Could I just divide all the ingredients by 4 and then just follow the method as normal or would the boil times be all wrong and stuff? Or is there a proper method for scaling down this low?Recipe (From Andy Hamilton's Booze for Free) Simple Hop beer (20 pints)
13 litres water
1kg malt extract
55g Hops
750g DME (Light) or Brewers Sugar
ale yeast
30 mins boil for the LME & DME in 1/2 the water then 30 mins boil with the hops, strain into FV top up with cold water
Micro Extract Brew "Wildlite Ale" (5 litres)
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Sye
Micro Extract Brew "Wildlite Ale" (5 litres)
I'm thinking of having a go at my 1st Extract brew but on a very small scale, 1 glass demijohn (5 litres) as I have not got the kit to go bigger just yet, (stock pot holds 5 litres max) and cooling of the wort would be a issue with bigger batches just now.
Last edited by Sye on Mon Sep 26, 2011 4:33 pm, edited 3 times in total.
Re: Micro Extract Brew (5 litres)?
I think one of the main drawbacks of small-scale brewing is that, by the time you figure in the losses at various points of the process, you'll end up with less than 5l of beer. I recently did my first all-grain brew and figured on about 7.5l as the target volume but that ended up with ten full bottles (and one that I added some water to before capping). For me that is still worth it as I can use my existing kitchen equipment and test out different recipes without ending up with loads to drink through.
I did scale things down (although I had also looked up some charts which I used to figure out how much sugar I needed to bump the initial wort up a few points). The yeast sachet I used (Nottingham) suggested it was suitable for 1-5 litres so I just used the whole lot. Taking the volume down even further, that might be an area you would have to watch (although you could try saving half a packet sealed up in the fridge for your next batch).
Wulf
I did scale things down (although I had also looked up some charts which I used to figure out how much sugar I needed to bump the initial wort up a few points). The yeast sachet I used (Nottingham) suggested it was suitable for 1-5 litres so I just used the whole lot. Taking the volume down even further, that might be an area you would have to watch (although you could try saving half a packet sealed up in the fridge for your next batch).
Wulf
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Sye
Re: Micro Extract Brew (5 litres)?
This is my current thinking
Ingredients
Beer Engine v1.09 says that'll give me an OG of around 1.035 or about a 3.5% ABV beer
Very simple I know, but it's kinda for a base brew to experiment with later on in 1 gallon batches, steeping grains, different DME etc.
I am not expecting it to be a great beer just hoping for a basic drinkable base beer, but are there any issues people can foresee with this very basic brew?
Ingredients
- 6 litres water
500g DME (Muntons Light Spray Malt)
15g Hops (Wild Dried)
Muntons standard yeast
- Boil 4 litres of water and DME, gentle boil for 15 mins then add 14g of hops and boil for 30 mins topping up with hot water if there is to much evaporation of the wort.
- Strain into 5 litre plastic FV, top up with cool water to 5 litres, cool further in the sink (ice bath) and ferment.
Beer Engine v1.09 says that'll give me an OG of around 1.035 or about a 3.5% ABV beer
Very simple I know, but it's kinda for a base brew to experiment with later on in 1 gallon batches, steeping grains, different DME etc.
I am not expecting it to be a great beer just hoping for a basic drinkable base beer, but are there any issues people can foresee with this very basic brew?
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Sye
Re: Micro Extract Brew (5 litres)?
Well after popping out to my new LHBS I decided to crack on and make up the "Micro" batch of beer and is based very loosely on a recipe I found on the web, (Late-Hopped Simcoe Ale "Small Batch" by Brew Your Own)
Hopefully this will turn out okay and produce a light AVB beer, my OG readings where lower than Beer Engine's at OG=1034 and I have no idea what the wild hops will do to the beer, but that's all part of the fun
but had a swig of the trial jar and I can taste the bitterness of the hops so that's a good sign, not overly bitter but about right for me.
Wildlite Ale
Beer Engine og= 1037 fg=1009 AVB = 3.7%
Time required 1 hour 30 mins
Ingredients
Hopefully this will turn out okay and produce a light AVB beer, my OG readings where lower than Beer Engine's at OG=1034 and I have no idea what the wild hops will do to the beer, but that's all part of the fun
but had a swig of the trial jar and I can taste the bitterness of the hops so that's a good sign, not overly bitter but about right for me.Wildlite Ale
Beer Engine og= 1037 fg=1009 AVB = 3.7%
Time required 1 hour 30 mins
Ingredients
- 60g Crystal Malt (30 min Steep)
500g DME (Muntons Light Spray Malt)
10g Hops (Wild Dried) 15 min boil
4g Hops (Wild Dried) 5 min boil
4g Hops (Wild Dried) 5 min Steep
4g Hops (Wild Dried) Dry Hop
Youngs standard yeast
- Bring 4 litres of water to 66'C and steep grains in a muslin bag for 30 mins
Add DME and stir until dissolved
Bring to the boil (Watching for boil over) and add 10g of the hops.
After 10 mins add 4g of the hops and continue boil for another 5 mins
Turn off the heat and add 4g more of the hops and steep for 5 mins
Place in a ice bath until wort reaches 20-24'C and transfer to FV via a sieve
Top up with water to 5 litres
Pitch Yeast and ferment
When fermentation has died down transfer to Secondary and Dry Hop with 4g of hops
Bottle / Prime / Condition and Drink