Conversion chart

General Homebrew Discussion
1

I’m new here to the forum. I’m just curious if there is a way to convert a 11 gal recipe to a 5gl., and is that something I can get on the website?

2

You’ll have to do a few batches to figure out exactly how you’re boil-off losses, etc, scale, but you can pretty much just divide everything in half.

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3

I convert recipes from those I find in the wild by entering them into my software of choice as written applying my equipment profile adjusting for OG, IBU, SRM, ABV, etc.

4

There are several online conversion softwares, but one of the reliable ones is Brewers Friend.

5

I use Beersmith. I do the following.

  1. Start a blank recipe with my equipment profile.
  2. Enter the grain and hops as written in the recipe. It doesn’t matter what volume the recipe is written for. You really are just grabbing ratios at this point.
  3. Adjust individual hop alpha acid % to match the hops you have on hand.
  4. Click on the gravity and set it to the recipe target gravity. This will adjust all grain weights but keep the ratio of grains relevant to each other.
  5. Click on the bitterness and set it to the recipe target bitterness in IBUs. If there are zero minute or dry hops, adjust those down manually the same percentage the other hops dropped.
  6. Save.

Done.

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6

Also using Beersmith, you can enter everything for the 11 gal batch using an 11 gal equipment profile, save it, copy the recipe and click on Scale Recipe, then choose the 5 gal equipment profile. This will give you a copy for each batch size if you feel you would like to keep the original for posterity.
If you are looking for a way to do it without buying Beersmith, Brewfather is web based and the free version will allow you to do the same process. At least that way you can try it out before you decide if you want to pay for the premium version.

7

You can also multiply the grain and hop amount (assuming the AAU’s of the hops are the same for the original recipe and those you are using) by 0.455 (5/11) and then make small adjustments to get the grain percentages and hop amounts to equal the same OG and IBU amounts in the original recipe. BeerSmith will also do this for you when you scale the recipe. The calculations will get you really close to what you are looking for.

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8

Welcome to the forum @foamstache! Looks like you’ve got some great answers. Still stuck let us know. Julia

9

That’s what I was think I would do. It may be a little off, but I’m okay with that.

Thanks Drew

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