1 gallon pros/cons?

[mainbutter]

Howdy everybody. It's that time of year where I start thinking about brewing again and really miss having a basement. A few years ago I had some success making 5 gal recipe kits, as well as multiple 5 gal batches of wine. It was good enough to disappear quickly anyways.

Space at the place we've lived at for the past two years is very limited (District of Colombia.. unbelievably expensive out here, and no basements).

So while I don't have anywhere to keep 5 gallon buckets or carboys, I think I can clear some shelf space in closets for a few 1 gallon jugs and cross my fingers that the temperatures are good enough.

With that said, what are some pros/cons of 1 gallon brewing that I should be aware of before giving it a shot (AKA putting some equipment on the xmas wish list)?

Does anyone have some solid suggestions for where to get started? I was thinking a 1 gallon kit from northern brewer would be a decent option, I hope the equipment is a good enough quality I won't be kicking myself for getting something "too cheap" after a few brews.

Thanks for any tips, tricks, suggestions, recommendations, freebies, and personal checks that show up magically in my mailbox

 

[tbred]

I brew 1 gallon batches all the time. I would just straight into all grain brew in a bag set up. You will need a 2-5gallon kettle, a fermentor (glass jog or plastic bottle, I recommend a 2 gallon fermentor for 1 gallon batches), and a few bottles. The Northern Brewer kit is a good place to start. Try a few of their kits, and then go crazy experimenting.

Also anther good place for information is 1 gallon brewers unite

 

[BlueHouseBrewhaus]

Another possibility would be to brew several gallons and then use several one gallon fermenters stashed wherever you can fit them. I know a lot of people do 1 gal brews but it always struck me as a lot of time and work for just a few bottles of beer.

 

[Aristotelian]

There is a whole thread on 1 gallon brewing. The only con is that it makes a small amount of beer. For me 2 gallons is a good sweet spot for a manageable batch size that makes enough beer to last a while and justify the effort.

As long as you have a big enough pot, it is easy to start with 1 gallon and then add another jug and move up to 2 gallons without having to change your whole system.

 

[woo_pig]

A bucket or carboy would take up less space then 5 one gallon jugs.

 

[harrke]

The pros are that you can easily get more variety. The cons are that there is a marginal increase in cost per drink--both time and consumables. I have started fermenting in a 1.75 gallon keg that I put a "wrap" on. View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1480472697.405762.jpg

I'm in Northern Illinois, so I have a heat pad plugged into a temp controller in my basement. But that "cozy" could easily hold ice packs if I needed to drop the temps. The keg is about the same height as a wine bottle, so with a little effort, I can cold crash in my refrigerator.

I've found that BIAB kits from Austin Homebrew are easy to do on the stove top, with my 12- quart pot fitting into the oven on "warm" to hold mash temps.

That said, my first effort was with the Northern Brewer extract kit and it turned out very well.

 

[violinguy]

I'm still brewing 1-gallon after a couple years and a dozen or so brews. I'm thinking of spending a little tax money next year on a five gallon rig though. I like how easy it is to control a 1-gallon brew. Smaller bits to sanitize and carry. I like being able to try lots of different recipes and kits without a huge cost and space requirement. I like that I don't have to monopolize the already small square footage of my house to store and ferment 5-gallon buckets.

However, I hate that after all that work, I have 8-10 beers to drink. If I want to sample one to see how it's going, that leaves so few at the end of the cycle. It's essentially the same amount of time and effort, but a much smaller yield. I think I'll still brew 1-gallon after I get my 5-gallon stuff, but it'll be only to try out recipes and different styles before I commit to 5 gallons.

 

[Chiller_ale]

I like the little big mouth bubbler for small batches. It is 1.4 gallons so you have extra head space or you can add a bit more beer.

 

[Cyclman]

I really think that 2.5 gallon batches are the optimal size. About a case of beer, so enough to enjoy, but not a huge amount of space.

