In this week’s episode, I talked about brewing one-gallon batches. And. I discussed the benefits and advantages of brewing such a small batch of beer.
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Show Transcript
AI created it will have many errors.
Colter Wilson: One of my favorite things. About brewing beer. Is that. You can pretty much make as much or as little beer. As you want.
On this week’s episode, though. We’re going to talk about specifically. Brewing one gallon batches. And. Being somebody who brews a lot of five gallon batches. You’d be surprised at some of the advantages of brewing, such a small batch of beer. This week. On homebrewing, DIY.
Welcome back to home brewing DIY the podcast that takes on the do it yourself. Aspect of homebrewing, gadgets, contraptions, and parts. This show covers it all. On this week’s show, we’re going to talk about the advantages of doing a one gallon batch. We’ll dive into that deep and I’m going to do this show solo this week, and it’s going to be a pretty good time.
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This week, we’re going to talk about. A cool little subject. I wanted to do a deep dive into one gallon beers and we’ll get into that in just a minute. But first I kind of want to talk about what’s going on in my brewery. Kind of got a lot. Last Friday I actually was able to, during my Workday. Pull together and do a daytime brew. I had some meetings and had a beer going, just love going electric, just because of not having to stand over.
A burner and make sure that I don’t burn my house down in my garage or. Out under an awning. So it. These are some of the advantages of going electric and I’m pretty excited about them. I’m not knocking a burner. A burner did well for me and I make great beer for years. But just really enjoying some of the conveniences of going electric.
I made a. An American Pilsner. So using some American style hops in a 100% Pilsner beer using Lutra and I got to say is still blowing my mind. I made a beer was 10 46. I pitched yeast on Friday and by Sunday it had already dropped down to 1.004. It’s about a 5.9% alcohol. And this is going to be dry as hell apparently, but just mind boggling how fast and how crazy that fermentation was. And it was going like a banshee.
From edited in a keg, train out my new floating dip tube that I put in the keg. Uh, I D I. Started fermenting and kegs solely now and really enjoying it. Easy to do pressurized transfers. And just really making the entire process a lot easier, plus, I mean, you can’t be the keg. They’re so cheap when they, when you think about a stainless steel fermentor, there’s really just the easiest way to go. So.
Really excited about this. Still have it in the fermentor. I just cold crashed it yesterday. Probably gonna, after I record this show, we’re going to keg up the beer and have a drink and buy this weekend. Just kind of crazy to think about doing a Pilsner in about nine days. Probably give us some time and some gelatin to try to clear it up.
But pretty excited about this beer and I will post some photos on social about what we’re doing when it comes to that beer. Let’s jump into this week show or this week’s subject where we’re going to talk about brewing one gallon, batches.
The reason I wanted to do a show on one gallon. Batches is there’s a couple advantages to brewing them. I personally. Generally when I brew brew a five gallon batch, but every now and again, I will do a one gallon batch and space for some specific reasons. I do one gallon or even two gallon batches. When I want to try something new that I feel.
Is really on the edge of it could be good or could be bad. And. If I’m going to put a lot of WWE. If I’m really iffy about a process.
Then I’m going to go and brew a one gallon batch because if I make a beer and it really sucks, I don’t have to drink five gallons of it. And I don’t feel so bad about dumping out five gallons of it. So that’s one reason, another reason that you might want to brew one gallon batches is it’s a lot easier to do split batches for testing.
So, for example, let’s say I wanted to test out different styles of malt or different styles of hops in, and really get an idea of what they are going to taste like. One gallon batches are a great way to really dive in to how you’re going to. Maybe this unique maltase maybe how this particular hop tastes. One gallon matches are a great way of doing so. And you can really go any way you want what? The one gallon batch.
One of the cool things that you can do when you have a one gallon batch for testing. Specifically for things like tasting hops, let’s use that for an example, is that. You can easily make a couple of one gallon batches with extract. And maybe even cut some corners. I’ve I’ve done this particularly where if I want to taste a specific hop, let’s say I want to taste.
Some Citra versus mosaic. Well, what I would do then is I can actually take a couple of extract batches, run them through the same process. So for example, boil them in all of the same times. So for example, let’s say I’m going to make a one gallon batch four. Citra. I’m going to be essentially just add my water, bring it up to about two and a half gallons of water in my for my Boyle.
