Anyone done this or currently doing this? I'd like to make 1-2 gallon batches for four different grain bills, same hop bill and yeast strain, varying only the base malt and specialty malts used. I don't need a huge batch, 10-12 bottles of each variety would be fine for this testing. What techniques or equipment is required? My thoughts at this point are to mash on the stove, batch sparge, strain into pots, boil, and ferment in growlers. Not sure how to package yet. I'm not extremely concerned with some oxdation, I won't need a very long shelf life and the beer I'll be making (a lightly hopped American amber with emphasis on malt character) won't be hop forward. Admittedly, I haven't spent a ton of time researching this, wanted to see what others have attempted. Thanks!
I would recommend stove top BIAB, then ferment in these: http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/...-batch-starter-kit/small-batch-fermentor.html
I'm getting ready to do something similar. I bought this: http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/cider-mead-sake/vintner-s-best-one-gallon-wine-equipment-kit.html Comes with a 2 gallon bucket and some other items. I plan on using it to dial in some recipes without haveing to get through 5 gallons at a time. I can also do this on the stove in the kitchen which makes my brewday go much faster.
For both of these - do you siphon out of the jug into a bottling bucket as you would any larger batch?
My experiment, from about 3 years ago: I wanted to test 3 levels of home toasting in base malts and home made crystal malts (6 treatments, 1 control). I made 6 low volume worts via minimash. A high volume 7th control wort was made with DME. The control wort was blended with each of the 6 treatment worts to make 6 APA strength worts of 3/4 gallon total volume. These were boiled for a short time, allowed to cool in an ice bath, and fermented in 1 gallon jugs using US 05. A 7th 1 gallon jug was fermented with DME wort. I ended up doing taste tests post-fermentation, but never got around to bottling the experiment because unexpected circumstances. When I got back to the tests, everything was oxidized, because I open fermented (covered w/foil; I didn't have enough airlocks). Never ended up taking much notes about what I liked best. Almost a lost cause.
I'd recommend to just auto siphon directly from the 1 gallon fermenter into bottles using a bottle filler like this: http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/spring-tip-bottle-filler.html then dose each beer with a fizz drop.
Got it. Will use an airlock plus blowoff for each of the 1 gallon jugs. Not sure if I'll attempt to siphon to a bottle bucket or directly to bottles yet, will have to think that over. Thanks.
I still use my mr beer keg for small experimental batches. works like a champ. which reminds me, I need another small experimental batch of beer. Got me some extra dark extract and a few ounces of various specialty grains, plus some extra base malt. So I'll do another mini-mash, toss in the extract, chill, yeast, store... Beer!
I did a group of half batches for APAs about 18 months ago. I kept changing the grain bill and the number of IBUs though. I was just trying to brew an APA that wasn't bone dry by the end of it. I used full sized fermenters without any negative effects.
I have a bucket made for ten gallon batches (probably about 14 gallons total volume). I have brewed regular size batches in it without issue. The difference is that I ferment in a freezer/controller setup, which winds up being chock full of CO2 by the time fermentation is done. (I know this because you can't light a flame to see the temperature once fermentation has gotten underway, the flame just won't stay lit). Using a fermenter with excessive headspace in a non-controlled environment might offer oxidation possibilities that I haven't faced using my setup. BTW this fermenter is actually for making TEN gallon batches and fitting into a freezer that only holds ONE bucket, but I've used it on a couple five gallon batches without issue, given the caveats of my particular setup.
