Which grains?

[Paulchef]

Is there an idiots guide to grains? I’ve looked at some recipes which call for crystal 90, crystal 45 etc and looking for example on Geterbrewed there’s crisp light crystal, crisp med, crisp dark. With corresponding IBUs no’s. The table below has 2 columns PPG and L are these some sort of indication of ibu (a different type of scale?) Sooooo confused HELP

Amount	Fermentable	Cost	PPG	°L	Bill %
11.50 lb	United Kingdom - Maris Otter Pale		38	3.75	90.2%
2 oz	United Kingdom - Munich		37	6	1%
7 oz	United Kingdom - Crystal 45L		34	45	3.4%
3 oz	United Kingdom - Crystal 90L		33	90	1.5%
0.50 lb	American - Carapils (Dextrine Malt)		33	1.8	3.9%

 

[Cheshire Cat]

On the Geterbrewed website they have a grain comparison chart which shows alternative grains for basically the same colour. Or just goo to google a type grain comparison chart. The colour can be quoted as Lovibond or EBC but you can get a conversion on the web. IBU is bitterness and is used for hops not grain.

 

[strange-steve]

I don't know about a guide but when a recipe calls for say crystal 45 it means crystal which is 45 degrees lovibond (°L) which tells you how dark it is. Sometimes a HB store might list crystal with an EBC or SRM number instead, in which case it's good enough to assume that SRM and lovibond are the same and that 1 EBC is about 0.5°L.

PPG is a silly imperial unit meaning points per pound per gallon, in other words if you had a grain with a PPG rating of 38 and you mashed one pound of it in one gallon (US gallon) of water then it would add 38 gravity points, ie the SG would be 1.038 (assuming 80% mash efficiency).

IBU is international bittering units and tells you how bitter a beer is or how much bitterness is added by a specific hop addition.

 

[MickDundee]

Where was your recipe from? I wouldn’t have thought 1% Munich would make any difference to the overall flavour or colour of the beer?

 

[Paulchef]

Thanks ever so much for your replies everyone. Mixing my ibu & ebc up . Had the recipe off brewersfriend it is for a goose island ipa clone. I’m still learning and compiling a few recipes ready for the completion of my brew-shed
Thanks again

 

[Galena]

Thanks ever so much for your replies everyone. Mixing my ibu & ebc up . Had the recipe off brewersfriend it is for a goose island ipa clone. I’m still learning and compiling a few recipes ready for the completion of my brew-shed
Thanks again

Good luck and enjoy, be aware though that getting a recipe off Brewers Friend or any other brewing software you need to be careful who posted it, because anybody can. So unless you know the author or have been recommended it then it is an unknown quantity