For many homebrewers small batch brewing is a reasonable option for them. It doesn’t always make sense to brew a five or ten gallon batch of beer every time. Many of us are confined to small apartment kitchens, taking over what space we have to craft our home made beers. Others among us are like mad scientists, always brewing with some strange ingredient found in an international market or picked from the garden. You may not want to end up with five gallons of an experiment gone wrong.
Enter: small batch brewing. Commercial craft breweries are often renowned for their small batch beers, brewed seasonally and released in limited quantities. Whether you’re brewing small batch beers at home for logistic, experimental, or economical reasons, there are some benefits – and drawbacks – that should be considered:

The Pros of Small Batch Brewing

• Easy to scale – Scaling homebrew recipes is easy. To turn a five-gallon recipe into a 2.5-gallon batch, just divide all of the ingredients by half. All the brewing procedures should be more or less the same. The only ingredient that doesn’t need to be cut is the beer yeast. Any batch less than 5 gallons, still use 5 gallons worth of yeast. (Consider purchasing a small digital scale for dividing hops and grains.)

• Practice techniques and procedures – First-time brewers and those practicing a new technique may have an easier time with a smaller batch. For example, a mini-mash, or partial-mash, is a great way for extract brewers to learn about mash procedures. Maybe use small batch brewing to step up to a 2.5-gallon all-grain batch before doing five or ten gallons.

• Experiment with less risk – Brewing with an unusual herb, spice, or fruit? Before you know how the beer will turn out, it may make sense to brew a 1-2 gallon batch for starters. Or, if you want to experiment with different flavorings in the fermenter, you could brew one batch of the base beer, then divide it among several smaller fermenters, with varying quantities of the experimental ingredient in each one. (One-gallon glass jugs are perfect for this.)

• Smaller investment – If funds are tight, small batch brewing can let you brew for less money. Not only is the upfront cost for homebrewing ingredients lower, but you can still make some beer and put off the brew kettle upgrade for a later date.

The Cons of Small Batch Brewing
There’s really just one main drawback to small batch brewing: For roughly the same time commitment, you end up with less beer. Things like bottling and heating up water may be a bit faster, but the overall process will take about the same amount of time as brewing a larger batch. But we all love to brew, so who really minds brewing more often?
In my home brewery (i.e., kitchen), I like to alternate between small and big batches. When experimenting, I’ll brew a two or three gallon batch, but I’ll still brew enough five-gallon batches to keep my favorite beers on hand.
Do you know of any other pros and cons to small batch brewing? Have you ever tried small batch brewing? Do you have an idea that might need a test batch of beer first?
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David Ackley is a beer writer, brewer, and self-described “craft beer crusader.” He is a graduate of the Oskar Blues Brew School in Brevard, NC and founder of the Local Beer Blog.

Bottling homebrew beer isn’t always an easy process. If you’ve already bottled a few batches, then you already know what I’m talking about. Filling some 50 bottles of beer can be time-consuming and frustrating for the average homebrewer. But it doesn’t have to be!
One of the great things about homebrewing is that it is a totally modifiable hobby. There’s no single “right” way to do it. All it takes is a little creativity to make things work for you.
Here’s some tips for bottling homebrew beer that will save time and effort on bottling day:

Challenge #1: Cleaning & Sanitizing
No one enjoys scrubbing 50 beer bottles by hand. Luckily, this is a part of the bottling process that can be largely automated.
Advice for cleaning and sanitizing beer bottles:

• Rinse first. After drinking a beer, rinse out the bottle with a few quick bursts from the kitchen faucet. This will make sure there isn’t any nasty gunk inside the bottle that has to be scrubbed out on beer bottling day. Stubborn deposits inside the bottle? The Bottle and Carboy Washer will blast them away. Consider draining your beer bottles on a Bottle Tree so you don’t have to worry about standing water inside the bottle.

