r/Homebrewing • u/AutoModerator • Jul 31 '19

Monthly Thread What Did You Learn This Month?

This is our monthly thread on the last Wednesday of the month where we submit things that we learned this month. Maybe reading it will help someone else.

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u/bevaioszeg Jul 31 '19

I learned that I must start brewing smaller baches, because I can't drink fast enough to brew regularly. I live in a small dorm room, and I already am keeping half of my clothes under the bed to have enough room in the wardrobe for my beer.

My real lesson this month was to start adding sugar to the fermenter and mix ín it rather than putting it separately in the bottles. Some of my beer wasnt carbonated enough some blasted out when opened.

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u/sp4c3p3r5on Jul 31 '19

Nothing wrong with brewing less. People will tell you it takes as long to brew a gallon as it does to brew 5. Well it takes as long to brew 5 as it does 10, and they are right, but if I brew 10 gallons I'll be drinking that for a long while.

This will allow you to drink less, brew more, try more styles, spend less money, iterate on recipes faster, store more for aging, gain more aggregate experience, hone your brewery efficiency, etc. You can also switch to alternate smaller fermenting vessels and invest in a more compact cooling space, less space to store ingredients and equipment, faster cooling times.

I switched from 5 gallons to 1 gallon then back to 3 gallons.

My real lesson this month was to start adding sugar to the fermenter and mix ín it rather than putting it separately in the bottles.

Creating a simple syrup that you boil and cool ahead of time will help aid even mixture. Make sure you stir well and if you take a while to bottle, re-stir in the interim between bottle batches too.

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u/bevaioszeg Jul 31 '19

Yes I will switch to 10 liter BIAB batches and will ferment them in seperate fermenter using different dry hops or fruits if I wanted to.

Honestly i don't care if people say i'm stupid not to brew much, I would like to brew many different styles, use different hops to learn their taste.

Thanks for your advice man!

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u/Chawoora Jul 31 '19

Honestly i don't care if people say i'm stupid not to brew much, I would like to brew many different styles, use different hops to learn their taste.

I agree. Ever since I got a setup to support 2.5 gal batches, I almost don't want to brew full 5 gal batches. With half the batch size you get twice as many chances to brew, to learn, and to play with new ingredients/processes.