I’m going to. Then add my malt extract. And then I’m going to maybe split it into a couple of separate pots. And do additions at exactly the same time, have a couple of fermentors that I’m going to have. You know, a couple of two gallon. Maybe Demi John style or small carboys, I’m gonna use for my fermenters when it comes to doing these one gallon, batches, and then I’m going to do two hop additions that are going to be the same. So maybe I’ll do a 60.
A 40 minute and a five minute at flame out at each hop in each batch at the same time. And you can do this on your stove. You don’t have to have burners. You don’t have to have anything crazy. Do it in the kitchen. Do your brew day and kind of not have to sit there with like burners and do five gallon batches.
The cool thing about a one gallon batches. You also get about a six pack of beer. So for example, let’s say you’re going to do a tasting with friends and you want to do these comparisons. You can also you’ll have a six pack of samples to be able to do these comparisons. So these are some great experiments that you can do when using one gallon, batches. And I think one of the advantages when doing experiments.
Of one gallon, batches.
Another thing. That’s great about one gallon batches is that when you’re trying to test specific variables in the process of brewing. So, for example, let’s say you’re trying to do a brew loss, Sufi style variable test, where maybe you make a three gallon batch. Of initial wart and then split the batch into a couple of small one gallon, final batches. And you can essentially then have the small fermenters kind of chugging away.
With everything that you’re going to need to be able to do these small one gallon batches. So for me, one gallon batches have a really, really great. It advantage. When it comes to being able to brew in this size. And being able to essentially.
Do things like experiment. So, let let’s talk now. Since we’re just kind of diving into the one gallon batch. Now about maybe some of the equipment you might need to do a one gallon batch.
First of all, to do a one-gallon batch, you’re going to need a kettle. I think that that’s essential for any type of beer, but the cool thing is that if you’re doing a one-gallon batch of beer, You could probably use a kettle that you already have laying around the house. And I know that personally. I have a pot that I make Chilean all the time that sits on this in my cupboard right now that could make a one-gallon batch of beer in it, and very, very easily.
It’s a, it’s actually a two gallon kettle that I use. I use it for cooking all the time when I have to do large pots of stew and things like that, but that could be easily used for a one gallon batch of beer. You’re not having to buy a bunch of extra equipment. The one big piece of extra equipment, I think you would need to buy is going to be a fermentor that is going to be the right size for doing a one gallon batch. Essentially you could ferment in a five gallon for men, or you could put one gallon in it, but it just seems like it would be a little bit of overkill considering that when you go to siphon it out, you’re probably going to have a.
A lot more sediment in it. Cause it’s all spread out and closer to the top. It would be harder to get out, but just getting a Demi John’s style for mentor. That’s two gallons. You want to, you want to have a two gallon fermentor for a one gallon batch or at least a 1.5 gallon. Because you gotta have some head space in there for the fermentation to happen.
That’s going to be really important because even if you have, let’s say a 1.5 gallon. For mentor that you were using for a one gallon batch. You want to be able to be set up in a way that. You have enough head space that you don’t have it explode all over your kitchen and make a huge mess. I think that these are the things that as home brewers we’re always trying to avoid is explosions of Homebrew. At least I know that.
I’m trying to avoid that when it comes to not getting in a fight with my wife, about the types of things that I would explode all over my kitchen and wish. Ken will and has happened in my past.
Uh, man, just so many bad things have happened there. But the point is. I think that thinking ahead, making sure you have enough head space is going to help. Another quick trick though, is if you have some defoamer jaw drops and or D foaming agent that you can get from a local home brew store, you just ask for it. You can use that to essentially make it so that you can have less head space and not have to worry about a blow off happening.
With your Cresin. During the fermentation. So that could be something and all you would need in a one gallon batches, probably a drop of defoamer in the entire batch. So that could be another solution. When it comes to giving yourself enough, not enough head space. So. Yep. You want to make sure you have a fermentor. Then another thing is you want to have a racking cane.
