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Small batch Brewing 4-8L

Post #1 made 14 years ago
by housecat
Hi all,

I am wanting to embark on some small batch brewing of about 4-8 litres end product. I want to do this so I can start to whittle down my ever growing list of brews to do! :argh:

My questions;

Has or does anyone do this?
What changes did you find you needed to do?
Was it just downscale a bigger recipe?
And with that, if you found a small batch you liked, was there any problems in up sizing it to your regular batch size?

I am currently looking for a 10L Crown/Birko style urn so I can keep my brew gear together and out of the house.

Thanks for any help you can provide me :)

HC
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Post #2 made 14 years ago
by joshua
Good Day, I do 11L batches and found the bitterness calculations need a bit of adjustment when scaling. As you go down the bitterness get stronger even when the amount is reduce by scale. So you may want to take a little off the bitterness hop additions after scaling the recipe down.
Honest Officer, I swear to Drunk, I am Not God.
    • SVA Brewer With Over 100 Brews From United States of America

Post #4 made 14 years ago
by joshua
Good Day, after 15 batches by ear....The 23L batch recipe called for 24gr Chinook/galena/magum at 60min.
I scaled down to 12g for my 11.5L batch. It is perfect now, at 8gram. So as of now I would suggest flavor and bitterness should be 1/3 of a 23L recipe, for a half batch 11L. Aroma is still 1/2, and scales correct. I use Cascade and Liberty for flavor and aroma.
Honest Officer, I swear to Drunk, I am Not God.
    • SVA Brewer With Over 100 Brews From United States of America

Post #5 made 14 years ago
by stux
I wonder what the cause of the increased relative bitterness is :-/
Fermenting: -
Cubed: -
Stirplate: -
On Tap: NS Summer Ale III (WY1272), Landlord III (WY1469), Fighter's 70/- II (WY1272), Roast Porter (WY1028), Cider, Soda
Next: Munich Helles III

5/7/12

Post #6 made 14 years ago
by joshua
Good Day Stux, My understanding is Bitterness is non-Linear with respect to volume, density of wort, temperature, and time. There is a maximum bitterness that people can detect, and this is means the more hops you add, you only can detect the to a point, and then no more. So I am thinking biterness may be a scaling number from minimum to maximum, and not too correct going from maximum to minimum. I was unable to detect any difference in bitterness when I used 24grams @23L, and 18grams @23L. Maybe it's my taste buds!
Honest Officer, I swear to Drunk, I am Not God.
    • SVA Brewer With Over 100 Brews From United States of America

Post #7 made 14 years ago
by housecat
Sounds like I may have to experiment with this.
ie brew two of the same brews but one as a small batch to see the difference. It's cool cos I'll end up with beer either way! Just that one may end up mouth puckeringly* bitter!

*may not be a real word.

HC
Part of the NoAd brewers

My mum says I'm cool.

Post #9 made 14 years ago
by joshua
Good Day The_Blue, If you need a recipe, Look up "SmaSh" or single malt and single hop. It is a good way to start brewing, then add a bit of another grain, or a different hop, or....
Honest Officer, I swear to Drunk, I am Not God.
    • SVA Brewer With Over 100 Brews From United States of America

Post #10 made 14 years ago
by housecat
So after a long search, I finally found a 10L Birko Urn on ebay

Just need to stitch a bag up and it's time for the maiden voyage. Possibly a wheat beer for SWMBO
10L Urn.jpg
IMG_20111220_152854.jpg
IMG_20111221_171408.jpg
HC
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Last edited by housecat on 22 Dec 2011, 17:12, edited 4 times in total.
Part of the NoAd brewers

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