Barley Malt Extract (Syrup)

I have some questions regarding barley malt extract (syrup) and I thought this would be a good place to ask about it.

For beer making, are there different manufacturers of barley malt extract (the chocolate-looking syrup)? Or is there just one company that makes it and different distributors buy it from that one company? If there are different companies who make barley malt extract would it follow that each company's barley malt extract has its own unique flavor?

And is it true that barley malt extract used by brewers is not the same as the barley malt syrup sold in health food stores? I read on another forum where a brewer said that he/she used barley malt extract from a health food store on one occasion and on that occasion his/her beer failed. It got very foamy and was flat. This brewer said this hadn't happened before and the only change was the barley malt extract syrup. So this brewer was also asking the question I'm asking about a difference between health food store barley malt syrup and brewer's barley malt syrup.

The reason for my questions: I’m looking for a particular barley malt extract for its unique flavor (for bread baking and used by a bakery in my area). I was told by this bakery that they get their barley malt extract from “a beer company on the East Coast” (but I think they meant a brewer supply company) and they told me it looks like chocolate syrup. They implied all barley malt extract is the same, but I know from my experience so far (having tried 3 different brands) that they are not all the same. That’s all I have to go on from this bakery. None of the barley malt extracts in my local stores have the same flavor of the barley malt extract I’m looking for. But for my research, I thought I would start with these questions.

Thanks in advance for your help.

There are many different types of LMEs (Liquid Malt Extract is the term we use) processed by a handful of malting houses around the world. There are pure versions of it, made with a single grain, as well as some that are blended from various types of grains that were processed differently to produce different colors and flavors.

And every maltser's extract will indeed taste different.

Also LME is categorized usually by color, from Light to dark, and these differ in flavors from very light malt flavor all the way to those having a burnt caramel/roasted coffee/nut/chocolate notes to it.

The barley malt syrup from the health food stores IS the same thing as we use, EXCEPT it tends only to come in one color grade. Additionally my understanding is the stuff in a health food stores tends to be of a lesser quality that what we use. Basically a maltser will use some of the lesser quality extract for the health food and baking industry- Flaws would be more noticeable in beers than foods or adjunct sweeteners in coffee.

Additionally some LME comes pre-hopperd. And even during prohibition it was sold to be used (supposedly) for baking, there were even cook books sold that called for hopped LME.

There's way too many blends and versions and grades to narrow down. You'll need specifics, there should be a name on the stuff your bakery...It's a food ingredient afterall and therefore regulated, so the container SHOULD be labeled, and it should say the type, and who made it or who distributed it. THEN we can nail it down...but not with such scant information.

One of the most "famous" malt extracts used in the baking industry is from Premier Malt Products, which used to be "Blue Ribbon Malt Extract" which if you're familiar with Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer- it's the extract that they brewery made and sold to stay alive during prohibition. They are located in Michigan and their website is here.

They produced a cookbook back then-



There's a good possibility that the bakery uses theirs even if they got it through a brewer's supply house.

But they should be able to tell you what labelling is on their containers, or a shipping or ordering manifest from them should give you some more info.

If you give us some more info we might be able to help. But their are literally hundreds of types of LMEs out there. Some brwer's supply stores buy various pure grades and custom blend for their beer kits. So narrowing it down with no info is going to be nigh impossible.

If you can find more clues, feel free to post in here, or private message me and Ill see what I can do to help.

To give you an idea, this is the list of the LMEs that Premier shows on the website I listed above.

MALT EXTRACTS & SYRUPS
Natural Hopped Flavor - Light (1kg) Code #70261-00002
Natural Hopped Flavor - Dark (1kg) Code #70261-00003
Natural Hopped Flavor - Pale Dry (1kg) Code #70261-00006
Natural Hopped Flavor - Extra Pale (1kg) Code #70261-00001
Natural Hopped Flavor - Plain (1kg) Code #70261-00004

Diastatic Liquid Diamalt®
Code #2401 & 2402
Non-diastatic Liquid Diamalt® Code #2406 & 2407
Non-diastatic Liquid Diamalt® Code #2416 & 2417
Dry Diastatic Diamalt® Code #2540 & 2541

Non-diastatic Malt Extract Code #ND-201
Non-diastatic Malt Extract Dark Code #ND-201-DK
Dry Malt Extract Code #DME
Dry Malt Extract Code #DME-DK
Dry Malt Extract Code #DME-LT

Non-diastatic Malt Syrup Code #ND-201-C
Non-diastatic Malt Syrup Code #ND-201-CDK
Non-diastatic Malt Syrup Code #PREMOSE
Non-diastatic Dry Spramalt Code #2504
Non-diastatic Dry Spramalt Code #2508
Non-diastatic Dry Powdered Malt Code #DCME
Non-diastatic Dry Powdered Malt Code #DMCE

Click to expand...

That includes both Liquid and Dry Malt Extract (a powdered from of it.)

Hello Revvy,

Thank you so much for all that. Very, very helpful.

The bakery I wrote about is not going to give me any more information, unfortunately. I had to pry that much out of them and their ingredients' list just reads "barley malt extract" and the other few ingredients. They consider the barley malt extract part of their trade secret. It's a major flavor part of the bread. I felt I was pushing it just getting that much out of them. I'll look into Premier Malt Products and see if I can order some from them. I'll let you know how it turns out. Thanks again for your help.

Hello Revvy,

I was hoping Premier Malt Products would sell it on their website, but they don't appear to do that. Would you happen to know of a brewer's supply house which sells Premier Malt Products online? Thanks.

Your best bet would be to use the contact information on their website and either call or write to them directly. At least one premier malt LME is available in many grocery stores around the country. But I really couldn't go beyond that. Premier would let you know who their retailers are.

To put it shortly, brewers malt extract is suppose to be of higher quality than a standard baking malt extract.

Unmalted barley syrup is used in many Macro brews it is much lighter in color. Black malt extract is just that BLACK and is used to adjust color and add roasted flavors.