Thor

Recipes 

This may be a dumb question, but so be it...

I am an extract brewer. A few recipes I am considering call for "pale" extract, but some online stores only seem to sell "light" extract. Is it the same? Is it interchangeable?

Thanks!

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Enjoy!

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On-deck: an ESB; a Sierra Nevada Porter clone; an Irish Ale
Primary: cleaning
Secondary 1: Summer Wheat
Secondary 2: American Ale
Bottled/Conditioning: Lonely
Bottled/Drinking: Heineken clone w/Calif. Ale yeast; Fat Tire clone

Janx

Recipes 

Yes, in that case, pale and light are the same.

However, as a descriptor of a finished beer, they are very different. There are a lot of pale beers out there that have enormous bitterness and alcohol content and are anything but "light"

Cheers

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Oh don't give me none more of that Old Janx Spirit
No, don't you give me none more of that Old Janx Spirit
For my head will fly, my tongue will lie, my eyes will fry and I may die
Won't you pour me one more of that sinful Old Janx Spirit

drengel

Recipes 

pale is just a description of the color, so light/pale whatever you want to call it.

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drinking: mocha java porter, belgian pumpkin ale, Gary's oatmeal stout clone, AHS nut brown, catamount porter clone, double nut brown, rye pale ale, my oatmeal stout

conditioning: nut brown

next: saison, wit, american wheat, hefe, kolsch, blonde

gone: too damn many

SteveM

Recipes 

And to further muddle the picture, a pale ale is not necessarily pale like a Bud. They are pale compared to stouts and the like. It's all relative.

Janx

Recipes 

And in fact, extract is never very pale at all...you can't make a Pilsner with extract for example.

__________________
Oh don't give me none more of that Old Janx Spirit
No, don't you give me none more of that Old Janx Spirit
For my head will fly, my tongue will lie, my eyes will fry and I may die
Won't you pour me one more of that sinful Old Janx Spirit

david_42

Recipes 

They are the same for straight extract. Ditto, ultralight and extra pale.

However, if a kit is described as being a light ale, it probably contains wheat extract or rice syrup.

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Remember one unassailable statistic, as explained by the late, great George Carlin: "Just think of how stupid the average person is, and then realize half of them are even stupider!"