Extract question

I like malty beer so when I bought my kit I added 1 extra lb of amber malt and also 1 extra lb of light malt (so not to darken it too much). My question is have any of you done someting of this nature before? How did it change the brew compared to the standard? Thouhgts on what to expect? If you were to do this would you compensate anywhere else?


My ingredients are as follows:

Muntons Nut Brown Ale Canned Malt Extract
3 Lb of Muntons Plain Amber Malt Extract
1 Lb of Plain Light Malt Extract

Thank you,
Bart

Muntons put enough hop flavouring in for their can (assuming they advise you to add dextrose and water). Your additions means you've more than doubled the malt but not adjusted the hop content. Might have added some more hops for balance. This beer might be malty but lacking in aroma and bitterness as the extra malt overpowers the hops. Have you finished the brewing process yet. If not, taste the wort and see what it is like.

I took a gravity reading last night (day 5) and tasted the sample. It has a good flavor, so I am happy.....but for the purpose of knowledge what could be done at this stage (day 5 primary fermenter) if I was unahppy with the wort?


Thank you,
Bart

Depends on what you're unhappy about. If it's the hop character, you can dry-hop in the secondary by adding an ounce or so of your favourite flavor/aroma hops. That will impart some hops flavour and aroma. If it's any other aspect of the beer's character, I don't know of much more you can do to it. I suppose you could use some sort of unusual sugar for priming at bottling time - I use black treacle for priming my Old Peculier clone, and that, IMO, has quite a lot to do with the flavour of the finished beer.

Bob

Bottom line though, don't mess with the malt portion of a recipe without compenstating the hops. It's called balance. That is, unless you're TRYING to make it malt heavy.

If you really thought you needed to add some hop bitterness, you can buy hop essence (it's got a real name but I can't think of it now). Hop oil is another name for it. With it you can add drops to glasses of beer etc to add some zing. Might be expensive, but at least you could add to the brew before fermentation is complete. Certainly not a great solution, but available.

Let's say this is a wonderfful brew but way not enough hop flavour. After ferments, put it in a refrigerator and brew a small bitter version of same beer. Really make it bitter. Blend two beers together to taste. Again, not a great solution, but fun !!!

Great, thanks for the info.

Bart

As an offshoot of the OP's question,
by adding more malt, he is going to boost the alcohol content for certain,
beyond what the original recipe called for, but will he necessarily make it a
maltier beer? wouldn't that be more about WHAT malt he added, not how much?
since some are going to have more unfermentable sugars than others...
if all he did was add a bunch of malt that was just as fermentable as his original
malt, that would not really change it at all... if anything, won't the higher alcohol
content make it seem a little less malty?

someone correct me if my thinking is wrong.

I see where you're coming from, rabidgerbil, but you are wrong. Malt tastes malty, even if it's your simple pale malt or Pilsner. There's enough other stuff left over from the mash and fermentation, even a mash in the lower temperature range and a highly attenuating yeast, to taste malty. All other things being equal (e.g., hops), the more malt you put in a beer, the maltier it will be.


TL

Well I make alot f cooper kits and for the coopers IPA I usually add an extra 2 or 3 pounds of malt extract and it turns out fine - I wouldnt worry about adding extra hops - unless you really love hops then go for it.

I think everyone has just danced around the real subject a bit.

Adding malt alone will make it a higher alcohol percentage, but it will also be sweeter.

By adding more malt to make it maltier you also have to add more hops (already mentioned) to keep it balanced between sweet and bitter.

A "maltier" beer is made by adding more malt and hops.

If you are looking for a "thicker" flavor (mouthfeel) then I'd recommend an oz or 2 of malto dextrin added to the priming sugar solution. I prefer to use it at bottling because you want to make sure you really need it.

Rather than altering a recipe for a style of beer that may not be designed to be malty, I would recommend choosing to brew malty styles. For example, I am a huge fan of malty beers, so I brew Scottish ales which are all about the malt.