Beer Forum

I want to make my own recipe for an IPA due to the fact the brew store I use doesn't have a brewers best kit for an IPA. I want to do a partial, but was wondering what the general rule was for the amount of grain and or extract to use for a 5 gal batch. 3 lbs of LME and 4lbs of dme and the included specialty grains is what I've used before.....so if I use the same 3lbs of LME and just grains what amount of grains should I use?

How much total weight of grains would be good for 5 gal?
How much total weight of LME would be good for 5 gal?
How much total weight of DME would be good for 5 gal?

Not sure if any of this makes sense or if there is a general rule to follow for 5gal batches. Thanks and sorry guys

Hmmmm - Instead of just shooting in the dark why not start with some known good recipes --- go to Northern Brewer and peruse their kits. They give you the detailed recipe for each kit.

Better yet - get some of those recipes and start using a brewing tool like Qbrew so you can tweak your own recipes

http://vip.asus.com/eservice/cus_suggest.aspx

Once you get the program setup for your equipment you can enter recipes verbatim .... but you may have to adjust to your batch size etc. Then do a brew -- check your OG and FG and keep adjusting your software settings until you are constantly in the ball park.

Searching some recipes online is always a good choice when you're starting out. Its also a good idea to review the AHA Style guidelines to get an idea regarding the gravity and bitterness of the style you're looking to brew. The Wyeast website gives you some helpful style guidelines for selecting the correct yeast.

Regarding the amount of extract, use the GU method Ray Daniels describes in Designing Great Beers. An american IPA has a target gravity of 1.056-1.075. This would be 56 - 75 gravity units (GU's). To do a quick example, lets say we're shooting for a gravity of 1.060. We want this in a 5 gallon batch. To scale to the batch size, I'd multiply 60 X 5 to get 300 GU's. (If a 3 gallon batch it would be 60 X 3 to get 180 GU's). DME will give you 45 GU per pound and LME will give you around 38. So if you use DME its 300/45 = 6.7 lbs and if you use LME its 300/38 = 7.9 lbs.

For a partial, each grain has a rough estimate for the amount of GU you can get from a pound. (points per pound per gallon). The way you steep or mash it can effect your own results. There are calculations you can do but early on its easier to build your extract bill to hit the lower end of the style's gravity range and then let a small amount of specialty grains carry you higher into the style range without doing the math. That said, you'll eventually want to know how to do the math to dial in your recipe.

Who would have ever thought that your 3rd grade math teacher would be right when she said that "You'll find a use for this stuff some day!"

I'd also suggest How to Brew by John Palmer available in softcover or free online. Brewing Classic Styles by JZ and JP also covers this style nicely.

There's two great answers given above. I can tell you from my experience in partial mash, I use about 4 pounds of grain, and use anywhere fro 1-6 pounds of DME, depending on how strong of beer I want. My last IPA, I used 3 pounds DME, which is what I use most of the time.

I use hopville.com for formulating recipes and searching for other recipes. However they can be hit or miss. I do verify them usually by looking at either my Brewing classic styles book or the BJCP. Hopville.com does compare the beer you are formulating to the style and tells you when its out of style. Other good sources of recipes are BYO http://byo.com/stories/recipes or Zymurgy.

nubie_hopper wrote:I want to make my own recipe for an IPA due to the fact the brew store I use doesn't have a brewers best kit for an IPA. I want to do a partial, but was wondering what the general rule was for the amount of grain and or extract to use for a 5 gal batch. 3 lbs of LME and 4lbs of dme and the included specialty grains is what I've used before.....so if I use the same 3lbs of LME and just grains what amount of grains should I use?

How much total weight of grains would be good for 5 gal?
How much total weight of LME would be good for 5 gal?
How much total weight of DME would be good for 5 gal?

Not sure if any of this makes sense or if there is a general rule to follow for 5gal batches. Thanks and sorry guys

DME is about 42 gravity points per pound per gallon (ppg), so 1 pound in enough water to make a gallon yields a specific gravity of 1.042.
LME is about 38 ppg, so 1 pound in enough water to make a gallon yields a specific gravity of 1.038.

For all-extract five gallons at 1.050 you would need 5x50/42 = 6 pounds DME or 5x50/38 = 6.6 pounds LME.

For a mini mash you typically want half of your points from extract and half from grain. Palmer's How to Brew has a list of expected gravities for mashing a pound of grain for different types. In general they are 36-38 ppg in a laboratory. Your efficiency at mashing will be less than published. A good starting point would be to assume 70% efficiency.

For 5 gal of 1.050 beer with half of fermentables coming from grain at 38 ppg and 70%efficiency,

amount of grain required would be 5x50/2/38/0.70 = 4.7 lbs
extract would be 5x50/2/38 = 3.3 pounds LME