Converting Extract Recipes to BIAB / All-Grain

[mbm29456]

I am a brewer who did it for a few years 10+ years ago and have recently (this year) come back to the hobby. I was all-grain before, but gave away my equipment. Since returning this year, I've done only extract recipes (mostly kits from Brewer's Best or Craft-a-Brew). I've recently gotten a bigger kettle and wort chiller so I can do full-volume boils. Kinda trying to progress slowly.

I'm about to do my first all-grain BIAB and had some help converting an extract recipe into an all-grain/BIAB recipe from my local beer shop owner.

Which brings me to my question: I've done some recipes that I really, really like, but I'd like to convert them from extract to all-grain for cheaper ingredients and more control. I've seen standard tables that help you convert between weights of grain vs. LME vs. DME, but I'm less clear on how to go from a specific type of LME or DME to a grain.

For instance, I have a Belgian Abbey Dubbel recipe that included 7.5 lbs. of Pilsen DME. That seems like it should be replaced with 12.5 lbs. of grain, but WHICH grain? From my reading, Pilsen DME is made from Pilsner grain, so it might be a fine choice for a Belgian, but my recipe kits have also include Pilsen DME for IPAs, which seems like it should maybe be more of a standard 2-row (maybe?).

I'm looking for more control in my batches (and to learn), so my question is more of "what is a good starting point?" than "what is the definitive answer?"

So, here are some common extracts I've used:
Pilsen DME
Sparkling Amber DME
Wheat DME
Munich LME
Wheat LME
Golden LME
Light LME

How do I convert those to grain in recipes so I at least get close to the original recipe?

Thanks!

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

Pilsen DME for IPAs

Pilsen DME is often used in place of "Light" or "Golden Light" DME to help lower the color of the extract-based recipe.

so my question is more of "what is a good starting point?" than "what is the definitive answer?"

So, here are some common extracts I've used:
Pilsen DME
Sparkling Amber DME
Wheat DME
Munich LME
Wheat LME
Golden LME
Light LME

How do I convert those to grain in recipes so I at least get close to the original recipe?

Pilsen DME / LME ==> Pilsen malt

Sparkling Amber DME ==> open for discussion

Wheat DME / LME ==> blend of wheat malt and "base malt", varies by brand; IIRC, briess is 65% wheat malt

Munich DME / LME ==> blend of munich malt and "base malt"; IIRC, briess is 50% munich malt

Golden / Light DME / LME ==> a basic "two row" malt

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

Couple of additional items:

There was (past tense) an article at Briess's blog (and still in the "Wayback Machine" (link)) that talks about some of the base malts that Briess was using at the time the article was written.

Here's one thought on Amber DME (again via "Wayback Machine" (link)):

Amber Malt Extract
85% 2 Row Malted Barley
10% Caramel 60 L5% Munich 10 L

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

https://web.archive.org/web/20170922173308/http:/blog.brewingwithbriess.com/introducing-the-first-briess-single-malt-extracts/

http://blog.brewingwithbriess.com/introducing-the-first-briess-single-malt-extracts/

https://web.archive.org/web/20200609121419/http://barleypopmaker.info:80/links-and-brewing-resources/all-grain-recipe-equivalents-to-common-extracts/

http://barleypopmaker.info/links-and-brewing-resources/all-grain-recipe-equivalents-to-common-extracts/

 

[wilserbrewer]

Typically extracts contain some amount of specialty grains. Best to find the Maltster data sheet for the specific extract.

Below is an example of Briess Pilsen DME. Only contains 1% carapils fwiw

http://www.brewingwithbriess.com/Assets/PDFs/Briess_PISB_CBWPilsenLightDME.pdf

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

Briess lists their DME/LME products here: http://brewingwithbriess.com/Products/Extracts.htm. I'm not aware that this level of information is available from other providers.

Differences in source water minerals when the malt was made (e. g. at Briess vs at Muntons) will have more of an impact than leaving out 1% carapils. Based on my experiences with converting a couple of recipes from extract to "all grain", I'll suggest starting with a mineral profile that's common for the style, then "dial it in".

As an aside, for many kit or magazine recipes, my approach is to find the "all-grain" version of the recipe.

 

[mbm29456]

Thanks, everybody! This is some great information for me to start converting those kit recipes into my own recipes!