 

[Trillium]

I brew 1 gallon batches all the time. Mostly for the purpose of evaluating and comparing different malts to see what each is like on its own. I also do the same thing with 10% specially malts. For example, comparing 4 difference crystal 60 from 4 different malting companies. It been a huge learning experience and has helped me become a better brewer on my 10 gallon system.

One thing about 1 gallon batches is the amount of trub. I can't figure out a good to separate it out.

 

[seabrew8]

Whats the issue with the temperature? If its too warm those cool brewing bag coolers are very neat. I'll probably get one in 6 months or so.

 

[seabrew8]

I brew 1 gallon batches all the time. Mostly for the purpose of evaluating and comparing different malts to see what each is like on its own. I also do the same thing with 10% specially malts. For example, comparing 4 difference crystal 60 from 4 different malting companies. It been a huge learning experience and has helped me become a better brewer on my 10 gallon system.

One thing about 1 gallon batches is the amount of trub. I can't figure out a good to separate it out.

Cold crashing for a few days doesn't help?

 

[Sadu]

I brew both 1 gallon and 5 gallon batches, and everything in between. I decided to start doing 1 gallon brews after struggling through a 5G hefeweizen that was not quite bad enough to dump, decided that I want to trial my recipes before committing to a full batch.

The pros of 1 gallon brewing for me:
- Great way to try out expensive (hoppy or high gravity) recipes to see if they are worth it.
- Great way to refine a recipe with small adjustments in between.
- Dial in your mineral additions and mash pH so you nail it on the big batch.
- Minimal gear needed - you should have most of it already. I even use the same grain bag for 1 gallon and 10 gallon batches.
- Everything happens quicker on brewday - heating mash, heating to boil, chilling the wort, this saves over an hour on brewday
- You can adjust mash temps on the stovetop, mash in the oven to keep temps very stable
- Cleanup is considerably less hassle. Bottling takes 20 mins.
- You can have 10-15 different beers in your fridge.
- Much much easier to maintain lager temps in a swamp cooler.
- Yeast starters are a lot simpler. A big lager needs 150b cells which is easy to grow.
- If you have a grain mill you can easily stock small amounts every malt from the HBS plus a few versatile hop/yeast varieties and you can design a recipe and brew same day.
- Brewing activities fit into your life schedule a lot easier. You can bottle a batch or move fermentors around a lot easier.

Cons
- Lot of work for small amount of beer. This is really the main downside, and it's a big one.
- If you buy new yeast every time it's going to get expensive. However harvesting slurry works great for small batches.
- Cost per kit might be higher, but not if you buy separate ingredients and weigh out your own recipes.
- You will have to scale most recipes that you find (not a huge hassle with Beersmith or similar).

 

[PADave]

However, I hate that after all that work, I have 8-10 beers to drink. If I want to sample one to see how it's going, that leaves so few at the end of the cycle. It's essentially the same amount of time and effort, but a much smaller yield.

This was the huge downfall of 1 gal batches for me. I started doing 1 gal, then realized how much time and work was involved for a few brews. I think I did 4, then said screw this and went to 5 gal.

 

[Brownalemikie]

I started with a 1 gallon kit from NB about 5 months ago. I bought three more 1 gallon carboys right after my first brew session. Now, I use a 4 gallon brew pot and brew 2 gallons every Saturday which gives enough brown ale so I can drink 3 bottles per day. I also buy grains and hops in bulk to bring the cost down to about $.90 per bottle. It's too bad that LME is so expensive. Anyways, it works for me.

 

[troutman35]

I recently put some one gallon equipment on my Christmas wish list. I never got it at all, put the more I work on developing my own recipes, it seems now to me a great way to experiment. I also always wanted to do a German Pils but had no means of lagering a five gallon batch. This would make that attainable.

 

[Biscuits]

I rent a room in Alexandria so I feel your pain. I have been brewing 1.5 gallon batches because of space limitations too...I'd say go BIAB method with a 3-5 gallon kettle. Also, I just use a couple of 2 gallon buckets I bought at myLHBS to ferment/bottle in. As far as equipment space I can fit everything into a small corner of my already cramped closet.

