Juzdu
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- 26/10/12
- Messages
- 144
- Reaction score
- 0
I've tried searching for this specific topic, but haven't had much luck.
It struck me during all the research i've been doing into homebrew lately that making smaller batch sizes might be useful at the moment....as i'm just starting out i'm bound to make mistakes, and i'm also looking forward to trying different combinations of pre-hopped kit cans mixed with dry/liquid malt extract, dextrose and maltodextrin, over a variety of different beers such as wheat, pale ale, irish ale etc.
I'd been thinking about how i'd have 23 litres each of my first 5 brews, and that's a LOT of beer to bottle, let alone consume, especially if it's not all that great. So I started thinking about smaller batch sizes, and stumbled across Ian's kit/extract spreadsheet: http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...st&p=410202
While messing around with the various numbers in there, I realised that with almost all suggested recipe combinations, 23 litres of wort actually makes a pretty low-alcohol beer. For example, using Coopers recipe from their website for their Coopers Pale Ale, which is :
1.7kg tin of Australian Pale Ale
Brew Enhancer 2 (500gm dextrose, 250gm each of light DME and maltodextrin)
If you make the suggested 23 litres, then according to Ian's spreadsheet this leaves you with a beer at 3.8% before bottling, 4.2% after secondary ferm. However, if you back it off to 19 litres of water, leaving all the ingredients the same, it suggests a final ABV of 4.9%, something we're all much more used to in our beers.
These numbers seem to work for most recipes, so i'm wondering, is there another reason behind all the recipes calling for 23 litres of wort being fermented?
EDIT: Oh and I also noticed most US home brew recipes call for 5 US gallons, which is, curiously enough, almost spot on 19 litres. So why are our recipes calling for 4 more litres?
It struck me during all the research i've been doing into homebrew lately that making smaller batch sizes might be useful at the moment....as i'm just starting out i'm bound to make mistakes, and i'm also looking forward to trying different combinations of pre-hopped kit cans mixed with dry/liquid malt extract, dextrose and maltodextrin, over a variety of different beers such as wheat, pale ale, irish ale etc.
I'd been thinking about how i'd have 23 litres each of my first 5 brews, and that's a LOT of beer to bottle, let alone consume, especially if it's not all that great. So I started thinking about smaller batch sizes, and stumbled across Ian's kit/extract spreadsheet: http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...st&p=410202
While messing around with the various numbers in there, I realised that with almost all suggested recipe combinations, 23 litres of wort actually makes a pretty low-alcohol beer. For example, using Coopers recipe from their website for their Coopers Pale Ale, which is :
1.7kg tin of Australian Pale Ale
Brew Enhancer 2 (500gm dextrose, 250gm each of light DME and maltodextrin)
If you make the suggested 23 litres, then according to Ian's spreadsheet this leaves you with a beer at 3.8% before bottling, 4.2% after secondary ferm. However, if you back it off to 19 litres of water, leaving all the ingredients the same, it suggests a final ABV of 4.9%, something we're all much more used to in our beers.
These numbers seem to work for most recipes, so i'm wondering, is there another reason behind all the recipes calling for 23 litres of wort being fermented?
EDIT: Oh and I also noticed most US home brew recipes call for 5 US gallons, which is, curiously enough, almost spot on 19 litres. So why are our recipes calling for 4 more litres?