Brewing Master

Question:

Does anyone do even smaller batches? Is it practical to do single gallon batches?

In a word, yes. I make 1-gallon batches once and a while, whenever I am prototyping a new recipe, new brand of yeast, and/or new technique. Check out http://members.cox.net/bis9170-1/Bitter%20(Test%20Batch)_1.pdf for ideas on one way to brew pico-batches. On the other hand, you could always simply drink more! Cheers, Todd Eye Chart Brewing Company San Diego, CA "Beers So Bitter, Your Eyes Will Cross!" http://www.eyechartbrewing.com

Response:

There is a problem with your link by the way. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Does anyone do even smaller batches? Is it practical to do single gallon batches? In a word, yes. I make 1-gallon batches once and a while, whenever I am prototyping a new recipe, new brand of yeast, and/or new technique. Check out http://members.cox.net/bis9170-1/Bitter%20(Test%20Batch)_1.pdf for ideas on one way to brew pico-batches. On the other hand, you could always simply drink more! Cheers, Todd Eye Chart Brewing Company San Diego, CA "Beers So Bitter, Your Eyes Will Cross!" http://www.eyechartbrewing.com

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2 1/2 gallons is about 1 case of beer.  A gallon would be about 10 bottles. You need to RDWHAHB You can easily do tiny batches if you buy hopped extract. Its not impossible to brew small batches from things other than hopped extract, but you will run into issues like:   o measuring tiny amounts of hops   o measuring tiny amounts of things like gypsum and specialty grains

Scales that measure to 1 gram availabe on ebay for $35. And in fact, I saw a pocket sized scale in a Cynmar Corp (www.cynmar.com) catalog today that measures to .1 gram, for $35. Digital. Comes with calibration weight. In fact, I may order one right now I’ve made 2 1 gallon batches so far. Both were all-grain. My only problem so far has been with making mistakes… a small mistake in a 1 gallon batch is very noticeable.   o losing a significant percentage of your brew when you take gravity readings

Unless you sanitize your euipment, and put the measuring wort back.   o your tolerance level for doing all the sanitizing, cleaning, boiling, waiting, etc. for small yields.

On the plus side, my all-grain 1 gallon batches dont take very long… the water boils much faster, and I can do it in the kitchen.

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Then what do you taste? I regularly do 10 liter batches, but a batch where the hydrometer sample is too much to lose is too small, IMHO. You mention that you can do it in the kitchen. I’ve done 10 gallon batches on my stove with 2 pots and  concentrated wort boil. John – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -Unless you sanitize your euipment, and put the measuring wort back.   o your tolerance level for doing all the sanitizing, cleaning, boiling, waiting, etc. for small yields.

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Then what do you taste? I regularly do 10 liter batches, but a batch where the hydrometer sample is too much to lose is too small, IMHO.

I dont need 12 ounces to "taste" it. You mention that you can do it in the kitchen. I’ve done 10 gallon batches on my stove with 2 pots and  concentrated wort boil.

Well since it’s kinda hard (and ill-advised) to do a concentrated wort boil with all-grain, and since most household stoves cannot boil 7 gallons of wort for a full-boil 5 gallon batch, the ability to do it inside is a plus.

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I don’t think so. It’s quite a breeze, i will often boil, say, 15 liters and dilute it to 20. It is a really easy thing to do, and i don’t have any problems because i use either bottled or filter water for the post boil dilution water. There was an article in BYO a while back about it, you could look it up, it’s by Drew Avis. Why do you say it’s ill advised? Also, what is hard about that? I just finished a 20L all grain brew this morning in 4 hours. I’m not trying to sound nasty, i’m just curious what problems you forsee with this technique? One legitamate concern is darkening of the beer -higher gravity worts tend to darken more while boiling, so maybe i wouldn’t try this for a pilsner or koeslch, but i haven’t noticed any problems with my usual beers ie . IPA, Mild, Porter etc.. and i did a wit which in my opinion is a fairly light coloured beer and it seemed okay. The other thing you have to compensate for is hop utilization, but those are the only things i can think of. John – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -Well since it’s kinda hard (and ill-advised) to do a concentrated wort boil with all-grain, and since most household stoves cannot boil 7 gallons of wort for a full-boil 5 gallon batch, the ability to do it inside is a plus.

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I’m making 2 1/2 gallon batches, but quite frankly, I just don’t drink that much. I like the taste of the homebrew, and like the idea that I’m making it myself, but even 2 1/2 gallons at a time seems to be a bit much.

