Using a 5 gallon (23l) fermenter for small batch brewing

Are you like me that have limited space & resources, unable to have variations of equipment for brewing? 

Do you struggle to get through 40 odd pints of the same beer because you are unable to brew two batches in close succession, allowing them to condition over the same period of time? Or just find 40 pints of the same beer too much?

The last statement is quite generalised, I haven't had a problem with my 'Way to Amarillo' Pale Ale, its a very nice brew (best one Ive done to date) but every brew after the 30 something pint I really fancy a different beer - variety is the spice of life! 

So now that I have got into Extract brewing & starting to either devise my own recipes or scale down others -  small batch brewing is on the cards! 

3 Gallons batches (11 Litres) which is roughly 20 pints, if you take into consideration the trub and other loses during fermentation, you'll probably end up with 18 or so 500ml sized bottles. 

I did need to do some research however as I only have a full sized 23/25l bucket, I had a small 12.5L bucket in the shopping cart ready but before I committed myself I wanted to check if I was able to use my original, existing bucket.

And you actually can! 

Many people have done the same, fermented 3 and even 2 gallons in a 5 gallon bucket. 

For example, for every 2 gravity points creates one volume of CO2. So a gallon of beer, dropping from 1.050 to 1.010, will make 20 gallons of CO2 over the course of its fermentation. So any oxygen will be purged from the bucket. 

If you decide to condition a beer for a longer period of time in secondary, like if it's a very high alcohol beer, you would want as little headspace as possible to minimise the risk of oxidation so then I recommended to rack into a similar sized vessel. 

For the duration of primary fermentation (up to 3 weeks) there appears to be no problems using a 5 Gallon bucket.


This not only will allow me to potentially brew two batches within weeks of each other but I can now scale down a recipe to test it out to see if I like it, rather than having tons of bottles of 'meh' beer to get through. Essentially giving them away to associates just to clear the numbers. Some people windge that they don't get any beers but others have, but that's another story for another time. 

If you find yourself in the same predicament like me....I would say give small batch brewing a go. 

Until next time..............Happy Brewing