Extract brewing recipe - can this be right?

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ElyIrishBrew

ElyIrishBrew

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Hey all:

About to start my very first brew, a Muntons Connoisseurs Export Pilsner. Now, I've read widely on this forum and a couple books, so I'm confident I have a good enough grasp of the details of basic brewing. And the instructions are quite easy to understand and follow. But it says I need to add 2.2 pounds of sugar during primary fermentation. Well, the can has hopped malt extract containing malted barley, hops and water. I thought that was all that was needed for the yeast to work and ferment beer.

Help me out here? Thanks. Below I've listed the pertinent directions contained inside the canister.

2. Stand the can in hot water for 5 minutes to soften the contents. Then start boiling 3.5 liters of water.
3. Open the can and pour the contents into your cleaned and sterilized fermenter.
4. Add the boiling water to the fermenter.
5. Add 2.2 lbs of sugar (preferably brewing sugar).
6. Thoroughly mix the fermenter's contents to dissolve the sugar and malt extract.
7. Add 17.5 litres of cold water to bring the volume up to 5 UK gallons. Stir and leave to stand until the temperature reaches 65-70 F.
8. Sprinkle in the yeast supplied and stir.
 
I have never made one of these canned brews, but I know a lot of the cans themselves don't have enough fermentables themselves. For 5 gallons you normally see around 6lbs of fermentables, give or take and I think most cans are like 3.5lbs. So the sugar is normally added. I would suggest either using two cans instead of the sugar, or 2 or 3 lbs of DME instead of the sugar. If you don't have those the sugar is fine. I would also suggest boiling everything, not just mixing into the primary.
 
If you don't add anything further, sugar or more dry malt extract, it will be a very weak beer.

If you can get some dry malt extract that would be better, but, since this is your first beer, just add sugar and understand it might not be the greatest beer ever, but you'll probably love, because you made it. Table sugar will work if that's what you have.
 
I have brewed that exact recipe before. If you add the sugar, it will boost the ABV a bit but add virtually nothing to the flavor. If you use DME, it adds to the ABV and it also adds more flavor to the beer. Either way, the can is likely 3.3 or 3.5 lbs (depending on which can you have) of extract so without adding anything, it will be a bit lighter than intended. Several brewing buddies actually add 4 lbs. of DME to that recipe and get some astounding results . . . lots of flavor and lots of ABV, they also add more hops . . . of course, those guys are all about getting hammered with high IBU beer.

Suggest going with 2.2 lbs of DME if you can, unless you want a slightly lighter flavor that the sugar will provide.
 
Thanks for the explanations, folks. If I go with added DME, I have to order it and wait for it to be shipped (rural area 2 hours from any bigger city with brewing supplies). So, is any DME like any other, or does it need to be tailored to this particular beer?
 
Hella_Sinful said:
I Suggest going with 2.2 lbs of DME if you can, unless you want a slightly lighter flavor that the sugar will provide.
Click to expand...

Based on the numbers, 3lb of DME would be better, not 2.2. 2.2lb of sugar will add about 100 sugar points, to get that you need about 3lb of DME, 2.2lb will only add 80 points

Back to the OP's original question yes 1 can of LME with about 1KG (2.2 lb) of sugar (white or brown) will give you a typical beer and beer level - about 4-4.5% It will be better than the store beer (usually) but not the better store stuff. Using all malt is better.
 
So I'm looking at ordering DME (3 lb bags). off one of the forum sponsor's web sites. Should I get the gold or the amber for this pilsner? I also have a nut brown ale Muntons kit, so will need to get 3 more lbs of DME for that. I reckon the dark DME is appropriate for this one?

I'm going to go the DME route instead of suger. I know I'll be happier in the end.
 
ElyIrishBrew said:
Thanks for the explanations, folks. If I go with added DME, I have to order it and wait for it to be shipped (rural area 2 hours from any bigger city with brewing supplies). So, is any DME like any other, or does it need to be tailored to this particular beer?
Click to expand...

