Mini All Grain

[kaitai]

Hey guys,

Very soon I want to try my first AG brew, but on a small scale. Would like to start out by trying batches around the 10L mark, or half a standard size batch.

Question is, is it simply a matter of having all the ingredients from a full bacth to do a mini batch?

For example if I have a receipe for a 20l batch, and I wanted to use this to make a 10l, do I simply halve all the grain, hops etc?

So
2.6 kg Pale Ale Malt
25.00 gm Saaz N.Z [8.5%] (60 min)
20.00 gm Coriander Seed (Boil 5.0 min) Misc
25.00 gm Orange Peel, Bitter (Boil 5.0 min) Misc

Becomes
1.3 kg Pale Ale Malt
12.5 gm Saaz N.Z [8.5%] (60 min)
10.00 gm Coriander Seed (Boil 5.0 min) Misc
12.5 gm Orange Peel, Bitter (Boil 5.0 min) Misc

This isn't a real recipe, just an example of what I mean.

Cheers all

 

[Trent]

Kaitai
That is pretty much what ya have to do. Welcome to the club, I started my AG foray with mini brews, cause I didnt have the equipment to do otherwise, and have never looked back. I am not too sure if ya have to halve the coriander seed or orange peel, I havent ever used these types of things in my beers, but I would assume ya should. My very first AG was an 8L job, 1.5kg pale, 200g caramalt and 150g choc malt. Came out a treat. Bonk was the one that gave me that recipe (similar thread title, but on grumpys), and I now use that as my house ale. Once ya start, though, ya have to spend more and more money on equipment for yer brewery, but I reckon it is worth it. I stepped up to full size batches as soon as I moved into a place that had the room, putting in all those hours for an ag brew, and only getting 10 longnecks out of it is a bit much!
You will probably be surprised at just how easy and simple brewing all grain is, and in my opinion, it produces better results. One thing to bear in mind, though. In my current system, I lose the usual 1L of water per kilo of grain, and can accurately target my volumes around that. In my 10L easky setup, I used to lose around 1.5 to 2L per kg of grain, so it may take ya a brew or 2 before ya get everything right with yer volume and gravity calcs. Or that was my experience
All the best
Trent

EDIT - I just tripled everything in that recipe to get me up to the 23 batches that I was doing, and doubled that again to get me to 46L now. So I am pretty sure ya scale everything down to the size yer doing

 

[kaitai]

Thanks for the reply mate. I think I may have read that thread on grumpies you are talking about. Bonk seems to do a lot of these smaller AG brews.

So you used a 10l esky for your mash tun? Was wondering about that. I was thinking of making one that was around the 10l mark for my smaller batches, and using batch sparging. Interesing that the gain soaked up a higher qty of water in those smaller batches. I wonder why. I am guessing a pot btw 15-19l should be fine to boil the wort ?

What did you ferment your small batches in?

If anyone has any good small batch AG recipes that want to share, then feel free.

No lagers though, I don't have a brew fridge to ferment it in


Thanks guys

 

[Darren]

Kaitai
boil off will be greater with a small batch. Hop utilisation will also probably increase
D

edit:sorry wrong kai

 

[bonk]

hey kaitai

these are the same as i posted over on grumpy's

My Basic Porter
http://users.bigpond.net.au/executive-outc...orter_Type.html

My Old APA aka Little Creatures etc etc
http://users.bigpond.net.au/executive-outc...ency_(APA).html

English Style
http://users.bigpond.net.au/executive-outc...S_Pale_Ale.html

hope these help

Trent:
wow thanks for the props... i'm glad you liked the brew so much

 

[Trent]

My pleasure mate
If it werent for your patience explaining it, and sharing your recipes, I might still be brewing extracts! Looks like I accidentally swapped around the chocolate and caramalt quantities, but it was still a cracker, got me hooked big time.
All the best
Trent

 

[kaitai]

Thanks for the info guys. Look forward to trying my first one out as soom as I make the esk/mash tun.