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Converting extract to all-grain?

M

Mets17

Hi folks, Just did my first batch of all-grain over the weekend, after 8+ years of extract brewing.  I am afraid I am now addicted. 

Anyway, this led me to thinking about all of the extract recipes I've made through the years, and how cool (and better) it would be to make these using all-grain instead?  The question is, how?

I've played around with Beersmith a little bit, and while it does have a "conversion" feature that appears to do this for you, I'm not sure how accurate it is.  For instance, one recipe I enjoyed brewing via extract contained the following:

5 lb. plain dark malt extract
1 lb. Crystal Malt
¼ lb Black Patent
¼ lb roasted barley

When I added this to Beersmith and clicked on “convert to all-grain”, it came back with the following:

5.06 lb Pale Malt (2 Row)
1.01 lb Flaked Barley
.36 lb Black Patent
0.0  lb Crystal Malt (note it went to zero pounds).

Could this be right?  Seems like a pretty small about of grain to make up for 5 lbs of dark malt extract, doesn’t it?  Anyway, just wondering if this is accurate, and if not, is there a more accurate way to convert these recipes?

Thanks! Ron
 
  Looks wrong - could you send me the original recipe?

  Unfortunately conversion is not a perfect science - I have improved it quite a bit in the newest version but there is no way to cover every case.  In this case, I think you may have the efficiency set very low or something like that.

Brad
 
Sure...do you want me to just post it on this forum, or e-mail it to you?

FWIW, I had left the efficiency set at 75%, which think is the default.

Ron
 
Ron,
  Either way is fine - I just need to take a look at it and if there is a problem open it up with the debugger.

Brad
 
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