Pros are that you get to brew more since you will be going through your supply rather fast - which also means more variety, and brew days are a bit quicker.

Cons are that it costs a bit more per bottle to produce and you may find yourself storing marginal amounts of grain/hops/yeast.

 

[smyrnaquince]

i really think that 2.5 gallon batches are the optimal size. About a case of beer, so enough to enjoy, but not a huge amount of space.

+1

 

[Kent88]

I started off brewing in LBKs, then switched to 1-gallon batches, and now I try to make ales into 3-gallon batches.

1-gallon kits have been great for me because I was just getting into the hobby and developing a taste for beer, but now that I've been brewing a while I think the only positive about 1-gallon batches is that I can fit 1-gallon jugs in my lager fridge and my 3-gallon carboys are too big. I also recently made what was just a glorified, fairly drinkable yeast starter a couple months ago in a 1-gallon jug and I got both beer and yeast dregs from it.

I've tried making 2-gallon batches and splitting them between a couple 1-gallon jugs, and it seems to work, but I have had instances where they'll have just a slight difference in starting gravity, and (I attribute this to trub levels and improper aeration) they can take different amounts of time to ferment out. I haven't done this enough to know if this was an anomaly or if this could happen regularly.

And getting the right amount of trub to help keep fermentation healthy (better aeration offsets it, though) and not cut into the bottling volume is a little tricky. I usually try to have 5 quarts at the end of a '1-gallon' boil and it usually works ok.

And if you like malty or balanced beer you'll probably throw away a lot of hops. With 1-gallon lagers I usually use less than 3/4oz of low AA hops. I suppose I could freeze them, but these days I don't brew as often as I'd like, so they'd sit in a ziplock bag in the freezer for months.

And getting all the gear for 1-gallon batches only to find that you want to brew bigger ends up a bit annoying. I say that even though I still make 1-gallon batches.

3-gallon batches have been great.

 

[popsicleian]

I started off with 1 gallon batches, but as a completely new brewer--since you have some previous brewing experience, you're in a bit of a different boat. I was 100% certain that 1 gallon batches were the right size for me--I'm not a high volume drinker, and I like a lot of variety.

There were a lot of people on this forum and elsewhere warning me not to invest too much money in one gallon equipment because I would almost certainly want to go bigger at some point. No, I thought. One gallon batches are definitely the right size for me, I thought. I am a special snowflake, I thought.

After 2 one gallon batches, I realized that it was WAY too much work for 8-9 bottles of beer. If I wanted to bring a six pack to a friend's house, that was almost my entire batch gone. If we had some people over, those 8 beers disappeared rather quickly. If I opened a bottle a little early, while the beer still tasted a bit green, it felt like a real loss. Luckily, most of the equipment I was using for the one gallon batches was borrowed, so I didn't waste too much money.

I have since purchased an 8 gallon kettle (though I honestly wish I had gone for 10 gallons) and a few bigger fermenters. Most of my batches are 3-4 gallons now, though I've done a couple bigger than that. The per-batch cost isn't that much higher, and I love having enough to share beer with friends and family.

I know that space is a real issue for you, but if I were you I would rack my brain and try to figure out a way to accommodate a bigger kettle and a bigger fermenter. Using BIAB definitely lowers the volume of equipment that you need, too.

 

[TasunkaWitko]

My experience and my 2¢ only - your mileage (and the mileage of others) may and certainly can vary....

Everyone is telling you not to do it...but if it's working, I say stick with it.

I've been brewing 1-gallon, all-grain batches since Day 1, and it fits my space requirements and "consumption rate" perfectly. The whole operation is on the stovetop (brewing), in the bedroom closet (fermenting) and on the kitchen counter (bottling) with no complications, no Rube Goldberg contraptions and no mad scientist fuss.

It is not brewing with training wheels and it doesn't make you a 2nd-class brewer. It does take less time, it is less work, and it allows you a freedom to experiment and be creative with recipes and ingredients.

