Best recipes for extract brewing?

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

petep1980

Supporting Member
HBT Supporter
Joined
Nov 4, 2008
Messages
1,899
Reaction score
21
Are there any killer recipes out there, or styles which lend themselves well to extract brewing. AG is kicking my ass. The beers turn out better than imagined, and I have all the equipment, but 5 hours start to finish is a bit much.
 
IMHO. Stouts make great extract brews and there are a ton of recipes for them. Belgian Dubbels in my opinion also make a good extract brew, the steeping grain bills are usually simple and the yeast lend most of the flavor characteristics. I know it is hard te make a true Witbier with extract, but there are some really good Witbier recipes that are worthy.
 
I've done creme ales, scottish ales, a pLambic, stouts, bitters, grand cru, and hefe. Almost all turned out excellent. I had a ginger brown ale that was not terrific and a GF beer that got infected.
 
Basically as long as you're not looking for a complex malt profile I should be able to swing this? Such as an American Amber ale? That should be a piece of cake extract right?
 
In my opinion, it's not the style of recipe that makes or breaks a good extract beer. It's the age and quality of the extract.

Even some brewpubs only brew with extract. There are some homebrewers who only brew with extract that have won first place in competitions.

A couple of keys: use only the freshest and lightest extract you can. Get color and flavor from freshly crushed steeping grains. If doing a partial boil, add the extract later in the boil, to avoid malliard reactions that will cause an extract-y taste. Boil the largest amount of wort that you can. A full boil tends to be better tasting.
 
what yooper said.

for what it's worth, i've more or less specialized in making extract tripels.
 
I'm into Belgians right now and have brewed AG (BIAB), all DME, all LME, steep soup-to-nuts. From counting the pages in my log book I have 46 batches under my belt of various lagers and ales, kits and scratch. I'd say Belgians are the easiest and the hardest. (From scratch) Easy to make a Dubbel, hard to make a trippel; even harder to make a strong ale (like Duvel).

But, the Dubbels are soooooo good.
 
Back
Top