Is it possible to make full flavored extract beers

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linusstick

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I'm a few batches in and I have yet to make a really full flavored beer. I am following recipes to the t but I just am not getting great results. The results are drinkable but if I didn't brew them myself I would have no idea what style it is because they all taste fundamentally the same. The pale ale has a little more hop flavor and the wit has some wheat flavor but they are very faint. I used to do all grain beers years ago and stopped for a few years. I decided I was going to do some extract beers to refresh my memory. I don't know any other brewers so it may just be I am getting the results I am going to get out of extracts and need to go back to all grain
 
Provide us a recipe that you've used and we can guide you... But in short, yes it is possible to brew full-flavoured extract beer.

Use steeping grains (or partial mash)
Use better yeast (ie: Safale or Wyeast or White Labs)
Don't use corn sugar as major fermentable
Fresh extract (DME is best, IMO)
 
Provide us a recipe that you've used and we can guide you... But in short, yes it is possible to brew full-flavoured extract beer.

Use steeping grains (or partial mash)
Use better yeast (ie: Safale or Wyeast or White Labs)
Don't use corn sugar as major fermentable
Fresh extract (DME is best, IMO)
Witbier recipe:
Specialty grains:
8oz flaked wheat
8oz aromatic malt
4oz flaked oats
4oz rice hulls
Steepd those at 150 for 30min- strained into brewpot and sparged with a gallon of 150deg water-boiled then added:

5.5lbs wheat DME
1oz East Kent Goldings
Added water to get to 2.5 gallons
Boiled 45 minutes then added
1/2 oz Kent Goldings, 1/4oz bitter orange peel, 3/4tsp crushed coriander seeds
Boiled 13 minutes then added
1/2oz Saaz, 1/2oz bitter orange peel, 1/2tsp crushed coriander seeds
Cooled wort to 70degrees, topped off in primary to get 5 gallons, aerated wort, pitched White Labs wit yeast (made starter the day before). Fermentation was going in 12 hours. Fermented 14 days at around 65-68 degrees, then kegged. Sat a week in the fridge with no gas (idiot that I am didn't know how to turn it on correctly). Once I turned it on I did a blast carbonation at 25psi for 3 days. Sorry for being so detailed. The beer is drinkable, but doesn't really taste full. It's like water with a witbier in the background. I had an OG of 1.049 and a FG of 1.012 so it's only like 4.7% ABV
Thanks
 
I think one of the problems with this recipe is that your specialty grains all need to be mashed. Therefore, I don't know if you are getting everything you need out of them with only steeping.

I do extract brews and my opinion is full flavored beer can be made. Without mashing you are restricted in the ingredients you can use.
 
Depending on your tolerance for strong beer, you might find any Wit to be on the light side. Also, I'd question what the point of rice hulls are in that recipe.
 
Depending on your tolerance for strong beer, you might find any Wit to be on the light side. Also, I'd question what the point of rice hulls are in that recipe.
I know light and I know flavorless. This doesn't have much flavor. I got the recipe out of the "Beer Captured" book. I didn't know the purpose of rice hulls either since there is no mash, but I figured I'd do it to spec.
 
I'm a few batches in and I have yet to make a really full flavored beer. I am following recipes to the t but I just am not getting great results. The results are drinkable but if I didn't brew them myself I would have no idea what style it is because they all taste fundamentally the same. The pale ale has a little more hop flavor and the wit has some wheat flavor but they are very faint. I used to do all grain beers years ago and stopped for a few years. I decided I was going to do some extract beers to refresh my memory. I don't know any other brewers so it may just be I am getting the results I am going to get out of extracts and need to go back to all grain

Yes you can make full flavored extract beer. Improve your brewing process (late extract additions, post boil wort cooling, fermentation temps). Improving those areas are crucial.

If you don't it won't matter if you mash your own grains or not.
 
For any Belgian, the yeast play a huge role in the flavor. I always have a good beer using WLP400 and extract. I think maybe you should have fermented at a higher temperature to bring out the yeast flavor. Either way, keep working on your process and I'm sure you will eventually be happy with the beer you're making.
 
You mentioned you did AG in the past - Are you using the same water source as you were then? I notice a huge difference between tap vs spring vs distilled. The distilled tends to be very light and tap tastes like crap (might not surprise you if you've seen A Civil Action), and i have had great results with bottled spring water. Just another variable.
 
I get pretty good results from all extract,but I'm seeing that I need to cut the usual Cooper's kit 23L down to 21L to get rid of some of that "lightness". Don't get me wrong,it's good for some styles. But for medium bodied beers,I think less water will do it. I already use,for instance the Cooper's can with 3lbs of plain DME instead of sugar.with hop additions. It tastes really good,but I'm going to dry 2L less water to round it out a bit more.
The one in my avatar is my latest,"Summer pale" ale. Nice complexity after 4 weeks. just wanna tweak it,thinking that will make it a tad better. Hope this helps a little...
 
try some of the big boys ricpe kits and try recipes on oposite falvor/color/malt levels. I use midwest and northernbrewer primairily. You can use Austin or williams or the other 2 or 3 dozen ffolks out there.

Not sure where you are getting your DME or LME from. That might be your issue. Ive always had really good luck with northern brewer. i think they turn supply around really fast so you get fresh ingrediants. LME in a can can be very bad news, you never really know how long that stuff has sat around.
 
I'd also say that it's not just the amount/freshness of the LME/DME's,but how completely the yeast ferments out? Maybe attenuation is too high for the style,giving a "watered down" quality?
 
I'd also say that it's not just the amount/freshness of the LME/DME's,but how completely the yeast ferments out? Maybe attenuation is too high for the style,giving a "watered down" quality?

higher attenuation usually leads to dryer/less malty beers - not sure if its "watered down" that sounds like a dilution/sparge issue.
 
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