Preparing Malt Extract for Use

**Seven** · 01-08-2011, 01:50 PM

Sorry if this has already been answered somewhere. I searched and couldn't find it.

I'm brewing my first extract brews this weekend and was curious if anyone had any suggestions on how to loosen up this thick malt syrup for easy pouring into my wort.

http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewing/northern-brewer-gold-malt-syrup.html

I've seen videos before where people place a CAN of malt syrup into some hot water to loosen it up before using... but I'm concerned about placing these plastic containers in warm or hot water.

Also, if a lot of the malt extract stays attached to the inside of the plastic bottle when I pour it - how hard should I try to get every little bit out of the bottle? I'm wondering if I should even cut the bottles apart so I can scrape the extract from the sides of the bottles.

Thanks for any advice for this brewing noob!

S.

**Ace_Club** · 01-08-2011, 01:57 PM

I find that if you empty the containers of the room temperature syrup, you can get the remaining out by adding a cup of hot water, capping and shaking. Repeat as necessary to dissolve the stuff stuck to the sides of the container.

EKennett · 01-08-2011, 03:22 PM

Best bet is to put it NEAR thee flame while the water heats up. Turn it occasionally so all sides get some heat. Pour in as much as your can (turn off the flame before you add the syrup so it doesn't get scorched on the bottom of the kettle). Then if you have a valve on your kettle, use it to add some warm liquid from the kettle into the syrup container. Shake it up and pour it back in. Repeat as necessary to get all the syrup out.

**Seven** · 01-08-2011, 10:47 PM

@Ace_Club, @EKennett:

Excellent advice from both of you... the adding hot water / wort from the kettle valve then swishing to get every last bit of syrup worked like a champ.

Thank you!!!

DarthGoose · 01-09-2011, 12:31 AM

I just brewed with NB gold malt syrup and it found in effective to run some hot water in the sink and let it sit for a few minutes to heat up. You don't really need to worry about the plastic too much, it's the same food grade plastic that they put pasteurized (read: boiling) milk into, so plasticizers shouldn't leach out even if you are using very hot water. I added a little more hot water and shook it around with the lid on to dissolve the extra LME still stuck to the sides.

**Seven** · 01-09-2011, 03:38 AM

I had visions of melted plastic in my brew if I got these plastic bottles anywhere near hot water. I added very hot wort from my brew kettle (as suggested) to get all of the syrup out and I didn't notice any melted plastic smell at all.

Thanks again for the help!

**cappy** · 01-09-2011, 12:57 PM

That's what I do. Soak the sealed tub in very hot water. Then add some wort, put the cap on and shake. Usually gets it all.

Carter1932 · 01-09-2011, 08:19 PM

So for the first time today I brewed an extract beer, an Oktoberfest lager.

I have an old gas oven with a constant pilot light, so I set my LME in the oven so that it would warm nice as the ambient temperature in the oven with it off is around 85˚. That worked nice.

After slowly stirring in LME I submerged the contain in the hot wort to loosen up the remaining LME.

FWIW, I just weighed the containers I threw out after this extract brew. The 3.2 lb containers had a residual weight of 2.6 oz., that includes the weight of the plastic container. The 6 lbs container's residual weight was 4.6 oz, including container.

Probably should have dipped the containers in wort or hot liquid one last time to get those last few ounces.

**MisterGreen** · 01-11-2011, 05:01 PM

I just sit the container in hot tap water and then use one of these

**Old_E** · 01-11-2011, 05:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MisterGreen

I just sit the container in hot tap water and then use one of these

I haven't used LME in ages, but I used to remove the labels and set them in a pot of hot water for a little bit. The majority poured right out.