Home Brew using the Malt Extract Technique

The benefits of Malt Extract Brewing

Beer Kits are a great way to start making your own beer but do lack the flexibility and control of the more advanced brewing methods such as Malt Extract brewing and All Grain (Full Mash) brewing. Malt extract brewing is where we start to gain more control over the finished beer and it is also a cost effective step up from brewing with beer kits.

Additional Equipment required for Malt Extract brewing

Assuming that you already have the equipment necessary for making commercial beer kits you will need in addition a boiler. This is basically like a large kettle with upward of a 5 gallon capacity containing either one or two heat elements. There are numerous models available from your home brew shop. Alternatively a large pan and a suitable hob style heater can be used. The other main bit of kit required is a wort cooler, the most cost efficient being one that is fashioned from a coil of copper tubing. This rapidly reduces the temperature of the hot liquor allowing the fermentation process to start as soon as possible therefore protecting the liquor from bacterial infection. There are various methods for wort cooling and some home brewers basically let the wort cool naturally overnight in a sealed fermenter.

Let's Make Beer with Malt Extract

Ingredients

Malt extract comes in either liquid concentrate form or dried (spraymalt). There are also different categories of malt extract, usually light, medium and dark. Light extract is ideal for most types of beers in particular lighter beers and lagers. Medium extract is usually the choice for bitters and slightly heavier beverages while dark extract is more generally used in stouts, porters and milds. Malts are basicly barley which has been kilned to different degrees, the longer the kilning, the darker the colour. This is then prepared into either spray malt or concentrate for use in malt extract brewing eliminating the mashing process for the end user.

Liquid Malt Extract usually contains about 20% water therefore 5kg of liquid malt extract is the equivalent of 4kg of dried malt extract.

Although malt extract brewing offers the home brewer relative flexibility in creating recipes there are some limitations to the ingredients that can be used at this stage. Cereal Adjuncts that require enzymic conversion through the mashing process can not be used. This includes ingredients such as torrified and flaked wheats, flaked barley and flaked maize.

Hops are also required. A wide variety of hops are now available and readily stocked at your home brew store.

In some recipes you may also be required to add extra sugar.

The final ingredient is a fining agent such as Irish Moss or Protofloc. These are used to remove the unwanted proteins that develop while boiling.

Where do I start ?

If you are new to this process the best place to start is with a malt extract kit available from your home brew store. Once familiar with the practise of malt extract brewing it is worth checking out recipe lists, many of which can be found on the internet or in home brew books. As your practical knowledge becomes more advanced you will find yourself altering recipes and eventually experimenting with your own recipes.

It is good practise to keep detailed notes of your brewing process so should you need to re-create your perfect beer your recipe will be at hand. Notes should be taken on temperatures, ingredients, boil times, hop introductions, yeast types etc. It is also good to include a section on tasting notes.

Water

The water you use can have a great effect on the quality of the beer produced. Water treatment is an art form in itself therefore I am writing a seperate article on this subject which I will publish in the next few days. This will be well worth reading before starting your beer. In some areas the water is fine straight from the tap with little or no treatment however this all depends on your geographic location. Certain minerals and additives such as chlorine found in water can have a detremental effect on the outcome of your perfect beer. I have often purchased budget bottles of mineral water from my local supermarket to avoid treating water to great effect. On many occasions all that is needed is to boil the water that is going to be used the evening before brew day.

The Boil

Fill your boiler with the required amount of water. If you are using flavouring grains such as chocolate malt or roasted barley etc., fill a hop bag (muslin fine mesh bag) with the required amounts of the grains and add to the boiler while heating up allowing them to steep. These will need to steep in the water for about half an hour. If the water reaches around 77°C turn off the boiler and allow the flavouring grains to continue steeping for the full half hour. Once the half hour or so is up remove the hop bag.

Make sure the heat is turned off and add the required quantity of malt extract, dry malt extract and sugars (if required). The heat must be turned off to avoid burning the extract on the hot element or bottom of your boiler. Stir in the malt extract to help dissolve it.

Turn on the boiler and bring to the boil. You may find that a head forms on the liquor therefore it is important to keep a watch on all parts of the boil. If it looks as though it is going to boil over the top of the boiler or pan you can either turn off the heat or use a fine spray of water to ease the head development. This threat of a boil over can last between 5-15minutes. Once boiling add your first quantity of hops. These will be your bittering hops and require a long boil to extract the bittering alpha acids. Again, on adding your first quantity of hops you may find that a boil over is possible. This again will eventually subside after several minutes but you will need to keep an eye on it.

With about 20 minutes left to the end of the boil time we need to add our Irish Moss or Protofloc. These are known as Copper Finings, the Copper being brewers speak for the boiler. These finings attach themselves to proteins that have been created throughout the boil and helps them settle out of the liquor.

In the last 10 minutes of the boil it is time to add the aroma hops. It is important that these are not added to soon as we do not want to boil out the resins that create the flavours. Also at this time if you are using a copper wort chiller it is time to immerse this as the boiling water will sterilise the tubing. (The wort chiller should be washed before hand though !)

Boil for a total time is usually recommended at 90 minutes.

Wort Cooling

Now it is time to chill the completed wort. The quicker the better as we do not want any unwanted bacteria entering the wort. If you are using a copper tubed wort chiller it is now time to connect the water supply and run it through. This process usually takes between 20-30 minutes to get the wort down to a fermentable temperature.

Transfer the cooled wort to your fermenter vessel then continue the fermenting process here.