small brew lengths help

[matth]

Hello again, and time for another stupid question,
As we are thinking of moving soon i am being curtailed on my home brew plans - so i have decided on a compromise and build a small AG one (using 15 ltr buckets) for starters and to get my head around brewing (also keep the misses on side - small enough to put away!). the plan as always has been is that our next house will have enough land for a shed brewery so i will upsize then - so no real point in getting too big now, also have some pretty helpful in-laws who fabricate SS stuff and worked on proper micro breweries (bowland) so they will come in handy at that stage.
But for now i just want to learn and to be able to do it fairly quickly (i.e a few hours, not including fermentation etc)

My questions are as follows:

would i be able to get away with one kettle element (tesco value type) for a 15 ltr bucket (i'm guesing about 12 ltr liquid?

How long would each process take for a shorter run (i know it won't be exact but a rough idea would be nice)

how do i adjust some of the recipes for this sort of length?

And are there anyother posts/walkthroughs/howtos on this scale that i haven't found yet - photos particularly useful.

Many thanks once again.

Matt

 

[Wez]

My questions are as follows:

would i be able to get away with one kettle element (tesco value type) for a 15 ltr bucket (i'm guesing about 12 ltr liquid?

IMO - One element will be fine.

How long would each process take for a shorter run (i know it won't be exact but a rough idea would be nice)

You will find that you save time on the heating side (heating mash liquor, sparge liquor and bringing the wort to the boil) sparging will naturally be shorter too as you have less grain to sparge. The other stages take the same amount of time whether you are brewing 10L or 200L i.e. 90 minute mash, 90 minute boil.

I brew 60-70 litres and it takes be about 1 hour to sparge (with a spinny sparger)

how do i adjust some of the recipes for this sort of length?

The forum recipe calculator above and software such as Beersmith have a feature to up/down scale.

And are there anyother posts/walkthroughs/howtos on this scale that i haven't found yet - photos particularly useful.

I'm not sure, you'll have to do a bit of searching for those.

 

[matth]

great thanks - just found 5 15 ltr buckets for £15 - so can pack them away neatly but also ferment different recipes without too much worry over getting them wrong!

One element it is then - less holes to leak!

thanks

 

[matth]

One last thing - is it ok to use washing machine taps on the hlt- i have ordered some 15mm lever ball valve things, as everyone else seems to use these, although the washing machine taps are smaller and more compact and would fit the 15 ltr buckets better. what are peoples opinions on this, is it just that the lever taps look better or is there something fundamentally wron with the washing machine taps?


Thanks

 

[matth]

Sorry if i have put too many questions on one post - am a tad confused.
n Recipes, i am afraid as of yet i still don't really understand IBUs etc - i suppose that'll come later and does sound a tad too numeric for me. I have been looking at the calculators and do not really understand how to adjust a recipe for a smaller brew length. As mentioned above i only have a 15 ltr boiler, so 10 - maybe pushing 12 ltr brew lengths, and am looking at doing some extract first as at the moment i do not have time to do all grain.

I wanted a simple APA or IPA to start with, already having amarillo and cascade hops so i found this Cascade/amarillo APA convieniently in 12ltr
recipeview.php?recipe_id=1067
But do not know how to substitute grain for extract (DME)?

I have also found what i think is the same recipe but with differing LME amounts for an 11 litre brew, see below;

One is:
.7 kg. Liquid Light Extract
.5 kg. Dry Light Extract
.3 kg. Candi Sugar Clear
35 g. Hallertauer Hersbrucker boiled 45 min.
14 g. Czech Saaz (Whole, 2.5 %AA) boiled 15 min.
14 g. Czech Saaz (Whole, 2.5 %AA) boiled 2 min.
Yeast : WYEAST 1214 Belgian Abbey

The other is;
1.7 kg. Liquid Light Extract
.5 kg. Dry Light Extract
.3 kg. Candi Sugar Clear
35 g. Hallertauer Hersbrucker boiled 45 min.
14 g. Czech Saaz (Whole, 2.5 %AA) boiled 15 min.
14 g. Czech Saaz (Whole, 2.5 %AA) boiled 2 min.
Yeast : WYEAST 1214 Belgian Abbey

I would prefer it to be the former as that would be cheaper, but i have no idea or experience to give me a reasonable idea of which one is correct.

Many thanks

 

[matth]

Just to clarify, i didn't mean the belgian recipe as the same as APA - it's just a recipe i found and quite fancy trying, but 2 slightly conflicting versions.
thanks

 

[matth]

So in the recipes section could i take a 20 litre recipe and just divide it b2 2 for the weights of extract and grain etc, and follow the other steps such as boil time etc just as they are?

at what point do i add dme, i have read different recipes where it is added at different stages of the boil - does this alter characteristics of the final result, or is this just personal preference?

Hoping to get a pale ale extract brew on on wednesday


Sorry if these are daft questions, but everything i am searching for seems to ignore all my keywords for being too common.

Cheers

 

[Popspicker]

Hi Matth
As you have in-laws at the Bowland brewery, do you have a recipe to get near Hen Harrier, as this is my favourite taste around at the mo

 

[matth]

Alas no - unfortunately the inlaws are fabricators not brewers, although next time a boiler of fv breaks i'll see if he can get it.

 

[Popspicker]

Cheers mate..quality pint innit?

 

[matth]

It is, I think all of their brews are - I had Sawley Tempted and Bowland Gold at my wedding, thanks to the father in law doing a bit of work there - also Bank Top Flat cap.

Not tried this though, a bit out of my price range;
http://www.bowlandbrewery.com/shop/prod ... tGold750ml