I keg small batches in 5gal kegs, once you siphon the beer in you hit it with gas and bleed off the air by pulling the relief valve a few times.
I do bottle too, and its not as much of a chore to do a case or less.
I keg small batches in 5gal kegs, once you siphon the beer in you hit it with gas and bleed off the air by pulling the relief valve a few times.
I do bottle too, and its not as much of a chore to do a case or less.[/quote]
I do the same thing when I make small(3-4g) batches.
[quote=“Steppedonapoptop”]So what’s the concensus? If you’re brewing 3 gal and under are most of you bottling? Or partially filling corny’s? Just curious.
[/quote]
Yep, I keg my beer in 5 gallon kegs. 3 gallon kegs are expensive.
I probably have 1 or 2 pints a day, even on weekends lately, so I don’t drink that much and smaller batches suit me well.
[quote=“Steppedonapoptop”]So what’s the concensus? If you’re brewing 3 gal and under are most of you bottling? Or partially filling corny’s? Just curious.
I just started kegging and intend on continuing 5g’s. But I’d like to purchase a 3g corny in the near future for smaller or experimental batches. My assumption is that if any kegged beer gets boring, I’ll fill a few growlers and give them to my pals with the express understanding the growler must be returned. Or else…[/quote]
I just moved to kegging and am doing 3-4 gallon batches. I may bottle a few to give away to family/friends, but primary mode now is kegging.
:cheers:
I’m not sure yet what container I’ll use for fermentation. I have one 1-gallon carboy, but that’s it for glass. Anyone ever fermented in a stainless steel kettle? I have a 2-gallon kettle, no problem there. How will that turn out? Just set the lid on and it should be fine (no need to get fancy with a fermentation lock). I’m just wondering if it will give off any metallic flavors whatsoever after the beer soaks in there for a few weeks.
We come pretty close to that at my house. If I don’t brew 10gal every other weekend, I have to run double 10gal batches the next time I brew to keep the kegs full. Thats on top of all the cider, mead, and wine.
5g takes me 3.5-4hr to.
out of one 5g batch i have a lot of experiments which is why I stay with 5g.
Some new recipes or trying something wierd I will do 2 or 3g
I’d ask around at your local bakeries about smaller buckets. A lot of stuff comes packed in 2-3 gallon buckets.
Edit: this place sells them pretty cheap
http://www.containerandpackaging.com/item/P020[quote=“BrewingRover”]I’d ask around at your local bakeries about smaller buckets. A lot of stuff comes packed in 2-3 gallon buckets.
Edit: this place sells them pretty cheap
http://www.containerandpackaging.com/item/P020[/quote]Thanks for the tip. I sense danger to my credit card seeing there’s a $50 minimum to avoid the small order fee. Too bad I didn’t see flip-top amber bottles for sale on their site to help bring me up to the minimum order.
[quote=“dmtaylo2”] I’m just wondering if it will give off any metallic flavors whatsoever after the beer soaks in there for a few weeks.[/quote]If it did, they all commercial beer would have the same flavor - they ferment in stainless.
Dave, I’ve fermented several beers and a couple wines in SS kettles, and they turned out fine. I treated one BoPils as an “open” ferment in the kettle and did a side-by-side test with a corny primary; there may have been a very slight taste difference, but I could have imagined it, too. If there was a taste difference, it may have been due to the fact that I skimmed the “open” ferment a couple times of crud.
The two issues I remember were watching out for end of fermentation because the possibility of oxidation is pretty big, and getting it out of there was problematic. If you have a kettle with a bottom valve, that’s the one to use. A sihpon pump may not work so well given how shallow one gallon in a big kettle is… even with two gallons in a 16Q kettle, my siphon pump was causing me to swear.
I hear you on the small batches. I love variety… but personally, I can’t go below 2.5g!
[quote=“seajellie”]Dave, I’ve fermented several beers and a couple wines in SS kettles, and they turned out fine. I treated one BoPils as an “open” ferment in the kettle and did a side-by-side test with a corny primary; there may have been a very slight taste difference, but I could have imagined it, too. If there was a taste difference, it may have been due to the fact that I skimmed the “open” ferment a couple times of crud.
The two issues I remember were watching out for end of fermentation because the possibility of oxidation is pretty big, and getting it out of there was problematic. If you have a kettle with a bottom valve, that’s the one to use. A sihpon pump may not work so well given how shallow one gallon in a big kettle is… even with two gallons in a 16Q kettle, my siphon pump was causing me to swear.
I hear you on the small batches. I love variety… but personally, I can’t go below 2.5g![/quote]
That’s good info there. I agree about small batches and variety. I like 3 gallon batches. Right now I’m doing 4g batches, but I might cut it back again to 3 just to have higher turn over and not get sick of whatever I have on tap.
That’s an excellent point! I’ve been having a really absent-minded-inducing crazy hectic couple of weeks… it must be really getting to me…
I fermented in my boil kettle with the lid on one time for a 2.5 gallon batch, since I was treating it like a big starter for a lager (I then harvested the lager yeast and pitched it into a 5 gallon batch). It turned out fine - no oxidation, but I didn’t leave it in the primary all that long (2 weeks, IIRC) and it was a small beer (1.040).
:cheers:
