4

What are some best practices for scaling a 5 gallon homebrew batch up to something bigger, be it a 10-15 gallon batch, or a full on multiple barrel commercial batch?

Efficiency goes up on some bigger systems, and not everything scales in a linear 1:1 fashion, such as hops.

What are some things to keep in mind, equations, etc?

This is a community wiki. Anyone can edit the question and all answers, and no one receives reputation.

2
  • Good question! I've been thinking about making some sort of home brewing recipe sharing software, but don't know what would be the universal way to save and then calculate recipes (by amount you want to make).
    – Simon
    Commented Apr 19, 2010 at 4:05
  • I know some software does this, but I'd love to see the math itself rather than just relying on a program (like promash) Commented Apr 19, 2010 at 15:00

2 Answers 2

1

In my experience things scale linearly in the homebrew range fairly well. Certainly, malts and sugars do. I have taken 5 gallon (even 3 gallon) recipes up to 15 gallons and done everything linearly. For my palate I couldn't taste any dramatic differences with the hops.

However on larger scales of 3bbl systems to 10+bbl systems its more of an issue it seems. And I think it is at that scale that we get such information about scaling concerns.

-1

Convert things to percentages

By weight

  • 70% Maris Otter
  • 20% Rye Malt
  • 5% Munich Malt
  • 3% Crystal 120L
  • 2% Special B

  • 80% Bittering Mt Hood

  • 18% Flavor Kent Goldings
  • 2% Aroma Saaz
2
  • What things should one think about when determining the total amount?
    – Simon
    Commented Apr 19, 2010 at 4:01
  • But the question stated that "not everything scales in a linear 1:1 fashion, such as hops". Simply converting everything to percentages is the same as scaling everything linearly. I think he's looking for other methods of scaling up recipes.
    – Room3
    Commented Apr 19, 2010 at 11:38

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge you have read our privacy policy.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.