Recipe Scaling Calculator
Scale a recipe from 5 gallons to 1, 3 or 7 BBL, with the efficiency change, hop adjustments and how much yeast to pitch. Start from one of our recipes or enter your own.
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How to scale a homebrew recipe to a brewery batch
- Scale by volume. One US barrel is 31 gallons, about 6.2 times a 5-gallon batch.
- Adjust the malt for efficiency. Bigger brewhouses usually get more sugar out of the grain. Going from 72% to 80% efficiency needs about 10% less malt for the same gravity.
- Watch the bittering hops. Large kettles boil harder and hold heat longer after flameout, so hops give more bitterness. Many brewers cut 60-minute hops 10–15% at 7 BBL and up, then adjust after tasting.
- Pitch enough yeast. The calculator shows how many cells you need and how much dry yeast that is.
- Brew it once and taste. Write down your real gravity, volume and bitterness, then fine-tune the next batch.
What doesn’t scale in a straight line
- Whirlpool hops. A big batch takes longer to cool, so whirlpool additions pick up more bitterness. Chill faster or shorten the stand.
- Dry hops. Breweries think in pounds per barrel. 1 lb per BBL is a moderate dry hop; hazy IPAs often use 2–3 lb per BBL.
- Boil-off. Evaporation depends on the kettle’s surface and power, not batch size. A 1 BBL kettle doesn’t boil off six times what a 5-gallon kettle does. Measure yours.
- Water. Set your volumes from your system’s numbers. For our systems, the Brew Day Planner does this for you.
Batch size conversions
| Batch | Gallons | Litres | Barrels | Hectolitres | vs. 5 gal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 gal | 5 gal | 19 L | 0.16 | 0.19 | × 1.0 |
| 10 gal | 10 gal | 38 L | 0.32 | 0.38 | × 2.0 |
| 15 gal | 15 gal | 57 L | 0.48 | 0.57 | × 3.0 |
| 20 gal | 20 gal | 76 L | 0.65 | 0.76 | × 4.0 |
| 1 BBL | 31 gal | 117 L | 1.00 | 1.17 | × 6.2 |
| 2 BBL | 62 gal | 235 L | 2.00 | 2.35 | × 12.4 |
| 3 BBL | 93 gal | 352 L | 3.00 | 3.52 | × 18.6 |
| 5 BBL | 155 gal | 587 L | 5.00 | 5.87 | × 31.0 |
| 7 BBL | 217 gal | 821 L | 7.00 | 8.21 | × 43.4 |
| 10 BBL | 310 gal | 1,173 L | 10.00 | 11.73 | × 62.0 |
| 10 hL | 264 gal | 1,000 L | 8.52 | 10.00 | × 52.8 |
| 20 hL | 528 gal | 2,000 L | 17.04 | 20.00 | × 105.7 |
Questions
How do I convert a 5-gallon recipe to 1 barrel?
Multiply every ingredient by 6.2 (31 ÷ 5). Then lower the malt if your big system is more efficient, and consider cutting the bittering hops a little. The calculator does all of this: pick 1 BBL and enter your efficiency.
Do hops scale in a straight line?
Flavour and aroma hops mostly do. Bitterness doesn’t, because a larger kettle boils more vigorously and stays hot longer after flameout. Start by cutting boil hops 10–15% at 7 BBL and above, then adjust to taste.
How much yeast do I need for a 1 BBL batch?
For a 1.050 ale you need about 1,091 billion cells: roughly 11 fresh 100-billion-cell packs, or 59–94 g of dry yeast at the maker’s dose. Lagers need about twice as much. Most breweries buy a pitch sized for the batch or harvest yeast from a previous batch.
What brewhouse efficiency should I use?
Use what your system really gets. Many single-vessel homebrew systems land around 70–75%. Commercial brewhouses with a separate mash tun and good sparging often reach 80–90%. If you don’t know yet, keep the same efficiency as the recipe and measure your first batch.
Can I scale recipes in Brewfather or BeerSmith instead?
Yes. Set up your equipment profile once and both will rescale a recipe. This calculator is handy for a quick check, for shopping lists in sacks and pounds, and for yeast pitch amounts.