Nothing at all against larger-batch brewing, or extract brewing etc. &c. - nothing at all.... I am just tired of the constant 1-gallon bashing. If it works for you, and you like it, go with it.

Ron

 

[violinguy]

I really think that 2.5 gallon batches are the optimal size. About a case of beer, so enough to enjoy, but not a huge amount of space.

This is my next project. I've got 2 1-gallon kits to brew still, but I've been working in beersmith to make my own recipes and 2.5 seems to be the best way to go. It's easy to half the ingredients. The 20+ yield is perfect for my space and situation.

 

[violinguy]

My experience and my 2¢ only - your mileage (and the mileage of others) may and certainly can vary....


It is not brewing with training wheels and it doesn't make you a 2nd-class brewer. It does take less time, it is less work, and it allows you a freedom to experiment and be creative with recipes and ingredients.


Ron

Absolutely. Hopefully the advice to brew more doesn't make the OP feel this way. Excellent beer comes in small and large quantities. Either way it's excellent beer.

I'm starting to have people ask to try the beers I make so I'm going to start making more. If you're satisfied with 1-gallon (as I've been for 2 years) then stick with it.

 

[Weezy]

My $0.02...

If you have a gas stove, you can do 3 gallon batches nicely. I used two $12 16-quart stainless stock pots from Walmart. One was for mashing (use a 5 gallon paint strainer bag) and one is for dunk sparging. You can chill in the sink as an ice bath.

Use a brewdemon faux conical fermenter. Wifey didn't mind the brown one right on the kitchen counter.. She thought it was cute (but she hated the smell during brewing). You can topcrop out of them too.

$12 pot(s)
$20 spigot(s) do help
$5 paint strainer bag
$40 fermenter

3 gallon batch,
A little less than that (after losses) will fit in the brewdemon "2.5 gallon" fermenter just fine,
Then something close to 2.5 gallons of finished beer goes into 2.5 gallon kegs.

 

[C-Rider]

I brew 2 gallon batches which gives me just about 3 six packs. I use a 5 gal Colman cooler BIAB. I have a 5 gallon pot but you can get away w/a 4 gallon pot if you watch carefully for boil overs. You'll never need more than 3 gallons of water to boil. I ferment in 2 gallon plastic buckets from Home Depot. Been doing this for years now. I've won 5 silver medals in local competition so small batches can be good beer. I try to get 1.9 gal in the fermenter leaving just a little head space to prevent blow out of the air lock. I you can easily control temp in a big plastic tub and a rotate 2 1/2 gallons bottles of ice twice a day.

 

[seabrew8]

Absolutely. Hopefully the advice to brew more doesn't make the OP feel this way. Excellent beer comes in small and large quantities. Either way it's excellent beer.

I'm starting to have people ask to try the beers I make so I'm going to start making more. If you're satisfied with 1-gallon (as I've been for 2 years) then stick with it.

In light of pizzagate i find your sig very interesting care to explain it?

 

[PADave]

In light of pizzagate i find your sig very interesting care to explain it?

Some musicians are pizza delivery guys? Pay for the pizza and they leave.

 

[FutureFarm]

I started doing 1 gal all-grain batches in the kitchen. I mashed in a crockpot, heated sparge water on the stove, and boiled on the stove. After a few batches I started doing 2 gal batches using the same process. Both of these processes used 1 gal glass jugs. It got to be a little messy with 2 crockpots, 2 jugs with tiny openings, and all the other tools. I have since moved to 2.5 gal BIAB on the stove top. I have a 5.5 gal pot, and a 3 gal glass carboy for fermenting.

Reasons I moved to 2.5 gal:
Thermal mass for mashing. I was constantly chasing mash temp for smaller batches. Always adjusting temp to keep it in a stable range.
Fewer fermenters sitting around. In theory I sold all my 1 gal jugs. In reality, they're still on the shelf allocated to brewing.
More of a good thing. I enjoy my beer and 2.5 gals/month gives me enough to share. I probably need to share a little more though. I'm supposed to be brewing today, but don't have enough bottles to empty the carboy from last month's brewing.