Transcribing…
That is, think of it as like a smaller version of your five gallon racking cane, five gallon racking Cain is going to work just fine. But you’re it, it too is kind of overkill because you, you it’s, it’s a much higher arc and you, it can be a kind of a. A little bit of a. Unruly to handle while you’re trying to transfer, and you’re going to go probably straight into bottles, straight from your fermentor. And so that could be one issue when it comes to fermenting.
One gallon batches, you can find like little auto siphons that are used for two and three gallon batches. I see those at the home brew shop all the time. That would be a recommended piece of equipment. And pretty inexpensive, probably around $10 or less to get that piece of equipment. But that would be a great piece to have. If you’re doing one gallon, batches.
The other thing is, is I would say have more than one for mentor. If you do one gallon batches,
Specifically, if you’re using one gallon, batches for testing. Having multiple fermenters is definitely going to help and you can also have a few different projects going. That’s also a great. Little project thing to have going on.
Another piece of equipment I would recommend for one gallon batches and something that I would just in general recommend is having actual bottles. You because the batches are so small bottling, isn’t going to be that big of a pain in the butt. And. If you’re making about a six pack of beer, you’re just going to feel six bottles.
And at that point, I don’t really think that it would be worth doing a kegging system. Considering the smallest format, I normally would get a keg in his, a. 2.5 gallon keg. And at that point, Putting one gallon, 2.5 gallon. I dunno. Just doesn’t really make a lot of sense. So if I were doing one gallon batches, I would just assume that I’m going to bottle those batches because.
That would be my assumption. A quick trick when doing one gallon, batches and bottling, because it’s such a small amount and not very expensive. A quick thing I would recommend is bottling drops for the sugar additions.
I use bottling drops all the time. You put one drop in a bottle at your beard of the bottle and cap it. It’s it’s, it’s almost stupid. Easy. And you can get a bag of, I believe 25 or 30 drops for four or $5. And I would recommend getting bottling drops if you’re going to do. Any type of small, small batch bottling, like one gallon batches.
So those are some key pieces of equipment that I would personally recommend. If you are going to be a one gallon brewer. So now let’s talk about. Some advantages of. Doing one gallon batches. We’ve talked about the, why we’ve talked about the equipment. Well, let’s talk about some advantages. So the first advantage for me that comes off the top of my head.
Is. Refrigeration becomes a lot easier with a one gallon batch. And what I’m talking about specifically is cold crashing. So if you’re a brewer right now and you. I don’t have a fridge. There’s a lot of brewers out there. That’s still brew in their basement. Totally fine. There’s nothing wrong with it, especially if you have a nice, cool basement. Great.
But you may not have a fridge to be able to cold crash. So you might wait longer to let your beer settled. There’s all kinds of things that people do to kind of clarify their beer. I personally am a cold crasher. Uh, I, I, when I do a five gallon batch, I brew in a keg. I just pull my gas post off and cold crash. It works great. The zero issues doing that.
But. One thing that you might think to do. Is being able to cold crash a one gallon batch. You can just throw it in your fridge. Well, a couple of things I would recommend. Just so your beer doesn’t get oxygenated. Would be to maybe put a, a swap out the airlock for an actual bung without a hole in it. So you don’t have any setback for your.
Uh, sanitizer in your airlock, but. You know, swap them out, throw it in the fridge overnight. And then the next day you’re going to have a really nice thick yeast cake at the bottom. That’s going to be really, really dense is your beer is going to be clear as hell. And then at that point, you’re going to rack it into your bottles and.
And put you into your bottling drops and go. So that, that to me would be one advantage that I could think off the top of my head right now of the reason why. W one gallon batches are so great. Another thing that I would say is an advantage to doing one gallon versus others is, and I know that this is gonna sound weird, but.
You, you generally can have a wider variety of beers because you don’t have to store five gallons of beer all the time. So if you’re the type of person that’s really trying to experiment and get out there and try a bunch of different styles of beer and, and not have to drink five gallons of every beer that you make. One gallon batches are really great solution to that.
For example, let’s say I want to make a stout. I want to trial and I want to try a logger. And I want to try a pumpkin ale. It’s fall. I’m not a big pumpkin L guy, but a lot of people are, and there’s nothing wrong with if you are. You could make all of those. One right after another and not really feel like you’ve got a ton of beer to get through, taste them, figure out how to make them well.
