Converting all grain recipe to extract

[jasebrooker]

Hi all.

I have a recipe Harvey's Sussex Best Bitter but it is an all grain recipe. Although I'm hoping to go all grain one day I'm still not at that level. Is there a way of converting recipes like this to extract? I will post the recipe when I get home as it's in a book which I don't have on me but I was curious to see if there was a generic formula or something to do this. I've found a couple of threads on the same subject but I don't really understand them.

Cheers,

J

 

[ACbrewer]

To answer, yes, you can convert it from all grain to extract with steeping grains (if grains are needed). If you have something liek beersmith software, you can figgure it out on your own.

 

[danielofthedale]

1 pound of grain=. 75 pounds of lme or .6 pounds dme I believe.

 

[jasebrooker]

Thanks for all the advice, I will look into the software and see if I can use it. The recipe I have is;

HARVEY'S SUSSEX BEST

6lb. Crushed pale malt
8 oz. Flaked maize
3 gal. Water for 'bitter' brewing
8 oz. Light soft brown sugar
2 oz. Goldings hops
1 oz. Northern brewer hops
1 tsp. Irish moss
2 oz. Brewers yeast
1/2 oz. Gelatine
2 oz. Brown sugar

If 1lb grain is equal to .75lb LME or .6lb DME would that work better/cheaper than using malt extract syrup?

 

[progmac]

Thanks for all the advice, I will look into the software and see if I can use it. The recipe I have is;

HARVEY'S SUSSEX BEST

6lb. Crushed pale malt
8 oz. Flaked maize
3 gal. Water for 'bitter' brewing
8 oz. Light soft brown sugar
2 oz. Goldings hops
1 oz. Northern brewer hops
1 tsp. Irish moss
2 oz. Brewers yeast
1/2 oz. Gelatine
2 oz. Brown sugar

If 1lb grain is equal to .75lb LME or .6lb DME would that work better/cheaper than using malt extract syrup?

LME = malt extract syrup

DME = dry malt extract AKA spray malt

if you are doing steeping grains, just sub out the six pounds crushed pale malt and 1/2 pound flaked corn for 5 pounds LME. buy the lightest LME that you can get ("extra pale" or "pilsner").

you can't do flaked corn as a steeping grain, so i included that in the fermentable grains to determine LME (ie (6 pounds malt + 8 ounces maize) * .75 = 4.875 or about 5 pounds)

 

[jasebrooker]

Aaahhhh I see, still getting the hang of this lol. That's awesome, thanks for the help I'll give it a go and see what happens

 

[jasebrooker]

Looking at cost and practicality, LME comes in tins of 1.5kg (3.3lb) and DME comes in packs of 500g (1.1lb) now, rather than having half a tin left over could I do a tin of LME and a pack of DME? Can you mix them up or is it best to stick to one or another? I not I think I'd need about 4 DME which increases the cost. Not a huge problem if that's what is needed but I figured its worth checking

 

[progmac]

Looking at cost and practicality, LME comes in tins of 1.5kg (3.3lb) and DME comes in packs of 500g (1.1lb) now, rather than having half a tin left over could I do a tin of LME and a pack of DME? Can you mix them up or is it best to stick to one or another? I not I think I'd need about 4 DME which increases the cost. Not a huge problem if that's what is needed but I figured its worth checking

you can mix them up, it doesn't matter. DME is generally considered the superior product.

most people now add about half of the total volume of extract at the end of the boil rather than all at the beginning how most recipes specify. it seems to make better beer.

 

[ACbrewer]

Looking at cost and practicality, LME comes in tins of 1.5kg (3.3lb) and DME comes in packs of 500g (1.1lb) now, rather than having half a tin left over could I do a tin of LME and a pack of DME? Can you mix them up or is it best to stick to one or another? I not I think I'd need about 4 DME which increases the cost. Not a huge problem if that's what is needed but I figured its worth checking

You can mix and match, but remember you were given a mass in one type, so you have to figure out how much you need when you mix. He has it as about 5lb of LME, you can get it at 3.3 (1.5kg) that means you need 1.7 of lme, although your original recipe was 4.875 of LME, so really closer to 1.575.

Right, DME to LME is 1.25 to 1 or 1 to .8 so 1.575 of lme would be about 1.26 lb of dme. you can do 1.1 so you will be a little, but not much low on malt.

Options. Add a bit of sugar, like 100gr. But that is a poor option (malt tastes better and feels better), but since you are adding corn, using a pure fermentable like sugar would make sense - although some people say table sugar leaves a green apple flavor.
Another option is to ignore it. .16 lb on 5 lb is 2%. I'd do option 2.

A note on DME v LME. LME is usually cheaper - not always. There are some cooking differences. and DME can be stored in ziplock in a dry cool location (cupboard or freezer).

Oh last note, 4.875lb LME= 3.9lb DME If you wnat a little more ABV, and don't mind the cost, then go to 2kg (4.4lb) DME, although that is .5lb high, or about 11% more than original.

 

[jasebrooker]

That's brilliant, thank you all so much for the advice I certainly have something to think about now

 

[jasebrooker]

Just got the beersmith 2 software, VERY in depth! Put my recipe in and it converted it to 3lb 13.5 oz of DME. That doesn't look right from what everyone else has said (ie multiplying by .75) seems way too low! Have I done something wrong?

 

[ACbrewer]

Just got the beersmith 2 software, VERY in depth! Put my recipe in and it converted it to 3lb 13.5 oz of DME. That doesn't look right from what everyone else has said (ie multiplying by .75) seems way too low! Have I done something wrong?

Well I'd figured the DME to be 3.9lb, which would work out to be about 3 lb +.9*16 oz which would be 14.4, so that is fairly close to your 3 lb 13.5 oz of DME.

 

[jasebrooker]

Oh yeah, look at that, turns out I just can't read lol. Cheers

 

[ACbrewer]

Oh yeah, look at that, turns out I just can't read lol. Cheers

it is the hazard of using decimal (3.9) with non decimal units (ounces).... Just be glad it was for something fudgable, like malt in a beer, rather than not so much like cutting a board.