A question we get all the time is, “Can I use a 5 gallon wine recipe to make just 1 gallon of wine?” And the answer is, “yes.” It’s a simple issue of taking the 5 gallon wine recipe and dividing all its ingredients by 5. This is true for any of the wine recipes you might run across.
The only exception to this rule is when it comes to any of the wine yeasts that are called for in these recipes. Regardless, if you are making 1 gallon or 5 gallons of wine you still want to use the entire packet of yeast. Once you open the packet of yeast you are breaking the sterile seal anyway.
We have quite a few 5 gallon wine recipes listed on our website that can bee treated this way. You can take any of them and divide them by 5. Just make sure to add the whole packet of yeast.
If you don’ t see the wine recipe you are look for just let us know, and we’ll see if we can find it for you. We have quite a few resources here for looking up recipes–old wine making books, etc.
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Ed Kraus is a 3rd generation home brewer/winemaker and has been an owner of E. C. Kraus since 1999. He has been helping individuals make better wine and beer for over 25 years.
Can I make less than 5 gallons of wine in a 5 gallon carboy? In other words, what is the importance of topping up? (I’m making 3 and 4 gallon batches in 5 gallon plastic carboys)
Here’s a short answer. If there is a hearty fermentation occuring topping-up is not an issue, but once the fermentation stops and the air-lock has been taken off–allowing air in–then the wine needs to be kept topped-up. There is an article listed on our website that covers this topic in more detail titled, "Topping Up Your Homemade Wines."
Hello, first of all thank you for all the recipe you put out for public. I used at least 10 of the recipe and my wine came out very good. I need the 5 gallons recipe to make wine from Quince, because I have lots of quince in my back yard.Thank you