Coopers Dark Malt Extract, when to use it
What Coopers Dark Malt Extract actually does
Coopers Dark Malt Extract is a 1.5kg tin of liquid malt made from a blend of pale and roasted malts, and the short version of what it is for is that it goes into the fermenter where your brewing sugar would otherwise go, except that it leaves something behind instead of fermenting clean away. Coopers put it on the darker end of the range, so dark ales and stouts, and they name porters as well, which makes sense because the roasted malt in the tin is doing the same job that dark grain does in a commercial stout.
Why it isn't just sugar with a colour in it
If you make up the fermentables in a kit with plain dextrose, it ferments right out and leaves you with alcohol and not a lot else, which is exactly what dextrose is for and it is the right call plenty of the time. Malt extract behaves differently. Some of it ferments and some of it stays where it is, so you finish with more body in the glass and more malt flavour, and the head sits on top rather than falling over inside a minute. With the dark tin you also get the roast and the colour that a dark beer is supposed to arrive with.
Where the dark one earns its place
The obvious one is a stout kit that you want more out of, because a stout is mostly about roast and body rather than strength, and swapping the dark extract in for the sugar gives you both of those without changing anything else about how you brew it. The one people miss is a dark ale that has come out thinner than they were hoping for, and the answer to that is more malt at the start, because another fortnight in the fermenter will not put body into a beer that never had any.
It also blends, so there's nothing stopping you running the dark tin alongside a light or an amber one when you want some of the colour and the roast without taking the whole beer that way. That's worth a go once you've done a straight batch and you know what the dark one tastes like on its own.
Dark, amber or light
Coopers make three liquid extracts and the only real difference between them is which malts went into the tin. Pale malt on its own gives you the light extract, which lifts body and head retention without moving the colour much. Put crystal malt in with the pale and you have the amber, which brings a bit of sweetness and a richer colour with it. Take the malt all the way to roasted and you have this one, where the colour and the roast are the whole point.
Getting it into the fermenter without a fight
Liquid malt extract is thick, and if you pour it into cold water it sinks and sits there in a lump, so stand the tin in hot water for a few minutes first to loosen it, and stir it into your hot water before the rest of the water goes in. Give it a proper stir with a long spoon, all the way to the bottom. A lump of unmixed extract on the floor of the fermenter isn't a disaster, but it does mean the gravity reading you take is describing a different beer to the one you're actually making.
The rest of the tin
The tin is resealable and Coopers say to put whatever you haven't used into a sanitised jar and keep it in the fridge, and that is worth doing properly rather than approximately, because malt extract is sugar and mould finds it quickly if you leave it in a warm cupboard with a bit of air sitting over the top of it.
What it will not fix
Malt extract adds body and it does not rescue a beer that fermented too warm, so if your last batch came out with a solventy or a banana thing going on, that's your temperature talking rather than your malt bill, and more extract in the next one just gives you the same fault with a fuller mouthfeel. Get the ferment steady first, then start playing with the malt.
If you're not sure which way to take a batch, ask us when you're in the shop and we'll talk it through with you.
Shop related products
- Coopers Dark Malt Extract 1.5kg. The tin this post is about. Pale and roasted malts, for stouts and dark ales.
- Coopers Original Stout 1.7kg. The kit the dark extract most often goes into.
- Coopers Original Dark Ale 1.7kg. A gentler dark beer if a full stout is more than you're after.
- Coopers Light Malt Extract 1.5kg. Body without the roast, and it blends with the dark one.
- Coopers Dextrose 1kg. Straight fermentable sugar, for when you want the alcohol and not the body.
Did you know we also keep a few malts in the shop that never made it onto the website. There's a dried dark malt, the Brewblend malt plus booster, the Brewblend stout booster, the Brewblend Irish stout blend, Gladfield medium crystal malted grain in 1kg, and the Coopers Wheat Malt 1.5kg tin. Give us a ring on (08) 8536 4333 to check what's on the shelf.
The rest of the range is in our homebrew collection, and if you want a hand working out what to put in the next batch, Brewhilder will talk you through it.
More from the homebrew blog
- Coopers Light Malt Extract, when to use it
- How to brew your own stout at home
- How to brew Coopers Original Dark Ale
Dark malt is the one I always want to put too much of into a batch, and I'm not sorry about that.
Cheers,
Candeece
