Total grain for a AG batch

I have seen through the web people that uses 10-15 lbs of grain for a full-grain, 5 gallon batch. Can someone advise what is the criteria used for the calculation of the total amount of grain for an AG, 5 gal batch?

Thanks, Nil

More grain>more sugar>more alcohol!
There isn't really a set calculation a to how much you should use, it's a matter of how much you want to use.
There are several smartphone apps that you can use for recipe building, as long as several free websites (Hopville.com). You can use those to determine how much grain you'd want to use for a particular beer. Also, pick up a brewing book, like John Palmers How to Brew, it'll lay out the AG process for you

Brewtarget has been helpful to me when formulating recipes. Its free brewing software, google it if you want to try it out.

You can also try Brewmaster's Warehouse Brew Builder on their website.

More grain, more alcohol? In theory yes, yet this is not only dependent of the amount of grain; this also depend of the type of yeast.

I guess that the standard for a 5 gal batch may be in the neighborhood of 10 lbs, assuming a final alcohol content of 5-6%.

I have brewtarget and is quite useful. I have also building my own spreadsheet.

Thanks, Nil

More grain, more alcohol? In theory yes, yet this is not only dependent of the amount of grain; this also depend of the type of yeast.

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This is a misleading statement. Type of yeast are generally NOT a variable in ABV for typical brews.

Stick pretty much any yeast in a typical 1.05-1.06 OG wort, and you are going to get very very close to the same ABV, all other variables being equal. Varying the type of yeast has nothing to do with ABV unless you are talking about specialized yeast with specified attenuation rates, which are typically only used in very high ABV brews or very specialized brews.

Nil, different types of grain have different enzyme qualities and carbohydrate content. The enzymes in the grain are what breaks down the carbohydrates into simple sugars that the yeast can eat, which then becomes alcohol and CO2 as the yeast byproduct. There are also many grains that don't contribute to sugar or alcohol content at all, and only contribute to your beer's color or flavor.

So, in general, more grain = higher alcohol content, but it does vary from grain to grain.

If you are trying to design a brew, a typical 5 gallon batch of average OG and alcohol content (1.05/5.5 ABV or something around there) takes about 10 lbs of fermentable grain.

Another thing to watch out for is the percentage of base malts vs. the percentage of specialty grains.

Some specialty grains have a lot of punch to them (either adding certain flavors or colors to the beer) and it's easy to overdo it.

TopherM said:

about 10 lbs of fermentable grain.

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Stick with that for starters and simple AG beers and you are golden. Go by the general rule of thumb that 2 row and Pilsners are 100% grist ability, while your specialty grains can be 10-40% grist. Generally the packaging tells you how much can be put into your batch %.

You can try to be a master mathematician or get beersmith....

Hello Joliet! And Vernon Hills!

i like hopville.com for figuring out my recipes and grain amounts