Extract brewing - Spray Malt or Malt Extract?

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shearclass

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Hi

Gonna build a hop strainer, buy a chiller, use up a couple of kits, then I'm ready to go extract.

I want to use the kits first, so that shoudl take me through to mid feb/march. I want to get ready though so I can start as soon as i've got my FVs empty.

Questions:

What is the difference between Extract and Partial mash brewing?


Is spray malt, or liquid malt extract, best to use for extract brewing? Or is there no definitive answer, with it depending on the quality whatever i buy?

I know both are expensive, so whichever i use i will be buying bulk if possible. Can anyone see any problems with buying this in bulk, as I will not be able to use it all up straight away. Do they spoil quickly?

More questions will doubtless follow once i get started, but i just want to get prepared, research, and make sure i have decent ingredients at sensible prices before i start.

cheers
 
Liquid is said to be better quality, but then again if you can get DME at a good price, the difference is probably minimal. I pay £2.25/500g from my LHBS for dry, cans at 1.5kg are like £9.

basically with a low volume boil (if you're doing that, I boil 2 gallons and top up with tap water) you'll get worse hop utilization so you'll need to recalc your hop quantities - any on or offline calculator will tell you the resulting figures of your ingredients and you'll be able to tweak the quantities to suit your tastes. If you're not sure, then input the all grain 5 gallon recipe first, then note the figures and work to that. IBU, Colour and FG are all easily tweakable.

Partial Mash is more time consuming but opens up options to mash adjuncts (flaked barley, rice, maize for example) and to get sugars from your speciality grains (crystal, amber malts etc) which have no conversion power themselves. The result is better quality, more flexibility, and knowledge of the all grain methods without really doing them - easier transition. There's a guide to the basics that I wrote not long ago here, should hopefully give you some insight; viewtopic.php?f=30&t=21447

Malt Extract does not spoil quickly, potentially it doesn't even spoil, so in a post nuclear wasteland where plants are a thing of the past, you may still be able to brew beer.

Despite being a partial mash brewer I still use kits every now and then, all grain is probably a different story but sometimes there's nothing wrong with throwing 5 gallons of beer on for £14 and 15 minutes work!
 
I've brewed a few extract brews and always used spraymalt, never had a problem with 'body' or the homebrew twang flavour from kits.
if your buying in bulk then get spraymalt from the link above for the homebrew company, £13 for 3 kilos, the cheapest you will get anywhere. I'm a bit lazy when brewing and cant be arsed calculating ibu and efficiency or hop utilisation etc. i just bung it in and brew it. ive got one of the brewpak boiler/mash tun's,i fill the boiler with about 10 litres of water then i can set it to a mash temp of 64-67 degrees, i then add my grains in the grain bag, let it steep for 30 then take it out and put it in my sanitised fv and leave it for later. bring the brew to the boil and add the hops and boil for an hour. sparge the grain and hop bag , add the brew from the boiler and top up with cold water and a few pints of ice to help get the temp down. sit in bath of cold water until the temp lowers then add the yeast.
 
Thanks Rob. so Partial mash brewing extracts sugars from grains, extract brewing just takes flavours and colour.

in that case perhaps i should rephrase the question, what is the difference between full mas and partial mash?

Thanks for the link to your post. I remember reading it when you first did it, and I'll have another look at them.

2.25 for 500g is cheap, it's almost double that at my local shop. What is your local called? Does it deliver?

i'll start with extract and steeping grains, then may go onto partial mash once i have a feel for it. Don't see that i have the time for full mash at the moment, but one day i will I'm sure!
 
Thanks for directing me there for the spraymalt, i'll have a look at that and see how much delivery is going to be.

By the way, I have an old burco boiler, probably aluminium, that i found in my granda's shed. I can;t really control temperature, i think it has low, medium, and high, but i can at least do a full boil without worrying about scaling up.

