Brewing ale in a 1 gallon demijohn

[shabangle]

Hi All,

I have been brewing wine for some time and want to make beer.

Can I use a glass demijohn for fermentation, with an airlock? I've searched google/forums and I seem to get 2 responses:

1) Why not do X instead, or Y is a better option. Entirely correct, but I just want to understand what is and isn't possible.

2) It will explode

So ignoring 1), forums seem to suggest that storing in a demijohn is bad due to pressure, but fermenting would include an airlock so surely pressure not a problem?

I'm proposing to:

1) mash/sparge/boil/run off the beer
2) ferment in a vessel (primary fermentation), then
3) transfer to dj (instead of barrel/bucket) for secondary fermentation before
4) transferring to 8-9 500ml bottles.

IS this ok or dangerous/ridiculous? And, separately, could I even do both 2) and 3) in the glass demijohn?

Thanks so much for taking any time to read/reply to this, I'm hoping to make my first steps in brewing and I think this will help broaden my understanding.

Andy

 

[Ajhutch]

I'll caveat my response with the comment that I've never brewed wine, so I don't know exactly what the precise differences in dynamics of the fermentation are. I don't think anything would explode if you used an airlock. Beers do throw up a pretty big krausen early in fermentation so you need a little bit of headspace to avoid overflows. Some people use a blow off tube rather than an airlock, essentially jam a tube through your bung and put the other end into a jug of diluted sanitiser.

Personally, the biggest reason I wouldn't recommend using 1 gallon DJs for beer is time. By the time you've spent the time to do a mash and boil, only getting 8 or 9 bottles is a bit of a low output. You can get 5 times that output for basically the same time commitment. If you have a lot of DJs this does give you the option to do a single mash and boil then try different dry hop combinations though.

 

[Slid]

Hi Andy,

This all sound fine to me. Back in the day when I did wine in DJ's it was possible to get plastic "corks" that had a sort of venting thing at the top.

As beer is going to ferment after transfer to the DJ, something like this, or an airlock is going to be useful to prevent the build up of pressure in the DJ.

 

[Robin54]

Hi All,

I have been brewing wine for some time and want to make beer.

Can I use a glass demijohn for fermentation, with an airlock? I've searched google/forums and I seem to get 2 responses:

1) Why not do X instead, or Y is a better option. Entirely correct, but I just want to understand what is and isn't possible.

2) It will explode

So ignoring 1), forums seem to suggest that storing in a demijohn is bad due to pressure, but fermenting would include an airlock so surely pressure not a problem?


I'm proposing to:

1) mash/sparge/boil/run off the beer
2) ferment in a vessel (primary fermentation), then
3) transfer to dj (instead of barrel/bucket) for secondary fermentation before
4) transferring to 8-9 500ml bottles.

IS this ok or dangerous/ridiculous? And, separately, could I even do both 2) and 3) in the glass demijohn?

Thanks so much for taking any time to read/reply to this, I'm hoping to make my first steps in brewing and I think this will help broaden my understanding.

Andy

You can even do it like this
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozkeVZnV3Fk&t=1s[/ame]

 

[cheapbrew]

I've done several experimental batches of beer split into DJ's for trialing different yeast n hops:thumb:

 

[wfr42]

I fermented my first two ag batches in 2 demi johns.

As mentioned above a full mash is a lot of work for 8or9 bottles so if you can double up go for it.

 

[Razor]

Fermenting beer in a DJ with an airlock or blowoff tube has worked fine for me.


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[fastline]

I have done a few stove top brews and used demijohns all good no problems and there really easy to clean after.

First thing I see when I used them that I liked was you could see the yeast churning and the beer constantly moving.

 

[shabangle]

Thanks everyone for the replies. It's really encouraged me: I was set up for wine and really don't have any space for extra fermenting equipment, so it's good I can kick off this new stage of my brewing with my current set up.

Really interesting as well was the idea to use multiple DJs to vary the technique of brewing the same batch - fascinating stuff

Cheers!

 

[cheapbrew]

I have done a few stove top brews and used demijohns all good no problems and there really easy to clean after.

First thing I see when I used them that I liked was you could see the yeast churning and the beer constantly moving.

Watching yeast doing their thing is something I love, seeing all the different stages is good to see, my missus came down once and saw me sat there engrossed and said "you are a strange little man" from then on whenever she sees me watching something brewing she says, "oh are you being a strange little man again" :thumb:

Thanks everyone for the replies. It's really encouraged me: I was set up for wine and really don't have any space for extra fermenting equipment, so it's good I can kick off this new stage of my brewing with my current set up.

Really interesting as well was the idea to use multiple DJs to vary the technique of brewing the same batch - fascinating stuff

Cheers!

I love being able to make several different beers from one batch and its a good way to learn what different yeast n hops bring to the party :thumb:

 

[wfr42]

Last time I used my djs was my wheat beer.

I kept a dj plain, cherries on one dj and raspberries in the fv.

 

[foxbat]

Our 'murrican friends seem to prefer demijohns as their primary fermenters so they must work. Can't see it myself though, can't get your arm in them to clean like you can with a big bucket.

 

[Razor]

Our 'murrican friends seem to prefer demijohns as their primary fermenters so they must work. Can't see it myself though, can't get your arm in them to clean like you can with a big bucket.

I use a bottle brush plus with a DJ you can pick it up and give it a good shake to help clean it.


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[Deadhead]

You can absolutely do it. In fact, if you'd like to brew beer on a small scale, the Brooklyn Brew Shop book is a great place to start.