Modifying Quantities for different size Carboy

[Ahezza]

Hi there,

I've been looking at making the Sierra Nevada beer, based on the recipe in the "Clone Brews" book (http://amzn.eu/9f237qA).

The recipes in the book are based on a 18.9L (5 gallon) yield, however my carboy is only 5L.

I've modified the recipe as such:


Carboy = 5L, recipe is for 18.9L so recipe is divided by 3.78 (18.9 / 5)


Ingredients (inc. maths):

American Crystal Malt = 113g / 3.78 = 29.89g

Muntons Light DME = 3kg / 3.78 = 0.79kg

Maltodextrin = 113g / 3.78 = 29.89g

Nugget @ 8.2% AA (8.2 HBU) (bittering hop) = 28g / 3.78 = 7.4g

Perle (flavour hop) = 14g / 3.78 = 3.7g

Irish moss = 5ml / 3.78 = 1.3ml

Cascade (aroma hop) = 28g / 3.78 = 7.4g

Wyeast’s 1056 American Ale Yeast OR Wyeast’s 1098 British Ale Yeast

Cascade (dry hop) = 14g / 3.78 = 3.7g

Muntons Extra Light DME – Use the Light DME? 79.37ml of DME (300 / 3.78) Water 125.13 (473 / 3.78)


Do these measurements look correct for a 5L yield?

Additional Questions:
The recipe says to use Light DME at the start, then Extra Light DME at the end, I was thinking of just using Light at the start and end? Think thats a good idea?
Does it matter if the hops are flakes and not in pellet form?
The recipe states 5ml of Irish moss, but this stuff looks like flakes, would I add 5g of the flakes?
Any further tips/advice?

This is my first time buying all the ingredients myself for a brew, previously I used a kit that came with all the malts, hops etc.

Thank you for you help!

 

[Zephyr259]

Welcome to the forum.

Conversions look ok but there's an issue which is the same I had when I started my first AG batch with a 4.5L demijohn, you need headspace for the krausen or it'll overflow. With a 5L vessel I'd aim for 4 L of wort, maybe 4.5L. What were the kit volumes like?

I'm not an extract brewer but using all light should be fine it'll just be darker than the original.

When you say flaked hops I'm assuming you mean whole hops, which kinda flake apart due to being dried. They'll be fine, might be slightly less bitter as pellets give better utilisation, off the top of my head it's about 10% difference.

Irish moss is normally a flaked material, maybe you can get a solution? Yeah standard is a teaspoon in a 5 gal batch, I add a smaller teaspoon to my 15L batches, you could just add a pinch.

Good luck, should be a tasty beer.

 

[Ahezza]

Perfect, thank you for your help and advice.

This is the kit that I got: http://www.brubox.co/shop/brbox-includes-bottling-kit-refill

Here's an example of the hops I wanted to buy: https://www.the-home-brew-shop.co.uk/acatalog/Perle_Hops_100g.html#SID=157 - The picture of them seems to be more flakes than pellets?

Here's the irish moss I wanted to purchase: https://www.the-home-brew-shop.co.uk/acatalog/Irish_Moss_Copper_Finings_50g.html#SID=229 - so a pinch of this would do the trick?

Many thanks,

 

[Zephyr259]

Those hops are fine, that's whole hops, they flatten out when dried and packed. The Irish moss is the same stuff as i use too, just a different brand, will do you fine.

What size pan are you boiling all this in? My first 4 all grain batches were made in a 10L stock pot which could give me 8L of wort which i split between two 4.5L demijohns, The-home-brew-shop has plastic demijohns for £2.40.

 

[Bigcol49]

Hi!
I got this from another site:
When used for bittering, pellet hops have a higher extraction efficiency by weight than whole hops (about 10% more) – e.g. one ounce of pellet hops will yield about 10% more IBUs than one ounce of the same hop variety in whole form, and give the brewer a bit more bitterness.
Perhaps up your bittering hops by 10%.
Are you going to modify the quantity of yeast?

 

[Ahezza]

I've got a 12L stock pot, so buying another demijohn and splitting between 2 is definitely an option, thank you for your suggestion!

@Bigcol49 - thank you the research, I will take your advice and add an extra 10% of bittering hops. As for the yeast, it doesn't actually specify in the recipe how much to use, how much would you suggest?

@Zephyr259 - I have uploaded a screenshot of my basket on the home brew shop, does that look correct to you? Also, price wise, is this how much is generally costs?

Thank you both for your help!

 

[Zephyr259]

No problem, my first batch after brewing a few extract kits was stove top all grain, I hadn't realised the volume issue, fortunately I boiled off more than expected and only had 4L to transfer, ended up with 7 bottles of 6% bitter which was very tasty and I've not looked back since.

Yeah that all looks fairly reasonable, I used to buy from that shop too. I use liquid yeast but given the small batch and it being a neutral strain might want to us US-o5 dried yeast instead, it's the same strain as Wyeast 1056 but easier to handle and cheaper. Or you could go with these guys, not used them myself but there's a huge thread discussing them in the ingredients sub-foum. They are really cheap, free shipping and you can mix and match yeasts, multi-buy discount gets a packet down to 80p which will ferment 23 L.

 

[Bigcol49]

Hi @Ahezza
As @Zephyr259 wrote, I would use US-05 rather than liquid yeast.