Use a light, extra light or pilsner style DME to avoid adding unwanted characters from crystal and dark malts, normally found in amber and dark extracts.
 
Shooter said:
Use a light, extra light or pilsner style DME to avoid adding unwanted characters from crystal and dark malts, normally found in amber and dark extracts.
Click to expand...

Thanks! I'll go with the gold DME for the pilsner and the dark DME for the nut brown ale.
 
ElyIrishBrew said:
Thanks! I'll go with the gold DME for the pilsner and the dark DME for the nut brown ale.
Click to expand...

Generally, it's not necessary to go with anything more than light DME with any of the kits as the dark malts are already included in the canned portion of the extract. However, if you want to experiment with darker additions, there's no reason you can't do that. :mug:
 
ElyIrishBrew said:
Hey all:

About to start my very first brew, a Muntons Connoisseurs Export Pilsner. Now, I've read widely on this forum and a couple books, so I'm confident I have a good enough grasp of the details of basic brewing. And the instructions are quite easy to understand and follow. But it says I need to add 2.2 pounds of sugar during primary fermentation. Well, the can has hopped malt extract containing malted barley, hops and water. I thought that was all that was needed for the yeast to work and ferment beer.

Help me out here? Thanks. Below I've listed the pertinent directions contained inside the canister.

2. Stand the can in hot water for 5 minutes to soften the contents. Then start boiling 3.5 liters of water.
3. Open the can and pour the contents into your cleaned and sterilized fermenter.
4. Add the boiling water to the fermenter.
5. Add 2.2 lbs of sugar (preferably brewing sugar).
6. Thoroughly mix the fermenter's contents to dissolve the sugar and malt extract.
7. Add 17.5 litres of cold water to bring the volume up to 5 UK gallons. Stir and leave to stand until the temperature reaches 65-70 F.
8. Sprinkle in the yeast supplied and stir.
Click to expand...

I'd go with either 1kg(2.2lb), or 3 lb of DME. The can alone wont get your OG high enough to give you a decent ABV once you start fermenting. A rule of thumb I always use is whenever I'm adding a kg of corn sugar, I always add between 5 and 8 oz of maltodextrin to give the beer more of a body. Corn sugar only ferments to ethanol and really thins out your beer. Good luck!
 
Shooter said:
Generally, it's not necessary to go with anything more than light DME with any of the kits as the dark malts are already included in the canned portion of the extract. However, if you want to experiment with darker additions, there's no reason you can't do that. :mug:
Click to expand...

Thanks. So if I use a dark DME for the nut brown ale, will that make it darker/nuttier? What do you guys think?
 
ElyIrishBrew said:
Thanks. So if I use a dark DME for the nut brown ale, will that make it darker/nuttier? What do you guys think?
Click to expand...

Darker, but not necessarily nuttier. The nutty flavor comes from a specific sort of malt that is used. Usually you need steeping grains to get that for extract brews. You need steeping grains for AG also, it is just handled differently.
 
ACbrewer said:
Darker, but not necessarily nuttier. The nutty flavor comes from a specific sort of malt that is used. Usually you need steeping grains to get that for extract brews. You need steeping grains for AG also, it is just handled differently.
Click to expand...

Cool. I read up on steeping grains and looked at a lot of recipe kits using them, but figured I'd go extract with my first few to keep it simpler. If this gets to be a big part of my life as time goes on, I'll be doing a good bit more experimentation.
 
ElyIrishBrew said:
Cool. I read up on steeping grains and looked at a lot of recipe kits using them, but figured I'd go extract with my first few to keep it simpler. If this gets to be a big part of my life as time goes on, I'll be doing a good bit more experimentation.
Click to expand...

Your signature quote says it all.....it WILL become a big part of your life :) Welcome to the addiction!!
 
