Alright, finally did my first small batch yesterday. Overall, it went very well! Hit my numbers right on the nose, which was surprising for a first batch with a whole new setup.
1. What's your usual batch size?
1.1 gallons into a 5L fermenter. Or, in this case, I put 1.3 gallons into a 2.5 gallon fermenter, as I didn't get quite the boil-off I expected.
2. Why do you brew small batches?
I wanted to get into a routine of turning out a quick and easy batch every weekend so I could test recipes, methods, and other side-by-side variables. My first goal is to nail down a good grain bill for single-hop recipes, then to do a series of those.
3. Do you brew, extract, partial mash, all grain?
All grain, full volume. This looks like about 1.75 gallons mashing volume for a 1.1 gallon batch.
4. What's your basic process? I.E., BIAB, tiny cooler (😉), just stir in the extract, etc.
I used a paint strainer bag this last time but I'm going to fabricate a voile bag for this batch size. I heated the water in my 3 gallon stock pot, milled my grain into the bag which was placed over a large bowl, then dunked the bag in the pot of water and stretched the opening over the rim. Once everything was stirred in really well for a couple of minutes, and I had the temperature on point (150F) I placed a lid on the pot and put the whole thing in a pre-warmed oven that was turned off just prior. The oven was at 170F or so, I let it cool just a bit with the door open. I pulled the pot at 30 minutes to stir everything up and check the temperature, which had risen to about 153F. I let it cool just a bit and then put it back in for another 30 minutes. By the end, the temp had fallen to 149F. I stirred it up again and then pulled the grain bag out and squeezed all of the liquid out of it (silicone gloves help here). I got a higher than expected mash efficiency from this, but also a bit more volume than I needed, so it balanced out perfectly. Boiled as usual, 60 minutes with hops at 60, 15, and 0. At flameout I put the lid on the pot and put it in the sink with cold running water to chill. Dumped everything through a strainer into my fermenter to get the leaf hops out, and pitched my yeast when it was down to the right temperature.
5. Do you have a favorite piece of equipment that you like to use especially for small batches?
It's so nice having a 3-gallon pot. It's easy to manage and it fits in the oven, but it's plenty big enough for up to 2 gallons, I'd reckon. Ferm-cap wasn't necessary this boil, but I'll definitely keep it on hand for larger boils if I need it - I can handle a boil-over in the garage, but not in the kitchen! I also think a grain bag is key for my situation. Full-volume mashing is nice. That said, I do have a couple of side-by-side hop tests that I'm planning to do one large mash in a 5-gallon cooler, and split the wort for separate boils, but that will probably require sparging. Here again, though, is where I'm digging the idea of a grain bag instead of bothering with a manifold of any sort.
6. If you've brewed larger batches how would you compare the two in terms of effort? Time? Equipment needs? Recipe consistency?
I can't say much for consistency yet, but effort and time were much lower, mainly owing to quick clean up and faster heating times. I also don't need to worry about pumps, HERMS, channeling, or really a lot of other "big batch" concerns that I normally have to deal with on 12-gallon days.
7. What am I missing that should be known about small batch brewing?
I love it! Wish I'd thought of it a lot sooner. I can see this being the way I get good at brewing consistently. When I'm doing big batches, I want something great, but I don't mind experimenting when it's 1 gallon at a time. I've got a whole list of things I want to test, new recipes to build, hops and grains to compare, etc. I'd never have the time, patience, or money to be so methodical on a large scale.