[Big_Eight]

As many have stated, good beer comes from good ingredients + brewer talent.

I've found that I can screw up just about anything no matter how fresh the ingredients are. I'm cool like that.

Not to start a scuffle but the phrase "pretty good for an extract beer" is a bit of a low-key insult. Admittedly it is a bit more difficult to ensure freshness with something so processed as a LME but still.. ouch.

I actually liked LME when I used it. But there is always that fear of "stale" LME and the rumoured flavour issues it causes.

I have so far only had really good experiences with LME, and tbh I think it provides a stronger flavour than light DME. But I use DME because it's just so easy to keep around for starters and knowing that it definitely won't go off.

I've only done maybe ~10 brews ever with LME, but once poured it myself from a nearly empty tank at my LHBS, so it couldn't have been the super freshest. I think all the claims people had about "extract twang" and LME staleness issues are holdovers from the early days of homebrewing when LME might have been sitting for many, many months in less than prime conditions. I would definitely use it again if I desired to.

I guarantee you that it still exists.  All depends on where you get your LME

As well as new brewers that don't realize how they need to store it and let it sit around for two months and then brew.

I see twang threads every so often still over on the HBT forum.

I love brewing with extract and still do it every so often.

[Steve Ruch]

I switched to extract brewing for the most part several months ago, due to physical limitations, and haven't seen any decline in the quality of my beers. For the most part, I stick to APAs and IPAs and use William's extracts exclusively. They have a good selection of quality LME and very reasonable pricing.

Williams has some proprietary blends that are really good. I made a marzen with their munich lme and a small portion of their Baltic black that came out pretty good.

[nateo]

Agreed on Williams extracts. I've been very happy with the beers I've brewed with those.

[ScallyWag]

Agreed on Williams extracts. I've been very happy with the beers I've brewed with those.

I had never heard of those. 

I have made 1 surprisingly [to me] excellent beer using all LME, but I generally do all-grain BIAB.  However, I often add some DME to the boil to bump up my higher gravity beers, since I have limited mashing room (5 gallon Igloo cooler).  Generally it's the Briess Pilsner DME that I add, but it would be nice to have more options.  Thanks for the recommendation.

[nateo]

Not sure who produces the extract for them but they have some unusual blends. I've used a few of them and honestly can't really tell the difference vs all grain.

[BrewNerd]

As many have stated, good beer comes from good ingredients + brewer talent.

I've found that I can screw up just about anything no matter how fresh the ingredients are. I'm cool like that.

Not to start a scuffle but the phrase "pretty good for an extract beer" is a bit of a low-key insult. Admittedly it is a bit more difficult to ensure freshness with something so processed as a LME but still.. ouch.

I actually liked LME when I used it. But there is always that fear of "stale" LME and the rumoured flavour issues it causes.

I have so far only had really good experiences with LME, and tbh I think it provides a stronger flavour than light DME. But I use DME because it's just so easy to keep around for starters and knowing that it definitely won't go off.

I've only done maybe ~10 brews ever with LME, but once poured it myself from a nearly empty tank at my LHBS, so it couldn't have been the super freshest. I think all the claims people had about "extract twang" and LME staleness issues are holdovers from the early days of homebrewing when LME might have been sitting for many, many months in less than prime conditions. I would definitely use it again if I desired to.

I guarantee you that it still exists.  All depends on where you get your LME

Not super shocked that if you use crap ingredients you get a crap result. Also old enough to accept the possibility that home brewers gossip like fishwives and love holding on to old half truths.

Use the freshest stuff you can get your hands on and just make some more beer!

[dannyjed]

This makes me want to brew an extract batch again. It has been a long time maybe 12 years or so. Thanks for the positive feedback on the William’s products. I’ll have to give them a try.


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[fredthecat]

This makes me want to brew an extract batch again. It has been a long time maybe 12 years or so. Thanks for the positive feedback on the William’s products. I’ll have to give them a try.

time savings is the biggest factor for me.

i have the active "brewday" time down to as little as 90 minutes if i really rush.
1. cold steep crystal or other grains 24 hours before in a mesh bag (depends on the style)
2. time = 0 - begin heating the water to boil (~a generous 30 mins)
3. begin the boil. (DME is already sanitized IMHO, so the boil is only necessary for hopping) - 30 minutes.
4. chill the wort (20 minutes if you have a better wort chiller than i do)

super easy if you just want to make beer fast between a busy schedule. no mash tun to clean out.  cleanup of course will probably take another 20 minutes, but this is fast.

[nateo]

super easy if you just want to make beer fast between a busy schedule. no mash tun to clean out.  cleanup of course will probably take another 20 minutes, but this is fast.

Same, but I'll clean empty kegs while I'm waiting for the water to warm up and the wort to boil. The fastest I've done it is like 2 hours but that's pretty leisurely for me.

[erockrph]

This makes me want to brew an extract batch again. It has been a long time maybe 12 years or so. Thanks for the positive feedback on the William’s products. I’ll have to give them a try.

time savings is the biggest factor for me.

i have the active "brewday" time down to as little as 90 minutes if i really rush.
1. cold steep crystal or other grains 24 hours before in a mesh bag (depends on the style)
2. time = 0 - begin heating the water to boil (~a generous 30 mins)
3. begin the boil. (DME is already sanitized IMHO, so the boil is only necessary for hopping) - 30 minutes.
4. chill the wort (20 minutes if you have a better wort chiller than i do)

super easy if you just want to make beer fast between a busy schedule. no mash tun to clean out.  cleanup of course will probably take another 20 minutes, but this is fast.

I've been able to chain as many as seven 1-gallon extract batches back-to-back-to-back in the time it takes for one all-grain brewday with some planning and focus. You can make many styles with as little as a 15 minute boil. Also, I find it sufficient to just toss in my specialty grains with the cold water at the start and pull them when it gets to about 170F. A 1-hour brewday may be possible for some depending on their recipe and equipment.

[fredthecat]

This makes me want to brew an extract batch again. It has been a long time maybe 12 years or so. Thanks for the positive feedback on the William’s products. I’ll have to give them a try.

time savings is the biggest factor for me.

i have the active "brewday" time down to as little as 90 minutes if i really rush.
1. cold steep crystal or other grains 24 hours before in a mesh bag (depends on the style)
2. time = 0 - begin heating the water to boil (~a generous 30 mins)
3. begin the boil. (DME is already sanitized IMHO, so the boil is only necessary for hopping) - 30 minutes.
4. chill the wort (20 minutes if you have a better wort chiller than i do)

super easy if you just want to make beer fast between a busy schedule. no mash tun to clean out.  cleanup of course will probably take another 20 minutes, but this is fast.

I've been able to chain as many as seven 1-gallon extract batches back-to-back-to-back in the time it takes for one all-grain brewday with some planning and focus. You can make many styles with as little as a 15 minute boil. Also, I find it sufficient to just toss in my specialty grains with the cold water at the start and pull them when it gets to about 170F. A 1-hour brewday may be possible for some depending on their recipe and equipment.

i think it would require collecting some unique equipment, but i would prefer to be able to brew multiple, different smaller batches instead of the 5 gallons to 6 gallons i do now.

wort splitting, or altering a basic grist mash (which i know one person does here) with speciality grains added near the end of mash and sparge are potential ways.

im probably going to get into some 3 gallons homebrews again. i used to do that size and it is still quite manageable using standard homebrew equipment to just do 3 gallons of wort/beer.