A possible drawback to One Pot Brewing – using one vessel for the entire brewing process – is that you’re “one pot” will be tied up. You cannot brew several batches at once, or two batches in two days. That’s not entirely true and misses the point of the method. Why would you want to brew two batches in one day? –because you haven’t brewed in so long? Simply put, you will most definitely make more beer with One Pot Brewing because brewing is easier, faster, less cleanup, and more enjoyable.

Secondly, fermentation doesn’t take that long. 10 days tops? (I just brewed a Pilsner that took 10 days grain to glass). Let’s say 13 days at the most, including cold crashing. In those 10 days, I begin planning my next batch, looking at my recipes, and getting the ingredients ready. Honestly, how often does a person want to brew? More than twice a month? It’s all quite lean and has a nice flow. Homebrewers tend to brew in fits and starts, and it’s because the process takes a ton of work. One Pot Brewing is more like cooking – a constant thing. This is why I brew more than most homebrewers, why my fermentation chamber is rarely empty.

However, if you really want to brew a lot, you simply ferment in a plastic bottling bucket (which also comes with a spigot attached at the right spot, above the trub line). They are very cheap. I’ve done that a few times and it works just the same. It’s simply another vessel to clean after brewday. It’s a great feeling, however, to not have anything to clean when brewing is over – not even a pot with crap in it.

I recently attended a fascinating lecture from a White Labs scientist. I was drinking, so I don’t remember everything she said. But I do remember one thing very clearly: sometimes under-pitching yeast makes sense. Under-pitching, she said, creates more yeast flavors and aromas. Really? Huh. The yeast get stressed out, they work harder, and they create more flavors and aromas. Which could be good or bad. For certain styles, commercial brewers do this on purpose. Over-pitching, on the other hand, does the opposite: less flavors from the yeast, less aromas from the yeast. But it gets the job done, and faster.

Okay. Who cares? Well, some beers are defined and dominated by the yeast flavors and aromas, like the banana flavored Hefeweizen. The White Labs scientist specifically referred to Hefeweizen several times, but I assume this would apply to my beloved Belgian Tripel just as well, which also tastes like banana. Needless to say, I will not be over-pitching my Belgian Tripel from now on (which is what I was doing).

For homebrewers that reuse yeast (like me), we usually over-pitch all our beers by throwing a jar full of yeast slurry or whatever. After all, we can’t count cells. And in fact, I think this is a good practice for most beers. In fact, brulsophy has shown that it doesn’t make a different in a wheat amber ale and in a Double IPA and in a lager.

Even if you think under-pitching is a good idea, it’s not for everyone. You could run the risk of a stuck, or stalled, fermentation. That’s bad; that means your beer stopped fermenting and you need to somehow revive it. I don’t worry too much about that because I have a temperature controlled fermentation chamber, which keep the yeast maximally happy. So I don’t think they will crap out. I’m not fermenting in a cold, 50 degree basement.