Using Liquid Malt Extracts

[delftfield]

: Hi,
I am new to the art of brewing and would like to brew recipes using liquid malt extracts without adding sugar. Can anybody help? If a recipe calls for 3kg of crystal malt, can I substitute this in a shorter boil using LME and how much should I use? The recipes I have used to date call for sugar, around 500g, to be added to the boil, can I avoid this by adding malt extract for a better flavour?
Many Thanks,
Delftfield

 

[RobWalker]

3kg of crystal? I think you have your wires mixed up somewhere. Can you post your recipe?

Crystal is a speciality malt meaning it's there to add flavour and colour, and is usually used in much smaller quantities (50g-500g.) The main bulk of your malt comes from any form of Pale Malt (normal, lager, pilsner, wheat etc,) which is a boring but highly convertible light malt which will almost always make up at least 80% of the grains.

Liquid is expensive in my experience, dry is cheaper. I find the best way to convert a recipe over is to input the all grain recipe into a calculator such as the one above in "recipes," then to copy the speciality malts etc over, replace pale malt with Dry Malt Extract and work towards the same colour and bitterness. If you post up your recipe we'll be happy to help!

Most recipes are convertible to extract, bar some additions such as flaked and raw barley/wheat/rice etc.

 

[craigite]

Hi and welcome.

Sorry but has been some time since I brewed with liquid extract.
From memory the liquid extract is the base ingredient, items such as crystal malt are for flavour. If a recipe asks for crystal I expect it is looking for the sweetness and light caramel flavour so really that is what you want to use if you want what the recipe is promising.
The way I would do it is to steep the grains in the water prior to adding the liquid extract. Check the forum for instructions but I'd steep in a hop bag for about 20mins at about 70degC as I would be looking for the flavour rather than the natural sugars.

As for adding table sugar, some sugars are needed in a recipe to balance the taste and mouth feels. But table sugar does also dilute the taste!
However, experimentation is great fun and often has great results.
Go for it and have great fun. :thumb:

 

[RobWalker]

I recently stopped steeping after figuring out that with crystal etc, low quantities can just be chucked in the boil with no real bad effects. People go on about tannind etc but im yet to notice anything adverse...