Let's say HYPOTHETICALLY I brewed a 3gal recipe with 1gal water, on accident...

[ChasinABuzz]

So lets just say for fun, and by "for fun" I mean because I'm a dummy with the attention span of a gnat and totally did this, that I misunderstood my local Home Brew Shop owner and thought he said his recipes were 3gallon.

Then lets say I took that recipe and divided it by 3 because I have a 1 gallon setup in our small apartment...

So in theory, and as my luck would have it also in practice, I brewed a 3 gallon conversion with a gallon of water...

Which actually explains why I've been staring at a carboy for almost 2 weeks now thinking, "Why the hell is that Summer Ale so dark?..."

Now, being new to Home Brewing I'm also new to BeerSmith and I figured I'd enter the recipe into that, convert it to 3 gallons and then alter the water just to get an idea of what to expect. It's telling me my math was right (and wrong at the same time, story of my life) but if I actually have entered everything correctly, BeerSmith is saying I will have brewed a beer so high ABV that if I can't drink it, I can at least use it to strip the spray paint off my driveway....

Any insights? What should I expect from this thing? Is there a way to save it/make it tolerable? They always say you blow your second batch I guess I'm not the exception to the rule hahaha. Either way I'm not too concerned about saving it if there is a way.From what I've been told about Home Brewing it seems to be par for the course. I've always been a trial and error type person so we'll see what I can learn from this one lol.

Thanks all!,
-Chase

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

I'm confused.

Did you brew 1/3 of a 3 gallon recipe in a one gallon batch? If so, I don't see a problem...

Or perhaps you brewed 1/3 of a 5 gallon recipe in a one gallon batch? If so, your beer should be 2/3 higher ABV than intended. But unless it was already a high-gravity recipe, it shouldn't be an issue. I.e.unless the original recipe was over 1.060 (which for a summer ale seems reasonable to assume), the changed recipe will be under 1.100. Fermentable as long as you pitched enough yeast.

 

[PlexVector]

I'm confused too. You either under pitched or "under malted". But my head keeps circling back to the pink elephant in the room: "why do you have spray paint on your driveway"?

 

[WrQth]

Post the recipe and someone will be apt to get you an answer.

My guess initially is the information you entered in BrewSmith is wrong, if you're only brewing 1 gallon batches nowhere should you be entering 3 gallons.

 

[WrQth]

I'm confused.

Did you brew 1/3 of a 3 gallon recipe in a one gallon batch? If so, I don't see a problem...

Or perhaps you brewed 1/3 of a 5 gallon recipe in a one gallon batch? If so, your beer should be 2/3 higher ABV than intended. But unless it was already a high-gravity recipe, it shouldn't be an issue. I.e.unless the original recipe was over 1.060 (which for a summer ale seems reasonable to assume), the changed recipe will be under 1.100. Fermentable as long as you pitched enough yeast.

I think he entered into BrewSwith a water quantity of 1 gallon for batch size and the ingredients quantities for the 3 gallon batch the LHBS said they are sized for.

 

[ChasinABuzz]

.

 

[ChasinABuzz]

I'm confused.

Did you brew 1/3 of a 3 gallon recipe in a one gallon batch? If so, I don't see a problem...

Or perhaps you brewed 1/3 of a 5 gallon recipe in a one gallon batch? If so, your beer should be 2/3 higher ABV than intended. But unless it was already a high-gravity recipe, it shouldn't be an issue. I.e.unless the original recipe was over 1.060 (which for a summer ale seems reasonable to assume), the changed recipe will be under 1.100. Fermentable as long as you pitched enough yeast.

So given my terrible math skills, I went back and revisited it all last night and realized that I probably confused the hell out of everyone with my explanation haha. Basically I took a 5gallon recipe and divided it by 1/3 thinking it was a 3gal. So BWAR your assumption on that was right on. So if it's 2/3 higher IBU I should end up with around 8-9%ABV when it's all said and done? Will everything still taste the same since it was extract? I feel like the much darker color should indicate that it's going to taste way different right?

