Has anyone tried the 1 gallon kit Northern Brewer sells? We’re the results as good as you would get from a standard 5 gallon rig?
The quality of the beer should be the same as a 5 gallon batch.
I don’t see why anyone would want to go through the process and only ave a six pack to show for it. 3 gallons would be a better size.
I was curious about this as well. I brewed a 1 Gallon batch of Dead Ringer IPA, got 5 bottles out of it. Kinda a small payoff for the same brew time as a 5 gallon. They should be drinkable in another week or so, i’ll try to remember to report my findings. I drank the kool-aid early on, but now i’ll only be experimenting with my own recipes in my 1 gal equipment.
I cannot see the point. The sanitizing and clean up would be the same, and the end result is very little product to show for it. Brew at least a 5 gallon batch of something.
Smaller batches do have a place. If you are the only one drinking the beer, having 5 gallons of 6-8 beers and keeping them rotated is a lot of drinking.
Giving away beers can get expensive. So unless friends chip in for supplies, 2.5-3 gallon batches allow someone to have a good variety of beers on hand without them getting to old for the flavors to still be there.
[quote=“Nighthawk”]Smaller batches do have a place. If you are the only one drinking the beer, having 5 gallons of 6-8 beers and keeping them rotated is a lot of drinking.
Giving away beers can get expensive. So unless friends chip in for supplies, 2.5-3 gallon batches allow someone to have a good variety of beers on hand without them getting to old for the flavors to still be there.[/quote]
I seldom exceed 1 beer a day. I drink slow enough that I prefer the longer shelf life of high gravity beers. I tend to only make 1 batch of a session beer per year because 2 or more batches would definitely go bad.
I’m a new brewer; I’ve done one 5-gallon with a friend and 2 1-gallon batches at home but the first batch of 1-gallon shouldn’t be drinkable for another week. My experience so far has been that the 1-gallon is very nice for limited space. I’d rather do a bigger batch, but just don’t have the room for it.
One issue I’ve been having is that both 1-gallon batches have overflowed pretty badly during the first 1-2 days of fermenting. This wasn’t a huge problem, I cleaned up the mess and ran some tubing out of the blow-off into a cup of sanitizing solution to give me a bigger reservoir for the blow off. But then the fermentation seems to stop really early. After just a couple of days I’m not seeing any more bubbles coming through the blow off. Is everything alright so far or am I missing something?
Thanks!
just to clarify, I followed the instructions on how far to fill the fermenters and the overflow was quite a bit more than would have been prevented had I filled them less full.
Tough to react without knowing the recipe and yeast. Different yeast ferment more aggressively than others.
What temps are you fermenting at?
What do you ferment a 1 gallon batch in?
If I was to make a 1 gallon batch, there is a local (regional) gas station that has a kitchen. They receive the donut frosting in 2 gallon pails. With an o-ring lid. Perfect for specialty grains or a small fermenter.
well drill a hole and add an airlock I guess. That would work. I still say, 5 gallons at least. I only keep about 2 beers on hand, so that’s not hard to chug away.
both kits used the Windsor Danstar British-style beer yeast. I’m fermenting in the 1-gallon fermenter from Northern Brewer (
) at about 70 degrees F. The instructions I’m following are for this fermenter and say to fill it to the raised lettering on the jug. I actually filled the last one to just below that but it still overflowed quite a bit.
Thanks for the replies, as I said, I’m really new at this but I enjoy it a lot!
http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/fermcap-s-1-oz.html
A few drop of FermcpS can help eliminate the blow offs when using a small fermenter.
That’s great! I’ll give it a try, thanks.
I am about to start my second one gallon batch, and I believe the same day I will also be doing a third. One gallon batches are great for learning. I read and researched for about 7 months before I did my first one gallon batch. I love it! but if I were to screw up, id want to screw up on one gallon, rather than 5 since I am still really getting my feet wet.
Another reason 1 gallon is great, is that all the stuff you need is CHEEP! 1 gallon jug = $6
I made a small initial investment with a friend of like $50 and got everything I need to do 1 gallon batches. Then when we want to do another batch, its only like $10.50 from NB.
I can't wait to start my first 5 gallon batch though, the hardest part is just being able to afford everything I need :/