I just finished a gallon of White House Honey and reconstituted 1/2 of the yeast packet using about 1/4 cup of the wort. The gas lock started burping after about 2 hours and within 12 hours the foam had pressed through the lock and all down the sides of the jug. I’ve brewed 3 other 1 gallon kits (just pitching the dry yeast) and never had this reaction.
My questions: Did the reconstitution of the yeast cause this volital reaction? and if so, should I expect a problem with this batch? Should I go back to pitching the dry yeast and forget about reconstituting the yeast?
The “problem” with this batch is your fermenting vessel is too small. A 1 gallon container for 1 gallon of beer allows virtually zero headspace during active fermentation.
Everyone that has purchased these “small batch kits” should be calling/emailing NB and demanding a refund. They are selling a known defective product. They don’t sell 5 gallon fermenters for their 5 gallon kits.
IF they sold the kits as .75g and used a 1 gallon jug it “might” be OK. It is impossible to brew 1 gallon of beer in a 1 gallon jug.
Everyone that has purchased these “small batch kits” should be calling/emailing NB and demanding a refund. They are selling a known defective product. They don’t sell 5 gallon fermenters for their 5 gallon kits.
IF they sold the kits as .75g and used a 1 gallon jug it “might” be OK. It is impossible to brew 1 gallon of beer in a 1 gallon jug.[/quote]
+1 million. If you want to brew 1 gallon, you need about a 1.5-gallon fermenter. Good luck finding one. Alternatively, you might get away with splitting the batch to ferment in a couple of 2.5-quart jugs like from apple juice or orange juice. I do that on occasion, like for some hard cider I’m making right now. I got a very small amount of single varietal apple juice (Kingston Black), so I have it chugging away in a reused 2.5-quart apple juice jug. Perfect size. I might only get 3 or 4 bottles out of the batch, but oh well.
Also, 1/2 pack of yeast is WAY too much for 1 gallon. If you only used 1/4 pack, that’s still more than plenty. You’re wasting good yeast if you use 1/2 pack.
At 1 gallon, I think you’re better off to start building some of your own recipes and use up any leftover yeast on that. Heck… to make 1 gallon, or 3 quarts or whatever, you only need like 2.25 lbs grain (plus or minus a few ounces) to make an all-grain batch! You can purchase 3 or 4 lbs of a whole bunch of different kinds of malts for pretty cheap, have it all arrive pre-crushed, design your own recipes, mash in a bag (BIAB), pull the bag out and rinse it out a little bit, and roll with a little hops and a little leftover yeast from previous batches. Small batches are so friggin easy, a caveman can do it. I hate to see that yeast go to waste! Save some for later. Experiment a bit. It’s all fun.
And like others have said, no need to rehydrate yeast. It’s a wasted effort.
Yikes! Looks like I opened a can-o-worms. To be entirely honest, the NB 1 gallon jugs are something more that 128 ounces. There is a 1 gallon fill line below the neck of the bottle that is supposed to give the right amount of headspace. NB has been an extremely good resource for me (beginner), so I don’t want to bring in the lawyers just yet.
According to the reviews for the 1 gallon kits, overflow is not a problem - i’m sure it is just a matter of a loose nut behind the wheel.
From everyones comments there are Two things, I think, that contributed to the “stack” overflow, 1) 4 oz of honey (came with the kit) and 2) recostitution of the dry yeast.
Thanks for ALL of the comments - I appreciate your passion for the art.
[quote=“Allyn”]Yikes! Looks like I opened a can-o-worms. To be entirely honest, the NB 1 gallon jugs are something more that 128 ounces. There is a 1 gallon fill line below the neck of the bottle that is supposed to give the right amount of headspace. NB has been an extremely good resource for me (beginner), so I don’t want to bring in the lawyers just yet.
According to the reviews for the 1 gallon kits, overflow is not a problem - i’m sure it is just a matter of a loose nut behind the wheel.
From everyones comments there are Two things, I think, that contributed to the “stack” overflow, 1) 4 oz of honey (came with the kit)[size=115] No[/size] and 2) recostitution of the dry yeast. [size=115]no[/size]
Thanks for ALL of the comments - I appreciate your passion for the art.
Allyn[/quote]
If you look at ANY container in the stores, none of them are filled to to top of the neck. The jug supplied by NB is a 1 gallon juice jar. The same that was used for apple juice before the manufactures decided that plastic was safer, cheaper to make and cheaper to transport.
If rehydrating the yeast was an issue, every larger batch made by rehydrating would have issues. You can go through the board and will find close to a dozen cases in the last 6 weeks where the same issues are happening. It is NOTHING that you are doing. It is to small of a container.
OK. Since i only have two more 1 gallon kits to brew, i guess that it would probably be best to just use 2 - 1 gallon jugs in which to ferment. All the jugs I found so far are 1 gallon or 2 gallon - nothing in between. Kind of a pain, but i’ll live with it for the time being. Next month i plan on brewing a 5 gallon batch using 6 gallon carboys for fermentation - hopefully no spillage with that arrangement.
