using LME

[mancer62]

I plan to make a wilko ipa later today (38 pints)
|Iwant to try and make it using LME which i have in my cupboard.
The wilko kit is 1.5kg.
Can u therefore tell me if i can make a decent brew by using lME instead of brew sugar etc and if so how much do u recommend i add to the kit?
should i just add it along with the wilko extract to the FV and stir in boiling water until dissolved or put the LME into a saucepan and boil before adding to the FV.
id ideally like a brew between 4% & 5%

 

[Bigcol49]

Hi @mancer62
You'll make a far better beer by substituting the brewing sugar with LME.
On one site it stated that LME is 20% water, but I've also read that 1.1 kg DME is equivalent to 1.5 kg LME.
Personally, I would match the kit syrup with the same amount of LME, i.e. 1.5 kg.
Simply add the LME at the same time as the kit syrup and give it a damn good thrashing!
You may need to add more boiling water if it doesn't dissolve easily.

 

[terrym]

I use (1 kg Pale Malt) = 0.75kg LME = 0.65kg DME
From a recent post @IainM uses 1.2kg LME = 1kg DME
So he and I are in broad agreement.

 

[terrym]

The subject here is very similar to this thread
https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/threads/wilko-golden-ale-can-kit.79866/

 

[stz]

In the interests of teaching a man to fish. Typical LoD/kg extract values for ...

Sugar 360
Dried malt extract 340
Liquid malt extract 280

What does this mean? It means they yield that many points of specific gravity per kilo per litre. As in 1kg of sugar in 10 litres will have a gravity of 36. As you can see they aren't equivalent on a w/w basis and cannot be substituted w/w if you want the same abv. In addition sugar is almost fully fermentable, where as malt extract is not. I've had it as low as 65% fermentable, but typically it is at least 75%. These things matter little if you want to know if DME or LME will make a better beer than sugar (they will), but matter if you want to hit a certain abv.

 

[mancer62]

I brewed my Wilko IPA tonight using 1.5kg LME the same as the Wilko can. I reduced slightly to 38 pints and got an OG of 1042 which I think is reasonable yes?
I will let ferment away before adding 50g Citra Hop and kegging...ty