck they’re doing.  What I /can/ say is this:  be very picky about sanitization, pay attention to your recipe and you WILL make good beer!  If I can do it, anyone can! Reg’ds, Terry — Before you criticize a man, walk a mile in his shoes. That way, if he gets angry, he’s a mile away and you have his shoes.

Response:

Looks like the setup costs for home brewing are much less than I expected.  I may be brewing sooner than planned. Real post: Five gallons is way too much beer for me.

Two cases is too much beer???? However, I do realize more volume allows for more slop in the process, and that recipies don’t scale perfectly.  I’m thinking the best compromise for me is to get a 5 gallon (rather than a 6.5) carboy for my primary.  I’d like to use just an airlock and avoid the whole blowoff hose issue.  So how much headspace do I need to reserve?

1 to 1.5 gallons should avoid a blowoff hose. Brewing 3.5-4 gallons would leave me 1-1.5 gallons of headspace which seems just right to me, assuming there isn’t a vast (non-linear) difference of foam between a 5 gallon batch and a 3.5 gallon batch. Would 3.5 be too little to push out all the oxygen?

Oxygen is consumed by the yeast for growth, then CO2 fills the airspace, or displaces the air.  3.5 gallons of a 5% ABV beer would create about 92 gallons of CO2 which would be wayyy more than enough.  (FWIW- A gallon of the same beer would still create 26 gallons of CO2.) Before you go and limit yourself, think about what you want to do.  If you might go to 5 gallon batches, then purchase a 6 to 7 gallon plastic primary fermenter, and a 5 gallon carboy for the secondary.  A bucket is very easy to clean, and a great way to start.  You don’t even need a secondary, but a bottling bucket for priming is a must. 2 cases of beer, 48 bottles, at two per day, 24 days the beer is gone.  Give some away, have a friend over, consume more on the weekend, and your brew could be gone in as little as a week or two. I started with the same mentality that 5 gallons is a large amount of beer. That quickly went to having 14 cases of bottles to keep 7 batches going, and finally now that I keg I keep 12-15 kegs tapped. Cheers, Mike

Response:

Howdy Ed, 5 gallons is too much until you taste it. Trust us. Get the big carboy, it’s not that much more. -Brett Makin Beer, Not War – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Looks like the setup costs for home brewing are much less than I expected.  I may be brewing sooner than planned. Real post: Five gallons is way too much beer for me.  However, I do realize more volume allows for more slop in the process, and that recipies don’t scale perfectly.  I’m thinking the best compromise for me is to get a 5 gallon (rather than a 6.5) carboy for my primary.  I’d like to use just an airlock and avoid the whole blowoff hose issue.  So how much headspace do I need to reserve? Brewing 3.5-4 gallons would leave me 1-1.5 gallons of headspace which seems just right to me, assuming there isn’t a vast (non-linear) difference of foam between a 5 gallon batch and a 3.5 gallon batch. Would 3.5 be too little to push out all the oxygen? Thanks, -Ed

Response:

Looks like the setup costs for home brewing are much less than I expected.  I may be brewing sooner than planned. Real post: Five gallons is way too much beer for me. Two cases is too much beer????

See below. <snip Before you go and limit yourself, think about what you want to do.  If you might go to 5 gallon batches, then purchase a 6 to 7 gallon plastic primary fermenter, and a 5 gallon carboy for the secondary.  A bucket is very easy to clean, and a great way to start.  You don’t even need a secondary, but a bottling bucket for priming is a must.

You bring up a very good point here.  If I want to go to a secondary, I’ll want as little headspace as possible, no?  I haven’t gone scouting for gear yet, but I suspect I won’t be able to find a carboy less than 5 gallons in my small town. 2 cases of beer, 48 bottles, at two per day, 24 days the beer is gone.  Give some away, have a friend over, consume more on the weekend, and your brew could be gone in as little as a week or two.

Ok, clearly I haven’t been drinking nearly enough.  I’ve never approached that volume since 2 cases would cost me ~$60 at the store. Anyway, I’m not getting into brewing so I can have a lot of inexpensive beer.  I’d like to develop my taste and skills, so the more frequent I can brew, the better. I started with the same mentality that 5 gallons is a large amount of beer. That quickly went to having 14 cases of bottles to keep 7 batches going, and finally now that I keg I keep 12-15 kegs tapped.

I’m still holding that 5 gallons is a lot of beer, but I do have to concede that 5 gallons isn’t that much more than 3 1/2 or 4 gallons. Given that, I must also concede that it might not be worth bucking the system to get a smaller batch. I appreciate the help, -Ed

Response:

: Brewing 3.5-4 gallons would leave me 1-1.5 gallons of headspace which : seems just right to me, assuming there isn’t a vast (non-linear) : difference of foam between a 5 gallon batch and a 3.5 gallon batch. : Would 3.5 be too little to push out all the oxygen? There are a lot of ways to make beer.  The one that appeals to me right now is to keep things really simple: low gravity beers done in a single stage fermentation in glass. If you just get a 5g carboy, blow-off tube, and fermentation lock you can do that.  Shooting for a 4g batch seems right to me, though you probably could do 3g. There are lots of ways to get fancier, but one of the nice things about this method is that you can keep beer-handling to a minimum.  If you use Prime Tabs (sugar pills you drop in bottles to prime), you can probably even siphon from the carboy straight to bottles (and get away without a 3-5g priming tub). I have a ~3g carboy and I used this method for my back-to-brewing batch. I used just dry malt extract, hops, and yeast.  It tastes pretty good to me (even though I hopped as if I had 5g John — 33