Scaling a Recipe in Volume and Efficiency

[Whatsgoodmiley]

The owners of a local brewery really enjoyed a beer that I made. So much so that they want me to brew it on their pilot system. If people enjoy it and it sells, I can brew it on their large system.

This is really an issue of scaling a recipe to a new Efficiency.

I brew 5 gallon batches at 63% Efficiency.
Their pilot brews 10 gallon batches at 90% Efficiency. I scaled each malt up to the new volume/Efficiency so I'd have the same OG/ABV. Naturally, with the jump to 90% Efficiency, I'm using less malts to achieve the same OG, so I'm dropping in my SRM value. How do I scale up the recipe without losing maltiness?

My current plan is to add an ounce or two of black malt (edit: only 0.5 oz) to achieve the same color calculated in the 63% efficiency batch. I figure I wouldn't be able to do that with just any recipe (specialty malts contribute more than just color and sugar, right?), however, I'm expecting ~97% attenuation, so I assume I can get away with it this time.

As far as the mash goes, should I plan on experiencing a higher pH or should the black malt lower the pH to similar levels experienced when mashing with the larger proportion of grains on the 63% eff. system?

I know that hops do not scale linearly with an increased wort volume. I've found the appropriate amount of hops to use to achieve the same bitterness on brewersfriend. However, will the herbs I add need to be scaled similarly to the hops?

I know it's a long read, but is there anything I'm missing or anything I can improve on?

 

[cswis86]

Honestly I would just go over your recipe with them and see what changes they think you should make given the difference in efficiency. I'm sure they have a lot of experience adjusting recipes for scale-up.

 

[Whatsgoodmiley]

I was hoping I would be able to keep certain aspects of the recipe secretive in order to ensure I maintain ownership the recipe... but I'd rather risk losing ownership of the recipe than risk producing a beer of lesser quality. I'll go ahead and discuss it with them. Thanks.

But I'm still interested in hearing tips anyone has to offer!

 

[Biscuits]

Do you know all their system details? For example, what is their boil-off? I'm betting their boil-off doesn't scale linearly either, which will mean you need to start with a higher pre-boil gravity to get the same OG as your recipe.


I know that going from 5 gallons to, say, 7BBL, you definitely cannot scale linearly...but I think just doubling the batch size shouldn't throw your SRM off too much...I know it doesn't when I scale 5 gallon recipes down to 2.5 G. I think you need to plug in their numbers, i.e.: Grain absorption, mash tun loss, kettle loss, boil-off rate, etc. and then plug in your grain based on the percentages of each and see where you end up.


Just my $0.02....I'd like to disclaim that I have never scaled up from 5 to 10 but have scaled down from 5 to 2.5 or less.

 

[Weezy]

I'd think this really should be something they'd do since they know the system. I'd give your 5 gallon recipe to them generically. Grains as percentages. Hops as times and IBUs at those times. Post boil hops as ounces per gallon. Water adjustments as mg/gal.