One Gallon Brew Recipes

I just completed my first brew that yielded 46 bottles. I realized that I enjoy the brewing a bit more than the drinking part. It will be awhile to get through these 46 bottles, and may need to give some away. Ha.

Then I saw the One Gallon recipe kits and thought that may be better option to me for my next brewing experience. Thoughts? Anybody have any experience with these kits? And then, can I still use my BSE supplies that I got for Christmas? Even though it comes with 5 gallon buckets. Thanks in advance with any advice.

Regards,
Dave

Sure you can use supplies for one gallon batches. Simply divide ingredients by 5. Gets tricky with yeast and you will need a scale that can measure grain, extract (liquid will be a real challenge)

You could make a yeast starter and save some for future batches. You will probably do that stuff further down the road.

Equipment wise your 5 gallon, hopefully more like 6.5 gallon bucket will have a lot of head space with only one gallon of wort in there. The head space should fill up with CO2 to keep out bad things so the more headspace, the better chance some unwanted things can join in.

Thanks for the response. Actually, I was wondering about the 1 gallon recipe kits that Northern Brewer sells, thinking that I could use them with my current equipment made for making 5 gallon batches.

My fear is that I would make an error during the brew process and ever up with 48 bottles of something nobody would drink. A smaller batch would lessen the risk.

I would definitely not recommend brewing a one gallon batch in a bucket or carboy for 5 gallon batches, as mentioned above, too much head space leaves potential for things you don’t want mixing with your precious wort/beer. If you want to try some of the one gallon batches, maybe take a look at something like this to ferment in:

They also have one with a spigot built in, in case you don’t want to risk the extra transfer. Also, be aware that if you do a one gallon batch, you definitely don’t want to take multiple gravity readings as you have much less beer to sample and checking multiple hydrometer tubes worth would be a waste of beer! :grin: My typical rule for a 5 gallon batch is to let it ride for 2-3 weeks before sampling. Patience is incredibly difficult when you are first starting out. The best way to overcome that is to get two batches going at once. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

Also, the best way to learn and prevent mistakes is to practice practice practice. :sunglasses: There are lots of people on here who are more than happy to help!

:beers:
Rad

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I agree that I wouldn’t use your 5gal equipment. The size alone will displace the wort so much that you won’t be able to recover the beer to bottle. Check out the bakery in a grocer. They may have a 2gal bucket that icing comes in.
Or, purchase the fermenter @radagast posted with the spigot. You could bottle it straight from that using the @flars (yes I tagged him RIP) method using a Dominos sugar dot per bottle. Drop the dot in the bottle and then bottle the still beer. Cap and condition!

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I love that idea with using the sugar pellets are bottling directly to the bottle. Seems like this may be the ticket for me.

One last question… sorry if this seems to be a stupid question, but taking a look at the fermenters, I see this term… carboy. What exactly is that and how does it differ from a standard fermenter?

A carboy is simply stated a glass or plastic vessel designed for fermentation or transporting liquids. :innocent: Depending upon the starter kit you got, you would have either gotten a plastic bucket or a carboy. My first kit came with a 6.5 gallon glass carboy to ferment in and a bucket with a spigot to bottle from. Personally, I prefer glass carboys to plastic, but to each their own. I’ve been lucky and never broken one. :crossed_fingers:

The little bigmouth I linked earlier could technically be called a carboy. It is designed with a wider opening at the top than a standard carboy which makes it much easier to clean and work with. I currently work with two 6.5 gal big mouth carboys and two 6.5 gal standard carboys for fermentation.

A traditional carboy would be shaped like this:

:beers:
Rad

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I think the first carboys were containers go way back to sailing ships. Glass carboys were used in water coolers and brewers hijacked them I bet. Many of us here still use them. I have two 6.5 gal. and four 5 gal. So far I have only shattered one glass carboy and that is the reason I have plastic buckets also.

The idea was primary fermentation in a 6.5 so your beer wouldn’t blow out the air lock and make a mess with the extra headspace. When it calmed down you would transfer or “rack” the beer into a 5 gal. so it could finish with minimal headspace. That practice is becoming a thing of the past so you will see brewers go right from the primary to bottling bucket or keg.

BTW there are no stupid questions here. We love to help so ask away.

Great insights on the carboy. You mentioned about moving directly from the fermenter to bottling. On my first brew, I made the priming solution and moved the wort from the fermenter to the bottling bucket. But I noticed that you can move from the fermenter directly to the bottle and use the sugar pellet (I think they are called). One would think this makes bottling easier with less exposure to possible contaminants, less equipment required, and quicker time to bottle. And, consistent amount of priming in the bottle. Are there any downsides to using the pellet method? I’m thinking of using the Bubbler with the spigot. I already have the other supplies. Thoughts?

Bottling is a PIA, the reason so many brewers keg their beer. Another expense of course.

I tried a few of the priming tabs when still bottling with mixed results. Does seem like they would simplify it some but heating up table sugar and gently mixing it in a bottling bucket still works and the tabs may or may not give you the carbonation you are looking for.

Domino Dots AKA sugar cubes are cheap and affective. See this from our former forum member who was very knowledgeable R.I.P. Flars Bottle primed with Domino Dots

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Great advice on the priming! So getting back to the one gallon recipes… I am looking to get a smaller kettle, which would also hel the cooling. However, the smallest one sold on this site is 5 gallons. I really need something about 2 gallons, right? (since most recipes require 1.25 gallons of water to start). Should I just pick any 2 gallon stainless steel kettle?

sorry Im late to the party. For 1 gallon batches I just bought a three gallon bucket from Home Depot drilled the appropriate size hole and ferment in that. Used a 1 gallon wine jug for secondary. Always transfer using a spring loaded bottle wand and auto siphon which you purge of O2. and then use the fizz drops or domino dots depending on bottle size and carbonation level. I also wouldn’t waste my money on 1 gallon kits. One gallon batches are perfect to learn how to brew without spending a bunch of money. If you don’t like the beer just dump it. Research stove top BIAB. You can get a bunch of those gallon wine jugs and keep transferring out of the bucket and repitch on the cake. If you have an apartment and drink a lot of beer this would be how to develop a pipeline to keep you supplied

Go to thrift shops and look for a stainless steel stock pot. I just gave away 3 two gallon stock pots with lids. These are easy enuff to figure out some add on gadgets, hole in the lid for thermometer, also for immersion chiller tubes…
May even be a cheap fermenter… think simple.
RIP Flars too…
Sneezles