Liquid or Dry Malt Extract

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kb9vzh

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I am about to brew an Irish Red Ale and the ingredients call for 5 lbs. Briess amber malt extract syrup. I did a search on-line and the only amount available is a 3.3 lb. can. I don't want to order two cans if I’m not going to use it all in one batch.

Can LME be stored?

Can I substitute LME for DME? If so, what is the conversion for amounts used?

Or can I use the 3.3 lb. can of LME with a DME? Again how do I convert the LME weight to a DME weight? I don't believe the weights are the same due to the amount of sugars in a LME.

Any help here would be appreciated. :confused:
 
20% is the conversion factor. LME is 20% water by weight so for the same sugars LME weights 20% more than DME. To convert your LME to DME weight divide by 1.2.
As for differences each manufacturer has a slightly different recipe for their extracts so your resulting beer will be slightly different if you use a different extract. However your beer will be very similar. So if you are going for an exact copy use the same ingredients, if you are more flexible substitute DME for some or all of the LME.
Craig
 
Personally I would substitute DME for all of the fermentables. I have found that canned LME can result in extract "twang" whereas DME doesn't have that problem. Also, changing from LME to DME will have minimal impact on your overall flavor if you are trying for a clone of something.
 
Well I have the Irish Red Ale in the secondary now using the DME. I will let you know how it turned out in a few weeks.
 
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