Here's the recipe:
Sandy Beach Summer Ale
1. Fill your pot with 2 - 3 gallons of cool water (as much as your pot will comfortably hold at a full boil). Turn the heat on and bring the water to 160 degrees. Once the water has reached 160, put your crushed grains into the grain bag, pull the drawstring tight and put the grain bag into the pot of water. Dip the bag a few times to ensure that all the grains get wet. Turn off the burner or remove the pot from the heat source and steep the grains for 30 minutes. Do not BOIL THE GRAINS.
GRAINS USED: 1 lb. Light Crystal Malt (10° L)
EXTRACTS USED: 5 pounds of Pale syrup malt extract and 2 pounds of
Wheat syrup malt extract.
2. When the 30 minutes are up, remove the grains from the water, drain, without squeezing, the grain bag. Remove the outer bag from the malt extract. Cut off some of the excess top of the bag holding the extract and carefully pour the extract into the pot. Stir the extract until it dissolves. To avoid scorching the extract: Do not return the pot to heat until all the malt extract syrup has been added and dissolved. Once the extract is thoroughly dissolved, turn the heat back on and bring the mixture (“wort”) to a boil. WATCH FOR BOIL OVERS WHEN ADDING HOPS
3. Add hops according to the schedule below:
• 1 oz. of Tettnang hops at 60 minutes (beginning of boil).
• 1 oz. of Tettnang hops at 15 minutes (end of boil).
4. Turn off heat and cool the wort. It is critical that you maintain sanitization as the wort cools. When wort is at or below 80 degrees, carefully pour wort into a sanitized fermenter and top off with cool water to bring total volume to 5 gallons. Aerate wort well before pitching.
Use ONE of the following yeast options:
DRY YEAST: 2 pkgs. Muntons Yeast
Rehydrate the yeast by pouring both packets into about a pint of pre-boiled, lukewarm water. Allow to sit for about 5-10 minutes, then stir using a sanitized spoon. Add this mixture to your cool wort. Ferment between 65-75°F.
LIQUID YEAST: White Labs 320
Follow the directions printed on the plastic vial. Sterilize the outside of the package before opening. Ferment between 65-75°F.
5. Attach your airlock and fill the airlock halfway with cooled boiled water. Put fermenter in a cool, dark place to begin fermenting. NOTE: A water bath may be used ensure the fermentation temperature stays in the 70-75 degree range. Use 2 or 3 16oz frozen water bottles, changing them out approximately every 8 hours as necessary. Fermentation will be complete in 10-14 days.
6. Bring two cups of water and 3/4 cup Corn Sugar to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes or microwave for 2 minutes. Add the sugar solution to your sanitized bottling bucket and rack (siphon) the beer onto the sugar solution. You are ready to bottle!
CAUTION: If finished volume is less than 5 gal, use 1 TBS less corn sugar per half gal

So basically I took that, divided it by 3, and went to town. Right now they're due to bottle this Saturday. Should I do it sooner or later? Or just stick to the timeline? As far as the pitching goes, I used 1/3 of the amount of yeast that the recipe called for just like the other ingredients, so in theory my yeast should be right?

Plex, I was making a bench for the better-half with 4X4's and cinderblocks and I had to spray paint the cinderblocks. I had them on cardboard and off in the grass but we live in the windiest valley on Oahu I swear, so mother nature got the last laugh and now I have teal overspray on the driveway haha

 

[WrQth]

Sounds like due to your math mistake each 1 gallon batch will have a higher OG which would result in a higher ABV due to a higher concentration of sugars in each batch (the extra .6).

The tricky part is the yeast...it can't be simply divided by 3, here's why. One fresh smack pack only has 100 billion cells in it, losing .7% per day, and you each of your 1 gallon brews should be 54 billion cells. Even though your volume of liquid went down the concentration of sugar increased requiring more yeast.

That being said you'll still likely have okay beer but there is certainly room for improvement and learning so don't be discourage keep brewing. Just like with carpentry measure twice and cute once.

 

[slym2none]

measure twice and cute once.

That's an adorable measurement!

 

[ChasinABuzz]

Ohh I see well that makes sense.

 

[PlexVector]

...Plex, I was making a bench for the better-half with 4X4's and cinderblocks and I had to spray paint the cinderblocks. I had them on cardboard and off in the grass but we live in the windiest valley on Oahu I swear, so mother nature got the last laugh and now I have teal overspray on the driveway haha

Yep, been there done that with spray paint. Funny how you don't notice till the day after.

What a coincidence that you're in Hawaii. A friend who just graduated last year from college is working as conservationist in Hawaii killing invasive plants. She is home for Christmas and visiting with us for the next couple days.
I've been to Maui for a week about a year ago. Beautiful!

 

[NoIguanaForZ]

Basically I took a 5gallon recipe and divided it by 1/3 thinking it was a 3gal.

If you've figured out how to bring home a quantity of ingredients and then divide it by 1/3, I sure hope you share the secret.

 

[ChasinABuzz]

Yep, been there done that with spray paint. Funny how you don't notice till the day after.

What a coincidence that you're in Hawaii. A friend who just graduated last year from college is working as conservationist in Hawaii killing invasive plants. She is home for Christmas and visiting with us for the next couple days.
I've been to Maui for a week about a year ago. Beautiful!

That's awesome! Yea she's definitely fighting the good fight. Seems like every plant here nowadays is at least introduced if not invasive...