Trial Brew in small pan

[soupdragon]

I'm planning on doing a 1 gallon trial of OldSpeckledBadger's simple extract brew but the biggest pan I can lay my hands on at the mo is about 5 pints to the brim. Am I doomed to failure with such a small pan?
If the brew works I'd scale it up a but funds and space being what they are I think the biggest pot I could go for is an 11 litre (ish) one in Wilkie's for £7. I can get some dry malt extract from work and want to make sure it's ok to use before investing.
Cheers Tom

[OldSpeckledBadger]

A 5 pint pan should be OK for a 1 gallon brew. I used to do just that when I was a teenager (back in the 1960s). One thing I would advise with small batches is get a more sensitive set of scales so you can weigh the smaller amounts accurately. I got a little digital scale off Ebay for a few pounds which is accurate to 0.1 grammes and goes up to 100 grammes.

[soupdragon]

Great news. So if I follow your method and steep 55g of crystal for 30 mins before the boil with 250g of dry malt and 14g of fuggles, then add the ballance of the malt with the 44g of sugar when I top up? Does that sound about right?
Do you think I'd just about manage to do a 5 gallon batch in the 11 litre stock pot?

[6470zzy]

11 liter for a 5 gallon batch? I think that you are a tad bit on the small side. Perhaps you should try just doing some half batches for the time being until you are able to gear up for a larger brew pot. I do 2.5 gallon batches all the time, even though I have larger pot sizes also.

Cheers

[soupdragon]

Pardon the silly question but wouldn't 2.5 galls leave too much space in a budget barrel? The trial I'm planning is only going into 500ml pop bottles.

[6470zzy]

I think that perhaps we are not speaking on the same page..........my 2.5 gallon batches ferment in a 3 gallon carboy and then are kegged in a 2.5 gallon corny. Although I do also bottle on occasion too.

Cheers

[soupdragon]

Ah.........
That would explain it then. I suppose the only way is to try a 5 gallon brew (presuming my trial is ok) and see if I can replicate the beer.

[soupdragon]

Well that was a pleasant afternoon's work. Ditch's stout put in the 2nd barrel and the trial extract brew on I resisted the urge to have a taste, I want the coopers to blow me away so I'll give it a couple of weeks in barrel before suppin it
The smell from the kitchen brought back many memories, mostly good. I really can't see why the wife doesn't like the smell of boiling hops and malt, it really is one of the nicest smells imaginable
If I end up getting that 11 litre pot from wilkies, what do you think would be my max boil length?
Cheers Tom

[DanO]

Hi, i brew extract in a wilko stock pot and then add to 3 gallons of cold water, similar to papazians book, which cools the wort down to around 32 degrees, its a little hap-hazard but the results have been pretty good so far.

[soupdragon]

Hi, i brew extract in a wilko stock pot and then add to 3 gallons of cold water, similar to papazians book, which cools the wort down to around 32 degrees, its a little hap-hazard but the results have been pretty good so far.

That's good to know but I measured one in wilkies and the quoted 24cm is from the base to the top of the handles so the capacity is only about 8 litres not the 11 that I thought Is that the same one as you've got?

[DanO]

Yes thats the one, end up with 4 to 5 litres after the boil so i end up with 20 litres, i was gonna just have a go with it and then sort out a boiler but results have been so good ive not got round to it yet.

[soupdragon]

I'll be bottling my own little trial later, not 100% sure about the dry malt extract I used (some stuff out of a 25kg bag I got from work). I'll do another trial with some genuine dry malt from my local home brew shop with the same method and compare the two beers. If the stuff from work turns out ok I'll be well happy (save me a few quid)
How many brews have you made with your pot? Did they all turn out ok?
Off to Harrogate tomorrow for a 4 night break with the missus so I'll check all the charity shops for a suitable pot but if I can't find one before I'm ready to scale up then I'll get one from wilkies. There's a seller on ebay with a 15 liter pot for £17 ish but can't justify the cost at the moment. At least if I get the wilkies one and then end up buying a bigger one the wife could make use of the smaller one and wouldn't take up too much space in the kitchen
On a seperate note, the wherry is surprising me. I wasn't really that impressed when I 1st tried it after about a week in barrel but nearly 6 weeks on and the flavours are really developing and it's finally starting to lose the haze I'll give Ditch's stout a try tonight but it's only been in for a week, hope that turns out too as I used the malt from work

[soupdragon]

Oooooooooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh yes
He he he Ditch's stout is superb, I'll be doing that one again
7 days in the barrel, what's it going to be like after a month or so?