Reducing batch size with same amount of ingridients

[wscarpenter]

Perhaps this is a dumb question or the answer is obvious... but here goes.... if I am brewing a recipe for a ending batch size of 5 gallons and I reduce the ending ratio to 4.5 gallons, but keep the same amount of ingredients. What affect could this have on my beer? Would it just be abv increase and hop potency? Or are there other factors that come into play?

 

[philjohnwilliams]

You will pretty much just wind up with a stronger (both in ABV and flavour) version of the original beer. From 5 to 4.5 gallons should give you about .5% increase in ABV, while the slight increase in wort OG will lead to a small decrease in hop bitterness.

 

[wscarpenter]

So would you recommend increasing the bittering hops?

 

[philjohnwilliams]

Theoretically yes, but what I hadn't considered from your question was that along with the increase in OG came a decrease in volume. It is possible that the two factors will cancel each other out. The IBU calculator here could probably answer your question better than I can.

 

[wscarpenter]

Theoretically yes, but what I hadn't considered from your question was that along with the increase in OG came a decrease in volume. It is possible that the two factors will cancel each other out. The IBU calculator here could probably answer your question better than I can.

I’ll give it a try. Still navigating the site a little bit. Thanks for the input.

 

[J A]

Plug your ingredients into the recipe calculator and make the changes you intend to make with the batch size. It'll tell you exactly what to expect.
If you have a hard time figuring it out, list your ingredients and someone can arrange it in the editor and share a link for you to see.

 

[Nosybear]

Perhaps this is a dumb question or the answer is obvious... but here goes.... if I am brewing a recipe for a ending batch size of 5 gallons and I reduce the ending ratio to 4.5 gallons, but keep the same amount of ingredients. What affect could this have on my beer? Would it just be abv increase and hop potency? Or are there other factors that come into play?

Simple proportions. Everything increases by 5/4.5.