When you do your 5L batches what do you tend to end up with as a bottling volume? Do you fill a mini keg or do you get a bit of loss in the FV? As an aside what do you use as a FV for these batches? I'm massively struggling for time and space to brew at the moment and smaller batches is quite an attractive thought so keen to understand your process
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I usually end up with six or seven 500ml bottles (but sometimes I use 330ml bottles of 1L Growlers instead). With these small batches I have noticed I lose a lot more to trub than if I did a full 23L batch. I could of course do say 7L and that would probably give me enough to fill a mini keg which would then save loads of time on bottling day as MK are so much quicker to fill. But Im fine with just using bottles at the mo.
I bought some 5L buckets from herehttp://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/381353422181?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&var=650547896357&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT (although I already had 2 x 5L buckets from balihoo home brew) as you can see they're really cheap
Today's and yesterdays brew, I had enough time today to do a full hour mash/boil (well actually I only did a 40 min mash today because I was getting bored) but something I've yet to try is a 20 or 30 min mash/boil. I've read that there is zero down side to doing this apart from perhaps the long term storage isnt as stable but seeing as you're only making a few bottles I dont think this is a problem. Also of course you need more hops at the start of the boil if only boiling for 20 or 30 mins. Doing this I think I could knock out a brew in about 75 mins as heating up the mash water and the wort to boiling point only takes me about 10 -15 mins each.
I dont do a sparge so add 25% more grain to counteract this, so this saves more time. But today I've just discovered I get 85% efficiencey with my mill and the new irish ale malt I've just bought so will probably stop adding the extra 25%. Clean up is really fast too of course.
I'm really loving these stove toppers. Might do another one tommorow :mrgreen:
Edit: Also I no-chill, saves more time with faffing about cooling it in the sink with sinkfuls of water and ice
You could also add some DME/LME to a 5L brew to make a partial mash to bring it up to a longer brewlength if 5L isnt enough for you
If these 5L stove toppers still sound like something you'd be interested in doing lt me know and I do a step by step guide
