Brewing Beer in 1 Gallon Demijohns

Piercemeear

Hi Folks,

I've been brewing a lot of cider and berry wines in the last few years, but this year's horrendous fruit turnout means I've decided to give beer a go this autumn instead.

I'll start with a kit, I suppose. My question is: I've amassed a good few 1 gallon demijohns, plus airlocks, bottling equipment, etc, for the cider making. If I buy a beer kit, is it an option that I'd just split the mix into four or five demijohns for fermenting, or am I giving myself a headache by doing so? Would you recommend getting a large fermenter instead?

One of my considerations, which may sound ridiculous, is that I've limited space, and fermenting is done in my living area. My demijohns are quite pleasant shelf-fillers, but having a big, white industrial-looking bin in my sitting room does not sound so pleasant. Another consideration is that I'd prefer not to spend any more money, at least for the first batch.

stuchyg

Im not as experienced as others on here and they may say different but i cant see this working with a kit, all grain maybe where you can make as much as you want.

To divide the kit into four and work out the yeast which is generally best not dry pitched, sugar required for each would be a nightmare, add to this you need to thouroughly stir beer as opposed to the shaking used for cider and I cant see it working

loyatemu

stuchyg wrote: »

Im not as experienced as others on here and they may say different but i cant see this working with a kit, all grain maybe where you can make as much as you want.

To divide the kit into four and work out the yeast which is generally best not dry pitched, sugar required for each would be a nightmare, add to this you need to thouroughly stir beer as opposed to the shaking used for cider and I cant see it working

usually with a kit its just adding a few litres of boiling water to the wort and sugar/DME and then topping it up with cold water. Easy enough to divide the hot mixture between the demijohns and then top them up individually.

Dividing the yeast is easy enough, doesn't really matter if its a little uneven as the yeast will find its own level by itself.

Main problem with demijohns is they're a PITA to clean, I've only ever used them for secondary fermentation of cider. You'd also need to be wary of them overflowing in the first couple of days.

Piercemeear

Thanks for the advice. I'm pretty well used to cleaning demijohns, but I suppose I've been doing somewhat smaller batches with the cider thus far.

I suppose I was originally thinking I'd mix it up in a larger container and then divide it into demijohns, but since this would mean sourcing a larger container anyway, maybe I'd be better off just getting a primary fermenter.

A follow-up question: most of the beer kits don't mention racking at all. Is that just them defaulting to a simplified process? Would you recommending racking even for a beer kit? Coming from the cider, I'd prefer to put in the time if it will improve the final product.

I think I need to get a beer book...

sharingan

Get a fermenter. It will save a lot of hassle, and it is the preferred way to make beer.

I use my demi johns for 1 gallon mini-brew in a bag, where I can control the amount of fluid. However I still get a lot of blow outs when using a DJ as a primary.

I dont tend to rack my beer, but it is a great way to clear it up. (and racking to DJs is great). My mini BIAB will rack, as it is full of trub.

BeerNut

Piercemeear wrote: »

Would you recommending racking even for a beer kit?

Doesn't really make a whole lot of difference. I sometimes rack to secondary if I'm dry hopping, but most beers are fine if bottled straight from primary.

I think splitting a kit into one gallon batches sounds like way more trouble than it's worth. I think you'd be better doing your own extract brews so you can work with whatever volumes suit you and have a bit more fun putting your own recipes together. There's a how-to article about small-batch extract brewing here.

Piercemeear

Okay, grand. I'm leaning towards getting a large fermenter, in that case. Not a big cash investment.

BeerNut wrote: »

I think you'd be better doing your own extract brews so you can work with whatever volumes suit you and have a bit more fun putting your own recipes together. There's a how-to article about small-batch extract brewing here.

That's a lovely how-to. Very clear.

Ideally this would probably suit my aspirations. I very much enjoyed the diy apples-to-cider process, building my own press, etc. The beer kits have a huge yield, I'd probably end up giving a lot of it away. Small, interesting recipes would appeal to me for sure. Variety. But as it's a whole new area for me I thought I would begin with a kit, just to learn a bit about the process.

