Brewing small batches in larger system?

The only issue I run into is keeping the mash temp up with all the dead space above the mash in the cooler. Presuming you are using a cooler.

This is pretty easily fixed by keeping a few quarts of water at near boil during the mash. You can add the boiling water to the mash to heat it up.

One gallon batch in a cooler, you might better do biab.

 

Shouldn't be any problem. You can probably scale your brewing to about 25% of your system without too much worry.

If you are brewing on an oversized system you will have some trade offs. Biggest one I can think of is the amount of wort you will be leaving behind. A few quarts of hot break and hops are left at the bottom of the kettle. Another quart or so of yeast and trub at the bottom of the primary. That adds up when you are trying to collect one gallon.

The best reason for brewing small batches is that the equipment requirements are smaller. If you are going to have the equipment there is really no good reason to make small batches. You will drink 5 gallons, give away beer, and the ingredients cost is not all that much more.

Cheers.

 

My only caution to brewing relatively small batches in larger equipment would be to watch out for how much head space you leave in your fermentor. A 5-gallon batch in a 10-gallon fermentor, or a 1-gallon batch in a 5-gallon fermentor would probably push the limit for the CO2 produced during fermentation to occupy excessive head space and force all of the air out. If you have some CO2 from your keg system and can use it to purge the head space, that would overcome this issue. This isn't a real huge issue, but better safe than sorry.

 

Is this really an issue for a fermentor? At the beginning of fermentation the headspace will be air (20% O2) but as the fermentation proceeds the headspace will be 100% CO2. What is the issue here?

Cheers!

 

I agree with @NiceFly about the amount of dead space in the mash tun. You will need to increase the strike temperature of the water you are adding to the grain, because the temperature will drop off more rapidly as you are mixing the water and grain. The temperature of the mash will also drop much more rapidly than if there was less dead space, so you might wish to start the mash temperature a little higher than identified in the recipe.

 

It's not a great issue, Jack, because we all know that there are some breweries that ferment in open-top fermentors without concerns for contamination (and I'm speaking of breweries that are not making wild ales), although I think most of these scenarios keep their open fermentors in a closed room environment where the air is somewhat filtered. However, I don't know how fast the air in the head space of a carboy or bucket can be displaced by the CO2, and there is always the chance that some bug/wild yeast may be floating in that air.

 

Welcome

I run 5 gal batches most of the time in my 15 gal kettle. I'm glad I have extra room to slosh around. I do fine with 10 gal batches when I do them. 2 or 3 gallons will fit fine in a 6.5 gal carboy/fermenter. Don't worry about the extra head space unless you are wanting to secondary. I'm in the vein of brewers that if I don't have to secondary, I don't. I go from primary to package after 3 weeks in primary. Drink up.

If you're wanting to do 1-3 gal batches, you may consider doing hop-forward beers that set up quickly and don't need much time for conditioning. I'm assuming you just want to brew your brains out over the next few months and get some notches on your belt. Get your screws tight before you pony up the time and money for an RIS or Barleywine. Am Wheats are damn tasty in the 90F heat here in IN and they drink within a month.

It's not shameful to have a little DME on hand in case you need to adjust your gravity during brewday. Daniels Designing Great Beers stated that some ridiculous number of award winning brewers added extract to their beers. I think it was 3 out of 5? Someone will probably check me on that.

Don't be shy to post your first recipe and get feedback. We all love giving advice and making you question yourself. But, you probably already knew that.

 

Fair enough.

As regards the topic of "some bug/wild yeast may be floating in that air" that is always the case regardless of batch size. Placing 5+ gallons in a 6.5/7.9 gallon fermentor will have air in the headspace and if there is something like wild yeast in the air that batch will be exposed as well. I have no insight on how much is there on a per unit of volume basis (e.g., a cubic inch basis) and how much more this could be a problematic for a smaller batch in a given size fermentor.

FWIW I have fermented numerous 3 gallon batches in a 7.9 gallon bucket without incident.

Cheers!

 

Jack,

It's his first batch. Tell him to roll the dice and see what happens. I've never thought about head space being a potential for infection with a healthy yeast pitch--never going to do a half batch of RIS, for the rest of my life.

