For the first decade or so of my brewing career, I brewed nothing but 5 gallon batches. I went on the Brewing Network all the way back in 2007 to discuss my doofy way of brewing and to defend brewing 5 gallon batch making! Here’s why I defend the world of 5 gallon brewing and these days 1 gallon brewing:

• More variety
• Fewer equipment needs
• More frequent brewing
• More experimentation
• Everything in homebrewing is geared around the 5 gallon batch
• More Variety!

So when I moved into my first house a year or so later, I had enough room and a dedicated spot to my brewing. (Advantage to being a homebrewer before you get a home – your partner accepts the fact that brewing is part of the household activities and knows there needs to be space for it.) I went bigger! Namely, I started using 50L pots and grabbed a turkey burner, a pump, etc, etc. All the accouterments you’d expect a big boy brewer to have. When I received the moneys for my first book – The Everything Homebrewing Book, I immediately turned around and spent part of it on a 26 gallon kettle. I was brewing big time now! And I kinda hated it. It was nice to have the one big brew day and produce a lot of beer, but it kinda sucked that after a while, I just really didn’t want another keg of the same beer. I’ll admit, I’m a bit of a neo-phile. Now the real question – is what to do about it? (More on that on Friday!)