New to BIAB - volume adjustment question for smaller brew

[becausewecan]

Hi

I`m new to BIAB and really keen to get started. I'd like to do a couple of brews first to work out whether i`m going to get good enough results to make it work shelling out on a decent boiler. At first im more bothered about cost rather than batch size. All recipes seem to aim for 23litre so my questions are as follows

1. Can i just adjust the quantities to make a smaller batch? ive looked at the brew mate software and it seems to adjust everything for me accordingly if i change the final volume. I`m worried that the boil times for the malt/hops may need to change and may not be correctly reflected. I`m thinking i could do a few tests with 1/2 batches on my hob/cooker with a smaller pot if this is possible.

2. If i took the plunge and upgraded my equipment, ive seen the following kit which looks like it could work for my first steps before investing in a buffalo or burco boiler
http://www.geterbrewed.com/basic-biab-s ... grade.html
What would everyones thoughts be?

Thanks in advance

[AnthonyUK]

Hi,
I never change anything when scaling a recipe except the ingredients. Mash and boil times do not change.

[becausewecan]

Thanks... thats pretty much what i was looking for

[basswulf]

I've had success over the past year by scaling my recipes to 1kg pale malt (a convenient bag size to buy and use fairly fresh). It means that I'm typically mashing in 7-9l water (which easily fits in my 13l stockpot along with the grains in their bag). I expect to get about 9-12 bottles out of the other end of the process, so it does involve a higher time cost per pint but also means I brew more often to improve my skills and don't lose too much if I have a batch that goes wrong (I had one that probably got too warm during fermentation and ended up being used as bait in slug traps).

My experience has been that efficiency is slightly higher than expected and I typically come in a few points over on the target original gravity so the amount of water in could be pushed up, which might give an extra bottle out, but it will definitely work to scale down a good recipe by a suitable factor as a starting point.

Wulf

[rpt]

I use the BIABacus spreadsheet from biabrewer.info. I normally use a 40L Buffalo but recently did a stovetop BIAB in a 15L stockpot. I entered the pot dimensions and it very accurately scaled the recipe including the water volumes - it estimated the evaporation and efficiency very well.

[becausewecan]

Cheers.. will take a look

[ChrisHughes]

Hi mate, small batches is a great way to get used to things but that kit you linked looks like a nice price to get started.

[becausewecan]

I took the plunge and ordered ive seen some reviews on another forum and everyone's raving about them.. i cant wait to get started