New beer book recipes and quantities

[Motorbikeman]

I got this book
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Home-Brew-Beer-Greg-Hughes/dp/1409331768

Very informative read ..

The only problem is that all the recipes are for large batch 40 pints  or 26 pints. 

I can brew 5 litres at the time .  I don't have the equipment to brew bigger batches right now  due to other commitments .
  I am  taking to this brewing craic like a duck to water and find it nearly as rewarding as falling off my motorbike.  But I am saving for a steel shed so im stuck to the kitchen and the tools for cooking the dinner. 

I did a brew with an all grain kit a while ago here http://www.nationalhomebrewclub.com/forum/index.php/topic,6245.0.html
and was wondering if I could use the same process and buy my own grain and follow the recipe below .  Except cut the quantities in the book recipe  by 1/4 to suit  my pot. 
This way i could brew the exact same beer and try adding different hops for a side by side comparison .

Is it as simple as dividing by 4??
Here is the recipe I want to brew.    Thanks for reading

[LordEoin]

yeah, you should be fine. Just be careful to pitch the right amount of yeast.

[Bazza]

Greg Hughes? That's the guy who runs BrewUK. Decent Bloke. Heard he'd come out with a book.

His Summer Ale recipe was one of the first recipes I did, and I scaled it down to 10L (2 old 5L demijohns - same lack of equipment as yourself back in those days).

For grains, assuming you go with the estimated 75% efficiency, you're fine to divide by 4 (and a bit).

For hops, mostly you can do the same division but for the bittering hops (i.e. the 60 minute boil hops) your AA might be different from the 5.5% for those in the recipe so you may  need to adjust your amounts accordingly e.g. if your Goldings had an AA of ,say, 7.5% you'd need slightly less than a quarter of what's used in the recipe, since you need less hops to make up the Bitterness rating of 29.3 EBU. Though, to be honest, given the relatively small amounts you're using, you're probably fine to just do the division by 4 for hops as well.

There's plenty of decent free brewing software out there (BeerEngine is one I think - maybe someone can jump in with a good suggestion; I use BeerSmith but it's not free and is pretty complex as a starting tool),
Any good application will allow you to enter the recipe verbatim from the book with all the ingredients ,along with hop bitterness values and then allow you to scale up and down in size of volume you'd like to brew. The software will scale the amounts of hops and grains to keep the strength, bitterness, etc consistent.

But for now, I'd pretty much go with what you've suggested.

Back in the day I made 1 sachet of yeast last 5 brews, but I'd do that at your peril. High risk of nasties.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,

-Barry

[Bazza]

Ah, so while I was typing my essay, LE chipped in with a 1-line summary

[Jacob]

You could also get any of the free brewing software like f.e. BrewMate put the recipe in and scale it down to 5 liters.
Program will recalculate amount of all the ingredients needed.

[Eoin]

You could also get any of the free brewing software like f.e. BrewMate put the recipe in and scale it down to 5 liters.
Program will recalculate amount of all the ingredients needed.

Yep divide by four and then run the figures through brewing software to be sure to be sure.

[Motorbikeman]

Another newbie question.

I am online trying to order crystal malt

I see there are many types of crushed grain stuff

What EBC should I be after?   I would like more on the pale side. 

[Eoin]

Another newbie question.

I am online trying to order crystal malt

I see there are many types of crushed grain stuff

What EBC should I be after?   I would like more on the pale side.

Low EBC is lighter, it'll only be a portion, I think 60 is about normal for Crystal.

[derfel]

great stuff, I was about to come along and ask the same small batch questions

[Motorbikeman]

Qty.   Item Name   Total
1 x   Crystal - Crushed grain 40 EBC 1kg    €2.00
6 x   Carahell - Crushed grain 500g EBC 20-30 (Weyermanns)    €9.00
1 x   East Kent Goldings -100g vacuum packed Alpha Acid 5.7% 2013 harv    €4.00
1 x   Progress - 100g vacuum packed Alpha Acid 7.5% 2012 harvest    €4.15
1 x   Saaz - 100g vacuum packed Alpha Acid 3.8% 2012 Harvest    €4.00
2 x   Safale-04 Yeast    €5.60
1 x   Whirlfloc tablets- Packs of 10    €3.59

I think I got the order right.   Some things are not exactly as the book states.  But im fairly sure I will still have beer at the end. 

Far more than what I need so I guess I will be very busy . 

Got a couple of those 5L Ashbeck water bottlejohns from tesco at 1.45 each .  Seem to have less ridges than the Lidl bottles. 

[Eoin]

Qty.   Item Name   Total
1 x   Crystal - Crushed grain 40 EBC 1kg    €2.00
6 x   Carahell - Crushed grain 500g EBC 20-30 (Weyermanns)    €9.00
1 x   East Kent Goldings -100g vacuum packed Alpha Acid 5.7% 2013 harv    €4.00
1 x   Progress - 100g vacuum packed Alpha Acid 7.5% 2012 harvest    €4.15
1 x   Saaz - 100g vacuum packed Alpha Acid 3.8% 2012 Harvest    €4.00
2 x   Safale-04 Yeast    €5.60
1 x   Whirlfloc tablets- Packs of 10    €3.59

I think I got the order right.   Some things are not exactly as the book states.  But im fairly sure I will still have beer at the end. 

Far more than what I need so I guess I will be very busy . 

Got a couple of those 5L Ashbeck water bottlejohns from tesco at 1.45 each .  Seem to have less ridges than the Lidl bottles.

If you're using a whirlfloc tablet on a 5l batch then I'd only use about one tenth of a tablet, don't overuse it. If you have a precision scales even better then weigh it out at 0.2 grams for 5l.

[Motorbikeman]

Thanks for the advise.

Got a electronic scales on Amazon for a fiver just now.   

I think im suited and booted now. 

[Dr Jacoby]

If you're using a whirlfloc tablet on a 5l batch then I'd only use about one tenth of a tablet, don't overuse it. If you have a precision scales even better then weigh it out at 0.2 grams for 5l.

Why only one tenth of a tablet? I normally use half a tablet for a batch that size, though if I'm brewing a lager I'll use a full tablet to help produce even more cold break. Would be good to be able to get away with less

[Bazza]

What type batteries? CR2032 etc and you'll be broke putting batteries into it. Get a scales that takes AA or AAA.

Yeah, and if you got a set of those pocket-sized precision scales originating from China don't expect them to still be working in 6 months.

Bitter experience.

-Barry

[Eoin]

If you're using a whirlfloc tablet on a 5l batch then I'd only use about one tenth of a tablet, don't overuse it. If you have a precision scales even better then weigh it out at 0.2 grams for 5l.

Why only one tenth of a tablet? I normally use half a tablet for a batch that size, though if I'm brewing a lager I'll use a full tablet to help produce even more cold break. Would be good to be able to get away with less

More break is not good, at some point it becomes too much and you end up with fluffy break material that won't flocculate and that soaks up half of your beer.
You should be dosing between 30 and 50mg per liter.  5 liters times 30mg is 0.15g, and if you round that up to 0.2 you are between the two values.
Here's a previous thread on the issue with a link to another thread on JBK where Graham Wheeler discusses the dosage rates.

http://www.nationalhomebrewclub.ie/forum/index.php/topic,4635.msg57442.html#msg57442