Scale this commercial recipe to homebrewing?

Brewing Processes
1

This recipe is from the Briess website.  How would I scale the ingredients down to a homebrew size recipe?  I do 3 gallon BIAB.

Sierra Nevada Black Vapor

This collaboration beer was brewed on Sierra Nevada’s 10 BBL pilot brewery in Chico, CA for the 2011 Craft Brewers Conference in San Francisco. This “steam” style hybrid beer was a nod to the rich brewing heritage at Anchor Brewing Co. though with a twist by darkening up this style with Midnight Wheat malt!

Type: Lager
Style: Other Lagers
Batch Size: Commercial
Recipe Type: All grain
Recipe Contributed By: David Richter, Briess Malt & Ingredients Co., Scott Jennings R&D Brewmaster at Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.

Ingredients
Quantity
420 lbs Briess Pilsen Malt
50 lbs         Briess Caramel Malt 40L
25 lbs       Bonlander® Munich Malt
32 lbs       Briess Midnight Wheat Malt
1 lb       US Magnum Hops Boil 90 minutes
1.5 lbs Northern Brewer Hops Boil 60 minutes
1.5 lbs Northern Brewer Hops Boil 15 minutes
2 lbs Aurora 2# Experimental Hops End boil
California Lager Yeast From Sierra yeast bank

Procedures
Mash at 154ºF for 45 minutes
Sparge at 170º for 75 minutes, 90 minute collection time
Knock out at 52ºF
Ferment at 60ºF
Primary Fermentation:
Secondary Fermentation:
Fermentation Notes:
Original Gravity: 13.2 Plato
Final Gravity: 3.5 Plato
Alcohol by Weight:
Alcohol by Volume: 5.0%
IBU: 38
Color: 54 SRM - Dark Ruby Brown
Tags:

2

They give OG, so divide that by the potential extract of the grist and your efficiency to get the total grist weight, then keep the malts proportionate.

For example, at 65% efficiency: 13.2°P * 3 gal / (9.2 °P-gal/lb * 65%) = 6.62 lb
C40: 6.62*50/528 = 0.63 lb

For hops, it’s a 10 bbl recipe, so divide by 110, give or take. Without knowing AA% that’s the best you can do.

3

Sean can you tell me where you got the 9.2 from you have it explained well I just cant figure it out.(I’m having a brain fart) Thanks Vin

4

That’s the potential extract for malt, or at least a reasonable average.

5

I dumped the original recipe into Brewers Friend, then tweaked the efficiency percentage and the “additional boil time” (intended for No Chill brewers, but also helpful for this purpose) until I got the OG and IBU’s to match the reported values:

[quote]HOME BREW RECIPE:
Title: SN Black Vapor

Brew Method: All Grain
Style Name: California Common Beer
Boil Time: 90 min
Batch Size: 315 gallons (fermentor volume)
Boil Size: 400 gallons
Efficiency: 89% (brew house)
No Chill: 4 minute extended hop boil time

STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.054
Final Gravity: 1.014
ABV (standard): 5.32%
IBU (tinseth): 32.31
SRM (morey): 26.25

FERMENTABLES:
420 lb - American - Pilsner (79.7%)
50 lb - American - Caramel / Crystal 40L (9.5%)
25 lb - American - Munich - Light 10L (4.7%)
32 lb - American - Midnight Wheat Malt (6.1%)

HOPS:
16 oz - Magnum for 90 min, Type: Leaf/Whole, Use: Boil (AA 12.2, IBU: 12.3)
24 oz - Northern Brewer for 60 min, Type: Leaf/Whole, Use: Boil (AA 7.8, IBU: 11.14)
24 oz - Northern Brewer for 15 min, Type: Leaf/Whole, Use: Boil (AA 7.8, IBU: 6.43)
32 oz - Aurora for 0 min, Type: Leaf/Whole, Use: Boil (AA 8, IBU: 2.44)
[/quote]

Then I scaled it to a 3 gallon batch size, and scaled it one more time down to 75% efficiency. Here’s what I get for a 3 gallon batch:

[quote]HOME BREW RECIPE:
Title: SN Black Vapor

Brew Method: All Grain
Style Name: California Common Beer
Boil Time: 90 min
Batch Size: 3 gallons (fermentor volume)
Boil Size: 4 gallons
Efficiency: 75% (brew house)
No Chill: 4 minute extended hop boil time

STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.054
Final Gravity: 1.013
ABV (standard): 5.29%
IBU (tinseth): 32.84
SRM (morey): 26.21

FERMENTABLES:
4.85 lb - American - Pilsner (82.1%)
0.48 lb - American - Caramel / Crystal 40L (8.1%)
0.28 lb - American - Munich - Light 10L (4.7%)
0.3 lb - American - Midnight Wheat Malt (5.1%)

HOPS:
0.15 oz - Magnum for 90 min, Type: Leaf/Whole, Use: Boil (AA 12.2, IBU: 12.35)
0.23 oz - Northern Brewer for 60 min, Type: Leaf/Whole, Use: Boil (AA 7.8, IBU: 11.44)
0.23 oz - Northern Brewer for 15 min, Type: Leaf/Whole, Use: Boil (AA 7.8, IBU: 6.6)
0.3 oz - Aurora for 0 min, Type: Leaf/Whole, Use: Boil (AA 8, IBU: 2.45)

[/quote]

To address the additional boil time, the safest thing is probably to boil each of your additions (except flameout) for an additional 4 minutes. You could also do a hop stand or hot whirlpool after the boil, but how long you’d need would involve some trial and error. Actual amounts of your hops would change based on the AA% as well.

6

Excellent, thanks for the help!