How to Brew Beer with Liquid Malt Extract
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Liquid malt extract is the easiest way into brewing, because somebody else has already done the mashing for you. You get the fermentable sugar without the grain, the temperature steps and the sparging, which is the part that puts most people off before they have started. So it is a good first brew and it is still a perfectly good tenth one.
1. Get your gear together
Fermenter, a decent sized pot for boiling, a stirring spoon, a thermometer, a hydrometer, an airlock, sanitiser, and bottles for the other end. Have the lot out and ready before you start, because the middle of a brew is a bad time to go looking for something.
2. Clean, then sanitise
These are two different jobs and people skip the first one. Clean everything properly first, then sanitise with a no rinse sanitiser. Anything that touches the wort after the boil has to be sanitised, and this is where most failed batches actually fail.
3. Boil the water
Two to three litres in a big stock pot is plenty. It is less than your final batch volume because you top up with cold water later, which is also how you get the temperature down.
In a second pot, sit the tin of malt extract in hot water for a bit. It softens it and it comes out of the tin instead of staying in it, which is worth the extra pot.
4. In with the malt extract
Once the water boils, take the pot off the heat and stir the extract in. Make sure it is fully dissolved before it goes anywhere near the fermenter, because undissolved extract on the bottom will throw your gravity reading out.
5. Into the fermenter
Pour it in, stir in your dextrose until that has dissolved too, then top up to the volume your recipe calls for with cold water.
6. Hops, if you are using them
Hops go in at different points depending on what you are after. Early in the boil for bitterness, later for flavour and aroma. If your recipe does not call for them, skip it, plenty of good beer gets made without adding any.
7. Cool the wort
You want it between 18 and 22 degrees before the yeast goes in. Pitch into wort that is too hot and you will kill the yeast or get flavours you did not order. The more boiling water you used earlier, the longer this takes, which is the real reason for keeping the boil volume small.
8. Pitch the yeast
Different yeasts want different treatment, so read the packet rather than assuming. Some go straight in dry, some want rehydrating first.
9. Fermentation
Seal it, fit the airlock, and put it somewhere with a stable temperature. A spot that swings ten degrees between day and night is worse than a spot that is slightly too warm but steady.
It should start bubbling within 24 to 48 hours and run for one to two weeks. You know it is done when the airlock has stopped and the hydrometer reads the same over a couple of days. The hydrometer is the answer, not the airlock, because an airlock can stop for reasons that have nothing to do with fermentation finishing.
10. What happens next
Bottling, which is its own process and its own set of things to get wrong. But the brewing part is done, and the first batch is the one that tells you whether you are going to keep doing this.
Do not expect it to be perfect. Every batch teaches you something about your gear and your setup, and the second one is always better than the first.
Come and have a chat
We carry the extracts, the yeast, the sanitiser and all the gear at the shop, and if you are stuck on a batch that is not behaving, come in and tell us what it is doing. Working out why a fermentation stalled is a lot easier in person than over a search engine.
Strathalbyn H Hardware, 34-52 Milnes Rd, Strathalbyn SA 5255. Phone (08) 8536 4333.
Shop related products
- Coopers Light Malt Extract 1.5kg. The starting point for pale ales and lagers.
- Coopers Amber Malt Extract 1.5kg. More body and a bit of colour.
- Coopers Dark Malt Extract 1.5kg. For stouts and porters.
- Coopers Wheat Malt 1.5kg. For wheat beers and a softer mouthfeel.
- Coopers Dextrose 1kg. Ferments out clean without adding body.
- US-05 Safale Ale Yeast 11.5g. Forgiving, clean, and a good first ale yeast.
- Beer Essentials Brew Sanitize 250ml. No rinse, which is the whole point.
There is more in the homebrew range and the beer supplies.
Stuck on something?
Brewhilder is our homebrew adviser and it will talk you through a recipe or a problem batch any time of the day. Have a go here.
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I will take drinkable over impressive on a first batch, every time.
Cheers,
Candeece
