Converting a grain bill to DME or LME

[andyg55]

Hi everyone

I'm finding recipes that include full grain bills for mashing, but I'm not that far advanced in my brewing career yet. Is there a way of converting a grain bill into a DME or LME recipe?

For example, I've been given the following recipe:

"75% 2 row, 20% wheat malt, 5% acid malt. 60 min mash @ 64 degrees. 10-minute boil then chill the wort and pitch lacto culture."

Is it possible to convert this into a DME or LME recipe, or do I need to get stuck into the world of mashing?

Cheers,
Andy

 

[fury_tea]

Yeah it's possible (but you also need to get stuck into the world of mashing - just because it's great fun!).

2 row is just a very lightly kilned malt so you want the lightest DME/LME you can get (pilsner malt exists or extra light spray malt), and wheat DME/LME is pretty easy to get hold of these days.

Here's a simple chart: Lazy Chart For Converting - DME - LME -GRAIN -

For your recipe I'd drop the acid malt, you don't need it for an extract brew as I think it's just there for mash PH correction, add it to the 2 row. Convert the % to kg then convert to DME or LME on the chart.

So say you are using 5kg malt, that's 4kg of 2-row (80%) and 1kg of wheat malt (20%).

So using the chart to convert to DME = light DME - 2.4kg, wheat DME - 0.6kg

Hope this helps.

 

[andyg55]

Amazing, a chart exists! Thanks for forwarding that to me.

I guess nobody gave me measurements, just percentages. If I'm making a 19-litre batch, is 5 kg malt pretty standard? Or should I go back and ask for specific measurements?

 

[Drunkula]

I came to post that very same link. Wheat extract is typically 50/50 pale/wheat so I'd think about the recipe more like 4kg of pale + 2kg of wheat and then do the conversions. Just check the wheat extract you're buying.

And yeah, get mashing. It's much easier than you think, it's super cheap compared to extract and it opens up an entire world of choice.

 

[fury_tea]

I think drunkula's right there, it's 50/50 split, you might want to start with 3kg pale and 2kg wheat though (giving you an 80/20 split overall once converted, the same as the original recipe).

If I'm making a 19-litre batch, is 5 kg malt pretty standard?

I use 5kg as a starting point usually, and aim for a 20-21L batch, to allow for losses to trub and dry hop material etc. That usually nets me around 19L and a bottle or two at 5-6% abv, depending on a number of factors.

If you want to adjust the abv up or down you can use a brewing software like brewer's friend, there you can adjust the grain amounts up and down until you get the abv you want, then use those numbers on the chart to get your amounts.

 

[terrym]

@andyg55
I use the simple conversion factor 1kg Pale Malt= 0.75kg LME = 0.65kg DME
Note that recipes that contain grain with no diastatic power like torrified wheat or oats cannot be converted to their extract equivalent since they require a mashing stage with diastase present to convert the starch into sugars, and nowadays diastase containing ME is virtually unobtainable. This is why, if you look through Graham Wheeler British Real Ale book, not all the recipes are converted into an extract equivalent. However you are able to use kilned grains like crystal malt, in a steep and use the liquor from that in the wort.
Next be aware that the different colours of DME have their own flavour profile, the darker the more obvious. I use light DME which is fairly neutral so that I can introduce my own flavours to the wort from other sources.
And if you are going to use LME in quantity dont buy cheap unbranded, I have done that in the past for extract brews and ended up with the dreaded twang, as have others on this forum

 

[dwhite60]

Do try an all grain recipe at some point There are plenty of one gallon / five liter recipes floating around the internet. Doing one gallon you'll have a kilo of grain which won't ruin you if it fails. It won't though. Good opportunity to do a SMASH.

You'll be surprised how easy it really is.

All the Best,
D. White

 

[BrucetheFish]

Hi

Reading this thread I thought I would ask if I am right in my calculations below. I watched a video all grain recipe for Vacant Gestures and it sounds my type of beverage.

For a 500 litre batch the grain was 65.09kg Pale Malt 2-Row 6.61kg Wheat Malt 1.65kg Caramel/Crystal Malt

So converted down to DME 39.05kg Pale Malt 2-Row 3.966kg Wheat Malt 1kg Caramel/Crystal Malt Is this correct based on 1 grain = 0.6 DME ?

Obviously I would need to scaled down to say 20l

 

[PhilBrew]

Hi Bruce

You'd leave the "1.65kg Caramel/Crystal Malt" unchanged, you can steep that and will get the same sugars out as if you'd mashed them ... it's just the base malts, the "65.09kg Pale Malt 2-Row 6.61kg Wheat Malt" you need to worry about ... that gets you 71.7kg of base malt, 9.2% of which is wheat malt, the rest pale malt ... 71.7kg of base malt would convert to 43.02kg of DME, and you'd use 18.4% of that as Wheat DME (that's double the 9.2% 'cause wheat DME's made with 50% wheat malt and 50% pale malt) so that's 7.92kg of Wheat DME and 35.1kg of Pale DME, to add to your steeped 1.65kg Caramel/Crystal Malt

Obviously I would need to scaled down to say 20l

... or you could REALLY go for it!!!

Cheers, PhilB

 

[BrucetheFish]

Ha ! This is my first attempt at any brew.. I think there would be big issues in the kitchen with 500l on the go.

Thanks for your explanation.

 

[terrym]

I use 1 kg PM=0.75kg LME=0.65kgDME

 

[BrucetheFish]

Thanks Terry, I was just reading through your guide again. I think it will become a bit clearer when I actually start my first attempt.

 

[Sandimas]

A good way to do it is to drop the AG recipe into some brewing software like Brewers Friend then remove the base malt and add DME to get the same OG
https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/calculator
You might want to re-size the recipe as DME is horrible stuff to measure in exact quantities as it clumps up with moisture very quickly, even from the air, and hence it's hard to store: I normally size my recipes to use standard 500g or 1kg bags of it.