1 Gallon Extract Kits? Anyone tried these?

I’ve never really gotten into lagers but give me a suggestion of one to try that you think it pretty good! I’ll put it on my list to drink this weekend.[/quote]
I’m partial to the schwarzbier or black lager. Köstritzer is a pretty common one that will give you an idea of the style. You can ferment at 55F, right? and have the ability to get beer down to 32F for a few months? I’ve got two batches lagering now that I’m going to TRY to age for about 4-6 months.

Well, When I got back on and saw the 1gal kits I took a fast look, it looked to me like 1/2 price of a 5gal kit, so 2gal for the same price and work as 5gal??
To me that would NOT sound like a good deal at all!

I just looked again to see if I was wrong, the Cream ALE 1gal is $10.50, so 5 batches would be 5gal for $52.50 plus shipping, the 5gal kit is only $29.99 plus shipping.
SO, your paying $22.50 EXTRA for 5 of the 1 gal kits, or figure 3gals would be $31.50 which is still more than the cost of a 5gal kit.
Be better off to just buy the 5gal kit and dump 2gal down the drain and still save the $1.50 LOL

I could see in some rare instances perhaps the 1Gal kits being worth trying once maybe?
I mean if you don’t really drink but 5 bottles of beer a year, or will only drink the absolute best you can find and not sure what that is?

If I were actually planning to brew some beer fairly often and actually drink it at times I would just go with a 5gal kit and an $8 postage scale and $1 calculator and divide everything by 5 that comes in the kits. Still cheaper in the long run.
That would pretty much solve most problems with limited cooking ability or storage space for the beer. The extract kits are a small package even for 5gal, should be able to store it about anywhere.

I did not compare pricing on the other kits, so maybe they are closer to a more equal price?

I would maybe be concerned with getting my bottles back if giving away the extra beer if I brew any extra. I had to drink allot of higher priced Michelobe to build up my stock of pop top bottles and now I find they went to twist offs now also so I won’t be getting any more of those later.
I’d make a set rule if they want more beer they return the bottles to be refilled and stick to it. No bottles no beer, I mean if I don’t have bottles what would I put the beer in right LOL

Or they seem to sell PET bottles to put beer in so why not just save the drinking water or soda PET bottles to put the giveaway beer in. That would eliminate lost bottles also.
After seeing a thread asking about forced carbing beer fast I looked at a site mentioned and it says PET bottles are supposed to be rated for 200PSI and makes me wonder what a pop top glass bottles cap is rated for?

Anyway for myself I’ll stick with the 5gal kits for all the reasons I mentioned above, cost being a large one also. Does not seem like all that many choices in malts, hops and a handfull of grain is not all that expensive. So if I were to brew only a 1gal batch from a 5gal kit and did not like it I could always just keep the extra stuff on hand and buy a few loose hops or grain to make something else.
Personally I’d probably brew the whole kit since I can, then if I don’t loose the bucket of beer for near a year ( I did that) I would drink it once and if I did not like it not buy that kit again.
If I buy craft beer and don’t like it I don’t toss it, I just drink it along with other stuff I do like better. I’d do the same with home brew, 2 of something good 1 of something odd, or just trade a 12 pack of the odd stuff to some-one to wash my car or bike, or 2 cases for firewood LOL

Well, as you may tell, I am rather bored and have no beer to drink and nothing on hand to be brewing tonight either. Wish I had 1/2 a 5gal kit sitting here handy, I would go brew it :lol:

Finally finished my 1 gallon brew. Final gravity of 1.015. Two weeks of conditioning. I got 7 bottles in all. Like I’ve heard from most: 1 gallon is almost too little to justify the work but I’m completely happy with 1 gallon batches. Should I do a few of these successfully, I will probably move to a 3 gallon batch.

I sampled two bottles this past weekend. Both were unexpectedly rich in malt and caramel flavors followed by a bitterness that didn’t come on too strong but preserved it’s credibility as an IPA. I will be keeping the other bottles to age a bit to see how the flavors change. All-in-all, very good!

I taste my decanted liquid from starters on occasion, does that count??