Question about halfing recipes...

[Tripod]

Greeting All!

I am new to all of this so please have mercy if my questions seem obvious or numerous!

I am curious about brewing less than 5 gallons when most of the recipes I'm finding are for a 5 gallon batch. Suppose a brewer wanted to only make 2.5 gallons of bottled beer. Would the ingredients be halved? Would the boil times remain the same? If the ratios are the same (half the water with half the DME, etc.) would the OG and FG be reletively close the full recipe?

I'm not certain exactly why I might want to do this...but my curiosity has my gears turning...maybe I was thinking of brewing a single case at a time, but mostly I'm just a curious and inquisitive dude.

Any thoughts or ideas are welcome and appreciated!

-Tripod

 

[Kauai_Kahuna]

Tripod - Yes, when adjusting for volume, the ingrediants get cut in half, but the cooking stays the same.
But.... There is always one somewhere, why?
While a gal batch of mead makes sense if your experimenting, or you love brewing so much you make a a 3 gal batch every week.
Otherwise, I don't know if it is worth it.
I would recommend posting a desired style, recipe, volume and request comments.
Then its an open game and stand back....

 

[toddmuchmore]

I'm very interested in brewing half batches as well. I would like to experiment with a few different styles and being the only real beer drinker in the house with a normal 5gal batch being about 2 cases of beer, it would take me a real long time and a lot of refrigerator space to keep a few styles on hand!

My question about half batches is around the yeast pitching. Would you pitch the normal amount? Make a starter and pitch half of that and keep the other half of the starter in the fridge for another use later?

Todd

 

[davebl]

I'm actually starting to do small batches myself. I used to make an entire 5gal batch of different beer styles I hadn't tried. Although they might be good, it takes a small warehouse to store all those bottles.

So I made a 2 gal mash tun, and plan to do some 6 - 8 bottle batches of different beers. Lot less space to take up in the house. And I still get to brew every weekend!

 

[toddmuchmore]

I'm actually starting to do small batches myself. I used to make an entire 5gal batch of different beer styles I hadn't tried. Although they might be good, it takes a small warehouse to store all those bottles.

So I made a 2 gal mash tun, and plan to do some 6 - 8 bottle batches of different beers. Lot less space to take up in the house. And I still get to brew every weekend!

How much yeast did you pitch into your small batches?

Todd

 

[Tripod]

Hi again and thanks All for the input!

I think what sparked it for me (now that I thought about it...) was reading about people making 10 gallon batches and I wondered if they just doubled their ingredients and kept everything else the same.

I am in the same boat as some of you where I am the only beer-drinking resident and space is available but limited. My interest, however, is not limited at all so I wanna brew and sample everything!

I can always make bigger batches of things that I like the most or that gets good responses from all of the new friends I am bound to make! I am willing to bet that I will soon be hearing from a whole lot of long-lost buddies. :cross:

-Tripod

 

[Professor Frink]

Generally, halving or doubling your ingredients is a good rule of thumb, but your IBU extraction from hops is dependent on your boil volume. I would recommend using some brewing software (I forget the name of the free online one, I use BeerAlchemy myself), it will allow you to adjust the parameters for the volume you want.

 

[Tripod]

Good call Professor.

I had been mulling over the idea of evolving into recipe formulation using software. But I am uber-new at this and I think I need to get a few basic batches under my belt first. I want to slowly progress so I can get the most out of it. I'm planning to do this (brew this?) for a verrrrrrry long time.

-Tripod

 

[davebl]

How much yeast did you pitch into your small batches?

Todd

I was going to make a small starter with some yeast cultures I had done...and use the calculator from mr. malty to find the exact quantity.

 

[Baron ken]

I would like to know about halfling recipes too! Po-ta-toes! boil em, mash em, stick em in a stew!

OOPS, misread title.

 

[Tripod]

Thanks for hte input All,

I was thinking that halfing/doubling the ingredients would be obvious...like a batch of spaghetti. Looks like the boils times would be fairly constant. Prof. Frink brought up a good point about the boil volume affecting IBU (thanks for the tip)....

I am an experimenter by nature so I'll probably end up doing some 5 gal batches and some half-batches of the same recipe just to compare side by side. When I DO get that far along, I'll be sure to share my results if anyone is interested.

-Tripod

 

[jay4e]

one thing to note about half batches is that it really doesnt matter if you boil 6 gallons or 3 you still tend to lose about a gallon of water to the boil (least with my pot and burner). so dont think you can just half the water and end up with 2.5 gallons. I did that on my first half batch and ended up with only 2 gallons.

as for pitching you basically just half the yeast if you go dry. wet your still probably want a starter but it depends on the brew.

another option if you want more variety is rather than going half batches, boil a full 5 gallons. then split them and play with things post boil to make them unique. different yeasts, fruit, dry hoping, sugar additions (honey, syrup, lactose, ect). This is a great way to learn and experiment.