5 litre Batches of Beer. Why?

[S.R.S]

I am brewing a 5l batch as it is my first extract and a new recipe I wanted to try before going for a bigger volume.
I have to say I like the option of not having to brew to a full 23l as I did with kits.
That said, for this 1st extract, I seem to have miscalculated the boil off ratio but hopefully have remedied that.
On the subject of scaling down recipes from say, 23l for extract, I assume you can simply halve everything if brewing, say, 12 l except for the boil time.
In a simplistic way I that correct?

 

[dad_of_jon]

yup essentially 1/2 the ingredients but not the time.

 

[moto748]

I am brewing a 5l batch as it is my first extract and a new recipe I wanted to try before going for a bigger volume.
I have to say I like the option of not having to brew to a full 23l as I did with kits.
That said, for this 1st extract, I seem to have miscalculated the boil off ratio but hopefully have remedied that.
On the subject of scaling down recipes from say, 23l for extract, I assume you can simply halve everything if brewing, say, 12 l except for the boil time.
In a simplistic way I that correct?

Yes, it is. I did a 5 litre batch yesterday, the second one I've done. It's easy to do it on the stove top instead of getting the boiler out, and a convenient way to trial recipes. I usually do larger BIAB brews, but the small batches are a great idea I reckon.

 

[Lehmann]

Sounds fine. Is the fermenter in a suitable place? You need on average 20C to get the fermentation started, also how long since pitching in he yeast?

It won't hurt to pitch more so give that a go but unless you've got the right temp nothing will happen.

Hi, I had put a blanket on the top and it's about 22C, the yeast is there since last sat midnight.

I added more 2g this Sunday night , the lip was inflated with the co2 and the airlock do not bubbles continually, might release the co2 eventually,I saw the water was almost on the top, so something is pushing it.

This Monday morning it is not bubblings. I don't believe will...

I don't believe I have so much continuous co2 production to have continuous bubbles.

Here is the picture after opening the bucket.

Tks a lot

Lehmann

 

[Clint]

That looks like a normal fermentation. You are not guaranteed to get bubbles through the airlock as the c02 may be leaking through the lid seal. I'd put the lid on and leave well alone until two weeks have passed.

 

[Lehmann]

I am brewing a 5l batch as it is my first extract and a new recipe I wanted to try before going for a bigger volume.
I have to say I like the option of not having to brew to a full 23l as I did with kits.
That said, for this 1st extract, I seem to have miscalculated the boil off ratio but hopefully have remedied that.
On the subject of scaling down recipes from say, 23l for extract, I assume you can simply halve everything if brewing, say, 12 l except for the boil time.
In a simplistic way I that correct?

Just watch out about small measurements, like I tried to measure a 2 g of yeast, and I don't believe it worked properly, another person here told me he puts more yeast and the normal proportional, thinking in chemical sometimes the start of a reaction needs a startup "energy/temperature" so more yeast, make sense, sorry I am an engineer trying to do beer. :-)

 

[Lehmann]

yup essentially 1/2 the ingredients but not the time.

Hi, sorry for the stupid question, but what is these numbers at the end:

Ris-key Business 2 & 3 - dark thing - 10.5% - 24
No-Gaarden 2 - Belgian wit - 6.3% - 17
Fake neipa 2 - Aipa - 6.83% - 6
Orange Abbot - Amarillo hopped abbey beer - 6.8% - 18
David Essex - Winter Ale - 8.4% - 20
Triple 8 - Triple - 8.47% - 28
No 10 - Imperial Stout - ?? - 47

I have brew once only, for my second batch I am thinking to create something different? Can you find their hops? I like the Burst Ferret and Old Speckled Hen would be possible to try something similar?

TIA

Lehmann

 

[Fireside Ales Homebrewery]

I occasionally read on here that folks are brewing 5 litre batches of beer. I have to say that I can’t understand why it’s worth the effort for that small volume, given my minimum is about 12 litres. If you are doing all grain then a lot of the activities will take just as long I guess, and the same goes for other types of brewing although that's less significant time-wise. I also imagine that small brews like this cannot replicate very well due to the small quantities being used, scaling factors matter perhaps. But the biggest thing for me and many others perhaps is that 5 litres for is only enough for the equivalent of a few days worth of beer at most. If I brewed 5 litres at a time I would be brewing every week which is not always convenient.

I can understand that someone might want to try out an unusual recipe and don’t want to risk a large brew, or they live in a bedsit and have little space, but what are the other reasons?

