Thread: Home Brew

Anyone have experiense with dryed malt extract?

The equipment i have means i have to set 18-23litres(5-6us gallon?)
Do you have an estimate of malt amount/persentage expectation?
I will not be adding extra sugar(and its not a kit) so i need a starting point

This hobby can quickly turn into a full-blown AD like straight razors!!

I started with kits etc and very quickly went into all grain brewing which is the only type of brewing I do now. Its pretty special when you can make better tasting/quality beers than you can buy in the local bottle shop and would normally need to go to boutique beer supplier to get anything similar.

This year i converted our old chest freezer into a dual font kegerator which has been an awesome time-saving exercise - basically takes me a week to condition/carbonate in the keg and then I am drinking instead of a couple weeks in bottles, plus more time if you want to bottle condition. I probably should let my stuff condition a bit longer, but I tend to have mates that want to get into it a bit quicker!!

The kits are a great way to get into it. Brewing is a hobby that has definately tweaked my OCD (culturing yeasts, growing hops, malting barley, etc).

One great resource for beginners is How to Brew - By John Palmer by John Palmer. You can read the book online for free, or buy a hard copy which I did as well.

Originally Posted by wedwards

This hobby can quickly turn into a full-blown AD like straight razors!!

I probably should let my stuff condition a bit longer, but I tend to have mates that want to get into it a bit quicker!!

Brew more then

I have read elsewhere that 1kg dryed malt extract amounts to 1,6 kg whole malt

Originally Posted by janivar123

Anyone have experiense with dryed malt extract?

The equipment i have means i have to set 18-23litres(5-6us gallon?)
Do you have an estimate of malt amount/persentage expectation?
I will not be adding extra sugar(and its not a kit) so i need a starting point

For a 23 litre brew I would use a minimum of 2 cans of liquid malt extract, and at least 2kg (depending on beer style you are going for) of dry malt extract. Your local brewshop might also have some brew improver or lactose which you can substitute 1kg of the dry malt extract.

Thats a bare minimum as far as I am concerned. Anything less will give you a very "thin" beer, which sucks. You will know you have a thin beer if you have a starting gravity of around 1.040 or under. One trick I have used when winging it with cans is to put my hot water, LME and DME and everything thats hot into my fermenter, then add half the cold water, then measure your gravity. Then just add small amounts of water until you get to your desired starting gravity. That way you might not get as much beer, but it will at least taste good!

In addition to that I would be boiling at least 40g of hops, and a couple hundred grams of some specialty malts (crystal or dark malt - get a $2 hops/grain bag to put them in, its worth it) in a litre of water and add that to the brew. Boil it on low for 20 mins then strain into your brew before topping up with cool water.

Make sure your starting temp is under 26 degrees celcius or you will kill your yeast.

Ok I should stop rambling now......

Originally Posted by janivar123

I will not be adding extra sugar(and its not a kit) so i need a starting point

I should also have said that if you want good quality beer - NEVER use sugar. The only thing that should be in beer is water, hops, malt (dry or liquid), and yeast. Certain beers require lactose for the home brewer, but try and steer clear of that unless you have to. Note that in germany, I think it is still illegal to add anything extra to beer.

This of course is just the opinion of a perfectionist

Originally Posted by joshb1000

Great ideas, and i will make sure to keep a strict eye on the measurements. Also the idea of rainwater is something i would have never considered it. Looks like i'll start collecting rain water, and give it a try. Thanks for the tips thus far. Any others you may think of keep them coming.

You can also get tablets from your local homebrew shop to adjust the water to ensure it has the right elements in it. Much easier, although I have not made beer with rainwater so it might be the holy grail for all I know!

Originally Posted by joshb1000

Awesome tips everyone! Ultimately I'd like to have a couple seasonal brews and I'd be happy with that. I'm sure you guys have had some flops as well... What's the biggest flop or worst mistake yet?

Worst mistake was listening to my local home brew shop guy when i wanted to make something different from cans and got a really thin beer. Other than that, no issues so far - only great tasting beer!!

Cleanliness is a big issue - I tend to clean the fermenter after use, then fill it with some starsan and give it a shake, and then leave the starsan in it ready for my next batch. That has kept me out of trouble so far.

Most important: RDWHAHB

If you want to get an idea of your final product of beer try using this free software. www.promash.com/ It is amazingly accurate as to the final product of your beer. There is also a paid version that has a few more features.

I have been brewing for over 25 years and found that aging is better for some beers more than others. High gravity beers will release the fuesel alcohols that impart a "jet fuel" flavor after several months. I also like to allow my hop monsters to mellow with a minimum of 6 months.

Right now I have two kegs on tap, a Rye IPA and a Belgian Quadruple. The IPA is around 95 bittering units with 6.1% ABW with 8 months of aging. The quad is 20 bittering units with 8.2% ABW with 2 months in primary fermentation and an additional 14 months in secondary.

These are my personal preferences and yours may differ. Since you are the one drinking the beer, brew what you like best .

One thing you may try is riding shotgun with a more experienced brewer. I have taught half a dozen folks to brew. I appreciate the help while brewing and they get to learn how a more experienced brewer does things. After they have brewed a few batches I go to their place and ride shotgun with them and they might teach me a trick or two.

I dont understand much about the ProMash yet, but it sure will help with calculating amounts

Originally Posted by janivar123

I dont understand much about the ProMash yet, but it sure will help with calculating amounts

Also check out beersmith and beertools. I have used beersmith since I began brewing and found it super easy for a newbie to learn. From memory, I think support from promash was an issue, whereas beersmith had vids on the website teaching you how to set it up and what all the settings meant etc (vital if you are a newbie and dont understand your % per hour heat loss in mash vessel etc).