hop utilization when converting 5 gal to 1 gal

[abweatherley]

Hi all

Going to be starting Some 1 gallon batches in the new year.

I've been looking at scaling down some of the recipes for brewing classic styles.

I read somewhere that your hop utilization won't scale quite right.

So obviously I would still take the hop amount from the 5gal recipe and divide it by five. But do I need to do anything else.

I'll be doing full 1.5 gallon boils with distilled water.

 

[3 Dawg Night]

That's what I did for the few 1-gallon batches I've brewed. I can't think of a reason that that utilization would change.

 

[PCABrewing]

Hi all

Going to be starting Some 1 gallon batches in the new year.

I've been looking at scaling down some of the recipes for brewing classic styles.

I read somewhere that your hop utilization won't scale quite right.

So obviously I would still take the hop amount from the 5gal recipe and divide it by five. But do I need to do anything else.

I'll be doing full 1.5 gallon boils with distilled water.

Just curious, why distilled water?

 

[abweatherley]

Because my municipal water sucks, and I do extract, and I'd like to play around with water chemistry.

I have a drinking water machine at the house but I don't know what the mineral content of it is.

 

[PCABrewing]

Because my municipal water sucks, and I do extract, and I'd like to play around with water chemistry.

I have a drinking water machine at the house but I don't know what the mineral content of it is.

I periodically use bottled "Spring Water" or "Drinking water", not purified or distilled. Many of those products have a water analysis for their source that you can view/download.
At $1.40 a gallon it adds a little to the cost but it doesn't contain chlorine per analysis.
I know it's not tightly controlled but neither was water in the Abbey or other ancient brewery.

 

[Jag75]

Hop utilization can be scaled up to a certain point. Between 1.5 gallons and 5 gallons I would scale accordingly. It's when you get into barrels is when utilization gets tricky. For instance if you take a 5 gallon recipe and scale up the 60 min bittering hop linearly to a multi barrel batch it's gonna be too bitter.

The longer it takes to cool and transfer, the longer the hops are in contact with the wort. With brewing programs you can adjust your hop utilization.

 

[ncbrewer]

Because my municipal water sucks, and I do extract, and I'd like to play around with water chemistry.

Be aware that extract will have its own water chemistry depending on the water it was mashed with. I checked with Williams Brewing and found that theirs is mashed with municipal water, with no brewing salts added. I'm pretty sure others are similar.

 

[abweatherley]

Be aware that extract will have its own water chemistry depending on the water it was mashed with. I checked with Williams Brewing and found that theirs is mashed with municipal water, with no brewing salts added. I'm pretty sure others are similar.

I don't Remember which maltster it is, but there's one I know they do it with distilled water and add salts but also have an extract with no salts. Presumably for those people who know their water chemistry

 

[ncbrewer]

I don't Remember which maltster it is, but there's one I know they do it with distilled water and add salts but also have an extract with no salts. Presumably for those people who know their water chemistry

That would greatly simplify the salt additions. You should be able to use Bru'n Water or some other software, or even just simple rule of thumb. This thread has some good advice: (8) A Brewing Water Chemistry Primer | Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum
Without knowing the starting point, you just have to experiment for yourself. I added salts to a single glass of beer in varying amounts to see what tasted best.

 

[CascadesBrewer]

The longer it takes to cool and transfer, the longer the hops are in contact with the wort.

One recommendation is to pay attention to the character from late hop additions. Most of my 1-gallon batches tend to be more investigative type stuff (like single grain, or single hop batches) so I don't have experience brewing the same recipe as a 5 gallon batch and a 1 gallon batch, but I noticed with a few 1 gallon beers I got very little hop character from flameout additions. I think it is because of how fast I can move it to a sink and chill it, vs the 5 minutes or so that it take with a 5 gallon batch to get my chiller in place and to start to chill the wort.

 

[3 Dawg Night]

One recommendation is to pay attention to the character from late hop additions. Most of my 1-gallon batches tend to be more investigative type stuff (like single grain, or single hop batches) so I don't have experience brewing the same recipe as a 5 gallon batch and a 1 gallon batch, but I noticed with a few 1 gallon beers I got very little hop character from flameout additions. I think it is because of how fast I can move it to a sink and chill it, vs the 5 minutes or so that it take with a 5 gallon batch to get my chiller in place and to start to chill the wort.

You could delay chilling by 5-10 minutes to simulate the longer chill time for the larger batches.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

I noticed with a few 1 gallon beers I got very little hop character from flameout additions. I think it is because of how fast I can move it to a sink and chill it

You could delay chilling by 5-10 minutes to simulate the longer chill time for the larger batches.

For those who are "speed brewing" with DME/LME, an interesting option might be to move the flame-out hops to a 5 min (before flame-out) addition, then chill rapidly after flame-out.