Mini brews - Possible?

[coldlager]

Hey,

Everyone seems to brew 20l+ batches of beer, here, youtube, homebrew shop advice etc. I currently have about 22l brewing myself. I hoped to get to a point where I had a few beers ready to drink for variety however i've read that once kegged or bottled you need to drink the beers realtively quickly, 1-2 months. If i were to brew 3 or 4 beers that would be 6o'ishL -90'ishL of beer. It would take me ages to get through that much and I lack the storage space tbh.

Is the 1-2 month lifespan i've read of homebrew beer accurate?

Is there any reason not to brew smaller batches in something like a 6L cider jar or a small 10-12L fermenter?

Can you ferment beer in a clear glass jarif hidden from direct sunlight?

Is there a greater chance of infection with a smaller batch, less yeast etc?

Alternatively, is there a way of preserving the beer for longer? Can you add some sort of preservative that won't impact taste?

If I were to brew smaller amounts but use a kit, is the wort pre-yeast freezable? Else i'd either have to waste half the kit or make the wort completely from scratch.

Thanks

 

[Rwilts]

I believe that your brew will last a lot longer than 2 months. I drank a few bottles last night from June 2012.

Smaller batches are doable if you go the AG route. There was a post last week from someone doing a very small batch. :

 

[coldlager]

Sorry for my ignorance but what is the AG route?

 

[oz11]

There's no hard and fast rule but generally stronger beers last longer. I would certainly expect a bottled beer to be good for up to 6 months, in many cases a lot longer. It will almost certainly change in character in that time and that's part of the enjoyment.

Edit: AG is all grain brewing. Brewing beer from malted barley and other grains. 'Tis the equivalent of the process that commercial breweries will generally use.

 

[Abiruth]

I posted the info last week about my first mini all grain brew http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=34314. I too wanted to make beer in smaller quantities. I'd definitely recommend having a go. You most likely have all the equipment you need already. And once you up and running the cost is really cheap.

:drink:

 

[coldlager]

I posted the info last week about my first mini all grain brew http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=34314. I too wanted to make beer in smaller quantities. I'd definitely recommend having a go. You most likely have all the equipment you need already. And once you up and running the cost is really cheap.

:drink:

Cracking mini-brew guide. Thanks for posting that. Now, to get started shopping for all grain ingredients and demijohns :)

 

[Abiruth]

Cracking mini-brew guide. Thanks for posting that. Now, to get started shopping for all grain ingredients and demijohns :)

Glad you found it useful. Those 5 litre water bottles make great demijohns. Only £1.10 ish from most supermarkets and you can use the water.

:drink:

 

[coldlager]

Yea, that's actually a great idea as I think my water here is pretty hard.

I'm quite excited at the pospect of experimenting with a few beers now. The standard 23litre batches are just too prohibitive for me as I don't have the space for more than 1 or 2 brews and would take months to drink that much beer lol

Did you ferment your batches in a dark cupboard or is somewhere out of direct sunlight OK e.g. in the corner of a room?

 

[Abiruth]

Yea, that's actually a great idea as I think my water here is pretty hard.

I'm quite excited at the pospect of experimenting with a few beers now. The standard 23litre batches are just too prohibitive for me as I don't have the space for more than 1 or 2 brews and would take months to drink that much beer lol

Did you ferment your batches in a dark cupboard or is somewhere out of direct sunlight OK e.g. in the corner of a room?

Yep I agree, no way could I justify filling the lounge with giant fermenting bin!!

First batch was kept in the fridge, but my current one is just on a sideboard in the lounge. Not in direct sunlight, but not in darkness. I put them in 284ml green stella bottles once done.

:drink:

 

[coldlager]

Nice, ok cool. As the quantities are going to be quite small I might even buy a few of those fancy bottles with the rubber clamp lids. The mini 5 litre kegs would also be quite good for giving to friends or taking to a party as they would fit a batch nicely.

Now time to go malt and hops shopping :)

 

[Abiruth]

Nice, ok cool. As the quantities are going to be quite small I might even buy a few of those fancy bottles with the rubber clamp lids. The mini 5 litre kegs would also be quite good for giving to friends or taking to a party as they would fit a batch nicely.

Now time to go malt and hops shopping :)

Yep those kegs look great. One tip, if you use Brewmate (or similar) set your brew efficiency at 65-67% or similar. I just find that with using the sieve I don't get near the efficiency of the big guns. So basically I mean if you don't change the efficiency your beer won't beer as strong as the recipe says it will be.

:drink:

 

[coldlager]

Yep those kegs look great. One tip, if you use Brewmate (or similar) set your brew efficiency at 65-67% or similar. I just find that with using the sieve I don't get near the efficiency of the big guns. So basically I mean if you don't change the efficiency your beer won't beer as strong as the recipe says it will be.

