Help with extract types and brands.

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AHammer16

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I'm lookin' at page 118 in clone brews by Szamatulski and I am planning on doing the heinekin clone. In this book and any other recipie book they differentiate between diffrent brands of extracts. Why? In the recipie it calls for Bierkeller light malt syrup, where can i find it or what is a reasonable substitute for it. It also calls for M&F DME. Is there a comparison chart some where for malt extracts or is there some way of combining other extracts and adjuncts to mimic a certain extract?

Second question: What is the rule of thumb when doubling a recipie? Do you double the hops? do you do a straight doubling of the extract and specialty grain bill?

Thanks again all.
 
I am just a newb, but I believe that the Heinekin clone calls for the Bierkeller extract for two reasons. The first is, that it calls for the light, so you don't end up with a darker beer, like Heinekin dark. The second reason, is that the malt is going to come from Germany, and have the flavors of malt from there. It is kind of like a Valdalia onion. The onion is very sweet. You can roast it, and spread it on bread, and it is almost like apple butter. Now you can do the same thing with other onions, and it would be good, but nowhere near as good as using a Vadalia onion. Also, you can plant and grow the Vadalia onion in your back yard, but unless you live in or around Vadalia Georgia, it still won't be the same as the onion grown in the soil at Vadalia. It has to do with soil compostion, water, etc... If you check recipes for German beers, a lot of times it will call for Bierkeller for this reason. HTH, Jeff
 
There are differences between the extracts in fermentability (maltose vs. dextrin ratio), taste and color. But I haven't seen a comparison chart yet. This might actually the biggest challenge when brewing the extract recipes from this book. You can try to find the exact extracts on-line or just substitute with what your LHBS has. This won't come as close but you won't be totally off either. This is what I have done so far, but I can't tell you how close the beer was since I haven't had the finished product yet.

Kai
 
AHammer16 said:
I'm lookin' at page 118 in clone brews by Szamatulski and I am planning on doing the heinekin clone. In this book and any other recipie book they differentiate between diffrent brands of extracts. Why? In the recipie it calls for Bierkeller light malt syrup, where can i find it or what is a reasonable substitute for it. It also calls for M&F DME. Is there a comparison chart some where for malt extracts or is there some way of combining other extracts and adjuncts to mimic a certain extract?

Second question: What is the rule of thumb when doubling a recipie? Do you double the hops? do you do a straight doubling of the extract and specialty grain bill?

Thanks again all.
First off, M&F is Munton & Frison...it's now distributed under the name Munton's. As far as the Bierkeller LME...I'd just sub whatever generic LME you can find, unless you can manage to find some specific info on the Bierkeller brand, which has alluded me to this point. I've sucessfully subbed Alexander's LME for John Bull in the clone brew recipes, but I've not tried any that call for Bierkeller yet.

The rule of thumb for doubling a recipe is to multiply everything by two. ;)
 
El Pistolero said:
As far as the Bierkeller LME...I'd just sub whatever generic LME you can find, unless you can manage to find some specific info on the Bierkeller brand, which has alluded me to this point. I've sucessfully subbed Alexander's LME for John Bull in the clone brew recipes, but I've not tried any that call for Bierkeller yet.

Morebeer sells LME made from Durst pilsner malt. This is a german maltster and sould be closest to Bierkeller.

Kai
 
I was wondering if the brand of malt extract had a more important role in the outcome of the beer or if the yeast and grains used made a much more significant. I was thinking that an American pale ale made with British malts wouldn't be much different than one made with American malts and all the same grains and hops and water and yeast as each other? I know in the purist sense of the equation they all should match the style of beer being produced but as with anything I cook experimentation is the second most important thing next to taste. So I guess I answered may own question If it taste good it must be good

Dale
 
dagrar said:
I was wondering if the brand of malt extract had a more important role in the outcome of the beer or if the yeast and grains used made a much more significant.

This depends on the yeast. Some yeasts ferment more cleanly than others. Another factor is hops. If hops plays the major role in flavor, the malt shouldn't matter that much either.

But you are right, if it tastes good then it should be ok.

Kai
 
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