Reducing volume - Greg Hughes recipes

Hi guys!

I am very new to the home brewing game, only done a few kit brews so far, and I am looking to move on malt-extract brewing for my next brew.

As I know there is a lot of margin for error when starting out, I want to do small volume malt-extract brews to begin with while I am experimenting, that way I won't blow so much cash on batches that could go **** up quite easily.

I have been using Greg Hughes' Home Brew Beer book religiously and I plan to try brewing his Cascade Single Hop next.

His recipes are for 27 litres, but he mentions reducing it to 10 litres for the smaller batches and dropping from 3kg of dried malt extract to just 1kg.

My question is, do you also have to reduce the amount of hops, steeped grains and yeast used, and is there a formula for working out the quantities? For example, making 27 litres the recipe states to use 144g of Cascade, would that reduce for 10 litres?

I know he mentions that one pack of yeast is usually enough for 23 litres, so it makes sense that things will need to be reduced.

Would appreciate your tips!

Thanks!

Yes you will need to reduce all the ingredients for a small brew. Don't reduce the timings though...............

All I did for my smaller brew was make a simple spreadsheet that calculates all the variations of ingredients.

You can see it here on my first Ag brew that was a GH recipe scaled down to 8 litres. http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=63111

Hope this helps and good luck with your brew.

Jas

Get yourself some software like brewmate/brewers friend or beer smith ect.. pump the recipe in.. and then you can scale it down as it suits you

I think having software is very very useful if you plan to extract or all grain brew.

When it comes to the yeast, I wouldn't worry too much about splitting it exactly. Say for example you were scaling down a 23l to 8 or 9l, just use about half the yeast sachet, tape it up and stick it in the fridge. It'll be fine for a month or 2 until you want to do another batch.

The total water content for the extract versions of his recipes is pre boil. So with that total you should end up with around 23l in the fermenter, however this is dependent on your equipment.

You probably knew this, but thought I'd clarify, just in case.

I half all my GH recipes, which leaves me with 11.5 litres in the fermenter, which is great for little old me. Also, I would second the point on getting hold of some brewing software, which makes calculations easier.

Thanks for all the tips guys! A real help!

When you say you half all of his recipes, does that include absolutely every ingredient? So for example, on this Cascade Single Hop Ale I want to try, it says to steep 235g Carapils malt in 27 litres of water, then later add 3kg of dried light malt extract. So in halving it, would I steep 117g Carapils malt in 13.5 litres of water, then later add 1.5kg of dried light malt extract? As easy as that? And then go on to half all the hop addition and do half a packet of yeast?

If that's the case, I have a boiler which can just about hold 13.5 litres, so this would make calculations so much easier!

Many thanks

Covrich said:

Get yourself some software like brewmate/brewers friend or beer smith ect.. pump the recipe in.. and then you can scale it down as it suits you

I think having software is very very useful if you plan to extract or all grain brew.

Click to expand...

+1

I do this with all recipes - I usually do 12L brews, plug 'em into Brewmate then change the volume to 12L and it adjusts everything for you. You can also tweak it when you work out what sort of efficiency you get from your mash, mine currently in the 68-70% range.

Alimac019 said:

When you say you half all of his recipes, does that include absolutely every ingredient? So for example, on this Cascade Single Hop Ale I want to try, it says to steep 235g Carapils malt in 27 litres of water, then later add 3kg of dried light malt extract. So in halving it, would I steep 117g Carapils malt in 13.5 litres of water, then later add 1.5kg of dried light malt extract? As easy as that? And then go on to half all the hop addition and do half a packet of yeast?

If that's the case, I have a boiler which can just about hold 13.5 litres, so this would make calculations so much easier!

Many thanks

Click to expand...

Essentially, yes. 117g Cara and 1.5kg DLME. :thumb:

His recipes are all for 23l

I have about 8 of Greg Hughes recipes to try out. The most read book i have! :)

Alimac019 said:

If that's the case, I have a boiler which can just about hold 13.5 litres, so this would make calculations so much easier!

Many thanks

Click to expand...

You'll need to be very careful as your wort comes to the boil if it only just fits in your boiler, otherwise you risk a boil-over which is no fun at all.
I use a 30L boiler for 23L brews and I have to be very careful about this. What I usually do is use less water than the recipe demands, so I don't get a boil-over, and at the end top it up with some boiling water from the kettle. This works fine for me.

Out of interest what are be any possible problems using a whole packet of yeast in a scaled down brew?

nicowk said:

Out of interest what are be any possible problems using a whole packet of yeast in a scaled down brew?

Click to expand...

Basically none. Lots of folks have posted about pitching a new brew into the whole yeast cake from a previous brew,

The number of yeast cells that will be active in any brew is limited by the amount of oxygen available to allow them to replicate successfully.

Cwrw666 said:

You'll need to be very careful as your wort comes to the boil if it only just fits in your boiler, otherwise you risk a boil-over which is no fun at all.
I use a 30L boiler for 23L brews and I have to be very careful about this. What I usually do is use less water than the recipe demands, so I don't get a boil-over, and at the end top it up with some boiling water from the kettle. This works fine for me.

Click to expand...

I'm the same with a 30L pot I just top up a bit as I go along.
If you have a big enough pot id go straight for a full batch you'll be gutted when your small batch of great beer runs out:thumb:

Loads of smaller extract recipes here:

http://www.brewersfriend.com/search/

Just change the search size to 3 and you'll get loads of 3 gallon / 11 litre recipes that should suit you.