Scaling 15 bbl to 5 gallon

I toured the Cape Cod Brewery in the summer. I fell in love with their IPA, and had a good chat with one of the brewers. Super friendly guys who still homebrew and sell homebrew supplies out of the brewery.

So, I asked if I could have the grain bill for their IPA. And the guy printed off one of their brew sheets for me. So, I want to duplicate this recipe, but am not sure about scaling it.

825# Pale 2-row
65# Wheat malt
55# Crystal 45

8.2# Chinook @ 60
4.1# Cascade @ 30
1.5# Cascade @ 0
3.9# Willamtette @ 0

Total liquor volume = 651 Gallons
US-04 yeast

I don't know their equipment/evaporation loses.

So, how would I scale this recipe? I've already mathed the grain down, but how would I scale the hops to fit the profile?

The aroma hops at 0 can probably be scaled linearly but for the 60 and 30 minute additions you should look at the IBUs in that beer that adjust to fit the IBUs rather than making a linear scale. Keep the ratio between 60 and 30 minutes the same but you will probably need more hops because you get less utilization on a 5 gallon boil than a 15bbl boil. It's also helpful to know what their efficiency is because you might need to adjust that as well.

Interesting to hear how this turns out. Scaling up to commercial volumes, and scaling down to home brewer volume can be challenging to do and keep the flavor the same

On the same note.....

Can you scale 5g to 20g linear across the board? Grains and hops?

SS_Brewing_Co said:

On the same note.....

Can you scale 5g to 20g linear across the board? Grains and hops?

Click to expand...

Pretty much yes, might have to adjust hops to keep the IBU the same.

azscoob said:

Pretty much yes, might have to adjust hops to keep the IBU the same.

Click to expand...

I just did my first 20g on my new system and it's one of my old recipes. I scaled it straight across and it was still good just not the same. I bet you're right and I just need to tweak the hops a bit.

Do you think you can come up with an estimation on the width of their boil kettle?

Not sure about boil kettle size. It was 15bbl capacity. I maybe about 8 feet across.

Is their boil kettle 15 bbls? How much wort do they get into the fermentor?

I scaled this using the volumes and ingredients entered into beer alchemy and then changed volume for a 5 gallon batch and this is what it converted it to.


Gravity Before Boil: 1.051 SG (13.4 Brix)
Original Gravity: 1.060 SG (15.7 Brix)
Final Gravity: 1.016 SG (8.6 Brix)


Volume Before Boil: 6.75 US gals
Volume After Boil: 5.75 US gals
Volume Transferred: 5.50 US gals
Water Added To Dilute: 0.0 qts
Volume At Pitching: 5.50 US gals
Volume Of Finished Beer: 5.00 US gals

Total Water Required: 8.06 US gals
Preparation
If using a yeast starter prepare one a couple of days in advance.

If necessary crush the grains.

Heat 3.42 US gals of water to 170 F.

Mashing
Dough in the following fermentable ingredients.

9lb 9oz of US 2-Row Malt
12.06 oz of US White Wheat Malt
10.20 oz of Belgian Cara 45 Malt
Mash pH should be 5.2.

Allow the temperature to stabilize at 151 F. Allow to rest at this temperature for 60 minutes.

Raise the temperature to 171 F over 10 minutes and mash out.

Add 1.26 US gals of water at 171 F, mix and run off.

Add a further 3.38 US gals of water at 171 F and mix.

Run off to collect a total of 6.75 US gals of wort.

Boiling
Bring the wort to the boil.

Add the following hops at the times given.

1.60 oz of US Chinook (60 Min From End)
0.80 oz of US Cascade (30 Min From End)

Boil the wort for a total of 60 minutes.

At 'turn off' add the following hops.

0.76 oz of US Willamette
0.29 oz of US Cascade


Chill the wort to the appropriate pitching temperature and rack the wort to your fermenter.

Fermentation
The desired volume at pitching is 5.50 US gals.

Pitch 1 pack(s) of DCL S-04-SafAle and ferment at 64 F.

If using a secondary, transfer when appropriate.

That looks awesome! This will probably be my next brew. Thanks!

No problem looked good to me too