I am very excited about doing this!
 
yeah extract brewing is good fun, theres loads of recipes on t'internet that give you an idea of what grains and hops to use for a particular brew and adding random **** is half of the fun. i brewed a heather ale extract brew in the summer with heather i handpicked up in Lochgoilhead and it turned out superb. the smell in the house is awesome and it feels more like brewing than adding hot water and sugar into a bucket.
 
Only real advantage of partial mash is the lack of equipment upgraded needed, potentially. All Grain gives a much better beer, partial mash is more of a means to an end...but it is quite cheap.

My local doesn't deliver, it's Dee Jay's Home Brew in Rubery/Longbridge, South Brum. Maybe he would courier some over you gave him a ring though! I think the trick is to check round each shop and see if they make their own, I'm sure that's how he does it. Pretty sure it's about the same cost as most people pay for all grain, he just does it to keep his customers sweet, same with his £9 beer kits :)

Full boiler will be most useful mate! Give it a good clean though. hahah.
 
artiums_enteri said:
For best competition results here you go:

10 pounds pale malt extract (unhopped)

1 pound crystal 60L

4 oz chinook hops for 60 min
3 oz Amarillo hops for 30 min
3 oz cascade hops for 1 min
3 oz cascade hops dry hop after 14 days

Wyeast 1056 with 2L starter.

That is a good IPA recipe that a beginner should be able to manage with no problem, and you still have control over the process a bit instead of relying on a maltster to create a hop profile for you.

Cheers


Wow, this recipe will cost £30 for ingredients alone, plus extra utility costs for boiling and fermentation... Was planning on going extract shortly, but quite shocked as how expensive it's going to be.
 
shearclass said:
artiums_enteri said:
For best competition results here you go:

10 pounds pale malt extract (unhopped)

1 pound crystal 60L

4 oz chinook hops for 60 min
3 oz Amarillo hops for 30 min
3 oz cascade hops for 1 min
3 oz cascade hops dry hop after 14 days

Wyeast 1056 with 2L starter.

That is a good IPA recipe that a beginner should be able to manage with no problem, and you still have control over the process a bit instead of relying on a maltster to create a hop profile for you.

Cheers


Wow, this recipe will cost £30 for ingredients alone, plus extra utility costs for boiling and fermentation... Was planning on going extract shortly, but quite shocked as how expensive it's going to be.
you can get 3kg of dried malt extract form top link on forum 'the home brew shop' for £13 although 4.5kg wanted here and although this is a great recipe i don't think you need to have so much hops as 100g is £3.50 and its asking for over 400g if i got that right , around 100g is around normal ish so could be looking at £24 with hops and liquid yeast although £6 you can split by making a big starter then splitting it into 4 and then washing yeast after brewing so really yeast costs around 50p to £1 max so all in all around £25 but 10 times better than a kit brew and to get near it you'd need a quality 2 can kit with hops and yeast which would cost more and def not as good ,still works out a cheap pint too (p.s even cheaper prices for ag once you have equipment)
 
shearclass said:
Is spray malt, or liquid malt extract, best to use for extract brewing? Or is there no definitive answer, with it depending on the quality whatever i buy?
If you can get it fresh then malt extract is a great way to brew, and my preferred method . . .However it is getting fresh extract that is the problem, If you can get hold of 15Kg jerry cans of Muntons Cedarex (probably the B although I prefer the A, try brupacks retailers), then it is more than likely to be very fresh having been ordered for you. As long as you keep it cool and use it within 3 months you won't notice any degradation/oxidation issues.

If I have to use extract then I tend to use Extra Light Spray malt as the colour is very light (one problem with LME is the fact that as it is condensed it does darken) which makes it suitable as a base for very pale beers like lagers, and it doesn't have the requirement of being used relatively quickly. Unfortunately is is bloody expensive
 
As always Aleman, thank you for taking time to reply. Always nice to get the opinion of the expert, so much appreciated.

Cheers
 
Aleman said:
If you can get hold of 15Kg jerry cans of Muntons Cedarex (probably the B although I prefer the A, try brupacks retailers)

what is the difference between A and B?

Maltmiller does malt extract in 25kg jerry cans, know anything about that? I am going to email him now to get some info.
 
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