Just drink it slower then.  The beer will store for long periods of time in the bottles.  There’s no rush to drink it all at once John. —                            *** John P. Kolesar ***                          *** Valley Mead Brewery ***

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I was thinking the same thing. It wouldn’t be too tough to weigh out a quarter of the malt extract, but there are other problems with mashing…. depth of grain bed and a billion other variables John – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -Do you do all grain?  If not, making even extremely small batches is pretty easy with extract and specialty grains.  If doing all-grain, the process is a bit harder to control.  Use batch sparging.

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Well since it’s kinda hard (and ill-advised) to do a concentrated wort boil with all-grain, and since most household stoves cannot boil 7 gallons of wort for a full-boil 5 gallon batch, the ability to do it inside is a plus. I think the approach is to use the free runnings, and not do a sparge–or at least a very minimal sparge.  Of course, this will cost more, proportionally, for the grain bill and the hops, but in small quantities it’s not much of an issue.

Even with a full 5-gallon batch, you’re not losing a lot of money by skipping sparging. Let’s say your grain bill increases by a third, adding 5 pounds of grain. At a dollar a pound, not sparging costs you about $5, or about 10 cents per bottle of beer. Yes, sparging saves you a little money, but not a lot (depending on how cheaply you can get your grain). You could also extract more sugar out of the grains with a second batch of water in order to make a second beer.

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Well since it’s kinda hard (and ill-advised) to do a concentrated wort boil with all-grain, and since most household stoves cannot boil 7 gallons of wort for a full-boil 5 gallon batch, the ability to do it inside is a plus.

I think the approach is to use the free runnings, and not do a sparge–or at least a very minimal sparge.  Of course, this will cost more, proportionally, for the grain bill and the hops, but in small quantities it’s not much of an issue. Regards, Mike Sharp

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Pehaps you should find a brewing buddy, and split the batch with him/her. I’ve made countless batches this way.  In fact, I got a bunch of former co-workers into the hobby that way. Do you do all grain?  If not, making even extremely small batches is pretty easy with extract and specialty grains.  If doing all-grain, the process is a bit harder to control.  Use batch sparging. Regards, Mike Sharp

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Well, I just bottled my second batch. So far, it’s a much better batch than the first batch; I let it ferment a bit longer than the first batch. I’m making 2 1/2 gallon batches, but quite frankly, I just don’t drink that much. I like the taste of the homebrew, and like the idea that I’m making it myself, but even 2 1/2 gallons at a time seems to be a bit much. Does anyone do even smaller batches? Is it practical to do single gallon batches? Thanks in advance. Les

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Well, I just bottled my second batch. So far, it’s a much better batch than the first batch; I let it ferment a bit longer than the first batch. I’m making 2 1/2 gallon batches, but quite frankly, I just don’t drink that much. I like the taste of the homebrew, and like the idea that I’m making it myself, but even 2 1/2 gallons at a time seems to be a bit much. Does anyone do even smaller batches? Is it practical to do single gallon batches? Thanks in advance. Les

Response:

2 1/2 gallons is about 1 case of beer.  A gallon would be about 10 bottles. You need to RDWHAHB You can easily do tiny batches if you buy hopped extract. Its not impossible to brew small batches from things other than hopped extract, but you will run into issues like:    o measuring tiny amounts of hops    o measuring tiny amounts of things like gypsum and specialty grains    o losing a significant percentage of your brew when you take gravity readings    o your tolerance level for doing all the sanitizing, cleaning, boiling, waiting, etc. for small yields. I’d suggest keeping to the 2 1/2 batches and just brew a bit less often. But if you really want to nano-brew then good luck! – Bill Success lies in achieving the top of the food chain. — Jubal Harshaw, 1904-

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Well, I just bottled my second batch. So far, it’s a much better batch than the first batch; I let it ferment a bit longer than the first batch. I’m making 2 1/2 gallon batches, but quite frankly, I just don’t drink that much. I like the taste of the homebrew, and like the idea that I’m making it myself, but even 2 1/2 gallons at a time seems to be a bit much. Does anyone do even smaller batches? Is it practical to do single gallon batches? Thanks in advance. Les

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Hombrewers: I have enjoyed the information available on the list, and have been motivated to try my first brew – an IPA from a kit. I want to pursue further brewing, and am interested in making smaller batches (being the only beer drinker in the house). Does anyone have any recipies for smaller-sized batches, say 2.5 or 3 gallons? I prefer the darker ales. Looking forward to hearing from you.

