Help with numbers.

I just got a 5 gallon cooler and turned it into a mash tun. I want to start doing 3 gallon batches of beer.

I have a 3 gallon (a little over actually) brew pot.

For all of my 5 gallon batches of beer I would do 3 gallon boils and then fill my fermenter with 2 more gallons + to reach my final volume of 5 gallons. None of my past beers have really turned out the way I wanted them to. My last IPA wasn't hoppy at all. It should have been. I then realized the problem...

It all makes sense now! Last time I was trying to make an IPA, somebody told me that while I was working in Beer calculus I should hop the beer close to or around 100 ibus. He said that even though BC was showing 100 IBUS, in reality my actual IBUs were around 66 IBUs due to hop utilization.

This is really frustrating because I never know where my numbers are really at.

on to my question...

I just created a recipe. Can somebody tell me how to make this into a 3 gallon recipe and also how I would go about getting my numbers correct.

Here is the recipe:

OG 1.072
FG 1.018

25* SRM

29.4 IBU

7.2% ABV
---------------------------------
10lbs. golden promise
1 lbs. pale chocolate malt
4 oz. roasted barley
1 lbs. golden naked oats
1 lbs. milk sugar
8 oz. crystal 80L
8 oz. cara 45

0.50 oz. Perle @ 60 minutes
0.50 oz. centennial @ 60 minutes
0.50 oz. Perle @ 15 minutes
0.50 oz. Centennial @ 15 minutes
0.50 oz. Centennial @ 5 minutes


Wyeast 1099


I'd appreciate any help. Thanks!

Why don't you just multiply all the amounts by .6?

Download some brewing software, will cure all your woes.

Keep in mind: you will have some volume loss due to wort being left in your mash tun, and trub in your kettle.

When I make a batch, I use 3 extra quarts of water split between my strike and sparge water.

Additionally, your grain will retain more water that must be calculated for.

Lastly, if your kettle is only slightly more than 3 gallons, there is no way you will be able to do a 3 gallon batch. I usually end up with 4 gallons of sweet wort when brewing a 3 gallon batch. I lose about a gallon per hour due to evaporation.

For a full volume boil with a 3 gallon batch, a 7.5 gallon (30 qt) aluminum kettle is about the smallest I would go. Any smaller and you are extremely susceptible to boilovers.

thanks o4 srt. Well, that's the only size kettle I have right now. Any other ways around this?

Right now I am using beer calculus but my numbers never seem to be right. I don't think brewing software takes into account hop utilization. I also don't think it takes into account the fact that you are going to dilute your beer with a couple more gallons of water in the fermenter.

I'm just looking for a consistent way to get good numbers to do 3 gallon batches.

Thanks again!

eon said:

thanks o4 srt. Well, that's the only size kettle I have right now. Any other ways around this?

Right now I am using beer calculus but my numbers never seem to be right. I don't think brewing software takes into account hop utilization. I also don't think it takes into account the fact that you are going to dilute your beer with a couple more gallons of water in the fermenter.

I'm just looking for a consistent way to get good numbers to do 3 gallon batches.

Thanks again!

Click to expand...

I would probably split my hops in half. Boil half with your first runnings, then cool and then drain into the fermenter. Then boil your second runnings with the rest of the hops, and add to the fermenter.

In the end, it should get you close enough, but it will require a little more time and work.

Alternatively, you could drop down to 2.5 gallon batches, and keep your boil on the weak side.

I tried, 1, 2 and 3 gallon batches, and finally just did 2.5 gallon batches. Easier to cut stuff in 1/2 than to try to measure 9.7 grams of hops, etc.

So twofox, I would just times everything by .5 then? so my recipe would now look like this:

5 lbs. golden promise
8 oz. pale chocolate malt
2 oz. roasted barley
8 oz. golden naked oats
8 oz. milk sugar
4 oz. crystal 80L
4 oz. cara 45

0.25 oz. Perle @ 60 minutes
0.25 oz. centennial @ 60 minutes
0.25 oz. Perle @ 15 minutes
0.25 oz. Centennial @ 15 minutes
0.25 oz. Centennial @ 5 minutes

Also, how much yeast should I pitch? Half of a packet? I'm thinking maybe I should use dry yeast. Might be easier to cut in half. I think that Safale s04 is the same as wyeast 1099

So basically, If I do a full 3 gallon boil I can get 2.5 gallons after evaporation and all that?

eon said:

So twofox, I would just times everything by .5 then? so my recipe would now look like this:

5 lbs. golden promise
8 oz. pale chocolate malt
2 oz. roasted barley
8 oz. golden naked oats
8 oz. milk sugar
4 oz. crystal 80L
4 oz. cara 45

0.25 oz. Perle @ 60 minutes
0.25 oz. centennial @ 60 minutes
0.25 oz. Perle @ 15 minutes
0.25 oz. Centennial @ 15 minutes
0.25 oz. Centennial @ 5 minutes

Also, how much yeast should I pitch? Half of a packet? I'm thinking maybe I should use dry yeast. Might be easier to cut in half. I think that Safale s04 is the same as wyeast 1099

So basically, If I do a full 3 gallon boil I can get 2.5 gallons after evaporation and all that?

Click to expand...

Let's see, for 5 gals it's about .5 gal starter, so make a .25 gal starter or just use a smack pack or tube. One of those should be plenty of beasties for that batch size.

cool thanks!

eon said:

My last IPA wasn't hoppy at all. It should have been. I then realized the problem...

It all makes sense now! Last time I was trying to make an IPA, somebody told me that while I was working in Beer calculus I should hop the beer close to or around 100 ibus. He said that even though BC was showing 100 IBUS, in reality my actual IBUs were around 66 IBUs due to hop utilization.

Click to expand...

Did you not adjust the boil size in beer calculus? If you put in that you were doing a partial boil it should have correctly adjusted for the IBUs you were targeting. Also, even if IBUs were miscalculated, that wouldn't effect how hoppy it was. IBUs and hoppiness aren't the same thing. If the hop flavor/aroma wasn't there that is a whole different issue.