Halving a 5G recipe for Mr. Beer?

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orkojoker

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Hi folks. This is my first thread, and I just started using a Mr. Beer I got for Christmas, so forgive me if I seem a tad green. I'm planning to upgrade to a 5-gallon set up sometime in the near future, but I'd like to try a recipe I found and don't quite have the spare funds to do the upgrade right now.

Anyway, I was wondering if there would be any reason I couldn't simply cut a recipe for a 5-gallon batch in half and ferment it in my 2.5-gallon Mr. Beer. I would just be using a pale malt extract and adding some specialty grains and hops. The only difference would be the smaller fermentation vessel, right?

I appreciate any tips you can provide. Thanks a bunch!
 
I also use Mr Beer and have read through the entire Mr Beer thread. You can by all means halve the recipe and fill your LBK to just below the top Q. According to what I have read, that is actually 2.4 gallons so your brew will just be a small bit stronger than the original recipe calls for.
 
Thank you my friend. I hoped that would be the case. Do you think I should adjust the steeping and/or boiling times due to the lower wort volume?
 
With the small amount of difference in the brew size I believe you will be fine with the original steeping and boiling times. If you are using a hydrometer, your OG reading will be a little higher than the original recipe, but you will be fine.
 
OClairBrew said:
With the small amount of difference in the brew size I believe you will be fine with the original steeping and boiling times. If you are using a hydrometer, your OG reading will be a little higher than the original recipe, but you will be fine.
Click to expand...

Why would you think his Og reading would be higher??????? Makes no sense, the og of a batch is based on the amount of fermentables in a given volume of liquid, halving BOTH the amount of fermentables and the volume, would make the gravity exactly the same.

10 pounds of extract or grain, in a 5 gallon wort is going to have the EXACT gravity as 5 pounds of extract or grain in a 2.5 gallon batch....

Run the numbers in any software and you'll see what I'm talking about.

orkojoker, recipe are scalable, so you're on the right track...some would argue that the hop utilization is different but I haven't even found that to be the case, any discrepencies in hops are negligable, and beyond our palate's ability to discern.

I do about 1/3 or more of my batches, mostly test recipes in small batch brewing, especially in the winter, in my kitchen...I've had no issues just cutting everything in half.
 
orkojoker said:
Thank you my friend. I hoped that would be the case. Do you think I should adjust the steeping and/or boiling times due to the lower wort volume?
Click to expand...

No, you don't adjust the process times at all...boil and steep times remain the same, as do hop addition times.

I've put together a bit of a primer on small batch brewing here.
 
Thanks for all the advice everybody. Greatly appreciated. Glad to be among such keepers of knowledge.
 
Revvy said:
Why would you think his Og reading would be higher??????? Makes no sense, the og of a batch is based on the amount of fermentables in a given volume of liquid, halving BOTH the amount of fermentables and the volume, would make the gravity exactly the same.

10 pounds of extract or grain, in a 5 gallon wort is going to have the EXACT gravity as 5 pounds of extract or grain in a 2.5 gallon batch....

Run the numbers in any software and you'll see what I'm talking about.

orkojoker, recipe are scalable, so you're on the right track...some would argue that the hop utilization is different but I haven't even found that to be the case, any discrepencies in hops are negligable, and beyond our palate's ability to discern.

I do about 1/3 or more of my batches, mostly test recipes in small batch brewing, especially in the winter, in my kitchen...I've had no issues just cutting everything in half.
Click to expand...

The adjustment to the OG would be due to a volume of 2.4 gallons in the LBK as opposed to 2.5 gallons. I agree that at 2.5 gallons the numbers would be identical.
 

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