I’ve been reading more about brewing 1 gal batches and thought about trying it out. I just did a 1 gal hard cider in a 1 gal glass jug and found out I’m not going to have much room if any for kraussen. If anyone out there brews 1 gal batches what size carboy are you using? I’m beginning to think my gal jug is better suited as a secondary rather than a primary.
Ive never seen a 2 gallon carboy but if you were willing to do 2 gallon batches a 3 gallon carboy would be perfect
I thought about that, I would just have to forget about doing a secondary, as I’m sure the headspace in the 3 gal carboy is to much.
Ha! def too small, just checked my hard cider and the bung and airlock got pushed out the top, shit is everywhere.
Several post about people have large blow offs and loosing a good quantity of their beer in the 1g jugs.
There are 2g pails available from the retailers. You can also check with your local grocery stores or gas stations that make donuts and rolls. They may have some 2g pails that they will give away. You only need to drill a hole for an air lock or rubber stopper.
Specifically Casey’s General store. You have 2 in the Quincy area.
http://www.caseys.com/locationsWhen I made my 3 ciders last month (oct.15) they all had very little head space and I had no problem with the fermentation. They say that ciders do not produce very heavy Krousens. I also used three different yeast types.
How much head space you need depends on what yeast you are using and what temperature you are fermenting at. Some yeasts produce a lot of foam, some don’t. The higher the fermentation temperature, the more vigorous the fermentation and the more foam.
2 gallon buckets are perfect for fermenting a 1 gallon batch. Regardless of the yeast or temperature, there is enough head space to accommodate.
One batch I used V1116 which is a dry wine yeast, I probably would of been ok with that one but I topped off with additional cider to get me within 2 in. Of the top. The other was fermented with EC-1118 which is for champagne. I left that one strictly at one gallon, and it went nuts. Both fermented at 68 which is close to the middle of the temp. Range for both yeasts. My problem is my plan to secondary both and making sure I had minimal headspace in the secondary. Lesson learned, ferment a gallon and a half in a two gallon bucket?
