Reference
Grain bill by target gravity and efficiency
Quick answer
How much grain a target gravity needs, and how the answer moves when your efficiency does.
This section holds 15 worked pages. Every figure comes from the same formula library the calculators use, and each page states whether its numbers rest on a published standard or on brewing convention.
Every page below is worked out from the published equations in this site's formula library, not copied from another calculator. Where a figure rests on brewing convention rather than a published standard, the page says so on the row itself.
All 15 pages in this section
- Grain bill for OG 1.040 at 65% efficiency How much base malt a 5 gallon batch needs to reach 1.040 when your brewhouse efficiency is 65%.
- Grain bill for OG 1.040 at 72% efficiency How much base malt a 5 gallon batch needs to reach 1.040 when your brewhouse efficiency is 72%.
- Grain bill for OG 1.040 at 80% efficiency How much base malt a 5 gallon batch needs to reach 1.040 when your brewhouse efficiency is 80%.
- Grain bill for OG 1.050 at 65% efficiency How much base malt a 5 gallon batch needs to reach 1.050 when your brewhouse efficiency is 65%.
- Grain bill for OG 1.050 at 72% efficiency How much base malt a 5 gallon batch needs to reach 1.050 when your brewhouse efficiency is 72%.
- Grain bill for OG 1.050 at 80% efficiency How much base malt a 5 gallon batch needs to reach 1.050 when your brewhouse efficiency is 80%.
- Grain bill for OG 1.060 at 65% efficiency How much base malt a 5 gallon batch needs to reach 1.060 when your brewhouse efficiency is 65%.
- Grain bill for OG 1.060 at 72% efficiency How much base malt a 5 gallon batch needs to reach 1.060 when your brewhouse efficiency is 72%.
- Grain bill for OG 1.060 at 80% efficiency How much base malt a 5 gallon batch needs to reach 1.060 when your brewhouse efficiency is 80%.
- Grain bill for OG 1.070 at 65% efficiency How much base malt a 5 gallon batch needs to reach 1.070 when your brewhouse efficiency is 65%.
- Grain bill for OG 1.070 at 72% efficiency How much base malt a 5 gallon batch needs to reach 1.070 when your brewhouse efficiency is 72%.
- Grain bill for OG 1.070 at 80% efficiency How much base malt a 5 gallon batch needs to reach 1.070 when your brewhouse efficiency is 80%.
- Grain bill for OG 1.080 at 65% efficiency How much base malt a 5 gallon batch needs to reach 1.080 when your brewhouse efficiency is 65%.
- Grain bill for OG 1.080 at 72% efficiency How much base malt a 5 gallon batch needs to reach 1.080 when your brewhouse efficiency is 72%.
- Grain bill for OG 1.080 at 80% efficiency How much base malt a 5 gallon batch needs to reach 1.080 when your brewhouse efficiency is 80%.
Related on BrewGearCalc
Frequently asked questions
- What efficiency should I assume?
- Around 72 to 75 percent is the usual starting assumption, and it is convention rather than specification. Use it once, measure what you actually achieved from your real gravity and volume, then use your own figure from then on. Efficiency depends on your crush, mash and sparge, so no one else can predict it for you.
- What is the single biggest cause of low efficiency?
- The crush. Grain that passes through the mill too whole never fully converts, and the sugar simply never reaches the kettle. Milling your own grain, or asking for a tighter crush, changes efficiency more than any other single adjustment most brewers can make.
Researched from published brewing formulas, manufacturer specifications and verified owner reviews. This is general guidance, not professional advice.