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I have enjoyed the information available on the list, and have been motivated to try my first brew – an IPA from a kit. I want to pursue further brewing, and am interested in making smaller batches (being the only beer drinker in the house). Does anyone have any recipies for smaller-sized batches, say 2.5 or 3 gallons? I prefer the darker ales. Looking forward to hearing from you.

Actually, the 3.3 to 4#  extract kits are the perfect amount for a 2.5 to 3 gal batch. No need to add any powdered extract or (God forbid) sugar.  Try one of the hopped British kits like Munton and Fison or John Bull.  Steep some crushed crystal malt, chocolate malt, and/or roasted barley (0-.25# each) and strain out when the water boils, add your extract and boil 1 hour.  Add 0-.5 oz finishing hops at the end of the boil. Basically half any 5 gal recipe and you get half the beer for almost the same amount of work! I’ve done it and it works great, Jim Barleycorn

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I keep seeing lots of beginners saying "Does anyone have recipes for small batches" I kind of thought the same way, but aafter brewing 4 beers, I’d say 5 gallons is a small batch. Brewing is quite a lot of work and the amount of time spent is relatively (except for bottling) unrelated to batch size. I usually end up with about 1.5 to 2 cases per batch. I’ve had a couple of bad batches, and that really cuts into the supply. I’d really recommend staying with 5 gallons, unless you are just experimenting and want to keep costs down. If it comes out good, you will certainly want more….

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It may be due to grain bed depth or it could just be a poor crush.  Consider combining mashes for your small batches.  Run off one batch monitoring the gravity and volume.  When one times the other meets your point goal for a batch, switch to the second batch to finish.  You can add other grains when you switch like roasted barley and crystal malt. — Dan Listermann Check out our E-tail site at www.listermann.com Free shipping for orders greater than $35 and East of the Mighty Miss.

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Recently I’ve started brewing small batches (12L/~3US gallons).  Reason being I can whip off 4-5 of these in a day (all grain, ~12 hours work).  I like this because I can get upto 5 different styles of beer per brew session.  But I’ve run into a problem – my efficiency is way down.  I used to get 75%-80% efficiency.  Now I get 65%, max.  I suspect that this may be due to the decrease in the depth of the grain bed, but I want to make sure before I spring for the money for new a new mash/lauter system.  Any idea’s? Thanx in advance Bryan

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You don’t say what you use for mashing/sparging,. I used to (and still on rare occasions) brew 3 gal batches  and mashed in a 5 gal Gott with a 3B SS false bottom. Always got 72% or slightly better using batch sparge. Using a 10 3/4 pound grain bill, I could rather easily get enough for 3 batches (sometimes supplementing with DME) out of one mash. Then as already suggested, steeped additional crystal, chocolate or other specialty grain for a specific brew. Do you batch sparge? I did better with batch than with fly sparging. Ken

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Recently I’ve started brewing small batches (12L/~3US gallons).  Reason being I can whip off 4-5 of these in a day (all grain, ~12 hours work).  I like this because I can get upto 5 different styles of beer per brew session.  But I’ve run into a problem – my efficiency is way down.  I used to get 75%-80% efficiency.  Now I get 65%, max.  I suspect that this may be due to the decrease in the depth of the grain bed, but I want to make sure before I spring for the money for new a new mash/lauter system.  Any idea’s? Thanx in advance Bryan

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Recently I’ve started brewing small batches (12L/~3US gallons).  Reason being I can whip off 4-5 of these in a day (all grain, ~12 hours work).  I like this because I can get upto 5 different styles of beer per brew session.  But I’ve run into a problem – my efficiency is way down.  I used to get 75%-80% efficiency.  Now I get 65%, max.  I suspect that this may be due to the decrease in the depth of the grain bed, but I want to make sure before I spring for the money for new a new mash/lauter system.  Any idea’s? Thanx in advance Bryan

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Recently I’ve started brewing small batches (12L/~3US gallons).  Reason being I can whip off 4-5 of these in a day (all grain, ~12 hours work).  I like this because I can get upto 5 different styles of beer per brew session.  But I’ve run into a problem – my efficiency is way down.  I used to get 75%-80% efficiency.  Now I get 65%, max.  I suspect that this may be due to the decrease in the depth of the grain bed, but I want to make sure before I spring for the money for new a new mash/lauter system.  Any idea’s?

It is probably short circuiting due to shallow grainbed depth.  Try using a smaller footprint lauter tun… Cheers, Mike

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