Another thought occurred to me. If the can only has about half the fermentables that the 6-gallon recipe calls for, could I just brew a smaller batch with what's there? It makes 5 UK gallons (6 US gallons), so maybe a batch of 4 US gallons would work? Thoughts?
 
ElyIrishBrew said:
Another thought occurred to me. If the can only has about half the fermentables that the 6-gallon recipe calls for, could I just brew a smaller batch with what's there? It makes 5 UK gallons (6 US gallons), so maybe a batch of 4 US gallons would work? Thoughts?
Click to expand...

You can do that, but the hop and malt profiles won't be balanced. The recipe was created with adding additional fermentables and a five to six gallon batch size in mind.
 
Turns out there's an organic foods co-op store only 50 miles from me that has a full home wine and beer brewing selection. I'll be heading there today or tomorrow. If they don't have DME, I'll just pick up a full recipe kit for something else, put the current kits on the shelf and order the DME for those online.

Kinda want to get this brewing thing started. :mug:
 
If you're going to get a whole 'nuther kit when you go, you might as well try to get one that has hops as a separate addition (not already included in the extract) and steeping grains. Neither adds any significant complication to the process other than that you have to watch the clock and temperature a bit more, and will get you better beer at the end. My first brew was a kit with steeping grains and timed hop additions, and I was certainly not overwhelmed, even though I applied a (not recommended) "brew first, ask questions later" approach. Beer still turned out fine, and I had better questions to ask afterwards since I'd already fumbled through it once.
 
ElyIrishBrew - if you can't find a 3lb bag of DME, but can find a 3.3 can of LME you can use that instead they are close in total sugar points. A typical extract beer will have about 6lb of DME or 6.6 lb of LME or similar. Specific recipies might call for more or less, but usually about 6lb is a good rule of thumb as a basis - at least until you start looking at other recipies. Your first beer concentrate on good sanitation.
 
wordsmith said:
If you're going to get a whole 'nuther kit when you go, you might as well try to get one that has hops as a separate addition (not already included in the extract) and steeping grains. Neither adds any significant complication to the process other than that you have to watch the clock and temperature a bit more, and will get you better beer at the end. My first brew was a kit with steeping grains and timed hop additions, and I was certainly not overwhelmed, even though I applied a (not recommended) "brew first, ask questions later" approach. Beer still turned out fine, and I had better questions to ask afterwards since I'd already fumbled through it once.
Click to expand...

I may indeed do that. It's a direction I intend to move in anyway as I get more experienced and want to customize recipes. Figured I'd keep it as simple as possible for the first couple of batches, but using a full brewing kit is pretty simple stuff as long as a few things are closely controlled. This trip I'll buy the malt extract if they have it, and will only buy another recipe kit if they don't have the ME.

ACbrewer said:
ElyIrishBrew - if you can't find a 3lb bag of DME, but can find a 3.3 can of LME you can use that instead they are close in total sugar points. A typical extract beer will have about 6lb of DME or 6.6 lb of LME or similar. Specific recipies might call for more or less, but usually about 6lb is a good rule of thumb as a basis - at least until you start looking at other recipies. Your first beer concentrate on good sanitation.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I'll remember that!

Nother question. What kind of ballpark alcohol content will I be looking at if I use DMR or LME to bolster the export pilsner recipe I mentioned in the original post? How would that compare with adding straight sugar?
 
Picked up two 3-lb bags of DME. Both are Muntons Spraymalt Extract. One is plain light, with a 10 EBC (this will go in the nut brown). The other is plain extra light, with 7 EBC, for the pilsner. Thanks for your help, everyone. :)

Gott check my schedule for the next several days, but I'm getting kinda excited and think I'll be brewing this weekend. :D
 
Ely - off hand with 3lb of DME and 3.3 of LME you should end up with an OG about 1.045 and and FG about 1.011 (these are rough numbers, I might be off by a point or 2 on either) Anyhow, with that you should have a ABV about 4.2% (maybe upper 3.9 to 4.5 as a range)
 

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