It's been a while since I have brewed and even longer since I've posted, my last brew was in June of last year. It was a hopped extract that I added cherries to in secondary. It wasn't horrible, but didn't get much conditioning time before I took it to a party. It was consumed, but everyone agreed it could have been a better beer.
A few years ago I started brewing beer at home. I was unstoppable the first few years brewing almost weekly. A couple years ago I started losing weight and trying to get healthy, so the first thing to go was alcohol. I also got busy with work and taking care of my three kids. Needless to say I haven't brewed much lately, but I would really like to change that.
I have gained a few pounds back, my kids are getting busy with extra curricular activities, and work is still just as busy. However, I want to get back into brewing at home. I was inspired last night by a trip to Meijer where I found a Brooklyn Brew House kit half price. The kit is all grain and only brews a gallon of beer. That amount of beer is hardly worth the work but will still be fun.
One of the reasons I haven't been brewing is because I hate bottling the five gallon batches. Hopefully the one gallon batches won't be as daunting a task and I can actually look toward to it. I could start kegging but it's too expensive. So for now I will do these smaller batches and slowly work my way back into it.
Wow ... a one gallon batch isn't much more than a yeast starter ... not sure I'd want to go through an all-grain brew day for such a small amount.
ReplyDeleteI recently did a Mr. Beer-sized batch for the first time in quite awhile. I think that is actually the perfect size if I am bottling. That first 20 to 25 bottles (less if you do some in bombers ... which I do) isn't bad. Anything more than that starts to drag.
Good luck. The awesome thing about really small batches is that you can experiment without worrying that you'll be ruining much beer.
Cheers!