1 - 2.5 gal is great for people who live in small spaces. I do all my brewing in a 1000 sf apartment. All my brewing gear sits on one shelf. All of the bottles stack neatly in crates in the corner. I have an electric stove, and I probably spend more time watching water/wort heat, but it still works.

 

[mainbutter]

First of all - thank you for all the replies, it has been really helpful. The one thing I've made up my mind on is that I am definitely going to brew again in the next month or two.

I think I am going to go ahead with the 1-gallon idea. The downsides are things that shouldn't upset me terribly, and I think even when I do have space to do larger brews, having a couple 1-gallon containers on hand will be fun. My 5 gallon batches left me wishing I could brew on a weekend to try something new when my fermenter was already occupied and I had a dozen 1.75s of wine and two cases of my previous ale needing to be consumed.

1) With the decision pretty much made, I have a couple extra questions:
I've only done extract brewing. BIAB sounds fun, and I'll probably try it after a few extract batches. The search function has been good, but I wanted to ask - is there any "must read" thread or video I should watch that is a great resource for small batch BIAB?

2) Living in DC comes with some pretty unexpected weather, at least compared to living in the midwest. If you had three feet of shelf space, about 1.5 feet deep, to keep some fermenters on, are there any good techniques for managing temperature? Our indoor temps in the winter are typically 65F, 76F in summer.

3) I am limited to an electric stove until we move, which may be more than a year in the future. If I wanted to upsize, what is a reasonable brew size I should limit myself to if I wanted to go bigger than 1 gal?

Thanks again!

 

[MadHomebrewer]

I brewed 1 gallon batches for about a year. I started out with a Mr. Beer kit. Then upgraded to a Northern Brewer 1 gallon kit. I eventually started buying Brooklyn brew shop 1 gallon refill kits. This started me with BIAB all grain brewing. I now have a keggle I BIAB 5 gallon batches in.

My advice would be pick up the Northern Brewer advance 1 gallon starter kit. Then pick up some all grain Brooklyn brew shop refill kits and BIAB for a while. Just pick up some paint strainer bags from the hardware store for BIAB.

 

[violinguy]

In light of pizzagate i find your sig very interesting care to explain it?

The joke is that musicians only make money from delivering pizza

 

[dhop]

I'm in a similar boat to the 1 gallon brewers here due to small apartment constraints. One thing I would like to add is to get a more precise scale than the typical kitchenware (usually repeatable to 1 g/ 0.04 oz). With 1 gallon batches, your typical hop additions are on the order of 0.15-0.75 oz, and thus your "error" in your measured hop addition can be as high as 25%. This decreases with larger batches, so people doing 2.5 and 5 gallon batches have much lower errors. This becomes very important when you are crafting your own recipes and scaling them down. I've had some major over/under bitterness levels especially with higher AA hops.

You can get precisions of .01 g on Amazon for fairly cheap (~$8) and will make a large improvement in your consistency between batches (the precision of the scale) and recreating other's recipes (the accuracy of the scale - this requires a calibration weight).

 

[seabrew8]

The joke is that musicians only make money from delivering pizza

I see! Thanks, i always wanted to learn the violin. Piano would be first however. I'm a guitar player.

 

[Leezer]

1) With the decision pretty much made, I have a couple extra questions:
I've only done extract brewing. BIAB sounds fun, and I'll probably try it after a few extract batches. The search function has been good, but I wanted to ask - is there any "must read" thread or video I should watch that is a great resource for small batch BIAB?

I don't know if there is anything specifically for small batch BIAB, but as a 2G BIAB brewer I found the "BIAB Brewing (with pics)" thread on here to be very helpful. Unlike in that thread I brew on my stovetop with a 4G pot, but the techniques are still helpful. I also found a lot on youtube. Again, even though I could only find 5G videos, they were still useful.