I’m back after an 18-year lapse in home brewing, and I really want to get into single-gallon batches to learn the development of recipes. Regarding the fermentation tank size, can the size of the fermenter become important due to beer style? Are some more vigorous than others in the fermentation process?
Observations from years of experience.
Lagers will usualy have less krausen. Ales have more. Some Belgian yeast strains have big krausens. Some friends have had Russian Imperial Stouts that have massive krausens.
It depends.
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Wheat beers that use the Weiheinstephan yeast (Wyeast 3068) also have really high amounts of krausen so you need a bigger fermenter and/or a blowoff tube.
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Thank you! Kind of what I expected, so I may very well increase size of the fermenter by 50%. Should help with the different beer types and the potential for rapid fermentation.
Thanks
I have been doing 1 gal batches for a while. I use a 2 gallon plastic bucket for primary, then a 1 gallon glass jar for secondary. The smaller batch size doesn’t seem to get as vigorous fermentation as the larger 5 gallon batches do.
Thank you. I think I may try some different beer types in 1 gallon test batches to compare the different fermentation rates at the same time. I last brewed beer in 5 gl batchs and did not attend to the specifics as much as I should have, contributing to the haze of the brew. It was good, just not as refined as some Ive seen. So this 1 gallon batch test should help me refine my abilities!
Cheers!
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