:drink:

Another great tip, thanks. I was not familair with 'brewmate' until I read your post. I have installed it and am having a play around now. I'm not really sure what half of the values should be set too e.g. evaoration rate etc. I will do some research on this before brewing for sure.

 

[LeedsBrewer]

Don't forget that if you are doing small batches it is important to be very accurate in your measurements. As in down to the gram. That is why electronic scales are useful. Having said that, if you are out by a few grams, you'll still make great beer. It'll just be different than you were expecting.

AG is great fun and i really enjoyed doing my small 4.5L batch. I did it all in a 15L pan. It's really simple. My method:
Heat water to correct temp for mash
add voile/net curtain (i just bought another one today 1.5m x 1.5m for 99p)
add grains
put lid on pan and wrap up with blankets etc
leave for 75min
remove blankets and pull out grain bag (voile) with grain in and put it in your fv.
sparge with a kettle of hot water.
leave grain under water for 15 mins
pull out bag and combine sparge water from your fv with your boil pot.
Boil for 60mins with various hop additions
cool in bath or sink.

 

[cwiseman77]

Smaller batch brews sound great if you have a lack of space or want to experiment. As for home brew only being good for 1-2 months, don't believe it. Some of the more experienced brewers on here(Grays Alchemy for example) doesn't touch a beer for the first 6 months. I'm not sure but I think anything between 6-12 months is the golden age(except wheats which you want to drink a bit younger).

as for not having enough space or ability to drink 23l batches, I enjoy giving away beer to family/friends/colleagues more than I enjoy drinking it. My christmas shopping was very easy this year

 

[Abiruth]

add voile/net curtain (i just bought another one today 1.5m x 1.5m for 99p)
add grains
put lid on pan and wrap up with blankets etc
leave for 75min
remove blankets and pull out grain bag (voile) with grain in and put it in your fv.
sparge with a kettle of hot water.
leave grain under water for 15 mins
pull out bag and combine sparge water from your fv with your boil pot.
.

That's really interesting I've been wondering if I might be better off doing BIAB. What kind of efficiency do you usually get?

:drink:

 

[LeedsBrewer]

havent a clue. i've only done one batch so far, i worked it out but cant remember. I believe it was around 70% though??

 

[Dieseljockey]

Hi...

Is the 1-2 month lifespan i've read of homebrew beer accurate?

No..it depends on the beer, pale ale a few months through to a Russian imperial stout say a year (or more)

Is there any reason not to brew smaller batches in something like a 6L cider jar or a small 10-12L fermenter?

No..not if that's what you want...but brew a brilliant beer and you'll kick yourself you only have 6lts of it.

Can you ferment beer in a clear glass jar if hidden from direct sunlight?

Yes.

Is there a greater chance of infection with a smaller batch, less yeast etc?

Can't see why this would happen if you sanitize your equipment well.

If I were to brew smaller amounts but use a kit, is the wort pre-yeast freezable? Else i'd either have to waste half the kit or make the wort completely from scratch.

freeze wort??? :wha: I do AG so I've never had this problem...but I've read somewhere that you can freeze wort to use as a starter...stick the Question in Google and see what comes up... :thumb:

 

[wilsoa1111]

i would say few beers actually go off unless were a bit infected to begin with- so i tend to have a garage full of 20l batches that im slowly working through, if u find u have too much in stock do a high abv that needs a year or so, if need beer fast do a wheat etc-ive now got at least 6 types of beer floating around down there... Also AG is v time consuming, ive done a little batch and it took me just as long almost to make 10l vs 25l-
if u want small brews i would look at extract(a fraction of the time), if bought in bulk it is somewhat economical-i think it can be frozen-also brewferm do smaller yet quality kits (9-12l)

 

[bunkerbrewer]

One tip, if you use Brewmate (or similar) set your brew efficiency at 65-67% or similar.

+1

I've used BrewMate for 8 AG brews, and I'm pretty sure that BrewMate is working off brewhouse efficiency, not mash efficiency.

66% is my average brewhouse efficiency, with mash efficiencies of 75-80%.

This makes a BIG difference if you're using BrewMate's brewday mode to calculate your water volumes.

 

[Abiruth]

I've used BrewMate for 8 AG brews, and I'm pretty sure that BrewMate is working off brewhouse efficiency, not mash efficiency.

66% is my average brewhouse efficiency, with mash efficiencies of 75-80%.

This makes a BIG difference if you're using BrewMate's brewday mode to calculate your water volumes.

Glad it's not just me

:drink: