Cedar Rapids Brewing Society

Stout is probably my favorite style of beer and this is one of my favorite beers. It's only a St. Pattys Day seasonal, so it's not available most of the year. I found this clone recipe online. Does this seem right? It seems like a lot of grain to me. It's 8% ABV, 45 IBUs, and a 75 SRM according to the Schlafly site, which also lists the ingredients as 2-Row, Crystal, Roasted barley, Pilgrim hops, and EKG.

But ~17 pounds of grain for a 5 gallon batch?

15.5 lbs Pale 2-row

12 oz. Roasted Barley

8 oz. Crystal 60

6 oz. Crystal 120

Hops (Pellets)

1 oz. Pilgrim 11%a, 60 minutes

1/2 oz. Pilgrim 11%a, 30 minutes

1 oz. East Kent Goldings 5%a, 15 minutes

It depends on your efficiency (extraction and waste) but I can see it. I find my system is close to 75%
So I commonly need to reduce grain to get to the correct numbers for most published recipes.

I put it through BeerSmith and it told me to lower the 2-row down to 9.5 pounds and add 2 pounds of Crystal 120, 2 pounds of Crystal 60, and 2 pounds of roasted barely in order to achieve the numbers provided by Schlafly.

My efficiency is so-so. I think the last I looked it was somewhere in the 65% range. My only concern is that I don't want to use (and potentially waste) so much grain if I can avoid it.