Pecan Porter extract to partial mash conversion

Brewing Processes
1

Hey guys,

This is my first attempt at an extract to partial mash conversion.  I am attempting this based on Christ Colby’s method in BYO http://www.byo.com/component/resource/article/511-countertop-partial-mashing.  Two particular questions/ difficulties I have are the following.  First, the recipe contains no target gravity.  So, I am at best guessing.  Second, should use Munich or 2-Row for the base in the mini-mash?  The conversion I a looking to is to have 1 1/2 lbs of base malt (munish or 2-row) added to the flavoring malts and 1/2 crushed roasted pecans and drop the Dark LME to 5lbs.  Thoughts?

Ingredients for 5 Gallon Batch:

Sugars
8 ½ lbs. Dark Malt Extract

Flavoring Malts
½ lb. Caramel 120 L malt
1 lb. Organic American 2-row malt
½ lb. Chocolate malt

Hops
½ oz. New Zealand Pacific Gem hop pellets (bittering)
½ oz. New Zealand Hallertaur hop pellets (flavoring)
½ oz. Fuggle loose leaf hops (aroma)

Yeast
Nottingham Ale yeast or other basic ale yeast

Other Ingredients
3 cups crushed roasted pecans
1 tsp. Irish Moss

Directions for brewing:

First, allow your flavoring malts and one cup of roasted pecans to soak in 3 gallons of your heated spring water for 20 minutes. Do not boil these grains, as this can destroy some of the more subtle mashing processes.  Best not to exceed 180 degrees Fahrenheit.

Next, strain the flavoring malts or take out the grain bag, and add the rest of your water to the kettle, and bring the whole liquid to a boil.

Turn off the burner and add your malt extract, stirring the wort thoroughly to ensure that the sugars do not get burned on the bottom of the kettle.  Once the sugars have been thoroughly dissolved, bring the wort to a rolling boil and add the bittering hops and 2 cups of crushed roasted pecans.

Now, boil the wort for 30 minutes, stirring regularly.  Then add the flavoring hops and Irish moss for 15 more minutes, and after that add the aroma hops and boil for five more minutes. Turn the burner off and cool the wort to room temperature or 75 degrees, whichever is hotter.

Now you can transfer the wort into your clean and sanitized fermentation vessel, prime the yeast and stir the wort with vigor.  Now plant the yeast in the beer and store in a cool, dark room for one week, taking care to check on the airlock every day to ensure that the foam has not come up through the airlock. If you are using a blowoff assembly you won’t have to worry about any airlocks.

After 7 days transfer your beer to a secondary fermentation vessel for the next two weeks, and then the beer may be ready to bottle or ferment.  Always check that the beer has cleared somewhat or stabilized before bottling or kegging.

Thanks all.
JTS

2

That recipe is the “before” (that is, it’s the extract w/ steeping grains one)?  That really doesn’t make sense as there’s already a pound of 2-row listed as a steeping grain.  Steeping 2-row does no good, it needs to be mashed.  And then part of your conversion would be to add more 2-row (or munich)?  I’m confused

3

Sorry for the confusion.  The posted recipe is the extract with grains recipe.  I am trying to convert this into a partial mash.  So, in addition to the 1 lb of 2-row, I would add either another 1.5 lbs of 2-row or munich (I don’t know which, yet).  This with the other specialty grains and .5 lb of crushed pecans would be the mini-mash in my converted version.

I posted the original so that those with more knowledge might see what I am trying to convert and if my conversion would work.  I hope that clarifies things.

JTS

4

You would need to use a lot more than 1.5 lbs of malt to account for 3.5 lbs of LME.

Off the top of my head, IIRC, you need approx .75 lbs of LME for every pound of malt on a conversion.  So you need almost 5 lbs of malt to replace the 3.5 lbs LME.

Also, since you’re taking out dark LME you probably want to add some darker malts.  Though maybe it’s already dark enough as is.

I do not have it handy, but if you google partial mash recipe conversion you should find an old PDF paper that was presented (I think) at an old NHC (or other conference) which covers converting recipes in detail.

You can also search these forums, as others have linked to it in the past.

5

Tried some more calculations.

Now, I am thinking.  2.5 lbs 2-row (in addition to the specialty), and approx 6.5 lbs of Dark LME.  Does this seem more like it.  I apologize.  This is my first time converting an extract recipe to partial mash.  I am about to make the jump to all-grain, but I wanted to do a few countertop partial mashes before the full switch.

Thanks guys.

JTS

6

Sounds closer, but I didn’t do any math…

What you might do is download ProMash or BeerSmith and put the recipe in there to see the OG, SRM, etc.

Then, you can put in your adjusted recipe and see where it comes out.

There are also other free recipe calculators on-line you could use, but these two seem to be the most robust and you get a free trial period.

I’m currently playing around with the trial of BeerSmith and find that it can be very helpful, but you need to spend some time with it to learn the software.