If you make some beers, you really like great scale them up to five gallons, but it’s a great way to test out recipes. You’re unsure of and to see if you can get it right. You’re brewing software can take any five gallon recipe and scale it down to one gallon. Uh, I use brew father. I think we talk about it enough on this show. And one of the great things that you can do when using a software like brew fathers, take any recipe and brew father.
Go into the batch and you just adjust the amount. It’ll give you a pop-up that says, do you want to scale this recipe? You hit? Yes. And boom. It scales. One thing when recipe scale for me. W that I personally do is I kind of round them a bit. So for me, That’s just a personal thing that I do. Like, for example, I don’t personally like to have things be like 0.7 ounces though in one gallon batches that becomes more important to actually do.
Because. You’re looking at such a small amount of beer that you’re making in one shot. Going to the 10th of announces. Okay. Whereas normally let’s say I’m going up from a five gallon. To a four gallon. I might just round up to the nearest pound or something like that, just because personally, I like to have all the round numbers when it comes to.
My batch sizes and the amounts of ingredients that I put. That’s just how my brain thinks and how I like to go. And as a personal preference, it means nothing. If you’re, but if I were going to do a one gallon batch, I would be a little more accurate with my measurements because in my mind, I would, it specifically, if I was trying to test out a style.
That would be a reason why I would, I would do it that way.
Another thing. When I think about advantages of doing one gallon, batches. And this could be a really, really good advantage is that it’s a great way to learn how to brew in a bag. So if you’re a newer brewer, You’re a little iffy about going into all grain. And you’re kind of. You’re you’re doing five gallon extract batches. And you’re like, I don’t know if all grains for me.
Do a one gallon brew in a bag batch. It’s not hard. You can learn how to mash. You can, you can do all of those things, but if you do a smaller batch like that, A, you’re not into a lot of commitment be you don’t have to buy a bunch of new equipment. For example, if you’re doing an extract, chances are, you’ve got a kettle. That’s probably.
Three to five gallons and having to do, try to do a five gallon bag in a bag. Batch would be really tough. But if you did a smaller one gallon batch or maybe a two gallon batch. Uh, a small batch like that Bruin a bag is a great way to learn how to. Essentially.
Go all grain. You can definitely go that way. So. Let’s talk about that as well. A brew in a bag, all grain. One gallon batch is going to be pretty easy. You’re definitely gonna want to have a bit of a bigger kettle than you would. If you were going to do an extract batch. But. Just so that you have enough room to put your grain in, but the cool thing is you’re not having to do any crazy lifting. It’s a lot easier to squeeze the bag and get all of the sugars out. So you’re going to not have.
You’re gonna have less problems hitting your gravity. Then when you do, when you get into the larger batches. So these are the kinds of things that you can think about when your. Trying to go all grain. Smaller batches are a great, great way to go. All grain.
Another advantage of doing smaller batches, such as one gallon batches is that it is less expensive to get into the hobby. And I know that we talk about home brewing as a hobby, and it’s something that there is an upfront cost to get into any hobby. But if you’re going to make a five gallon batch of anything, let’s think about, we’ll say I’m going to make a five gallon pot of soup.
In my house. Five gallons of anything. If you go into any one standard kitchen is going to take. A certain level of investment to get there. It’s just, you know, most people don’t even have a kettle that would hold five gallons of liquid. And or a container that would hold five gallons of liquid. You just don’t make five gallons of anything at the home level. Normally.
It’s kind of funny that the standard beer size is five gallons, but that’s because it’s a, it’s a beverage that can be consumed over time and it doesn’t go bad. Right. So one of the things that you can think of when it comes.
To the.
One gallon batches that your initial investment is a lot less. You don’t have to put out a ton of money. Your fermenters are pretty inexpensive. The kettle is something that you could probably have laying around the house and be able to use. You don’t have to invest in all kinds of crazy equipment, you know?
For, for. You know, some airlocks ingredients, those types of things. But when you’re doing smaller batches like that, it just has a lot less upfront cost. And it is really a lot cheaper when it comes to learning how to make beer. And if you’re going to go all grain and you’re going to do brew in a bag.
