1 Gallon Brews?

[allanplaysguitar]

I want to start trying my hand at 1 gallon brewing. I was wondering if i could just cut a recipe by 1/5 from the 5 gallon batches or do i try something else? I don't want to use the malt extract w/hops added, i would rather try w/the normal extract and grains.

Any suggestions?

[Brandon]

WHy would you want to brew only 1 gallon? Thats alot of time and effort for that very small amount

[ValonaBrewingCo]

Actually, I think it's a great idea, especially for experimenting with recipes.

[Brandon]

5 gallon batches are my experimental sizes lol

[BrewBum]

I have often thought about doing 3 gallons, never 1 though, that isn't near enough for the time involved.

[ValonaBrewingCo]

I think you could save a lot of time just by not having as much to clean. If you did BIAB and kept it real simple, you would just have a pot, a jug to ferment in, and a funnel.

[krizwit]

5 gallon batches are my experimental sizes lol

I am the same way.....

1g batches woudl be a big PITA unless you really just want to experiment alot and dont drink that much.... I would bump it up to at least 2.5g.

ONe thing you may want to try is brewing a 5g batch of just pilsner, marris otter, am. 2row, etc and then steeping small amounts of crystal or mini mashing other grains to see how they impact flavor...

[majorvices]

I want to start trying my hand at 1 gallon brewing. I was wondering if i could just cut a recipe by 1/5 from the 5 gallon batches or do i try something else? I don't want to use the malt extract w/hops added, i would rather try w/the normal extract and grains.

Any suggestions?

Should be that easy. My suggestion, get a refractometer because you will waste a lot of beer taking hydrometer samples. IIRC there is a podcast called countertop mashing or 1 gallon brewing or something like that at http://www.basicbrewing.com - you will have to search for it. It is there somewhere.

[Beer4Guy]

A gallon of beer doesn't even last through breakfast around here.

Guy

[tookalisten]

Isn't that just one of Majorvice's starters?

[majorvices]

I've actually had to move up to five gallon starter now. Seriously.

[callouslybrewed]

My friend makes his own beer too, and so I was actually thinking of making my own 1 gal batches as well. Should i skip the 1 gallon batches and just start with 2 gallon batches? My girlfriend is against me making my own beer and said i can't have any smelly things brewing in the house (she means the addition of hops) so i guess i can't add hops to the boil or if i do i have to brew when she goes shopping. Are there any substitutes for hops i read i could use coco nibbs?

[ValonaBrewingCo]

My friend makes his own beer too, and so I was actually thinking of making my own 1 gal batches as well. Should i skip the 1 gallon batches and just start with 2 gallon batches? My girlfriend is against me making my own beer and said i can't have any smelly things brewing in the house (she means the addition of hops) so i guess i can't add hops to the boil or if i do i have to brew when she goes shopping. Are there any substitutes for hops i read i could use coco nibbs?

You're not married yet. Find a new girl friend.

[tookalisten]

My friend makes his own beer too, and so I was actually thinking of making my own 1 gal batches as well. Should i skip the 1 gallon batches and just start with 2 gallon batches? My girlfriend is against me making my own beer and said i can't have any smelly things brewing in the house (she means the addition of hops) so i guess i can't add hops to the boil or if i do i have to brew when she goes shopping. Are there any substitutes for hops i read i could use coco nibbs?

Honestly, there is no real sub for hops if you are making most styles. I agree, find a new gf and go with these guys motto - http://www.bfd.org/

[NikoBrew]

I've actually just become interested in this as well. I'd like to say I drink a gallon for breakfast like some but I don't. I also don't get much time to brew so I was thinking of just doing a small mash on the stove. Has anybody actually done this and do they have any feedback? I figure when you do extract with some steeping grains and you convert that recipe to all grain you just add those steeping grains to your mash. So if I take the grain I would use in 5 gallons, scale it down, and then treat them as steeping grains, call that my wort, would that work? Also checking mr malty's pitching rate calculator even one pack of dry yeast has more than enough cells in it for 1 gallon of a 1.080 beer. So if I hydrated the yeast and pitched it or even made two 1 gallon batches and split the dry yeast over both of those without making a starter, assuming I don't get an infection, wouldn't that logically work? I think that could be fun.