what can i brew with a 3 gallons kettle

[mathieulabelle]

hi,
i started brewing straight to all grain but in 1 gallon batches. so i have a 3 gallon kettle that i use on the stove. all grain has always give me great beer so far.
i have started to brew all grain to stop spending 5-10$ per bottle on micro brew beer . i had eard that brewing all grain , you could play around a lot with the recipe to get what you like.
i admit i still spend 5-10$ once in a while but i am pretty satisfied with the beer quality i get from my 1 gallon batches ( about 8 pints per weekend)

now my question though.
in between those 8 pints if i wanted to have some good but not to fancy beer can i brew larger batch somehow in a 3 gallon kettle ?
i am aware of those coopers type kit which seems like a good solution but i was just wondering if i could mash more grain, boil and then dilute in the carboy.if so how do you adjust ibu ? or should i just go with unhopped extract.

my plan is pretty much to keep brewing 1 gallon all grain and brew a once in a while big batch to keep the fridge full in between.

ps: will a 6.5 kettle be efficient on a electric stove?

thank !

 

[BeardedBrews]

Give extract a shot. Some extract batches have a very distinct extract "twang" but I have made extract batches that even BJCP judges have said "wait, this is extract??". 2.5 gallon boil size, dilute to 5 gallon in the fermenter. This is the general formula for all of the commercial extract kits, many of which taste great!


You can also get creative. You don't have to do your BIAB in your kettle if you don't want. You could add a bucket or two.

[EDIT]
Why brew a bigger batch if you're happy with what you're making? You could just get some extra fermentors and brew more often! More variety, more practice, more recipe tweaking.

Also, an electric stove can probably boil 6 gallons, just watch out for scratching and cracking.

 

[mathieulabelle]

thanks for the reply, i ll try a batch of extract. to answer your question, i am happy with the 1 gallon all grain batch but it is just the time that i lack to brew more. i usually do at least 1 batch per week to get a rotation but 8 pints fades away pretty quickly . i do love your electric keg kettle system though!

 

[BeardedBrews]

I completely understand the importance of maximizing time on your brew day. Extract is a good option, but you can also do a bigger all grain.

If you heat 2.5 gallons of water you could do a 6-8# mash in a bucket. Use a paint strainer and then dump back into your kettle for the boil.

The key with all grain is that the barley doesn't care what it's sitting in. If the time, temp, and water minerals are right, conversion will happen.


Thanks for the compliment on my keg. It is great for me, only minor changes needed.

 

[pharaohpierre]

There is a nice book out there called Beer Craft, six-packs from scratch. The whole book is based on brewing 1 gallon batches. I own it and it's got recipes for a lot of different styles of beers along with a lot of beer knowledge and brewer interviews. You should check that out if you only use a 3 gallon kettle.

 

[JohnSand]

Extract will make great beer with proper process and recipe.
You can also make bigger grain batches with your modest pot, by topping off as you boil, and again in the fermenter. I BIAB 5 gallon batches in a five gallon kettle on my stove, boiling about 3.5 gallons until after the hot break. Then I top off with more wort from a dunk sparge. You can even make big beers by adding late extract to a grain batch.
There is always a way.

 

[mathieulabelle]

thanks for the feedback... i will definitely give that all grain top off trick a try soon. as for today, i follow your suggestion and brew a 5 gallons extract stout. i also mashed some grain ( around 2.5 lb) at 156 to try to increase my non fermentables since i was told that extract tend to be light body. don't know if it will help but we ll see.

also thanks for letting me know about the Beer Craft, six-packs from scratch book . i ll look into it for new recipes. as of now i have been using beersmith to convert into 1 gallon all grain batches.

i do have 2 question for you guys though;
i bottle a 1 gallon belgian dubbel today and washed the yeast by adding about 1 cup of water. after 1 round of draining i took 1/2 cup and pitch that in my 5 gallon batch of stout ( og 1.050). will it be enough ? mrmalty' calculator is not working for some reason.

and also i mash my grain with 1 oz of cocoa nibs, now how much do you guys usually use in secondary for a mid taste? and what worked better for you guys when you used it : roasting the nibs in the oven to sanitize or soaking them in whisky/vodka.

thanks again for the help

 

[mathieulabelle]

1/2 a cup of washed yeast liquid was plenty as it is bubbling away today

 

[MadHomebrewer]

I highly recommend the 15 min pale ale recipe found on here. Just cut everything in half and do a 2.5-gallon brew. It is very tasty and if you need a quick brew day, its great. I will still brew it time to time even though I have moved to all grain.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=210253

 

[mathieulabelle]

Thanks will give it a shot next brew day

 

[trogdor447]

Don't forget you can do all grain 2.5 gallon with that just fine. Your biggest expense making smaller batches is yeast. If you have multiple fermenters and brew frequently enough you can re use the heck out of the yeast reducing your cost to literally.... 4-5 lbs of grain or about ten bucks a case of beer essentially.buy your favorite hops in bulk keep it in the freezer drop 1 oz on a brew half for full and half on flame out!

Keep a little extra ultra light malt around if your og is a little low and you need to pick it up.

Also as strange as it sounds do two waves of steeping. Will add a bit of time.. And won't bring as much out of the grains but it can get your og up and you can add water until where you like.

I personally have a 22 quart stainless brew pot and I enjoy doing 3.5 to 4 gallon all grain. But if I'm in a hurry I just roll out an extract kit. On the electric stove takes about 45 mins to get 3 gallons to rolling

 

[madscientist451]

If you can't get a bigger pot right away, get a 3 gallon fermenter and shoot for boiling about 2.5 gallons of wort down to 1.5 gallons. You would then add a gallon of water and put that in your fermenter and get something close to a 24 bottle case of beer.
If you take a standard 5 gallon recipe, cut all the ingredient amounts by half and you'll be good to go.
I use a 6 gallon kettle in my kitchen and can make 4 gallon batches.
The wort starts off at about 5.25 gallons and after evaporation loss, I have slighty more than 4 gallons.
I can brew 5 gallon batches by using a smaller side pot and then dumpng them together at the end.

 

[mathieulabelle]

thank you all for the suggestion.

 

[Aristotelian]

I brew 2.25 gallon batches AG using a 3 gallon kettle. I do BIAB with a paint strainer bag. Mash 4.5 lbs grain with about 1.25 gallons water. Remove grains, pour over sparge until you hit 2.25 gallons. Plenty of room to boil. Yields 2 gallons plus a little extra to hold over for making a starter for your next batch. (Just get a second jug to add to your current setup).

 

[mathieulabelle]

so thanks for the suggestions, i manage to get a 5 gallons batch using a square cooler to mash 12 lbs of grain and double sparge with 2 gallon each time. the boil was split in 2 x 3 gallons kettle and 1x 1.5 gallon pot. i splited my hop addition accordingly. worked out great . thanks again for the suggestions