Hello,
I am in the process of changing from a Extract/Specialty grains brewer to more of a partial mash brewer. Before you suggest it, I am not going all-grain because I want to brew on my stove and it won’t do a full boil. I have set up a 5 gal coleman cooler as a mash tun and plan to use the batch sparging method (following the links from Denny). I can now safely use around 7-8 lbs of grain, which should greatly improve the process.
My question is that I need help finding the information resources to help with converting extract or all grain recipies to my equipment. I do not know my average efficiency with this equipment yet, but I know this will be a very important number to have and plug into a formulation. I have read the information before, I am just having trouble re-locating it.
For your first brew(s), assume efficiency on the low side…maybe 60-65%, and hope to be pleasantly surprised.
Here’s some great info about converting AG recipes to partial mash. It might help you with going the other direction, too.
That site is a great link.
Just and FYI you should take a pre- boil reading to figure out your efficiency. This way if you are getting 75% efficiency you can take that into account or if you are lower then 60% you can add more malt extract. An easy formula is
(Starting Gravity reading x Starting boil volume)/Final Volume
make sure that you drop the beginning 1. ( i.e. gravity of 1.056 becomes 56)
That way you will get a rough estimation of your beer. This is essential for all grain or partial mash beers.
Denny and DIY, Thanks for the info, it is a great site, very informational and now marked as a favorite. Denny, sorry I didn’t get back sooner, I was wrapped up. I look forward to my next batch.
I know this isn’t what you were asking, but there’s no reason you can’t do a partial boil with AG. Your efficiency suffers, but it’s possible.
Absolutely correct. I started AG by doing 2.5 gal. batches on my stovetop.