It’s still going to be a lot less expensive than trying to make a larger batch of even all-grain beer. So. The extra investment would be. You might have to have a little bit larger of a kettle and you might have to, you have to buy a bag, right? And a one gallon, a bag, a bag that’s big enough to do. One gallons could be less than $10. So very, very, very easy to do.
Though. As you know, from our show last week, we want to buy a high quality bag, like the blue bag. But even if you’re just starting out, Hey, any bags going to work that’s made for brewing a bag. So. Uh, those would be a great investment and an easy way to get into. Doing the smaller batches.
Another thing that I like about doing smaller batches. And so a way of thinking about it. Is I actually like to use smaller batches to collaborate with other brewers. And what I mean by that is you’re going to do, let’s say a five gallon batch. And let’s say you and another brewer want to collaborate on a beer that you both are really interested in or a style.
You can do a five gallon batch and split it up into two smaller batches so that you can kind of split the experiment together. Right. Or another thing that I love about doing it this way is that if you’re going to get and collaborate on a certain style of beer, it’s a great way to kind of. Do that and split it amongst each other and then go back and.
And report back of what your thoughts on that beer was. So that’s also a great way of getting smaller batches of beer. And I think the last advantage that I can think of when it comes to doing smaller batches is when you’re brewing big beers. Let’s talk about really, really big beers, light beers that are in the 1.1 or above range, original gravity, or you’re talking about like 10%, 11%, 12% barley wines. These style of gigantic beers.
Five gallons of. 12% barley wine. Is a lot of beer. And you have to really put that in perspective. Don’t get me wrong. I am a, I love a great barley wine, but I liked just a little bit. I, if I had a 12 ounce bottle of a 12% or a 10% barley wine. We’re 14%. I’ve seen big numbers out there. The things that I’m going to do when I have a beer that size is I’m going to split that bottle with me, or maybe a couple of friends.
Uh, drinking a 12 or 16 ounce pint of a beer that big it’s just overkill. You’re going to be what. At least for me, you’re going to be way too drunk. And that’s a beer that you’re really just trying. It’s the, for me a beer that I’m going to drink on a special occasion and drink with friends. And so having five gallons of the beer, that style just seems like a lot. Don’t get me wrong.
Five gallons of a really big beer. Is great. If you’re planning on laying it down for multiple years. Go ahead and make five gallons. If you’re doing that. But if it’s something where you’re, you’re continually making big beers all the time, it’s something that you kind of have in your pipeline. Smaller batches. One gallon, two gallon, three gallon batches are a great way to really be able to have a variety of big beers.
And not really feel like you’re having to get through five gallons. I’ve made this mistake many times I’ve gone and brew five gallons of a 10, 10% beer or higher just gigantic. Stouts or something like that. And I have to admit, it takes me a long time to get through one eye. It will sit and I’ll keg it. I may not even bottle it and it’ll sit in my kegerator for months after months. I feel like my taps kind of just taken by this beer.
And so not that I didn’t love the beer, that beer is great, but I also do like variety and I like change and I like things to be going through my system. So when you have a huge beer like that, it is something that in my mind, small batches tend to be a little bit better. Also. When you’re making really large batches of beer.
I mean large batches of big beer. You have to actually get a vessel. That’s going to be able to hold that amount of grain. So one of the way there are tricks to it, like mashing twice, if you’re doing Bruin a bag or, or if your system is really geared towards a five gallon, medium gravity beer going big, just kind of brings in some variables that, that.
Aren’t a problem. You can address them, but if you go smaller, And you have a five gallon system, and let’s say you make a two or a one or a three gallon batch. It just makes that a lot easier. And so that to me seems to be one of the advantages of doing. A one gallon or S or a smaller batch of a really, really big beer.
So these are. So some tips and tricks that I would like to maybe talk about with big beers. Now. I want to kind of sum this all up with one thing.
I’m not going to cover everything here, to be honest. I have a lot of years of experience home brewing. I’ve been home brewing for a long time. But I don’t know everything. And there are other reasons why people out there are brewing. One gallon batches. And I would love to hear some of your reasons. So I’d love to hear some feedback. You can send an email, send me an email to podcast it, homebrewing diy.beer. I’d love to hear some of the reasons why you do smaller batches or, or some of the advantage that you think that you get out of it. I would love to get that feedback. And if you do send me that email, I’d love to read some of those next week on the show. That’d be great.
