1/2 batches?

If i wan to make a 1/2 batch of beer is it as easy and just cutting the recipe in 1/2? Keep the same boil times/hop additions though?

Also can i use a 5 gal carboy or would that be too big

thanks

Yes you can just cut the recipe in half. Your post said “same hop additions” yes, this is ok for times but remember to cut the hop quantity in half as well. There is no harm in a 5 gallon fermentor for 2 1/2 to 3 gals of beer. I do it all the time.

However, what I do is split the 5 gals of wort into 2 buckets and pitch 2 different yeasts. You would be surprised that you will get 2 completely different beers! I just made a dunkelweissen for our club competition and one was with a generic wheat beer yeast and the other was with the Weinenstephen wheat yeast. Everyone loved the Weinenstephen version but nobody really cared for the one with the generic wheat yeast. It is truly amazing the difference yeast can make in a beer.

That’s all I make now is half batches by cutting every thing in half. One thing is now you will be doing a full extract boil I start with a little less than 3 gallons which with the boil off and the crud I leave in the bottom of the kettle gives me a little over 2 1/2 gallons into a 5 gallon carboy. When I rack to a 3 gallon carboy I leave the rest of the crud in the bottom giving me 2 1/2 gallons.They say to cut back by 10 % on hops for full boils but I don’t. At my age which is now 70 it sure makes it easier to lug it down stairs.

I also do my All-Grain beers the same way half recipes.

When I started brewing I made 2-1/2 gallon batches all of the time. At one time The Homebrewery in Ozark,Mo sold 2-1/2 gallon kits. I had a 3-1/2 and a 5 gallon food grade plastic buckets that I used. I got the buckets from a bakery, the bakery would receive pie filling and things like that in the buckets. I brewed for a couple years using them buckets before I moved up to 5 gallon batches, in fact I still use the 3-/12 gallon bucket for cleaning and storing my wort chiller.

Cheers
jazzman