Small Batch Extract Brew - Hops?

[TonyT40]

Hi

I am planning a 2 gallon extract brew. I read in some posts that its just a matter of scaling down the quantities. seems quite simple i thought but then i scaled down the hops, didn't seem right. I had a play on the trial of beer smith and scaling down makes the hops go up . Now i'm thinking not so easy.

I was looking at :-

DME 1.3Kg
Crystal Malt 100g (65degC for 30mins)
Fuggles (5.55%) 25g (full boil) as per 5 gal recipe
Fuggles (5.55%) 25g (last 10 mins) as per 5 gal recipe
Protofloc (last 15mins)

Boil time 1 hr.

As a novice to extract brewing what do you think.

Thanks

Tony

[TonyT40]

Bump - Has anybody got any advice.

In anticipation

[barry44]

I assume that you scaled down from the full 5 gallon brew?

If so, you are correct in assuming that the hops should go down with the volume in order to maintain the IBU.

I have assumed a 12 litre boil and plugged the values into brewr which is the android app I use to create recipes.

It has came back with 52.7 IBU on a 1.057 of brew.

What are you looking for I your brew?

[TonyT40]

Hi Barry thanks for the reply. This will be the first non kit beer I have (nearly) tried. I am not experienced in IBu's . What sort of values should I be looking for? The OG seems reasonable.

Your right the original recipe was for 5 gal. Hops were listed as 25g Full boil + 25G to finish. Scaled down it would go to 10g full boil +10g to finish, but when i played with trial on beersmith it said hops stay the same. Tuned in a bit more and it quoted a figure above the 5 gallon figure? The recipe was listed as an amber ale. I don't like my beers too hoppy or too bitter.

Would you go with the scaled down 10G of hops?

[barry44]

I like to brew pale ales with an IBU of circa 40-45 IBU which is quite hoppy although the ratio between of and IBU is about 0.8 which I understand is a sweet spot.

Reducing the hops to 10g will reduce the IBU to 21 but you will still have a finished abv of circa 5.5% which maybe strong for the bitterness.

The program is giving and og and IBU of 1.032 - 1.040 and 25-35 respectively so I would suggest that you should drop the quantity of DME to get into that range. The hops will change with respect to the gravity.

I'm sorry I can't be of more help with respect to the style of beer that you want but I am sure someone else will assist with better knowledge of standard bitters.

I'm a hophead, what can I say!!!

Have fun and good luck with the brew.

[TonyT40]

Thanks for your help Barry. Think I will jump in both feet first and try it. With a small batch, If its sh14e I haven't wasted much.

[Rookie]

On the homebrew level all you need to do is scale up or down. You wouldn't need to adjust anything differently unless you were going to a REALLY big batch.

[TonyT40]

Well guys its in the brew fridge! Bit of adjustment (non scientific) took place based on comments. Managed to boil it over and then spent 3 hours clearing up. I reduced the hops to 15g for each addition and used 1.2kg of DME. 12 liters at boil then 10.5liters after boil and transfer to bucket. OG came out at 1060 (at 23degC) so should come out at about 5%. Bit stronger than I had planned but we'll see what happens.