And. I think we’ll wrap it up at that. I think we’ve talked about. The equipment that you need. We’ve talked about the advantages. We’ve talked about some of the reasons why you would want to do one gallon, batches, or smaller batches. And. Yeah, I think, I think, I feel like I covered that up pretty well.
And now I’m going to try. Something a little different in our show. I actually received some feedback about the intro length of the show. I have more than a few times. And so. One of the things I’m going to experiment with is putting some of the things that I normally would’ve put at the beginning or the intro.
Towards the end. So like feedback or thinking of patrons. So. I’m going to start doing that now towards the end of the show. And this week I have some feedback. And I’d like to go over that and then we’ll wrap this puppy up.
The first piece of feedback that I have is from key judge. And I think I’m saying that right. That’s a Instagram handle, so it may not be right. And this was a piece of feedback that he had sent me in regards to the episode where I had Brian height on the show talking a about 3d printers. I had quite the conversation leading up to this where he apparently works for a 3d printing company called Baker 3d. And so he wanted to add some clarification.
To some of the things that we discussed. And he said, first, I would like to mention, in addition, that you can get PLA. What you can get PLA. To withstand around 150 sea temperatures. But that’s only when you anneal it and these tough type PLS. Are not as brittle as mentioned on the podcast. They are easy to print. Even with the cheapest machines. Look at VASF pro one PLA I wrote an article on it and finish.
And the material is quite superior against regular PLA. It is a bit more expensive. And that really is the only downside. And SLA prints are. Are tough and durable, but that’s my ex that’s my experience with a bit more expensive desktop printers, like form labs. And if you melt photosensitive polymers with the image.
The technique is called DLP, not SLA. And so I replied and asked some questions and said, Hey, you know, Great feedback. Thank you very, very much. One thing he did say, as he came back is that he would say. And suggested the ender 3d printer, just like Brian did. So that’s also great feedback. So I’d like to thank.
Co judge for giving me feedback on this week show. And it was really, really, really great feedback. So if you’re into 3d printers, Some really good sound advice there. Also have another piece of feedback here. And this is from, uh, Stephen and Stephen has written me before where we talked a bit about his EA.
Bruin a bag system that he was building and he just wrote me another message saying hi again, I finished my E P I a B system. I contacted you a while back and I’ve brewed about four batches so far and it works great. But when cleaning up after my first brew, I noticed that the coding on the element is pretty much gone and the element is down to the copper.
And should I continue to use this? Have you seen something like this before? And my reply to him was. That’s actually pretty normal with those copper style elements specifically, if you’re using the more inexpensive type copper elements that you would use for a hot water heater. The good news is that.
And it has to do a bit with the acidity of the war. Just kind of causes some corrosion. It’s not really getting rid of a coding. It’s it’s copper essentially, but it does discolor it a bit. One thing I will note is that if you’re using those. It is something that is used in a hot water heater. So it’s meant to be used in something that is for drinking water. So there should be no issues with it, contaminating your beer or anything like that.
You definitely want to make sure that you get a heating element like that very, very clean. They can be tough to clean. And you should be good to go. If you’re using a higher quality heating element, like one that is specifically made for brewing. And that type of application, they, they tend to be made out of different metals than straight copper.
For example. When Erin across the street built his system out, he actually got one that was actually black because it was like, Hey, so that you don’t, it’s going to turn black anyway. So it was actually a black colored heating element and he loves it and it’s, it’s a really, really high quality ones. So just kinda.
Something to think about. And Steven, thank you for reaching out again on the show and for listening.
Thanks for sticking with me this far on the show. As you know, you can always find us on social media. Head on over to home brewing DIY all one word we’re on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. And I now have a Tik TOK account and I’m doing some cooking on that, which is kind of fun. Not just a hundred percent beer, but uh, yeah. Find us on Tik TOK. That’s also one word homebrewing, DIY.
And that’s it for this week. And we’ll talk to you next week. On homebrewing, DIY.