So come on you 5 litre brewers, please explain to me why small is important for you.

I mainly brew 10litres.
However, I often do 5litre batches for these reasons.
Firstly because I absolutely love the process of brewing as much as I love the final product. If I could get a job in a brewery I definitely would. Maybe one day.
Secondly, there is only one of me drinking a lot of the time. My girlfriend is a cider girl. I am 34 and I am aware of the potential health risks to drinking too much.
Thirdly, portability, I can carry 5litres up the road to a mates in a 5litre keg.(I know I could just decant)
Finally, it’s fun to experiment with unusual malts, hops and yeasts. Some of these are more expensive. It’s pretty quick to throw together a batch of 5litres of something unusual. If the recipe is fantastic I’ll scale up to my full 10litre batch size.

A quick note on scaling recipes. I have not ever had any issues with scaling a recipe up or down. The end result has not ever been effected. I brew a particular Porter recipe quite a lot and it’s pretty much exactly the same each time I brew it no matter the size of the batch.

I think the 5litre batch has its place. But I appreciate why it comes into question. Note to self- Having said You want to watch your health, You do brew a lot of beer.

 

[Lehmann]

I just started brewing, so I'm really lost on this, might scale up soon.
For me 5 liters , make sense would be 6 bottles, it's not for every weekend drink, I might call my friend and try all at once.

So the idea is learn the process and see how it goes, a vessel of 30 liter quite scare me at beginning.

I have to buckets of 5 liter, so next week I want to use a different hop, starting get the feeling of the results.

This every 2 weeks I will be brewing, speeding up the learning process, I don't think I would drink 20l of beer every two weeks.

So that a my history lol, I hope make sense.

Prost

 

[MuckyNeighbour]

I'm fairly new to AG having spent a couple of years brewing from kits. My main reason for 5L batches is so that I can experiment - if I balls it up, I've only got 5L of poor / horrible / boring beer. Also, I was using plastic fermenting bins and I'm sure they impart an unwanted flavour so I switched to glass demijohns. There's also the kit - if I were to brew 23L from AG I'd need a more industrial set up than what I have

 

[fury_tea]

I'm fairly new to AG having spent a couple of years brewing from kits. My main reason for 5L batches is so that I can experiment - if I balls it up, I've only got 5L of poor / horrible / boring beer. Also, I was using plastic fermenting bins and I'm sure they impart an unwanted flavour so I switched to glass demijohns. There's also the kit - if I were to brew 23L from AG I'd need a more industrial set up than what I have

The fermenting bins shouldn't impart any flavour at all if they are food grade and clean

 

[HSD]

I'm fairly new to AG having spent a couple of years brewing from kits. My main reason for 5L batches is so that I can experiment - if I balls it up, I've only got 5L of poor / horrible / boring beer. Also, I was using plastic fermenting bins and I'm sure they impart an unwanted flavour so I switched to glass demijohns. There's also the kit - if I were to brew 23L from AG I'd need a more industrial set up than what I have

Basically what I’ve done, occasional kit and small batch AG, now scaled up to 16 litre bins so you get a bit more for the effort if you want, whilst still able to BIAB on the gas hob, so much to learn still finding my way with yeasts, hops and adjunct grains/ingredients, great hobby though not for my waistline!

 

[MuckyNeighbour]

The fermenting bins shouldn't impart any flavour at all if they are food grade and clean

I agree they shouldn’t but I always feel that they do!

 

[user 43495]

I occasionally read on here that folks are brewing 5 litre batches of beer. I have to say that I can’t understand why it’s worth the effort for that small volume, given my minimum is about 12 litres. If you are doing all grain then a lot of the activities will take just as long I guess, and the same goes for other types of brewing although that's less significant time-wise. I also imagine that small brews like this cannot replicate very well due to the small quantities being used, scaling factors matter perhaps. But the biggest thing for me and many others perhaps is that 5 litres for is only enough for the equivalent of a few days worth of beer at most. If I brewed 5 litres at a time I would be brewing every week which is not always convenient.

I can understand that someone might want to try out an unusual recipe and don’t want to risk a large brew, or they live in a bedsit and have little space, but what are the other reasons?

So come on you 5 litre brewers, please explain to me why small is important for you.

I regularly brew 20 galls in a brewday, sometimes 25. That's three different beers which go into king Kegs and keep brilliantly in my cellar thus I brew more but less often.