Scaling Up?

[The Brew Mentor]

Hello All,
I have recently (4 batches) moved up to a 20 gallon Mega Ruby Street system.
I'm boiling for 60-90 minutes and starting with 24-25 gallons in the BK.
The results so far are good, but different than I expected.
I seem to be getting much more Hop utilization than in the 5-10 gallon batches I was brewing before.
The only thing I'm doing slightly different is adding all my water adjustment salts to the MLT and then acidifying my sparge water with a little lactic acid. I used to treat all my water up front and then split it for mash and sparge.
I am fly sparging now. I batch sparge with my 5 gallon batches and fly with my 10.
The last batch I brewed (http://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/r ... -hava-pail) came across almost like an IPA with intense Simcoe flavor. Plenty of aroma and bittering in the 45ish range.

I'm wondering if anyone has worked on larger systems and if so, how you're adjusting the hop schedule?

My next batch will be a German Pilsner and although I want a firm bitterness to it, I don't want it too bitter.
Thoughts?
Brian

 

[TheZel66]

I had always heard that scaling up to larger batches didn't necessarily mean a direct scale up recipe. This is what brewers need to know in transferring 5-10 gallon recipes to larger recipes. I would see if you can talk to a small scale microbrewer to ask them the details in scaling up recipes.

 

[The Brew Mentor]

Larry,
Does your tool use any percentage change when scaling up?
I'll check my Beersmith to see if they change when scaling from 5 to 20 gallons. I can also play around with Promash.
Brian

 

[LarryBrewer]

As it stands, it is straight multiplication and division. If you go from a 5 gallon batch to a 20 gallon batch, you will have 4 times everything, grain, hops, etc.

 

[The Brew Mentor]

I'll let you know what I find. There is definitely some differences.
Brian