Conversion to Partial Mash

Is there a method to convert an extract/steeping grain recipe to a partial mash recipe? And is there a way to convert an AG recipe to a partial mash? I am thinking of taking the next step and can't find many partial mash recipes. And even if I do find some recipes, it would be nice to be able to convert from extract or AG.

try some of the brewing software out there. Many have free trials to download. Google promash, beersmith, beertools, etc.

The beer tools one the free program is online

www.beertools.com

have fun.

It is very easy to convert most recipes if you are an experienced brewer. I am not, but there are a lot here.

Post the full recipe and how you want it converted and I am sure someone will help you out.

I still stand by the brew software suggestion because it is fun to play around with, but if you want to be really simple than try this.

Whatever you extract or allgrain recipe is simply keep the specialty malts the same. For making an extract into all or partial mash subistute all or part of the extract with base malts such as pale 2 row, marris otter, lager, etc. To figure this one equation is to multiply what ever amount you want to replace by 1.23 (to replace lme) or 1.45 (to replace dme)

So say you had an extract recipe calling for 6 lb of dme. To do a partial and replace say 3 lb mulitply 3*1.45= 4.35 lb. of base malt.

To go the other way... lbs. Base malt x .8125 (for using lme)
lbs. base malt x .6875 (for using dme)

I am sure there are there will be other folks who have different numbers but that is a start.

Thanks. That is good stuff. I will check out the software also. Is there one that you like better than the others?

You could try this: http://hbd.org/cgi-bin/recipator/recipator

It is free and fun to mess around with recipes.

tbone said:

Thanks. That is good stuff. I will check out the software also. Is there one that you like better than the others?

Click to expand...

well, I have been using homebrew formulator which is free. I like it fine but the down side is it is no longer being developed. The reason I use it though is that it is mac friendly and I havea mac. The only other program that is mac friendly right now is beer tools pro but I have not tried it yet. So, if you have a pc like 99% of the rest of the world you will have to get recomendations from somebody else cause i have never used the other programs out there.

I'd like to make Northern Brewer's Chinook IPA as a partial mash. I have the extract/steep and all grain recipes from their website but I am new to recipe conversions. BeerSmith has helped me get this far but I thought I'd run it past you helpful folks.

Here's all grain:
10 lbs. US 2-Row
0.75 lbs. Dingemans Caramel Pils
0.25 lbs. Briess Caramel 120
0.75 oz. Chinook (60 min)
0.5 oz. Chinook (10 min)
0.5 oz. Chinook (1 min)
1 oz. Chinook Hops (dry hop)
Safale US-05 or Wyeast #1056 American Ale Yeast

And extract:
0.75 lbs Dingemans Caramel Pils
0.25 lbs Briess Caramel 120
6 lbs Pilsen malt syrup
1 lb Pilsen dry malt extract
1 oz Chinook (60 min)
0.5 oz Chinook (10 min)
0.5 oz Chinook (1 min)
1 oz Chinook (dry hop)
Safale US-05 or Wyeast #1056 American Ale Yeast

I came up with this:
Amount Item Type % or IBU
1 lbs Extra Light Dry Extract (3.0 SRM) Dry Extract 12.27 %
3 lbs 2.4 oz Pilsner Liquid Extract (3.5 SRM) Extract 38.65 %
3 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 36.81 %
12.0 oz Pilsner (2 Row) UK (1.6 SRM) Grain 9.20 %
4.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (120.0 SRM) Grain 3.07 %

I tried to keep the specialty grains the same and I thought I'd give Northern Brewer my business since I'm using their recipe so I went with the 3.15 lb of malt extract they sell. So I guess the only difference between mine and the extract is taking out 2.85 lbs of pilsen malt extract and adding 3 lbs of pale 2-row. Does that seem ok, or should I mix it up a little more?

**editing for the bad dme math i did***

Work it backwards form the all grain recipe. Keep the specialty grains like you did. Then you decided to use 3lbs of the 10lbs two row. So you have to substitute 7 pounds of 2 row with extract liquid or dry.

Nobody is going to pour you 3 lbs 2.4oz of extract that I'm aware of. The simple way at this point is .75 x 7 replace = 5.25 lme

I you want to use 1lb of dme...ok, thats 1.66 of the 7, leaving 5.33 to be replaced, x .75 = 3.99 extract.

so i'm getting

3lbs 2 row
5.25 lme

OR

3lbs 2 row
1lb dme
4.0 extract

Thanks for your reply. Where does the 0.75 factor for LME come from? Are you using 0.60 for DME?

The 3 lbs 2.4 oz comes from Northern Brewer - their own brand of LME comes in 3.15 lbs (no idea why) and 6 lbs.

.75 LME = 1.0 grain
.60 DME = 1.0 grain

The converse is true.

1.0 LME = 1.33 grain
1.0 DME = 1.66 grain

Don't get too crazy about the .15/.25 stuff in your base malts. Get your recipe close and you're really gonna have good brew. In fact, your first attempt at it is probably a very fine route to go. I was just pointing out the math behind it.

Your temp numbers are much more important than whether or not you used 3.25 or 3.6 pounds of whatever.

VTBrewer said:

.75 LME = 1.0 grain
.60 DME = 1.0 grain

The converse is true.

1.0 LME = 1.33 grain
1.0 DME = 1.66 grain

Click to expand...

This is my first attempt at converting an AG recipe to partial mash. I want to see if I can figure this out on my own, then post for comments. So, I want to make sure I understand you right - 0.75 lb of LME = 1.0 lb of grain, etc?

So, in an AG recipe, you want to replace each lb of grain with 0.75 lb of LME or 0.60 lb of DME. (I recognize this is a bit of generalization and there's wiggle room, I'm just looking for a place to start)

Another thought - If your recipe calls for several grains, would you substitute them equally (ex. if my recipe calls for 7lbs of 2-row and I decide to go with 3.5 lb of 2-row and make up the rest in extract, would I also have to cut the other grains in 1/2)?

Yes on your numbers, no on cutting the other grains in half.

7lbs 2 row
1lb vienna
.5lb carapils

would be however you convert your 2-row (all or partial) and then 1lb vienna and .5lb carapils.

I'm a newbie, looking to migrate to partial mash, as I just bought a 5 GAL pot... And this info seems priceless in helping to convert recipes and move this direction with brewing. Thanks for the formulas and happy brewing.

I agree! I felt a bit like I was beating my head on the wall trying to figure out the conversion. This is exactly what I was looking for. Thanks so much for clearing a bunch of stuff up! Off to plan my next recipe!

So say I've done the math and figured out that I want to mash 5 pounds of base malt along with my specialty grains, with 5.25 lbs of extract making up the rest. If I'm doing a 3-gallon partial boil of the wort resulting from my partial mash, should I add any of the extract at the start of the boil, and if so how do I calculate how much to add? Or do I just wait to add all the extract with 15 minutes left in the boil? (I'd guess it's the latter, superficially based on the "half now half later" idea of all-extract late-addition partial boiling I've read in a couple places, but I've been wrong before...)