Organic Malt Extract Syrup from the food section.

[jphil123]

I came across a jar of organic barley malt extract in an organic supermarket. As the size of the jar was quite small (0.33KG), I thought this would be convenient to have in stock to boost a brew a little or to use for priming. (Yes, I know you can also boost your brew by adding a little less water, but my thinking was that it would be useful when OG came out a little lower than expected after filling up to the intended amount).

I first used it as a fermentable addition to boost a (Thomas Coopers) IPA kit brew. The result was a good tasting, but very cloudy beer (I don't mind a bit of cloudiness, but this was too much) that struggled to retain its head. However, I did another experiment with this kit by adding roasted coconut shavings. My thinking was that oil in the coconut shavings probably caused the flat beer, so the cloudiness must come from the barley malt syrup. At least, that was the easy conclusion, as the syrup in the jar is not completely clear.

My second experiment was to try use it for priming by replacing the sugar/dextrose by 1.4x the weight in barley malt extract syrup. I dissolved it in water and brought it to boil. Initially, it turned crystal clear, to my delight. But then, strange reactions started happening. The were clusters like white bread crumbs floating around. They gradually broke down towards boiling point, but it never became clear again. I gave it a final chance by bringing down the temperature in ice-water, which resulted in a fairly clear substance with small particles floating in it. That made me decide to abandon this experiment and switch to good-old (cane) sugar.

Unless someone could explain me what I could have done wrong, I think to use the remaining jars on pancakes or so, but will not use it anywhere near beer. Anyone out there with positive experiences?
Oh, and if someone could explain to me what the difference is between barley malt extract for brewing and for eating, I would be very interested. There is no other ingredient listed on the label apart from malted barley.

Lastly, question to the brewer suppliers: why can you buy DME in almost any quantity you want, but comes LME (seemingly to me) only in 1.5KG cans?

 

[johnnyboy1965]

My thoughts are that malted barley syrup for eating, is not refined as much as LME for brewing, where clarity is paramount. You can by a 1.5kg tin of LME and split it down into measured containers and refridgerate until needed. ie 100ml will raise your brew by XXXX abv %.
Ill work out the measures shortly.

 

[Duxuk]

Adding a little irish moss for the last 10 minutes of your boil will probably leave you with a clear beer once fermented. This way you could use up your stock, at least.

 

[johnnyboy1965]

Adding a little irish moss for the last 10 minutes of your boil will probably leave you with a clear beer once fermented. This way you could use up your stock, at least.

Whilst true, the OP is using kits, so is not boiling.

 

[jphil123]

My thoughts are that malted barley syrup for eating, is not refined as much as LME for brewing, where clarity is paramount. You can by a 1.5kg tin of LME and split it down into measured containers and refridgerate until needed. ie 100ml will raise your brew by XXXX abv %.
Ill work out the measures shortly.

Thanks, that makes sense. Good (but probably messy?) idea to split a tin of LME myself.

 

[jphil123]

Adding a little irish moss for the last 10 minutes of your boil will probably leave you with a clear beer once fermented. This way you could use up your stock, at least.

Whilst true, the OP is using kits, so is not boiling.

Thanks for the idea. Guess I could separately add the malt extract to boiling water with Irish moss and use this to rinse out the kit-can(s).

 

[johnnyboy1965]

There is no need. LME has been through all the processing it needs, to produce a clear "wort"
Rinse your tin out with boiling water.....mix...check gravity....if its short, then add XXXX amount of LME until your happy
Put the rest in the fridge

 

[suj1980]

Would it be fair to say that using food-grade LME is inferior to brew-grade LME primarily due to the negative effect on clarity?

Is there reason to believe that there is a discernible effect on taste?