10 Tips for Better Extract Brewing
Extract brewing is a great technique for brewing fantastic beers in less time and with less equipment than is generally necessary for brewing all-grain beer. Even for those who usually brew all-grain, the occasional extract brew session can be a great way to brew up a quick batch when the time for an all-grain brew day simply isn’t available. I’ve found that although basic extract brewing is a fairly straightforward process, there are a few common pitfalls that can hold extract brewers back. The tips that I’m going to outline here will help you avoid some of these common problems and, together with the great variety of high quality fresh malt extracts available, will allow you to bring out the full potential of your extract beers.
1. Use Fresh Extract
This may seem like an obvious tip, however, one of the biggest contributors to the sometimes bad reputation that haunts extract brewing is the use of extracts that are not as fresh as they could be. This is especially true with liquid malt extract (LME), which has a shorter shelf life than dried malt extract (DME) and tends to darken in color and taste stale over time. Try to find a retailer that moves their product and always has fresh inventory. Liquid malt extract is only good for a couple of months once it’s been opened. Dried malt extract lasts longer, but don’t use it if it’s more than a year old. Brewing with fresh extract will help you avoid the infamous “extract twang.”
2. Heat with Care
When brewing with extracts, take great care not to scorch the extract in the brew kettle as this will create an instantly recognizable burnt or acrid off flavor. When using liquid extract, which sinks to the bottom, remove the kettle from the heat source when you add the extract, and be certain
that the extract is completely dissolved before returning the kettle to the heat.
3. Do a Full Wort Boil
There has been some debate about this topic, but in my opinion if you’re doing concentrated boils you’re never going to produce flawless beers. If you’re brewing 5 gallons (19 L) of beer, then you should start with at least 6 gallons (23 L) of wort, and this is particularly true for very pale-colored and/or very hoppy beers.
A concentrated boil can work against you in a number of ways. One result of a concentrated boil is increased melanoidin formation via the Maillard reaction (often incorrectly referred to as “kettle caramelization”), which produces a darker colored beer and may also change the flavor profile in undesirable ways. A concentrated boil will also decrease hop utilization, which can leave you with an under bittered, unbalanced beer if lower hop utilization is not considered. If you can’t fit all of your wort into one kettle, or can’t get it all to boil over one burner, split it into two kettles (aka the “Texas two-step” method). If you must do a concentrated boil, consider utilizing a late extract addition (reserving a portion of your extract and adding it at the end of the boil), which can help combat some of the problems that arise with a concentrated boil.
4. Formulate Recipes Like an All-Grain Brewer
When an all-grain brewer builds a recipe, they start with a pale base malt and then add specialty grains and/or adjuncts as necessary, even for the darkest beers, and a great extract brewer should do the same. The problem with many malt extracts is that you don’t always know what’s in them. Say, for example, that you’re making a stout and you decide to start with a can or jug of “dark” extract — well, what exactly is in that extract, and in what proportions? Does it contain roasted barley? Black patent malt? Who knows. And now you’re going to add your own specialty grains on top of what is already in the extract and you’re basically taking a shot in the dark (pun intended).
Many extract brewers who pay attention to their attenuation find that they have problems getting the wort down to their desired final gravity. This is due to the fact that extracts containing a lot of specialty grains tend to be less fermentable than either all-grain wort or lighter extracts with simpler formulations. In order to avoid these problems, use extract in a recipe the same way that an all-grain brewer uses a base malt. Every extract beer, regardless of the style, should be based on either extra light or Pilsen extract. Extra light extract is generally nothing but good quality 2-row base malt, plus or minus a touch of Carapils®, while Pilsen
extract is generally nothing but Pilsner malt, again plus or minus a touch of Carapils®.
5. Use Specialty Grains Appropriately
Extract brewers have a tendency to overuse specialty grains in my experience. Care should be taken to use specialty grains in instances where they are appropriate, and in the appropriate quantities, and to not use them where they are not called for. Crystal (aka caramel or cara) malts in particular seem to be overused. Crystal malts can be useful additions in many styles of beer, and when used judiciously can improve head retention, body, mouthfeel, color, and balance of flavor. However, crystal malts are not appropriate in every style of beer. Even when they are appropriate, too much crystal malt can overwhelm the beer, leading to high final gravities and/or throwing off the balance.
Additionally, not every specialty grain is appropriate for steeping. Technically, the only grains that can and should be steeped are those that have already had their starches converted by the action of enzymes and/or heat. This includes the crystal/caramel/cara malts, and roasted grains like chocolate malt, black patent malt, Carafa® malt, and roasted barley; everything else really needs to be mashed. Trying to steep grains like oatmeal or Munich malt will add unconverted starch to your beer, which is not doing it any favors.
Unconverted starch can make it more difficult to produce a brilliantly clear beer, in addition to decreasing the beer’s shelf stability and increasing the risk of an infection taking hold. If you want to include grains in your extract beer, aside from the ones listed, do a mini mash or a partial mash.
