1 gallon AG brew

Hey guys, I am going to go an ag 1 Gallon brew as a test batch (still practising ) how many grams of grain in total do you think would be right? obviously not decided on type of grain yet but a ballpark a mount to get to would be helpful please.

750g-1kg would be typical.

Excellent idea , there is a lot to learn in brewing and it can seem like strange mystical science but it's actually quite easy . Just a matter of keeping your eye on the thermometer and a large enough pot , once you've had a go you'll wonder what all the fuss was ( about making it ) . Great way to learn just take it easy , write down and plan what you're going to do step by step , take plenty of notes through out the brew and enjoy it .

Try to put your figures into a program like brewmate as accurately as possible, it'll help you hit your targets. Try to use mid alpha pellet hops lile northern brewer - lots of leaf hops turn to sludge in such a small boil. Good luck!!

Very rough I know but for an average strength beer 1 Gallon = 1 Kg, 2 gallon = 2 Kg, 5 gallon = 5 Kg. etc.

As said, brewmate is a great tool. Robs tip on pellets is a very good one, you loose lots of wort with hop absorption.

Keep your first recipe simple, make good notes ...... a good yeast BTW would be wilkos Gervin, half a pack would be plenty.

Making one gallon brews was what got me into AG brewing. Great for learning the processes but a hell of a lot of aggravation for a gallon of beer. It takes almost as long to make 1 gallon as it takes me for 10 gallons (slight exaggeration). Seriously though, it's only heating and cooling that take longer when you scale up your brews.

Anyway, I used Brewtoad to design my recipes - it was the first free tool I found and I stuck with it. My best 1 gallon AG brew was a simple, single hopped Amarillo Pale Ale - completely different to any kit beer I made and definitely what persuaded me to buy my big kit!

Thanks all, that's really useful- have downloaded brewmate and had a little play, a fantastic piece of software.
What does this look like to you guys:

Recipe Specs
----------------
Batch Size (L): 4.5
Total Grain (kg): 1.030
Total Hops (g): 14.00
Original Gravity (OG): 1.048 (°P): 11.9
Final Gravity (FG): 1.012 (°P): 3.1
Alcohol by Volume (ABV): 4.72 %
Colour (SRM): 9.3 (EBC): 18.3
Bitterness (IBU): 13.4 (Average)
Brewhouse Efficiency (%): 70
Boil Time (Minutes): 60

Grain Bill
----------------
0.618 kg Crystal 10 (60%)
0.412 kg Maris Otter Malt (40%)

Hop Bill
----------------
8.0 g Northern Brewer Pellet (9.6% Alpha) @ 10 Minutes (Boil) (1.8 g/L)
6.0 g Citra Pellet (11.1% Alpha) @ 50 Minutes (Aroma) (1.3 g/L)

Misc Bill
----------------
5.0 g Yeast Nutrient @ 1 Days (Primary)

Single step Infusion at 66°C for 60 Minutes.
Fermented at 21°C with Ale yeast


Recipe Generated with BrewMate

Ok so you've got Brewmate working, which is a big help, but you need to change the recipe a little.

For the grains you'll want mostly base malt(in your case Maris Otter), something like 80-95% of the grain bill. The low numbered Crystal Malts, like the Crystal 10, are good for body and head retention. Having said that, you don't want to use too much Crystal Malts as they also give the beer caramel flavour and a sweetness, too much will make the beer undrinkable. So keep them to an absolute maximum of about 15-20% of the grain bill, in this case probably less than 10% is best.

The hops. Usually the hop additions are given in terms of minutes from the end of the boil rather than minutes into the boil. For example, the first addition will often be just as the boil begins and is used to give bitterness. If it is a 60min boil(which is typical) then this addition is denoted as the 60min hop addition. Obviously the hop addition right at the end of the boil is denoted as the 0min addition and is used to give hop aroma. Brewmate also uses this timing convention. Your Northern Brewer should be the 60min addition and the Citra should go in right towards the end of the boil, something like 10 or 5mins and again at 0mins, and perhaps as a dry hop too. That way you get lots of citrus flavours.

