Questions re: Real Ale Almanac

[monk]

I was checking out the Real Ale Almanac tonight, looking at a particular recipe to brew, and I realized I have a couple questions.

First, when the Almanac gives percentages of grist, is that by weight or by gravity? I always assumed it was by weight. For instance, the following grist

8.5 lbs. Maris Otter
1 lb. Crystal
.5 lbs. Brown Sugar

would be 85% pale malt, 10% crystal, 5% Brown sugar.

Is that right? Just checking.

My other question is regarding the ingredients. I often see different sugars added. When a recipe calls for invert sugar, would you add dark or light brown sugar, or white cane sugar, or what? I don't have anything commercially available to me that is called invert.

Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions, guys.

monk

[steve_flack]

First, when the Almanac gives percentages of grist, is that by weight or by gravity? I always assumed it was by weight.

Curiously enough, I've always assumed it was by weight and that's how I work out my recipes. When I did a course at brewlabs however, they work out recipes as a percentage of the potential extract (this takes a lot more time). The question then comes - What did the breweries that submitted the recipes to the almanac use?

[bitter_dave]

I've assumed weight as well. Let's hope graham sees this and sets us straight.

As a thought, if breweries did use extract rather than weight, it might partly explain the levels of sugar some breweries claim to use, which sometimes look very large from a weight perspective.

[monk]

The reason I asked was that I noticed that Beertools' calculator will tell you both the % by weight and the % by gravity if you input your recipe. If you want to check it out, it's at www.beertools.com

It's free to use the calculator.

Recipes I've made using % by weight have come out nicely, but I've never done a recipe straight off the almanac...I wonder if some are by weight and some by gravity?