Help scaling this recipe down to a session beer?

[bkov]

I have a recipe i really like but i want to now try to scale it down to a session beer, something like 4% abv give or take a percentage. Any suggestions? The orgininal recipe is:

11.00 lb Brewers Malt 2-Row (Briess) (1.8 SRM) Grain 64.7 %
2.50 lb Munich Malt (9.0 SRM) Grain 14.7 %
1.50 lb Brown Malt (65.0 SRM) Grain 8.8 %
1.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (120.0 SRM) Grain 5.9 %
0.50 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM) Grain 2.9 %
0.50 lb Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 2.9 %
0.75 oz Magnum [14.00%] (60 min) Hops 29.1 IBU
1.00 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.00%] (10 min) Hops 5.0 IBU
2.00 items Vanilla Bean (Secondary 14.0 days) Misc
1 Pkgs American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056) Yeast-Ale

Thanks!

[brewbeer22]

I’d cut everything in 1/2, including the hops, may be event lower on the chocolate malt. See how it come out and then go from there.

[bkov]

thats what i was thinking, but when i do that, i only come up with 21 SRM instead of 30something in the original. Also only 4oz of chocolate malt seems kinda low to me for a porter

[brewbeer22]

At the lower gravity the flavor contribution of the chocolate malt might be more pronounced. Don’t sweat the color so much, he flavor is much more important.

[erockrph]

@Brewbeer22

At the lower gravity the flavor contribution of the chocolate malt might be more pronounced. Don’t sweat the color so much, he flavor is much more important.

You can always cold-steep some Carafa/Midnight Wheat/Blackprinz/etc. and add that in to bring up the color without much flavor contribution.

[wahoo]

@bkov

thats what i was thinking, but when i do that, i only come up with 21 SRM instead of 30something in the original. Also only 4oz of chocolate malt seems kinda low to me for a porter

You come up with 21SRM in a computer calculation. Brew the beer and then determine if it’s too light. Every time I’ve ever tried to make a “color adjustment” in software, I’ve missed the mark on the flavor of the beer I was shooting for.

[muddywater_grant]

Here is the recipe keeping the same percentage scaled down to 4.42ABV, the ibu’s went from 37.8 to 39.7, but damn close there too.

Recipe Specs

Batch Size (G): 5.0
Total Grain (lb): 8.794
Total Hops (oz): 1.63
Original Gravity (OG): 1.045 (°P): 11.2
Final Gravity (FG): 1.011 (°P): 2.8
Alcohol by Volume (ABV): 4.42 %
Colour (SRM): 19.0 (EBC): 37.4
Bitterness (IBU): 39.7 (Average)
Brewhouse Efficiency (%): 70
Boil Time (Minutes): 60

Grain Bill

6.241 lb American 2-Row (70.97%)
1.418 lb Munich I (16.13%)
0.567 lb Crystal 120 (6.45%)
0.284 lb Chocolate (3.23%)
0.284 lb Crystal 40 (3.23%)

Hop Bill

0.63 oz Magnum Pellet (12.5% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil) (0.1 oz/Gal)
1.00 oz East Kent Golding Pellet (4.7% Alpha) @ 10 Minutes (Boil) (0.2 oz/Gal)

[shadetree]

If you’re batch-sparging, up the efficiency a little for the new recipe before re-calculating. And I wouldn’t cut the specialty grains by the same ratio as the base grain. Instead, cut the base grain by 60%, then add back the others, keeping them in the same relative ratios as in the original recipe(3:2:1:1 Brown:120:40:Choc) until you see the correct SRM - this will help boost the body a little in a “thinner” beer. Once you have the grain bill, add the hops back in so that you get the half the IBUs from each addition.

[muddywater_grant]

Here is cut back and the chocolate sub’d with carafa to get closer to your original srm of 28.0, which will give you 24.4.

And not such crazy weights. The hop additions are both 0.625oz or 5/8th oz

Recipe Specs

Batch Size (G): 5.0
Total Grain (lb): 8.875
Total Hops (oz): 1.25
Original Gravity (OG): 1.046 (°P): 11.4
Final Gravity (FG): 1.012 (°P): 3.1
Alcohol by Volume (ABV): 4.52 %
Colour (SRM): 24.4 (EBC): 48.1
Bitterness (IBU): 37.4 (Average)
Brewhouse Efficiency (%): 70
Boil Time (Minutes): 60

Grain Bill

6.250 lb American 2-Row (70.42%)
1.500 lb Munich I (16.9%)
0.500 lb Crystal 120 (5.63%)
0.375 lb Carafa III malt (4.23%)
0.250 lb Crystal 40 (2.82%)

Hop Bill

0.63 oz Magnum Pellet (12.5% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil) (0.1 oz/Gal)
0.63 oz East Kent Golding Pellet (4.7% Alpha) @ 10 Minutes (Boil) (0.1 oz/Gal)

[tom_sawyer]

@Shadetree

If you’re batch-sparging, up the efficiency a little for the new recipe before re-calculating. And I wouldn’t cut the specialty grains by the same ratio as the base grain. Instead, cut the base grain by 60%, then add back the others, keeping them in the same relative ratios as in the original recipe(3:2:1:1 Brown:120:40:Choc) until you see the correct SRM - this will help boost the body a little in a “thinner” beer. Once you have the grain bill, add the hops back in so that you get the half the IBUs from each addition.

+1 to this, smaller beers still need to finish at a decent gravity. You get one down at 1.008 and it tastes thin. So you either mash at a higher temp or add a little more crystal.

[bkov]

thanks, its dennys bvip recipe that i plan on replacing the bourbon with coffee

breakfast porter for football season