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Author Topic: dry malt extract  (Read 1561 times)

Offline michaelwalden

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dry malt extract
« on: January 11, 2023, 08:32:49 am »
I have never used dry malt before, I'm looking for someone to give me some options for a recipe for a 2.5 gallons with a dry malt.
Thank you

Offline Steve Ruch

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Re: dry malt extract
« Reply #1 on: January 11, 2023, 08:41:45 am »
I have never used dry malt before, I'm looking for someone to give me some options for a recipe for a 2.5 gallons with a dry malt.
Thank you
Wheat beer? Pilsner? Pale ale? Saison? Porter?
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Offline Drewch

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Re: dry malt extract
« Reply #2 on: January 11, 2023, 08:54:30 am »
Here's a SMaSH that worked well for me:

For 6.5 L

7.5 L RO water adjusted to a balanced mineral ratio

600g Amber DME

5 g Zamba at 30 min
10 g Zamba at 15 min
13 g Zamba at 5 min

Half a packet of BE-134

Normal ale fermentation
Carbonate to 2.5 vols or a bit higher

Makes a nice hoppy saison, comparable to Tank 7.
The Other Drew

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Offline denny

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Re: dry malt extract
« Reply #3 on: January 11, 2023, 09:27:39 am »
What style? What OG?
Life begins at 60.....1.060, that is!

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Offline dmtaylor

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Re: dry malt extract
« Reply #4 on: January 11, 2023, 11:19:39 am »
Briess has really hard water and it shows up in their extracts.  For Briess extract I would use only RO water.

Munton's, I'm not sure their water quality but it is presumably "better".

For extract brews, I'd only add gypsum if brewing an IPA.  Otherwise 90% of the time I wouldn't add any salts.

For a recipe.... hang on, I'll update in a few minutes.........

EDIT: OK, here's a couple favorites of mine, turn out great every time...

NOTE: If you want to brew 2.5 gallons, just cut the ingredients in half or whatever.  Easy to do.





And a bonus:

« Last Edit: January 11, 2023, 12:22:56 pm by dmtaylor »
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Offline denny

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Re: dry malt extract
« Reply #5 on: January 11, 2023, 11:37:27 am »
Extract brews almost never require water adjustment
Life begins at 60.....1.060, that is!

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The best, sharpest, funniest, weirdest and most knowledgable minds in home brewing contribute on the AHA forum. - Alewyfe

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Offline Steve Ruch

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Re: dry malt extract
« Reply #6 on: January 12, 2023, 08:14:22 am »
Extract brews almost never require water adjustment
The only water adjustment I ever did with extract was 50/50 filtered tap water and distilled for Czech pilsner.
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Offline Drewch

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Re: dry malt extract
« Reply #7 on: January 12, 2023, 06:47:52 pm »
Second, a couple of questions: What brand of Amber DME are you using?  What amounts?

If memory serves, it was Briess Sparkling Amber DME.  600g for 6.5 liters.
The Other Drew

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Offline Drewch

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Re: dry malt extract
« Reply #8 on: January 12, 2023, 06:50:51 pm »
Extract brews almost never require water adjustment
The only water adjustment I ever did with extract was 50/50 filtered tap water and distilled for Czech pilsner.

I don't know if the flavor difference was truly noticable in the glass, but water with a little mineral content generally tastes better than RO or distilled... So I figured it couldn't hurt to add a bit for flavor.
The Other Drew

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Offline majorvices

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Re: dry malt extract
« Reply #9 on: January 12, 2023, 07:30:05 pm »
Extract brews almost never require water adjustment

Well, adjust it to use distilled for best results.

Offline majorvices

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Re: dry malt extract
« Reply #10 on: January 12, 2023, 07:32:19 pm »
Extract brews almost never require water adjustment
The only water adjustment I ever did with extract was 50/50 filtered tap water and distilled for Czech pilsner.

I don't know if the flavor difference was truly noticable in the glass, but water with a little mineral content generally tastes better than RO or distilled... So I figured it couldn't hurt to add a bit for flavor.

Extract brewing is best "generally" with RO or distilled because you are compounding whatever minerals were left behind when the water was removed from the extract
.

Offline Drewch

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Re: dry malt extract
« Reply #11 on: January 13, 2023, 03:01:26 pm »
I don't know if the flavor difference was truly noticable in the glass, but water with a little mineral content generally tastes better than RO or distilled... So I figured it couldn't hurt to add a bit for flavor.
I would be really cautious about using all-grain water chemistry profiles with DME - for example, a "Pale Ale" profile (say 250ppm SO4 and 65ppm Cl) applied to a DME recipe has a good chance of being an over mineralized beer.  Brand also matters (see the Bru'nWater spreadsheet and the book Brewing Engineering, 2e for details).