• Sanitize in dishwasher. This is one of the beer bottling tips that will save you a lot of time. It isn’t a good way to clean beer bottles, but if you’ve already rinsed them, it makes sanitizing pretty easy. The dishwasher jets won’t likely reach into the bottom of every bottle, but the steam and the heat will kill most of the wild yeast and bacteria that may be lurking inside the bottles. Just plan ahead and place your clean bottles in the dishwasher and get the sanitizing cycle going an hour or so ahead of bottling time.

Challenge #2: Removing Labels
Probably the most annoying part of bottling homebrew beer is removing the labels, so much so that some homebrewers don’t even bother. But if you submit your beer bottles for competition or want to make sure you don’t look like a total amateur, the labels gotta go.
Tips for removing beer bottle labels:

• Buy some plain bottles. If you’re willing to spend the money, just get a case of beer bottles from your homebrew shop. For some, the time savings will be worth the expense.

• Choose your bottles wisely. If you’ve removing labels before, you may have noticed that certain breweries’ labels come off more easily than others. I’ve found that it’s usually the larger craft breweries whose labels come off the easiest. If you need to stock up on bottles for homebrewing, get a case from New Belgium or Sam Adams. Once you’ve made your way through the case (remember to rinse!), just soak the bottles in a solution of Basic A No-Rinse Cleanser and warm water – the labels will come right off.

Challenge #3: Tilting the Bottling Bucket
This is a beer bottling tips that will save you a couple of bottles every batch when bottling your homebrew beer. A lot of bottling buckets have the spout a full inch or so above the bottom of the bucket. This helps leave behind sediment that may be in the bucket, but there’s at least a few bottles worth of beer below the spout. This leaves us having to tilt the bucket to get the last several pints. An extra set of hands will make this easier, but it seems to me like an unnecessary waste of energy.
Solution?

• Build your own dip tube. I found this tip on Homebrew Talk. Take a rubber stopper that fits into the inside of your bottling spigot and construct a dip tube from a short piece of plastic, stainless steel, or copper. For my setup, a Drilled #2 Rubber Stopper did the trick, and now I don’t have to tip the bucket!

Do you have any tips for bottling homebrew beer you’d like to share? I’m sure that others would love to hear them. Comment below and let us know!
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David Ackley is a beer writer, brewer, and self-described “craft beer crusader.” He holds a General Certificate in Brewing from the Institute of Brewing and Distilling and is founder of the Local Beer Blog.

Using a yeast starter when making your beer is simple way to improve your fermentations. Here you will find a yeast starter recipe and instructions for using one to have a healthier, more-thorough homebrew fermentation.

What is a beer yeast starter?
A beer yeast starter is a volume of yeast that’s pitched into wort, usually prepared a day or more in advance of brew day. Homebrewers and commercial brewers alike use yeast starters to ensure that there are plenty of healthy yeasts cells to quickly, cleanly, and completely ferment a batch of beer. In other words, a yeast starter provides an opportunity for yeast cells to grow and multiply prior to being pitched into a batch of beer.
Preparing a yeast starter for your beer has several benefits:

• Improved attenuation, i.e., a more complete fermentation and lower final gravity
• Shorter lag time, i.e., fermentation starts more quickly
• Cleaner tasting beer
• More effectively ferment high gravity beers
• Proof the yeast, making sure that it is active and viable

Yeast starters are typically only made from liquid yeast cultures. Dry yeast packets, assuming they have been stored properly, should contain enough cells to ferment an average homebrew, but even making a yeast starter with dried yeast will result in some remarkable improved fermentation
Experienced homebrewers recommend a starter containing about 200 billion yeast cells to ferment the typical 5 gallon batch of homebrewed ale, and 400 billion yeast cells to ferment a lager. Since most liquid yeasts contain about 100 billion cells, we need to grow these cultures in order to achieve an optimal fermentation. (Explore this link for more advanced pitching rate calculations.)

