So, my first ever batch of alcohol anything is 5 gallons of mead happily doing it's thing in a carboy (spent two weeks in a 6.5 gallon bucket). Most of my gear was from a brewers best kit my wife got me once she realized that while I wanted to make mead, I wasn't going to drop a lot of coin on equipment on my own.

Anyway, after the mead got going pretty easily, we decided to try beer. Since I'd never done this or read about it, I figured we'd try a 1 gallon imperial stout kit first. This may have been a mistake, as interweb reading seems to indicate it's easier to make a lot without problems than a little.

So it got started fine, but after a day of bubbling away I got a ton of shit in my airlock. The instructions said they recommened I use a "blow off" set up if this happened. So I quickly set that up and promptly lost a fair amount of beer. At least the liquid level is lower, as it's now normally fermenting (I think, I dunno wtf I'm doing).

So once it's done, should I figure out how much liquid I have and adjust the priming sugar amount to account before bottling? And next time should I just make up 5 gallons of beer in my 6.5 gal primary and avoid this small batch nonsense?

I have never done a 1 gallon batch, but I'very been thinking about it for fun/unique/weird brews.  The downside of course is that it still takes the same time and you get 1/5th the beer.

What are you fermenting in?  For a big beer, like an imperial stout, you need plenty of room to let the Krausen (all that brown shit) on top of your beer form.  Generally speaking, smaller (lower sugar/alcohol) beers will have less krausen.


Yes, you should base your priming sugar off of your actual bottled volume. In your case, it's probably going to be less than an ounce, depending on what sugar you use.  Just do a Google search for "priming sugar calculator".


I find that a 5 gallon batch size is good...it's worth your time because you actually end up with a sizeable amount of good beer.  My recommendation is to find a fairly basic kit on sale somewhere and give it a shot.  Adventures in Homebrew has quite a few fall beers for $20 right now.  I'd imagine a basic 5 gallon kit will cost similar or less than a fancy 1 gallon kit.


Also, the upside of a more basic kit is that you can drink it sooner (probably less than 4 weeks).  Are you planning on aging your stout?

It's in a one gallon marked glass jug. So it's only a bit more than one gallon. Obviously not enough. Most of that brown shit ended up in the tube or my sanitized water as part of the setup.

My wife got me the Brewers Best kit and some additional stuff like the 5 gallon carboy the mead is in. I bought their one gallon Imperial ingredient kit and the one gallon jug.

Guess I need a few more big carboys.

And I guess if I did 5 gallons of stout my 6.5 gallon bucket would've been enough for a primary?

When I bottle I use a product like this priming drops

If you start to get into making beer look at getting into kegging,makes life a lot easier,if you have the room.

Do you know what your original gravity was?  6.5 is typically fine.

It depends on the beer you are making.  I've done a dozen or so 5 gallon batches in a 6.5 gallon bucket.  I had one 9% abv stout with a huge starter overflow the airlock and spill a bit.  I have 2-3 airlocks, so I can just switch them out every few hours during the worst of it.

I typically use a secondary fermenter on lots of the beers I make, but they really aren't necessary unless you are planning on aging your beer or doing secondary additions (fruit, wood, etc).  20-30 years ago our understanding of yeast pitching rates and yeast health wasn't as good, so the idea was to get your beer off of the unhealthy yeast cake quickly as not to impart off flavors.  Now, yeast is typically much healthier (if you treat it right).  As you get further into it, MrMalty.com has a good yeast pitching calculator.


 

That big overflow is typical of high gravity beers, I just had an imperial stout do that to me, 5 gallon in a 6.5 carboy, and it made a mess--normally I don't have an issue with 7% and under beers.