Nothing but malt extract

[Davebull]

Hello.

Iv never brewed before but am fascinated by it. There are a few questions I have
Which I can't find the answers for in books ( probably because they are stupid questions )

1: is there a set ratio for the ingredients like when you make a cake you use a set amount of eggs and flour just adding more for a bigger cake.

2: can you brew a beer with just malt extract and yeast and nothing else

Thanks for any help

 

[markmark]

Hello.

Iv never brewed before but am fascinated by it. There are a few questions I have
Which I can't find the answers for in books ( probably because they are stupid questions )

1: is there a set ratio for the ingredients like when you make a cake you use a set amount of eggs and flour just adding more for a bigger cake.

2: can you brew a beer with just malt extract and yeast and nothing else

Thanks for any help

There is no set ratio for ingredients, but obviously the amount of each ingredient used will have an effect on the flavour of the beer and the gravity.

Yes, you could make a beer using just malt extract and yeast. This was done for many years prior to brewers realising the benefits of adding hops to beer.
I don't think it would taste particularly nice though.....before the use of hops, brewers used to use a variety of herbs to flavour the beer.

 

[Dutch_Food_Geek]

1: is there a set ratio for the ingredients like when you make a cake you use a set amount of eggs and flour just adding more for a bigger cake.

Of course there is a set amount, but just like an different cake recipe for a different kind of cake it changes for the kind of beer you want to brew. Then you'll need to remember that the more malt extract you'll use, the more alcohol your beer will get. But if you've got a certain recipe then you can usually just scale it. Sometimes you need to use more yeast though, but check www.mrmalty.com for that...

2: can you brew a beer with just malt extract and yeast and nothing else

You could do that, BUT hops give anti septic properties. So there is a chance your beer will spoil! Hops haven't always been used, before they used certain herbs... Look for Gruyt beer, that hasen't got hops. Gruyt beer is the old beer without hops, made with a mixture of herbs, mostly myrtle and wax. Gruyt contains mostly rosemary, gagel(?), sage, thousand leave and juniper berries.

Just brew with hops, way easier!!!

Hope this helps!

 

[rodwha]

Do you have something in mind?

If you know where you'll be buying your ingredients from I'd help you work on something.

:

 

[Dutch_Food_Geek]

nice 100% extract recipe:

for 23 liters

2,7 kg wheat extract (use dry extract, quality is usually higher than cans)
25 gr cascade
25 gr cascade
Hefeweizen yeast

place the dry malt extract in 9 liters of water. Bring to a boil while stirring.
after hot crack add 25 gr cascade and boil for 55 mins, add the other 25 gr cascade boil for another 5 mins. Chill the wort and complete to 23 liters (use cold water from the fridge and some ice cubes). Ferment in primary, move to secondary. When fermantation is done bottle and let rest in the bottle.

You could use a small bit of the extract during the boil and add the rest for the last 10 mins, then you will have less caramelisation of the wort. According to the guys of Basic Brewing Radio you could even do the hop boil without any malt extract and add all for the last 10 mins. I never tried that though. So use about 700 grams of your wheat extract for the full boil and add the remaining 2 kg for the last 10 mins (time enough to sanitise it).

Good luck!

 

[rodwha]

I've heard that you need some wort for hop utilization, that boiling hops in water just doesn't work right. I'm not keen on this, but I always use 1/2 of my ingredients for the complete boil and save my LME for flameout.

 

[Davebull]

Thank you very much for the info. Much appreciated.

Also iv read about leaving the ale for a week in the bottle to condition, how long will the ale last for if not using hops. Thanks

 

[Dutch_Food_Geek]

You can keep it a normal time if you get it in the bottle without infections...

But why would you want to brew without hops? Your beer wouldn't taste better, so just whack in some hops, I'd say...

 

[rodwha]

You need something bitter to help balance the sweetness. It'll be sickly sweet without anything.

Maybe you ought to try making a very small batch of non hopped beer to try out, but make a more typical beer for now. Maybe create a 23L wort and put 1-2L aside to not hop, and hop the rest lightly to compare it to, though that might get a bit technical with splitting the yeast up too. You'd likely end up needing a large glass so as to be able to pour in the hopped beer to help it out.

This, of course, if you don't use something bitter to balance it...