Beer Yeast Starter Recipe

Yeast starters require very little equipment, most of which you probably already have on hand:

• a saucepan or pot
• 1 gallon glass jug or large glass flask
• light dried malt extract
• liquid yeast
• drilled stopper
• airlock
• sanitizer

Yeast Starter Instructions

Making a yeast starter for beer is an easy way to improve the quality of your homebrew. While lagers and high-gravity beers will require more advanced pitching calculations, these steps will guide you through the basic process of preparing a yeast starter for the typical 5 gallon batch of homebrewed ale:

1. At least 24 hours prior to brew day, fetch a large glass jug or flask and clean and sanitize thoroughly. Sanitation is extremely important, otherwise your yeast starter may become contaminated!

2. For an average homebrewed ale, boil 2 liters water to 200 grams (roughly 1.5 cups) light dry malt extract. This is will provide the environment for yeast to feed and multiply.

3. After a boil of 10-15 minutes, this starter is sterile. Cover with a sanitized lid or bung and chill to pitching temperature.

4. Pour the cooled wort into a sanitized container through a sanitized funnel.

5. Pitch yeast into the starter container. Make sure that both wort and yeast are at an appropriate pitching temperature (and within 10°-15°F of each other), so as not to shock the yeast.

6. Attach a drilled stopper and air-lock. The yeast starter should begin bubbling within 6-12 hours.

7. On brew day, pitch the starter directly into your batch of wort.

Making a yeast start for your beer is an easy way to improve on your brewing process. Follow the recipe and instructions above see if you can tell a difference.
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David Ackley is a beer writer, brewer, and self-described “craft beer crusader.” He holds a General Certificate in Brewing from the Institute of Brewing and Distilling and is founder of the Local Beer Blog.

A wise man once said that, beauty is in the glass of the beer holder. Cliché aside, wouldn’t your beer be even more beautiful if it was crystal clear? Clearing beer is not all that difficult. In fact, clearing beer is a matter of some simple steps.
While it is true that most haze-causing compounds have little effect on the flavor of our beers, the psychological effect of seeing a pristine, clear beer helps make for a more-enjoyable beer drinking experience. Additionally, clear beer tends to aid in product stability, giving your beer better shelf-life. With a little planning and patience, it is easy to get clear beer. With that said, here are some easy tips on clearing beer.

1. Kettle Finings: Whirlfloc or Irish Moss
   Whirlfloc is a refined version Irish Moss, a carrageen seaweed. These products help protein coagulate in your kettle during the boil and eventually settle out of your beer. Adding a tablet of Whirlfloc or a tablespoon of Irish Moss 15 minutes before the end of boil can greatly reduce haze-causing proteins in your final beer. Using any of these is a great start to clarifying your beer.

2. Proper Calcium Levels 
   Calcium aids in yeast health and their eventual flocculation of the yeast out of your beer. If you find your beers having significant yeast haze, it is worth checking your water report to ensure you have over 100 ppm of calcium in your brewing water. If you’re water is calcium deficient, adding small amounts of calcium chloride, calcium carbonate, or gypsum to your beer can help the yeast flocculate out once fermentation is complete.

3. Cold-Side Finings
   If you’re still having trouble with clearing your beer, adding fining products like gelatin or Polyclar to your beer while in secondary can aid in clarification. Different finings work on different types of haze, so be sure to read the manufacturer’s instructions and follow their directions.

4. Cold Crash & Careful Racking 
   After putting your beer in secondary and before bottling, chilling the fermenter to near freezing temperatures will help the yeast and other particulate settle out. This allows you to carefully rack clear, bright beer off any trub cake and into your bottles or kegs.

5. Cold Storage
   Patience can go a long way when clearing beer. Once you beer is bottled and carbonated, storing it cold for a week or two will help chill-haze proteins form and settle out of solution, leaving you with bright beer. This is traditionally done with lager beers, but most ales can also benefit from cold storage.

Creating bright, clear beer is not rocket science. With solid brewing procedures and a few select ingredients such as clearing and fining agents, clearing beer is a very easy thing to accomplish.
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Nick Ladd is a homebrewer, beer enthusiast, and BJCP certified beer judge. He has won numerous beer competitions, has collaborated on multiple commercial beer projects, and writes frequently at his blog, ThePourReport.com.