We’re running out of prefixes to describe small brews. This idea is about trying to brew a single pint of beer in a simple, quick and repeatable way. Why? Firstly, it’s just interesting, secondly, it’s a quick way of prototyping a beer (assuming it works!) using common equipment that’s easy to clean (just dump it all in the dishwasher!).
So, it would start with mashing a small amount of grain with water at the right temperature (heated on the hob) in a Thermos flask. Ideally the flask should have been calibrated so that our strike water calculator works properly.
It would be nice to be able to knock together a container that can be heated and use a PID to keep the mash temperature at the required point but that’s beyond me at the moment.
Once mashed it’s easy to just pour out the wort into a pan. Add a small amount of hops and then boil for 15 minutes. Boiling for longer could reduce it too much.
Cooling can be accomplished by dipping the pan in a sink of cold water for a few minutes.
Ferment in a sanitised 1-2L drinks bottle with a small amount of yeast, nutrient and a loose lid. Shake to aerate.
Add dry hops to the bottle. After a week decant/syphon/syringe off the beer into a 500ml bottle primed with a carbonation drop/sugar.
Wait. Drink.
Notes: Currently untried. Not sure how much liquid is required at each stage to achieve the required single pint. Working backwards: 500ml in bottle -> 550ml in fermentor -> 1L pre-boil -> 1.125L for strike and sparge – assuming 125g of grain -> strike of about 350ml -> sparge with about 780ml. Less sparge water would mean less to boil (which could be risky as evaporation rate is proportional to the input heat (and pan size), not the volume of liquid) and would require a top up.
Scaling: This was written around making a single 500ml bottle of beer but, depending on the sizes of your various equipment it can scaled up a little. Our Thermos flasks are 500ml so that’s our limit on the mash tun. A larger Thermos means more wort. It would be a strange household that didn’t have pans which could hold 3-4L of wort and 2L bottles are easy enough to find (just remember not to fill them or things will get messy – leave about 30% headroom).