how do I convert a grain amount to an extract amount?

What I'm looking to do is take an all grain recipe, and convert it to an extract with specialty grains. Base grain is 13 lbs Belgium. Any thoughts? Thanks for any help.

A general rule of thumb is 1 pound of grain = .75 pound LME = .6 pound DME

If your base grain is Belgian pilsner malt, you could use pilsen LME or pilsen (extra light) DME.

I saw an ad in the latest BYO for Belgian LME from William's Brewing. I haven't tried it, but it looks like it's right up your alley. 90% Belgian 2-row, 10% Belgian wheat.

The specialty grains will probably remain the same between the two recipes. The .75 LME to one pound of grain uses the assumption of 75% efficiency for the all grain recipe.

A program like BeerSmith makes the conversion pretty simple. Just have a little extra LME or DME around so you can dial in your pre-boil gravity in case the conversion is not accurate.

I was just getting ready to start a thread asking the same thing. This is from an actual recipe from a local brewers beer and one of my favorites. Problem is that I can't all grain brew cause my apartment can't accommodate the equipment.


Grain needed:

7 lb. Pale malt
2 lb. Munich malt
1 lb. Biscuit malt
.5 lb. 60L malt

I think I know that recipe
I'm downloading Beersmith to do the conversion myself, will post it up later unless someone beats me to it.

akervin said:

I was just getting ready to start a thread asking the same thing. This is from an actual recipe from a local brewers beer and one of my favorites. Problem is that I can't all grain brew cause my apartment can't accommodate the equipment.


Grain needed:

7 lb. Pale malt
2 lb. Munich malt
1 lb. Biscuit malt
.5 lb. 60L malt

Click to expand...

You might want to consider doing a mini-mash for this recipe. It's not really much harder than extract with steeping and you can do it in a pot with no extra equipment (or even a 2-3 gallon drink cooler if you have one). The problem with converting this to extract is the biscuit and munich should really be mashed. It would be hard to exactly replicate using extract (there are munich extracts avail but it may be difficult to know what percentage munich is in there).

akervin said:

I was just getting ready to start a thread asking the same thing. This is from an actual recipe from a local brewers beer and one of my favorites. Problem is that I can't all grain brew cause my apartment can't accommodate the equipment.


Grain needed:

7 lb. Pale malt
2 lb. Munich malt
1 lb. Biscuit malt
.5 lb. 60L malt

Click to expand...

Northern Brewer has Munich malt extract, which is 50% Munich and 50% pale malt: http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/northern-brewer-munich-malt-syrup.html

How about this?

3 pounds Munich malt extract
4 pounds pale LME

Steep biscuit malt and 60L together as usual.

akervin said:

I was just getting ready to start a thread asking the same thing. This is from an actual recipe from a local brewers beer and one of my favorites. Problem is that I can't all grain brew cause my apartment can't accommodate the equipment.


Grain needed:

7 lb. Pale malt
2 lb. Munich malt
1 lb. Biscuit malt
.5 lb. 60L malt

Click to expand...

This is the extract version of the Blue Eyed Moose as converted from the all grain version in Beersmith.

Ingredients
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
5.2 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM) Grain 1 5.0 %
2.5 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 2 2.4 %
6 lbs 15.7 oz Pale Liquid Extract (8.0 SRM) Extract 3 83.3 %
9.7 oz Amber Liquid Extract (12.5 SRM) Extract 4 9.3 %

Hoosier-Brewer said:

This is the extract version of the Blue Eyed Moose as converted from the all grain version in Beersmith.

Ingredients
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
5.2 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM) Grain 1 5.0 %
2.5 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 2 2.4 %
6 lbs 15.7 oz Pale Liquid Extract (8.0 SRM) Extract 3 83.3 %
9.7 oz Amber Liquid Extract (12.5 SRM) Extract 4 9.3 %

Click to expand...

That conversion doesn't seem right. Amber liquid extract? Instead of the Munich? I'd leave the specialty grains the same (why change to 20L? where is the biscuit malt?) and use extract instead of the base malt/Munich malt.

It's definitely not close to the original all grain recipe.

Hoosier-Brewer said:

This is the extract version of the Blue Eyed Moose as converted from the all grain version in Beersmith.

Ingredients
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
5.2 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM) Grain 1 5.0 %
2.5 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 2 2.4 %
6 lbs 15.7 oz Pale Liquid Extract (8.0 SRM) Extract 3 83.3 %
9.7 oz Amber Liquid Extract (12.5 SRM) Extract 4 9.3 %

Click to expand...

You are the man!!! I would offer you a beer but this will have to do.

I'm planning a brew day week after next and I'm gathering ingredients now.

Yooper said:

That conversion doesn't seem right. Amber liquid extract? Instead of the Munich? I'd leave the specialty grains the same (why change to 20L? where is the biscuit malt?) and use extract instead of the base malt/Munich malt.

Click to expand...

You can't ever go wrong following Yooper's advice. As she points out, you're not going to be replicating the beer with the Beersmith conversion. Seems to me like it was just going for something with the same color.

Not to hijack my own thread back, but yooper, yes it is Belgium pilsner. I shouldn't have too much of a problem getting it on line, right? My lhbs doesn't carry that. I did the math and its almost 10 lbs! Thanks for the info everyone.

Yooper said:

That conversion doesn't seem right. Amber liquid extract? Instead of the Munich? I'd leave the specialty grains the same (why change to 20L? where is the biscuit malt?) and use extract instead of the base malt/Munich malt.

It's definitely not close to the original all grain recipe.

Click to expand...

Not sure Yoopers, this was the first time I have used Beersmith. I entered the all grain recipe and used the convert function and that is what It spit out. I'll have to look at it again when I get home.

homebrewertodd said:

Not to hijack my own thread back, but yooper, yes it is Belgium pilsner. I shouldn't have too much of a problem getting it on line, right? My lhbs doesn't carry that. I did the math and its almost 10 lbs! Thanks for the info everyone.

Click to expand...

Sorry, I don't think we meant to hijack. I thought Yooper had your question answered and the other was similar.

homebrewertodd said:

Not to hijack my own thread back, but yooper, yes it is Belgium pilsner. I shouldn't have too much of a problem getting it on line, right? My lhbs doesn't carry that. I did the math and its almost 10 lbs! Thanks for the info everyone.

Click to expand...

yes, sorry about the hijack. Northern Brewer and Midwest supplies both have pilsen extract in liquid and dry forms.

It's ok. Up not upset. Just wanted to answer the question and ask one more. That's all. Thanks.