6. Use Partial Mashes
Partial or mini mashes are techniques that intimidate many extract brewers and they absolutely should not. A lot of extract brewers love steeping grains, but the word “mash” sends them running for the hills; in reality doing a small mash is no more difficult than steeping. Employing a mini mash or partial mash opens up a whole new world of ingredients to the extract brewer, which can significantly increase the range of styles they can successfully brew as well as improve the overall quality of their beer. A few pounds or kilograms of grain can easily be mashed on the stovetop in a muslin or nylon strainer bag (the so-called “brew-in-a-bag” method that is becoming ever more popular with the all-grain crowd). This really takes no more effort than performing a steep and is basically the same procedure, aside from the fact that you need to pay more attention to your water volume and temperature in order to make sure you are achieving the proper enzymatic conversion. For example, say you want to add a pound (0.45 kg) of oatmeal to your stout, a simple mini mash procedure would be as follows: Place one pound (0.45 kg) of crushed 2-row base malt (a source of diastatic enzymes to convert the starch in the oatmeal) and your pound of oatmeal into a strainer bag, and steep it in 1.5–2 quarts (~1.5-2 L) of water per pound of grain (so 3–4 quarts/L of water total) at 150–155 °F (66–68 °C) for 45–60 minutes. You can then remove the bag, let it drain, and add the resulting wort to your brew kettle with the rest of your water before adding your extract.
7. Use DME Instead of LME When Possible
I touched on this earlier, but this is important enough to warrant a full tip. I also acknowledge that this tip may not always be possible to follow, as some types of extract are only available in liquid form. That said, I generally prefer DME to LME for a number of reasons. Because it doesn’t sink like LME, DME is less prone to scorching in the kettle, which will protect the flavor and color of your beer. Dried malt extracts are also more shelf stable than liquid malt extracts; they tend to stay lighter in color, and fresher tasting far longer, and they
are less susceptible to the effects of suboptimal storage conditions. Even under ideal conditions, pale or light liquid extracts will never be able to produce beers that are as light in color as those made with extra light
or Pilsen DME. And while this will not apply to everyone, to those who like to purchase ingredients in bulk, large packages of DME can be purchased, measured out for recipes, resealed and stored longer and with less mess than liquid extracts (I used to do this with 55-pound/25-kg) boxes of extra light DME). For those who homebrew often, this can be both more convenient and more economical than buying extract in smaller quantities. It should be noted that DME is extremely hygroscopic (i.e., it absorbs water from the environment), so if exposed to air for any length of time it will become sticky and clumped. However, if kept tightly sealed in plastic and stored in a cool, dry place, it will remain fresh and easy to work with for months. Liquid extract, on the other hand, will darken in color, and once opened can become moldy, rendering it unusable.
8. Use Good Water
Extract brewing, in general, is more forgiving than all-grain brewing in regards to water chemistry. However, it should be obvious that in order to brew great tasting beer, you need to start with great tasting water.
Municipal tap water, in many instances, is perfectly acceptable for brewing extract beer. However, if your water smells or tastes off then you need to consider either treating it in some way to remove the offensive characteristics, or find an alternative water source. Many municipalities use chlorine to treat their water, which is easily removed by boiling; however, many use chloramine, which is more stable and cannot be removed by boiling. You can, however, remove chloramine in tap water using Campden tablets (potassium or sodium meta-bisulfite). Add them to your brewing water at a dosage of one tablet for every 20 gallons (76 L) of water.
Carbon filtering is also a great way to remove chloramine and other unwanted chemicals from your water. Alternatively, any good bottled drinking water would be perfectly fine to use in extract brewing.
9. Consider Upgrades
I’ve heard it countless times — homebrewers who switched from extract brewing to all-grain brewing who saw an improvement in their beer, and proclaimed “I knew it, the extract was holding me back.” If you start asking questions, however, what you’ll often find is that all-grain isn’t the only reason their beers improved. Often these homebrewers not only switched from extract to all-grain, but they also improved their overall brewing, fermenting, and packaging processes at the same time. For example, they switched from a concentrated boil to a full wort boil and perhaps got a more powerful burner. They may have also started oxygenating their wort better, chilling their wort faster, controlling their fermentation temperatures, making yeast starters, and so on. They may have even switched from bottling to kegging, which can decrease oxygen exposure at packaging (one of the most pervasive flaws in homebrewed beer). Any of these changes can lead to significant improvements in the overall quality and presentation of your beer. In other words, if someone were to change some or all of these variables and come to the conclusion that the improvement they saw was due to going all-grain, they would be seriously misguided. All of the general concepts that apply to brewing great beer are just as true whether you’re brewing extract or all-grain. If you’re not already giving serious consideration to these issues, then now is the time to start.
10. Respect Extract
Extract brewing can get less respect than all-grain because the mashing is essentially already done for you. This stigma can extend to believing that extract brewing is a shortcut to brewing and that it’s ok to cut corners — not so. Yes, a batch of extract homebrew takes less time than an all-grain brew day, but that doesn’t mean you should skip over getting your gravities right or paying attention to time and temperatures. Take extract brew days seriously and be a stickler for details and better beers will result.
