Liquid malt extract

[paulm___]

I'm currently on my 4th brew, so still novice.

I used kits for the first couple then ordered 3l liquid malt extract from the malt Miller site and added a kilo of spray malt for the last one and the current one. I was just browsing around for some inspiration for my next one and found 2 or 3 websites indicating the liquid malt extract should have been boiled you would with grain. Do you think this is true?

I was really pleased with the last batch. Triple hopped, very delicious. It was a bit strong maybe but I enjoyed it.

 

[labrewski]

Yep when I got bored with kits I did the same large pot boiled the lme and some water for 30 min to an hour added hops during boil got some nice beers then I started using dme same routine just even better beers

 

[paulm___]

Yep when I got bored with kits I did the same large pot boiled the lme and some water for 30 min to an hour added hops during boil got some nice beers then I started using dme same routine just even better beers

Is it important to do the boil though or can I just use it like malt liquid from a kit?

 

[labrewski]

Honestly I dont know I just did it to add hops to extract the oils
I suppose it should be sanitized being packaged for sale

 

[Flan]

Is it important to do the boil though or can I just use it like malt liquid from a kit?

I’m doing the same now, my 3rd brew I’m using 2.4kg of extract with 500g of spraymalt and 500-1kg of sugar depending on the og reading after 500g. I’m not doing a boil up I’m doing it as you would a kit With about 4 litres of boiled water to mix the extract, sugar and dme then top up to 20-23litres of cold water depending on readings. I did the same with my last brew and it turned out very nice indeed. I’ll eventually move on to a boil up with added hops but for now until i get the process down I’m happy doing it this way.

 

[labrewski]

I’m doing the same now, my 3rd brew I’m using 2.4kg of extract with 500g of spraymalt and 500-1kg of sugar depending on the og reading after 500g. I’m not doing a boil up I’m doing it as you would a kit With about 4 litres of boiled water to mix the extract, sugar and dme then top up to 20-23litres of cold water depending on readings. I did the same with my last brew and it turned out very nice indeed. I’ll eventually move on to a boil up with added hops but for now until i get the process down I’m happy doing it this way.

How do u get flavours into the beer

 

[Flan]

How do u get flavours into the beer

The last one was a lager with a californian m54 lager yeast so it fermented closer to an ale temp i dry hopped with some saaz hops. I’m very new to brewing so I can’t compare a boil up with added hops to a kit type brew with just dry hops but I’m sure the boil up gives more flavour I’m just not ready for that yet.

 

[Flan]

I’m open to any suggestions though the only problem i have is I can’t do a full mash and boil up as I don’t have the facility to do this yet, eventually thats the goal.

 

[Gerryjo]

Is it important to do the boil though or can I just use it like malt liquid from a kit?

Using LME when adding to a kit is fine for no boil but when building your own recipe you will be adding hops for bittering/flavour and aroma all which have different timings and stages of the boil.
DME is dry and can be added to kits but needs to be added to hot liquid to liquify otherwards it will just be clumpy and although will breakdown over time but like LME if building your own recipe it follows the same procedure.
Forget the notion that these need to be boiled for 10 mins to sterilise as these products are sterile from the producer.
Boil times can very by recipe depending on your requirements for bitterness/flavour and aroma but the longer you boil the more conversion to the malt will happen and will become darker due too caramelisation and your volume will reduce.
Food for thought.

 

[obscure]

One thing I noticed awhile ago while browsing get er brewed was their malt extract kits which use Isomerised hop extract for bitterness combined with dry hopping they also sell it separately:

https://www.geterbrewed.com/isomerised-hop-extract-30-15ml-home-brew/

So I don’t see any reason in theory why you couldn’t use this and dry hopping to make a decent batch.

 

[labrewski]

I’m open to any suggestions though the only problem i have is I can’t do a full mash and boil up as I don’t have the facility to do this yet, eventually thats the goal.

I only used a 7 litre pot 3kg dme or lme 3 liters water the topped up bucket just like a kit
Some might say it's wrong but I got some good beer from it

 

[paulm___]

I've been dry hopping 8 or 10 days into the fermentation process, the one in the image above was 3 lots of 100g dry hop:

Ekuanot BBC Pure Hop Pellet™ | The Malt Miller
Mandarina Bavaria BBC Pure Hop Pellet™ | The Malt Miller
Mosaic BBC Pure Hop Pellet™ | The Malt Miller

It was really tropical fruity.

I suppose that answer my question, it tastes good so it cannot really be wrong. I might try the boil and add some oats to see if I get a hazy beer.

 

[labrewski]

I've been dry hopping 8 or 10 days into the fermentation process, the one in the image above was 3 lots of 100g dry hop:

Ekuanot BBC Pure Hop Pellet™ | The Malt Miller
Mandarina Bavaria BBC Pure Hop Pellet™ | The Malt Miller
Mosaic BBC Pure Hop Pellet™ | The Malt Miller

It was really tropical fruity.

I suppose that answer my question, it tastes good so it cannot really be wrong. I might try the boil and add some oats to see if I get a hazy beer.

Exellent I missed well forgot to add some hops in my last brew and was hoping a generous dry hop would fix it question answered thanks

 

[Gerryjo]

I only used a 7 litre pot 3kg dme or lme 3 liters water the topped up bucket just like a kit
Some might say it's wrong but I got some good beer from it

Nothing wrong with that though 1kg DME =1.2kg LME.

 

[labrewski]

Nothing wrong with that though 1kg DME =1.2kg LME.

That's why I could only drink 5 or 6 bottles lol

 

[Sandimas]

Must admit I'm really confused reading this thread, are you saying you just mix up LME and dry hop, no boil?

The LME in kits is pre-hopped hence not needing to do a boil, if you make up beer with just "raw" LME or DME you need to do a boil to add bitterness. If you do no boil you will have no bitterness, which is probably OK for low bitterness beers like lagers but won't work for everything. You don't need a big pan to do a hop boil to make an extract beer, it's worth doing if you can.