Your bitterness(13.4 IBU) is a little low for the style of beer you are going for. What you seem to be making is either an American Pale Ale, or more likely a British Golden Ale(a little less hops and alcohol than an APA but a bit more malty with some yeast character too), so you want your IBU number to be in the range 20-45 perhaps. Once you enter the style of beer you are making Brewmate will guide you as to the typical alcohol strength, bitterness and colour. If you stray outside the guidelines you will see yellow boxes light up. Sometimes you will find that you do stray a little over, for example a little darker or lighter, a little more or less alcohol etc. and you shouldn't worry too much about it, they are just guidelines after all.

I made a few 1 gallon batches and overall it was good experience. You get to brew often without building up huge stocks and certainly bottling is quick. The bad side is that it can actually be more difficult than brewing a bigger batch. There is less room for error with a small batch. Keeping the mash at a constant temperature is probably the main difficulty. Having said that, if you can brew a good 1 gallon batch then you'll have no problems when you move up to bigger batches.

Enjoy

That's quite bitter. Normal pale ales are around 20-35 ibus, american pale ales around 40-50 ibus, so strip the hops back a bit. I would expect to not hit your og the first time, but don't worry. Take accurate notes and you'll get a good idea of what's going on when you brew.

You might also benefit from a 30 min boil, theres a lot of evaporation with such a small volume. I used to brew 2 gallon and keep it topped up throughout with kettle water, works fine.

Cheers Rob - 3rd time lucky.. ?
English IPA

Recipe Specs
----------------
Batch Size (L): 4.5
Total Grain (kg): 1.190
Total Hops (g): 17.00
Original Gravity (OG): 1.061 (°P): 15.0
Final Gravity (FG): 1.014 (°P): 3.6
Alcohol by Volume (ABV): 6.19 %
Colour (SRM): 7.1 (EBC): 14.0
Bitterness (IBU): 28.4 (Average)
Brewhouse Efficiency (%): 70
Boil Time (Minutes): 30

Grain Bill
----------------
1.000 kg Maris Otter Malt (84.03%)
0.120 kg Crystal 10 (10.08%)
0.070 kg Cane Sugar (5.88%)

Hop Bill
----------------
10.0 g Cascade Pellet (7.8% Alpha) @ 29 Minutes (Boil) (2.2 g/L)
7.0 g Citra Pellet (11.1% Alpha) @ 1 Minutes (Aroma) (1.6 g/L)

Misc Bill
----------------
5.0 g Yeast Nutrient @ 1 Days (Primary)

Single step Infusion at 67°C for 60 Minutes.
Fermented at 21°C with Ale yeast
Recipe Generated with BrewMate

You seem to be getting to grips with Brewmate! That said, I think you are falling into a very common mistake, getting carried away with concocting new recipes. You've already switched between Pale Ale, Imperial IPA and English IPA. They might all be "Pale Ales", but they are quite different. Don't worry.

As this will be your first AG brew I'd suggest finding a simple recipe which has been brewed before by other members. If you are interested in Citra hops then perhaps GrowlingDog's would be a good first recipe. If you can't find Crystal 20L then you can swap it for any other low number Crystal Malt such as Crystal 10L.

Many people start by brewing a few single malt and single hop(SMASH) recipes. The recipes are not only simple but allow you to experience the hop in a clean environment. One that I have tried is which was one of my best brews so far.

Rob has also posted some simple single hop recipes, and (using East Kent Golding hops). In the former, you can swap the Wheat Malt for more Maris Otter if you can't get it, while in the latter, the CaraGold can be swapped for a low number Crystal Malt or even left out.

I hope that helps you.

Like you, I was going to start 1 gallon AG brews, but decided to double it up - same amount of effort, double the beer, and max I can get away with using my existing kit. I've done 5 now, great fun and great brews. Just finished my latest today, here's the recipe, you could just use 1 hop (Cascade) if you wanted, which is what I did first time around.

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=8387

Best thing I did was get a grain bag, makes it so much easier.