BeerNut

Thing is though, the main stuff you learn from kits is sanitising, fermentation, gravity readings, bottling and so on -- all of which you'll already be familiar with. They don't teach you the nuts and bolts of brewing: recipe formulation, mashing and boiling. With extract the mashing is done for you, and with small batches you can afford to be a little more blasé about your recipe statistics, so I think you'd learn much more about the beer making process from extract, rather than kits where pretty much all the brewing work is already done.

Just a thought.

Piercemeear

That's true. Kind of like microwave dinners vs cooking oneself, and I already know how to use the oven. I will do some reading and make a decision. Thanks for the advice.

Can you recommend a good site for ordering beer ingredients? I see malt extract of various types in my usual place, but I don't see hops.

BeerNut

I find thehomebrewcompany.ie has the best selection.

sharingan

BeerNut wrote: »

Thing is though, the main stuff you learn from kits is sanitising, fermentation, gravity readings, bottling and so on -- all of which you'll already be familiar with. They don't teach you the nuts and bolts of brewing: recipe formulation, mashing and boiling. With extract the mashing is done for you, and with small batches you can afford to be a little more blasé about your recipe statistics, so I think you'd learn much more about the beer making process from extract, rather than kits where pretty much all the brewing work is already done.

Just a thought.

Its a good point. There is more involvement in a turbo cider or ginger beer than a kit beer. I avoided beer making for a long time because the idea of brewing from a kit just didn't appeal to my inner chef. I have since learned the value of it (easy, cheap, hassle free, beer).

I do experimental mini-Boil in a Bag for all grain recipes and experimentation, but its a bit of a challenge, so i am thinking of taking a step back and using some of my cans of LME for 1 gallon experiments, just so I can get some XP at targeting styles and flavour rather than pure technical. If you do a lot of winemaking, then you already have all the DJs you need.

evolving_doors

Piercemeear wrote: »

That's true. Kind of like microwave dinners vs cooking oneself, and I already know how to use the oven. I will do some reading and make a decision. Thanks for the advice.

AS regards taste though i think the jury's out ,,,, they did a blind tasting survey on the old site version of Beoir.ie and found that people couldn't really tell the diff between kit and extract brewing (actually Kit brews came out on top as regards taste). Personally I'll stick with kit for the next few years until I have the time and space (and note taking diligence) for extract.

engrish?

BeerNut wrote: »

Doesn't really make a whole lot of difference. I sometimes rack to secondary if I'm dry hopping, but most beers are fine if bottled straight from primary.

I think splitting a kit into one gallon batches sounds like way more trouble than it's worth. I think you'd be better doing your own extract brews so you can work with whatever volumes suit you and have a bit more fun putting your own recipes together. There's a how-to article about small-batch extract brewing here.

What amount of liquid would you start off with in the stockpot to finish with the 4.8L or so?

sharingan

engrish? wrote: »

What amount of liquid would you start off with in the stockpot to finish with the 4.8L or so?

Any amount. You can keep boiling to boil down your wort to the expected level. Some people who do mini- Brew In A Bag, or mini-extract, fill their boiler with the target volume and then mark a metal rod or the end of their brewing paddle (so you just dip it into the boiling wort to see if you are done).

This can mean you are overboiling, which can affect your hop schedule, but with practice you can optimise your start volume.

Piercemeear

So I attempted my first batch today, a 4.5 litre IPA based off a recipe in Homebrew Beers (I got a book to familiarise myself with everything, it's not bad). Scaled down everything to 4.5 litres, but then the evaporation off the boil was immense; about half. I had to top it up with water a huge amount at the end. Not sure what the effect will be, but the gravity is way off target.

Should I just be starting with a much larger amount of water to allow for more evaporation? Most instructions recommend leaving the lid off for most of the boil. Are there steps I can take to reduce evaporation from a small batch? Am I boiling too vigourously? Does "boil" actually mean "simmer"? The 1 gallon recipe Beernut linked to glosses over it:

With a smaller volume you have to watch that there isn’t too much evaporation from the boil.