Recipator Question

[lgtg]

Here's the recipe: (5 gallon batch)

Wild Warthog Hefe

Malt:

6.6lbs Wheat Malt

Grains:

8oz Crystal 10L
6oz Cara-Pils
8oz Wheat

Hops:

2oz Liberty

Yeast:

White Labs -German Hefe\Wheat

Calls for 1.5 gallons boil (per 3.5 gallons top water in the fermenter)
Boil for 60, most likely reduces to 1gallon if Extract\Grain method (no mash\sparge)

My question is, using the recipator (I will brew a 2.5 gallon batch in my Beer Machine fermentor) but wanted to see if the spreadsheet resized the grains properly, I don't know why they wouldn't it's only a even split!

What I wanted to see though, is if I changed the boil volume to 3gallons (with probable reduction to 2.5 or slightly less) would that change the grain bill or hop schedule and it did not. So, is there any benefit or disadvantage to me boiling 3gallons instead of 1.5 for a 2.5gallon fermentor capacity? Maybe I'm just not understanding what the deal is about that.

Can anyone splain me dat?

Larry

 

[lgtg]

Is a 9.0, cut the recipe in half, including hop ounces and boil full volume (3gallon reduced to 2.5gallon batch size) IBU also cuts to half per the recipator, so hop utilization is fine. I do not see any change in bitterness even if I change boil volumes, do I get a more concentrated wort with the full boil?

 

[BarleyWater]

No, you get a less concentrated wort, which makes you bitterness increase. Recipator isn't the best program, it works ok but is unreliable. I noticed this when I got a new brewpot and nothing changed when I changed the boil volume, but I knew something should.

 

[BarleyWater]

Try out beersmith, it has a free trail, and you will probably want to pay for it after the trial is over.

You don't say your hop schedule, but if you plan on throwing it all in at the beginning of the boil...

With a 3 gallon boil for a 2.5 gallon batch I get:
IBU: 38.3

1.5 gallon boil:
IBU: 15.8

It makes a big difference depending on you boil volume for a lot of different reasons, IBU's just being one of them. Let me know your hop schedule and I can see what it may look like for you if it's different.

 

[lgtg]

The style calls for "lightly hopped" range is 8 to 15......Beersmith is already over that? (I mean it's only 0.8 but I was looking to be in the middle of hte range, like highest at 10-12)


The recipe I recieved has no schedule. (the stout recipe I got from there before did) but for this hefe it merely says (2oz Liberty after steeping, prior to malt for the whole 60 and for 5 gallons)

 

[cweston]

The style calls for "lightly hopped" range is 8 to 15......Beersmith is already over that? (I mean it's only 0.8 but I was looking to be in the middle of hte range, like highest at 10-12)


The recipe I recieved has no schedule. (the stout recipe I got from there before did) but for this hefe it merely says (2oz Liberty after steeping, prior to malt for the whole 60 and for 5 gallons)

That's right--Hefeweizens typically have no flavor or aroma hops added later in the boil--only bittering hops at a very low level (I would shoot for 12 IBUs.)

BTW, Recipator will adjust your IBUs if you change the boil size--something else must have been wrong or something.

 

[lgtg]

The brewmaster at the LHBS provided a recipe for 5 gallons, but graciously modified the ingredients for my half batch brewing.

In the recipe he calls for 1.5 gallons of boil volume (for the full batch) couldn't I just keep that volume? It will reduce to 1 gallon (I believe) and I will half to top by 1.5gallons.

 

[cweston]

The brewmaster at the LHBS provided a recipe for 5 gallons, but graciously modified the ingredients for my half batch brewing.

In the recipe he calls for 1.5 gallons of boil volume (for the full batch) couldn't I just keep that volume? It will reduce to 1 gallon (I believe) and I will half to top by 1.5gallons.

OK--If you cut *everything* in half, you'd boil .75 gals and then top of 1.75 gals to make 2.5.

If you boil 1.5 gals, you'll need to cut your hops back to 1 ounce in order for the bittering level to be the same (about 12-13 IBUs). As others have said, this is because a less concentrated wort extracts the bittering compounds more efficiently.

If you did a 3 gallon boil, you'd need to cut the Liberty back to about .8 oz in order to target 12-13 IBUs.

That's all from the recipator spread sheet, BTW--it works fine.

 

[lgtg]

That's all from the recipator spread sheet, BTW--it works fine.

cweston, thank you. I know I'm kicking a dead horse here, and I will go back and look at the spreadsheet again....

I'll be brewing this tonight and even though it's just an e\g deal, I would like to get the "intricity juices" of the process "flowing" in my mind. I won't always be brewing 2.5 gallons (heck, I'm projecting full batch brewing by the end of this year)

Thanks for your patience as I know I've "threaded" this before....

 

[lgtg]

OK--If you cut *everything* in half, you'd boil .75 gals and then top of 1.75 gals to make 2.5.

If you boil 1.5 gals, you'll need to cut your hops back to 1 ounce in order for the bittering level to be the same (about 12-13 IBUs). As others have said, this is because a less concentrated wort extracts the bittering compounds more efficiently.

If you did a 3 gallon boil, you'd need to cut the Liberty back to about .8 oz in order to target 12-13 IBUs.

That's all from the recipator spread sheet, BTW--it works fine.

OG 1.044 was (Beer Smith style low end, recipe calcs called for 1.049 to 1.054) right on the money...hoped for a little higher though.(@ roughly 50-55° wort temp, was able to ice bath to about 50° in about 20 minutes but thermometer isn't very reliable)

Added 1oz Liberty at 20 minutes to go. Also, did late extract addition (1/3 added at 20 minutes to go)

Strained most of the hops out before pitching (used strainer & stocking)

Any comments? Here's hoping, first batch employing a few "tweaks"

Larry

 

[BarleyWater]

Sounds like a good brew session to me. Let us know how it turns out