Most recipes are for 5-10 gallon batches. I would like to scale down some of the recipes on this site to 2 gallon batches. Is it OK to simply divide the ingredients to meet my scale or are there other factors? For example, I have read on other forums that hops grow increasingly bitter in smaller batches, even when its to scale.
I would also welcome any advice, concerns, or "gotchas" to avoid when making smaller batches.
Thanks in advance.
Most of us who do small batch brewing do 2.5 gallon batchs...that's one half of a 5 gallon batch of beer and therefore one case as opposed to two....and you simply half the ingredients in a standard recipe.
If you do a search for "Small Batch" or "2.5 Gallon batches" or even look in the last half of the mr beer forum, you will find a lot of info, and even a small batch allgrain tutorial for mr beer, written by me. I've put a ton of info on small batch brewing on here...so you shouldn't have any problem finding the info and answers to any questions you may have.
This search will expire, but the keyword was " small batch brewing"
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If you scale EVERYTHING down, you will get the exact same result as before.
The trick is to realize that "everything" includes more than just your malt and hops!
In particular it includes the volume of water that you boil the wort in, which affects how much hop bitterness is extracted.
It also includes how much yeast you pitch, which affects what flavors are created during the fermentation process.
So to exactly replicate a 5 gallon recipe, you have to scale down the boil volume as well as the ingredients. Or if you adjust the boil volume, you will also need to adjust the early bittering hop additions to compensate. Software like Beer Smith makes this much easier.
The yeast pitching rate is usually less of a concern. You'll get different results from pitching an entire vial in a 2 gallon batch compared to a 5 gallon batch, but most likely the difference will be an improvement (it's basically the same thing as making a yeast starter for a 5 gallon brew).
I tried scalling down the sample recipes in beer smith to test and it didnt turn out right. I just installed Beersmith last night and may not have done it right. I plan on reviewing the instructions tonight.
This is sort of a hijack but I'm planning to do a few small batches...1.5 gallons, split into 2 1 gallon jugs so I can try 2 different yeasts on the same grain/hops bill. How much yeast should I pitch and how do I save the rest. These are the non activator Wyeast packets.
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I tried scalling down the sample recipes in beer smith to test and it didnt turn out right. I just installed Beersmith last night and may not have done it right. I plan on reviewing the instructions tonight.
I will definitely go for 2.5 gallon brewing
Thanks for all of the advise,
Build the recipe as the 5 gallon original and at the top, there is a button that says "scale" enter your final volume and viola! Only rarely does it screw with gravity but then you can make minor adjustments if you need to.
Scaling down recipes--advise
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