I’ve brewed every size from one gallon to ten, and five gallon batches are the easiest and most efficient. It is a lot of beer for me, because my tastes require me to have a variety of beers on tap, but I can entertain my friends when I need to get some beer drunk so I can brew. It works for me, and no one complains about the free beer.
My small batch sizes are perfect for me because in stark contrast to the way I drank from 16-25, I typically only put down 2-3 beers on the weekends. 5 gallons of beer would be a real chore for me to get rid of.
I do 2.5 gallon batches. Not because I want to but because I live in a small house, have precious little storage space and I’m the only one in the house who drinks beer. For me, the brewing process is every bit as enjoyable as the drinking so brewing smaller batches more often suits me fine.
I brew 3 gallons into the fermenter and 2.5 into the keg. I love this batch size. I am always sad when a keg kicks but it happens fast enough I get to brew at least once per month. I actually run fairly often because I give away beer to friends. I kind of like running out though.
I am the only one who drinks in my house, and it is usually only 4 or 5 beverages a week. If I have time to relax after the family and house is taken care of, then I’ll settle down with a beer/mead/whiskey/sake/etc. The smaller batch size let’s me brew 1-2 times a month without drowning in extra beer I can’t drink. Plus, I like to experiment, so it doesn’t bother me to dump a couple of gallons of beer that I don’t want to drink.
Another advantage is that I can brew all-grain batches on the kitchen stove at this smaller size. No need to brew outside for me. I have heat in the winter, AC in the summer, and no need for pants
Still brewing 10 gallon batches- I just give away a lot of beer. I have never made a batch at the one gallon size, but I give credit to you guys. At some point I hope to try a 2.5 gallon batch just to see how it is done. I think that is where the hobby is headed, especially with the mechanized systems…
1-5 gallons, depending on what ingredients I’ve got to hand and how confident I am about the beer being good. Small batches are more fun as I can brew on a whim more often and always have a varied stock of beers. Also like to split batches into 1 gallon fermenters (used water bottles) and try different yeasts.
I used to do 10L batches, and brew at least twice a month. Since I sorted myself a brew fridge, I only have room to do one brew at a time, so I now do 20L batches once a month.
When I have time on the weekend I brew 5 gallons, batch sparging. But usually I don’t have time on the weekends because I have a lot of other projects, social engagements et. I would say 4 out of 5 batches are 2.5 gallon biab batches that I do after work on a weekday. I can get home at 5:15 and have a batch in the fermenter by 9:00 and all cleaned up. I don’t always need to make a starter for this size, I sometimes pitch a smack pack as is if its fresh into a lower gravity wort.
I started with 1 gallon kits. That was too much work for not enough beer. I quickly went to all grain 2.5 gallon batches. This way I can brew every 2-3 weeks, and it’s easier to handle.
I brew 12 gallon batches, which gets me 2 full kegs and usually I’ll pull another gallon(ish) off and add some bugs and bacteria and that keeps some funky/sour stuff in the pipeline as well.