Primary fermenter size

[Al Morse]

I literally just brewed my first batch of one gallon brewers best American ale today. I have made some mead in the past, but this is my first go at beer. I put the brew in a 5 gallon bucket that I have instead of the two gallon pale that the recipe called for. I think it should be okay unless there is something I am not thinking of. Will my future 5 quarts of awesomeness be okay?

 

[RPh_Guy]

Yeah, it's fine.

Welcome to HBT!

 

[Al Morse]

Thanks. Definitely like the shorter fermentation times. Looking forward to making some good recipes. Is there an app that can convert 5 gallon recipes to 1 or 2 gallon sizes, or is it just time for math?

 

[RPh_Guy]

I use Brewer's Friend and it can scale for you if you don't want to divide everything. Probably all software can scale.

 

[Leezer]

Welcome! I also use Brewers Friend to scale 5G recipes to 1 or 2G. Pretty user friendly, I like to fine tune the quantities to get my preferred IBUs and gravity. If you want to try different primary ferm vessels at some point, I recommend the 3G Better Bottle and 1.4G Little Big Mouth Bubbler.

 

[Al Morse]

Welcome! I also use Brewers Friend to scale 5G recipes to 1 or 2G. Pretty user friendly, I like to fine tune the quantities to get my preferred IBUs and gravity. If you want to try different primary ferm vessels at some point, I recommend the 3G Better Bottle and 1.4G Little Big Mouth Bubbler.

Thanks. I downloaded Brewers friend it looks like just what I needed. I will take a look at the 3G Better Bottle. I figure I will keep the batches smaller until I get a good beer that I want 2cases worth.

 

[RM-MN]

Thanks. I downloaded Brewers friend it looks like just what I needed. I will take a look at the 3G Better Bottle. I figure I will keep the batches smaller until I get a good beer that I want 2cases worth.

That shouldn't take more than one more batch.

 

[RPh_Guy]

I recommend Fermonsters over the other options.
Wide mouth. Optional spigot. Smooth walls. Seals well.

I think small batch is good until you work some kinks out of the process.

 

[Al Morse]

I agree with brewing small batches (in my limited brewing knowledge) I think it just makes sense. You don’t hand someone a .50 cal for their first shooting experience. Plus... I can kill a 12 pack on my own if it sucks. Beer is beer. It’s like sex! Even if it’s bad it’s still good.