brewing with malt extract

[mancer62]

Hi there look for some advice. I intend to brew a john bull 1.8kg IPA kit tomorrow. I seen a bargain (as |I thought on Amazon prime free delivery as well) 0f 3kg of barley malt extract. I assumed (wrongly) that it was the powdered stuff and was working out at half the cost of the store bought ones. When it arrived I then realised it was a treacly extract. Am I correct in thinking that for example you would need to use around 100g of extract more than you would to attain the same strength at the dry powder for example (700 dry = 800 extract?).

I am not looking for huge abv beers and would like ones prob between the 4.2% / 5%
I watch a guy on net and he swears by the 7/5 method ie 700g extract + 500g brewing sugar.

My initial thoughts are the extract looks sticky messy and Im not looking forward to working with it. However I am open minded and if it gives good results I would buy again as the price if decent is competitive.

available I have 720g brewing sugar
3kg barley malt extract
1kg tate & lyle granulated sugar....

could u advise me on quantities to make a beer within teh range I am looking for?

ive just made an ipa with an abv of 4.2% and used 25g citra and 25 grams amarillo to dry hop (which is delicious)
I'm new to IPA's and the world of hops but loving them I would like further advice on which combination or single hop to use with the above.
Available I have
25g citra
25 g amarillo
50 columbus

look forward to reply ty

 

[Wouter]

Hi mancer,

Isn't there any instruction on the liquid malt extract?
Something like yields OG of 1.XXX when mixed with XL water?

 

[terrym]

Normally 750g LME is equivalent to about 650g DME.
The LME you have bought is about the same as the hopped LME in your kit
My suggestion:- John Bull kit + 1kg LME + 250g Dextrose brewed to 21 litres to give an OG about 1.044 and a potential ABV of about 4.4% (excluding the extra 0.5% you get from using priming sugar, assuming you dont force carb)
Why not do this one with a dry hop of 50g Columbus to compare to your previous brew?

 

[Clint]

The JB ipa is more of an English than an American.

 

[ExpatBrewer]

Why not keep it simple? Forget the sugar and just use the JB IPA can plus half the LME (1.5kg) - that's a little over 4% - maybe 4.5% after carbonation.
Using 100% malt is always going to produce a better beer.

 

[The Baron]

I all grain most of the time but have on the odd occassion used kits when I am in need of getting the stocks up quickly and have used the john Bull IPA which as Clint said is a English style. I think I dry hopped mine with EKG and Fuggles it was a decent drink

 

[mancer62]

The reason I dont just want to forget the sugar and use half the LME is this....I would like to experiment and see just how much I can produce a good decent (not award winning) just a good solid beer for as cheap as possible......I bought the 3kg of Barley Malt Extract for half the price of the stuff I can buy in shops so I don't want to just lump half of it in as this isn't saving me anything. I was hoping to get around 4 brews from the 3kg (is that overly optimistic or acheiveable?). I also want to use 1kg of granulated white sugar 70p as many on here say the £2.50 for brewing sugar is basically a rip off and there's no difference....
Therefore for example how do you think 1kg white granulated sugar and 750g Barley Malt Extract dry hopped with 50g of columbus would work and what sort of ABV could I expect if brewed to
40 pints =? 38 pints =? 36 pints =?

 

[The Baron]

What I would say is i have done many a kit with just ordinary sugar and it has turned out fine but it will always be better with some extra LME or DME to replace some or all of the sugar. I would use the sugar only and dry hop to give the beer a lift but as you say it should turn out good but not a award winner. I have used brewing sugar and ordinary and not noticed any difference so yes 70p against £2.50 saving

 

[mancer62]

so does 1kg granulated sugar + 750g LME seem about right and what sort of ABV can I expect?

 

[The Baron]

Hi mancer62
if you add 1kg of sugar that will make the beer to its normal strength the addition of 750 LME will give the beer extra body and will lift the ABV to a strong beer. I would personally add 750 LME and 500 of sugar this will make the beer slightly higher in ABV but give it a better body and should aid head retention that is unless you like a stronger beer then add the amounts you suggested but remember its about enjoying the beer and a lower ABV means you can have a few more.

 

[terrym]

so does 1kg granulated sugar + 750g LME seem about right and what sort of ABV can I expect?

Why not work it out for yourself using this?
Beer Recipe Calculator - Brewer's Friend
Thats what many on here do, and if you find out how to work it yourself will have acquired another brewing skill.
You can play with the quantities of liquid malt and sugars, and the brew volume, to get what you want. Use the extract recipe generator. Its as accurate as you need.
The only thing it doesnt do it tell you what the end product tastes like.

 

[Drunkula]

so does 1kg granulated sugar + 750g LME seem about right and what sort of ABV can I expect?

for 23 litres:
750 LME + 500g sugar = 1042 -> 1006 = 4.6%
750 LME + 1kg sugar = 1050 -> 1004 = 6.0%

20 litres:
750 LME + 500g sugar = 1048 -> 1007 = 5.3%
750 LME + 1kg sugar = 1057 -> 1005 = 6.9%

18 litres:
750 LME + 500g sugar = 1053 -> 1008 = 5.9%
750 LME + 1kg sugar = 1064 -> 1006 = 7.6%

I'd recommend 20 litres + 750g + 300 sugar - that gives you 4.6% with a finishing gravity of 1009. Or 400g of sugar for 4.9%. 18 litres with the 300g gives you 5.1% and 1010 final gravity.

I deliberately left the decimal point out of the gravities because we're all old enough to know what they mean.

 

[mancer62]

ty all very informative and interesting thanks guys

 

[Peter Pavlovic]

Hi all,

I use CJJ Berry and Dave Line's books 2.0kg of LME 1.0 kg of brown sugar and 100g of goldings makes a nice 5.8% abv with aproximately 23 litres. Doing a batch on Tuesday.

 

[johncrobinson]

Hope it turns out nice for you peter.

Reminds me of my dads old homebrew efforts,When exctract brewing was the only offer on the table for the home brewer,Appart from those who tried to make there own malt.

 

[BridgeBrew]

Yeah I've got the Dave line, and CJ berry books. Done that recipe years ago out of the line book, and it was good. Don't know how it would stand up these days.

 

[Peter Pavlovic]

I have very good reviews from two of my mates who are real ale drinkers we would often have couple pints of Harveys Sussex bitter, TEA Youngs special etc. my personal ale taster and my future son in law, who hails from the West country .I do use a varied type of hops and it works quite well, The beer goes down a treat and right now I don't have the time for AG. Iam brewing tomorrow 2.0kg lme target, challenger, goldings and some fuggles.