Good point (@majorvices too). I hadn't really thought about mineral carryover from their brewing of the wort that became the extract.
The Other Drew

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Offline fredthecat

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Re: dry malt extract
« Reply #12 on: January 14, 2023, 10:30:52 pm »
I don't know if the flavor difference was truly noticable in the glass, but water with a little mineral content generally tastes better than RO or distilled... So I figured it couldn't hurt to add a bit for flavor.
I would be really cautious about using all-grain water chemistry profiles with DME - for example, a "Pale Ale" profile (say 250ppm SO4 and 65ppm Cl) applied to a DME recipe has a good chance of being an over mineralized beer.  Brand also matters (see the Bru'nWater spreadsheet and the book Brewing Engineering, 2e for details).

Good point (@majorvices too). I hadn't really thought about mineral carryover from their brewing of the wort that became the extract.

i almost didnt want to chime in, but my main source of reasonably priced DME is only briess and i have had to stop using it because of the excessive sodium in anything beyond a lb or 2 in a beer or for starters. google it and it will come up.

i use LME to bump up gravity in beers i want to make very large because i know its very fresh from my LHBS. i feel bad just going to them for that one ingredient but lol, i know its very fresh there and one of the few things of their's thats actually cheaper than online.

Offline dmtaylor

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Re: dry malt extract
« Reply #13 on: January 15, 2023, 07:28:38 am »
I don't know if the flavor difference was truly noticable in the glass, but water with a little mineral content generally tastes better than RO or distilled... So I figured it couldn't hurt to add a bit for flavor.
I would be really cautious about using all-grain water chemistry profiles with DME - for example, a "Pale Ale" profile (say 250ppm SO4 and 65ppm Cl) applied to a DME recipe has a good chance of being an over mineralized beer.  Brand also matters (see the Bru'nWater spreadsheet and the book Brewing Engineering, 2e for details).

Good point (@majorvices too). I hadn't really thought about mineral carryover from their brewing of the wort that became the extract.

i almost didnt want to chime in, but my main source of reasonably priced DME is only briess and i have had to stop using it because of the excessive sodium in anything beyond a lb or 2 in a beer or for starters. google it and it will come up.

i use LME to bump up gravity in beers i want to make very large because i know its very fresh from my LHBS. i feel bad just going to them for that one ingredient but lol, i know its very fresh there and one of the few things of their's thats actually cheaper than online.

As an alternative to a web search:

Brewing Engineering, 2e (2015) and How To Brew (4e) are good sources of additional information. 

With those four resources, it's not hard to create a "season to taste" process using Cl, SO4, and Na.

Here's another one.  The Wisconsin DNR provides water analysis information for any licensed well or municipality, and I know how to look it up.  Sodium in Chilton is 170 ppm, so unless Briess treats or dilutes that in some manner... yeah.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/extract-porter-questions-briess-dme-mineral-profile.664153/#post-7426204
Dave

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Offline fredthecat

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Re: dry malt extract
« Reply #14 on: January 15, 2023, 10:41:50 am »
There is a high level Na in the ingredient.  What to do about it?

Stove top (wort a/b) partial mashes would cut the Na level by about half. 

One can adjust wort color and fermentability with a combination of sugar and brewers crystals. Assuming the brewers crystals contains no or a small amount of Na, the effect would be to reduce the amount of Na in the batch.  A blend of 70% DME, 15% sugar, and 15% brewers crystals may be an interesting starting point for a "hop sampler"-ish test batch. 

Additional recipe insights can also be found in that Zymurgy (Sept 22) American Lager recipe. 

Switching brands and going all grain are also options.

my thoughts are basically if im doing a full half-size partial mash, that takes almost the same effort and time as just doing all-grain... so, yeah. and then its still just half in my control.

i was playing with DME previously after doing all-grain since my very first few batches of extract-kits, to see if it was good enough to make acceptable beers with less brewing time/effort. i know a lot of people are pro-DME and pro-extract in general as options, and they certainly have a place for some people, but for me, the particular DME that is available for me at a remotely reasonable price ($5.2/lb briess vs $10.5/lb for muntons) is not usable.

im just happy i found the issue as at first i didnt know what was making my beers taste and feel very weird at that time.