1st time home brewer questions

Brewing 1 gallon batches is fine. But most people find that 1 gallon batches aren't worth the effort. You mentioned ordering a "5 gallon brew kit." If you want to do 1 gallon batches, you really need a smaller fermenter. A one gallon batch in a 6+ gallon carboy or bucket would have larger than ideal headspace. But more importantly, you'd have a hard time getting much finished beer transferred from it, because the big fermenter is so wide/shallow for the volume you'd be making.

 

If you could post a link to the kit you ordered, folks will be able to tailor recommendations for/against your 1-gallon batches.

 

https://www.avery.com/software/design-and-print/

 

Brewing smaller batches is definitely fine - I started at about three gallons and have stuck there, and I've got friends who started out doing one or two gallons at a time. Particularly when you're starting out, then there's a lot to be said for shortening the feedback cycle of brew -> taste -> learn -> brew, if you've got the time to set aside for a few more brewdays.

Whether you'll save any effort by doing a smaller batch and how much more kit you'll need on top of your five gallon setup depends on what you've already got...

 

A smaller fermenter is better for the smaller batches, but remember that you do need some headspace, ideally just not too much. A smaller boil pot is not necessary; it's good to have a bigger pot so that you can have a full-sized boil for your recipe, allowing for extra water that will boil off during the 1-hour boil.

A point that hasn't been made yet about small batches (especially 1-gallon batches) is that when you take a couple samples at the end of fermentation to read the specific gravity (and you also apply the required taste test ) you're losing beer that could go into the bottles. A one-gallon batch will only result in around 10 filled bottles.

There is peel-and-stick label paper that you can buy at homebrew supply sources and use in an inkjet printer, or you can use what I use which is a sticky-back paper that is acitivated by water. That kind easily floats off the bottle in water for the next use. I don't know if the peel-and-stick comes off easily or not. I just use MS Paint to design my labels. They tend toward being basic lettering and edge lines, etc. but I've been known to 'steal' a graphic from somewhere and use it too.

 

If your planning to brew many batches of beer in the near future store your bottle in milk crates and lable the crate as you make beer.

F u are planning on sharing or gifting brews on occasion, tape paper to the bottle and lable.

If you drink beer regularly, I'd jump in and brew the 5 gallon batch.

 

If you end up making multiple batches before finishing all the previous batches, definitely do something (like labeled milk crates) to tell them apart, especially if you use the same color caps. It can be like 3-card monte trying to remember which beer is under which cap.
I use different caps or, when using the same caps, use a sharpie to mark a number on the cap. Then I hope to remember what the number means, or don't lose my notes that tells me.

 

Brewing 5gal as a first go is fine. If you bought a kit online, it should come with instructions on how to make it drinkable. Trying to divy up the 5gal kit to make 5 one gal batches might not go so well. At the same time, the kit should be storeable, so you could grab a 1gal kit and get going.

 

@EricRub
Cool
Have fun and welcome to the best hobbie ever!!!

 

Instead of a numbering scheme I use my sharpie to write letters that I can understand/remember.
Some Examples:

• CAP - Classic American Pilsner
• Alt - Altbier
• Port - Porter

Well, you get the idea.

Cheers!

 

Another difficulty you may experience when trying to split the 5-gallon kit into five 1-gallon batches, is splitting the yeast. Since most dry yeast packages are about 11.5 gms. in weight, you would need a very accurate scale to measure down to 2.3 gm., and you will likely have some difficulty keeping the separate amounts free from contamination. Also, I'm not sure how effective using 2.3 gm amounts of yeast will be. There will also be a slight variation of efficiency when using hops at the smaller volume, although for experimental purposes, this is less significant.

 

Keep good notes along the way, stay organized with a timeline written alongside the brewing steps on the instructions and you'll be okay.

Kits sometimes sit in inventory for too long and the yeast gets too old, so take a look to see if the yeast is dated. Also make a note of the yeast strain (if given) because if fermentation doesn't go right and you come back here with concerns about a slow start or no bubbles in the air lock, etc. age and strain are two items that we'll want to know to try to diagnose the problem.

Good luck.

 

I think that overall, considering breaking down a 5-gallon kit, that is definitely doable, and will work out much better than going with 1-gallon batches. Take lots of notes as PapaGoose3 suggests, and let us know how it turns out. I still have great notes from my first beer, made 30 years ago. I have learned much from the notes.

 

One other thing of significant importance is to pitch your yeast at the low end of the range that the instructions give you. Being patient for your first brew is sometimes difficult, but get the temp of the wort down to that level as quickly as you can, then pitch.