I brew one gallon batches and attempted to brew my first all grain one gallon recipe. All the one gallon recipe kits call for half the packet of yeast, so that is what I did with the all grain and I have 2-3 times as much trub as normal.
My efficiency was 45%: I don’t know if that has anything to do with it but should I cut back on the yeast?
Quite possible the AG beer had a more hot/cold break material. Along with other solids.
The amount of trub should have no bearing on the OG/efficiency achieved.
If they say a pack of dry east is good for 5 gallons. 1 gallon would require 1/5th a pack. Who wants to measure that out. 
I say sprinkle 1/4 to 1/2 pack a call it beer.
If you are brewing a gallon, I would definitely let the hot/cold break settle and rack off this into your primary before fermenting. Making a gallon of beer and getting 3/4gal is really getting into the realm of not being worth it.
I personally like making 2.5-3gal batches so I get a case of finished beer for my effort.
[quote=“tom sawyer”]If you are brewing a gallon, I would definitely let the hot/cold break settle and rack off this into your primary before fermenting. Making a gallon of beer and getting 3/4gal is really getting into the realm of not being worth it.
I personally like making 2.5-3gal batches so I get a case of finished beer for my effort.[/quote]
If I decided to let the wort sit in a fermenter for a week then rack and pitch the yeast, what affect will it have on the fermentable sugars? Or will it not matter since I am just letting the break crud settle and removing the wort from it?
I know for sure I am going to use Nighthawk’s suggestion of scaling the yeast.
With your suggestion I just worry that the final gravity might be affected.
I know the easiest way to deal with this is just brew bigger batches but that is not in future plans at the moment.
You would not want to let the wort sit for a week before adding the yeast. It will spontaneously ferment. Letting it sit for 15-30 minutes will allow most of the solids to settle out.
You will want to account for this in your volumes also. If you loose 1-2 pints due to the solids, increase your volume by the same. Which means you may need to increase the grain to keep the OG the same.
I agree with Tom on making larger batches. 1 gallon is ~10 bottles. 2.5 gallons is ~24 bottles. Same amount of work for more bottles. But still manageable in the kitchen.
Now that I think of it, when I racked it into the primary from the kettle there was hardly any trub in the kettle. I wonder since I kept softly stirring it to cool it down faster it all got mixed and into my fermenter.
Would I be safe letting it set in the brew kettle for 20 mins after it reaches below 70 F before racking to let it settle or rack twice?
Seems that both ways should be acceptable.
Yes I do this routinely. I’ll let it sit in the kettle (covered) for an hour before racking. then when I rack I try to keep the autosiphon a little off the bottom and get most of the wort without the fluffy trub. I will even put the trub in a clean pitcher, cover it and put it in the fridge over night. Then I’ll either decant the clean wort into the fermentor, or use it for a starter.
