scaling a recipe down or even up?

Am almost a year into brewing (9 m) and have 8 x 5 gallon batches of extract down. Have not felt like I want to go all grain but the last was partial mash. I have been looking at recipes in several books (clone brews, etc) and have a few questions.

I see that several people brew 10 gal batches and have assumed that they double the recipe or the recipe is AG and made for 10 gal. is this correct?

Since in the past I drank mainly lagers but now have a new appreciation for ales I want to branch out and try some other styles/types. only I do not really want to have 2 cases of something I do not really care for and I really do not drink enough for more than 2 cases a month. Can the recipes from a 5 gallon recipe be halved without too much change in the final beer? I am assuming so since there are several threads for Mr. Beer etc that seem to do/imply this. Can they be quartered to give a 1.25 Gal batch (can fit into one TAD bottle)? if so do all the ingredients scale the same? IE the malt vs the hops, or do minor or no adjustments need to be made with the hops? I would love to have 3 or 4 1 gallon test batches going.

any info will be genuinely appreciated and put to use quickly.
Ben

Some brewing software would make these changes easy. I use Beersmith and like it. I have never changed the batch size without Beersmith and it does all the math for you.

To answer your question... IIRC I am pretty sure that you can divide or multiply the grains (or extract) to any sized batch however I don't think that you can use the same math for hops. Again IIRC the utilization from hops differs with the size batch.

In my experience, you can easily scale all the ingredients except for the yeast (use a whole package). It might not be exactly the same for the hops, but it'd be really close and I don't think you'd notice a difference.

Chris_Dog said:

Some brewing software would make these changes easy. I use Beersmith and like it. I have never changed the batch size without Beersmith and it does all the math for you.

To answer your question... IIRC I am pretty sure that you can divide or multiply the grains (or extract) to any sized batch however I don't think that you can use the same math for hops. Again IIRC the utilization from hops differs with the size batch.

Click to expand...

I just started using Beersmith. How do you change a batch size with the software?

Bulls Beers said:

I just started using Beersmith. How do you change a batch size with the software?

Click to expand...

When you are in the recipe, there is a "scale" button on the tool bar. It will pull up a pop up and let you scale the recipe up or down as desired.

Chris_Dog said:

Some brewing software would make these changes easy. I use Beersmith and like it. I have never changed the batch size without Beersmith and it does all the math for you.

To answer your question... IIRC I am pretty sure that you can divide or multiply the grains (or extract) to any sized batch however I don't think that you can use the same math for hops. Again IIRC the utilization from hops differs with the size batch.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the info. one more reason in the "to Buy" column. I have looked at brewsmith on and off and felt while I was making only bought kits no need to get it. now it's time.

I thought the hops utilization would differ. didn't think it would matter much for 2.5 or 3 gal from 5 but going to a 1 to 1.5 gal small batch I was concerned. not sure I will do this small, I think 2.5 will be the size I will routinely brew, but just in case can't help to educate myself and brew properly.

YooperBrew said:

In my experience, you can easily scale all the ingredients except for the yeast (use a whole package). It might not be exactly the same for the hops, but it'd be really close and I don't think you'd notice a difference.

Click to expand...

was anticipating this, and using dry for cost reasons, or brewing 2 batches (that require the same yeast) at the same time for liquid yeast and using a starter split in two. Again thanks for the info

BPD said:

Thanks for the info. one more reason in the "to Buy" column. I have looked at brewsmith on and off and felt while I was making only bought kits no need to get it. now it's time.

I thought the hops utilization would differ. didn't think it would matter much for 2.5 or 3 gal from 5 but going to a 1 to 1.5 gal small batch I was concerned. not sure I will do this small, I think 2.5 will be the size I will routinely brew, but just in case can't help to educate myself and brew properly.

Click to expand...

The hops utilization does differ slightly- but if the SG of the boil is approximately the same, it's not much of a difference.

YooperBrew said:

The hops utilization does differ slightly- but if the SG of the boil is approximately the same, it's not much of a difference.

Click to expand...

from what you have said I assume that more important would be getting an accurate weight of the hops for brews when I need a quarter or an eighth of an once and springing for a digital scale?

BPD said:

from what you have said I assume that more important would be getting an accurate weight of the hops for brews when I need a quarter or an eighth of an once and springing for a digital scale?

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Yes, but I think that's true no matter what size batch you are doing. Especially with high AAU hops, .25 ounce is a huge difference!