Cheers!

 

Whatever volume of beer you brew, it will always be too small!

Just go full-scale straight of the bat. The difference in ingredient costs is minimal and the payoff (assuming you spend at least some of your 'planning time' reading?) is better.

 

And for my 3 gallon batches (which are many) it was never an issue. Having stated that I do not feel comfortable telling somebody to ferment a 1 gallon batch in a 7.9 gallon bucket (or 6.5 gallon carboy). It may indeed turn out fine but I have no personal experience with this amount of differential.

Cheers!

 

I asked a similar question about 1 gallon extract batches a long time ago. Most people agreed that the product of small volumes of beer wasn't worth the effort, when you could get 5 gallons of beer for about the same effort / time investment.

 

Yep, that's the point I was trying to make when the differential in size is great. I don't have any clue (or even if any studies have been done) about what volume of CO2 is given off during fermentation in order to completely evacuate the air and fill the head space. I rack to my fermentor in my basement where a few spiders have been known to reside, so the air may be questionable. And how many of us do the same thing or in some other environment like outdoors or in the garage? If you happen to live next to (or close to) an orchard or a vineyard, I think wild yeast are everywhere in the air during the fall season (and maybe year-round). I'm a pessimist and tend to play it safe.

 

For many systems, you can do what you are looking to do. If you have a direct fired system and burners and kettles big enough for 5 gallons or 10 gallons, I see no reason why you can't brew smaller batches. If you have a fermenter designed for 5 gallons but want to brew less, that should also mostly be fine. You want to avoid doing long term aging in a fermenter in which you have a lot of headspace because of additional oxygen ingress, but I'd have no qualms about doing most primary fermentations with excess headspace.

If you are planning on an electrical system, you'll need to consider that submersible electric heating elements need to be submerged. I recently have had a chance to brew on an electric BIAB system with a Blichmann boil coil and there is a minimum liquid limit (not sure, maybe 3 gallons on this particular system)?

Something you might consider is getting a good kettle that might eventually be suitable for 5 or 10 gallon boils but start out doing brew in a bag. You can do smaller batches, and I think it is a great way to learn the ins and outs without plunking down the coin for everything all at once. You might even feel, as some do, no need to switch to a different types of system. In my recent BIAB experiences, I have enjoyed the simplicity of the approach.

 

Excess capacity = bigger beers with no extract = size batch you want = barleywine I'm currently drinking

 

Well, from an ingredients cost perspective vs. the value of your time, this is true. But for some, 5 gallons is a daunting amount of beer. For people who are used to buying a mixed six or two every week, it may be hard to imagine ever drinking 5 gallons of the same stuff. Especially if it is a mediocre rookie homebrew. I threw in the towel on homebrewing after a few stabs at it 25 years ago because I kept making 5 gallons of sucky beer. I might have been more forgiving of the hobby if I only suffered through 1-2 gallons of suck. I would have stayed the course and started brewing good beer sooner. I would have dropped out of great school, avoided marriage and divorce, and made a billion dollars when I sold my premiere craft brewing operation to an international conglomerate. F-ing 5 gallon batches ruined me.

 

I have a keggle system, and if I don't run at least 12lbs of grain in my mash tun I take forever to sparge because the water level in my tun is barely above my outlet for my false bottom. When I get too crazy the false bottom moves easily and I have had some close to stuck sparges as well. If I do low gravity beers I do extract or a ten gallon batch to compensate for these issues. I also use a stainless steel scrubby pad under my false bottom, cheap insurance.

 

It sounds like your decision is made for a 5-gallon system, but in case you ever reconsider the 10-gallon system, you'll also need to look at your heat source. Someone with a 10-gallon system will have to speak more directly to this, but you need a good gas burner to heat up that much liquid, and you might as well consider that now so that if you ever decide to go to a 10-gallon system you'll be all set. And if you're considering an electric system, there was a recent thread on this topic. (I'm not endorsing reconsideration of the 10-gallon system by posting this, I'm just bringing up a point for you to consider.)