Smaller batch size / recipe experimentation.

[Dexter]

Hi everyone,

Being a new homebrewer I'm trying to experiment with different ingredients / recipes to learn what tastes they impart on a beer. 5 gallons of beer is a lot of beer to experiment with, and I'm trying to get up the learning curve as quickly as possible. I saw a couple of 1 gallon glass jugs online and I was considering using them to experiment with different flavorings during 2ndary fermentation. I was just wondering what other people practically do when they want to try different combinations of ingredients and work through a recipe. Can I simply scale down a recipe to 1 or 3 gallon batches? Any advice is welcome.

[MrNate]

The gallon jugs are handy, but unless I'm trying something really way far out there I usually drink my mistakes.

Also, if you use an auto siphon note that it won't fit the mouth of the gallon jug.

[Mad Scientist]

You might also note that once your friends get wnd of the fact that you can turn out a decent brew, you'll need to make five gallons batches just to keep up.....

[darylM]

Originally posted by Dexter

Being a new homebrewer I'm trying to experiment with different ingredients / recipes to learn what tastes they impart on a beer.

That's what makes this hobby a lot of fun


Can I simply scale down a recipe to 1 or 3 gallon batches? Any advice is welcome.

Yes you can, the secret is knowing the OG and the points per pound per gallon(ppg) that the ingredients give to the recipe to get the malt/fermentables right. Make sure the ratios that exist in the recipe stay the same in your modified recipe.

For the bittering, find the IBU of the recipe and adjust your hops to be right. If you don't, you will have a super IPA that you didn't know existed.

For information on formulating a recipe, go to www.howtobrew.com (http://www.howtobrew.com)

[Mad Scientist]

Be advised that IBU do not scael down accordingly (ie, making a 1/2 batch, you don't just half the hops). Palmers site will help with that. It would be useful to check out promash or beersmith, add www's and .coms to those to get to the resctive website. both have good demos and are not expensive.

[BrewMax]

I made 1 gallon batches of a dandelion and a spruce beer. I'm glad I did too. It helped me to tweak the recipes into something truly original. I find it extremely fun to experiment with homebrew batches which may or may not turn out well. And, yes, I drink my mistakes too. (Well, almost always.):p

[untothee]

I did this twice using my 6 1/2 and 5 gallon carboys. Both were with 3 gallon batches.

I figured it's less than 6 gallons and for the work 1 gallon isn't worth it. I know there's some debate on the amount of empty space in the carboy but I didn't have any problems and one of my best beers, a Sweet Amber, came from this experimentation.

Whatever you decide, good luck.-

[ArtisanCreek]

I had some of the same questions about experimentation. But my main focus was on time...

If you brew a batch, wait a week for fermentation; wait a week or two for secondary; wait a week or two (or three to n) in the bottle for carbonation/conditioning. Essentially, a month or two has gone by before you can taste your recipe and tweak it. That's like 6 to 8 batches a year of that recipe. Can you really tweak it enough to get to where you want to go? And some of the bigger beers get better after six months in the bottle!

I realize experience and research goes a LONG way, but getting it "just right" would seem tough.

With all of the experiments I did in college (course work), you tried to only modify one variable. Any more than that and you sit and say "Ok, it's different, but which variable (or combination of variables) caused it?

Anybody have some insight?

Thanks.

[BrewMax]

It's best to start with an established recipe that is known to produce certain results, then tweaking one ingredient or process is pretty simple to detect. Tweaking an ingredient and a process is still pretty easy to tell the difference. Go beyond that, and you run into possible confusing results. For instance, find a good wheat beer recipe which may contain pale and wheat malt equally. You may want to replace some of the wheat with rye or the traditional wheat yeast with a Belgian wit. You could also add more flavor hops than normal or dry hop the secondary with a hellacious amount. Best part is, it's your creation and that IS the fun of homebrewing. Enjoy!!

[barleyburps]

I made 1 gallon batches of a dandelion and a spruce beer.

I'd like to experiment with spruce, I'm interested in how much shoots per gallon you used and at what point ( I assume in the boil). Also, how fresh (i.e. what time of year) was the spruce shoots gathered?

[BrewMax]

Originally posted by barleyburps
I'd like to experiment with spruce, I'm interested in how much shoots per gallon you used and at what point ( I assume in the boil). Also, how fresh (i.e. what time of year) was the spruce shoots gathered? I used 6 ounces for a 5 gallon batch of beer. I boiled the tips for the final 30 min of wort boil. Fresh spring growth of either black or sitka spruce is pereferred but white spruce is ok too. I'll try to attach a picture of the spring growth as seen on the trees in May in NW Pa.