best all around dme for bulk buy?

i am looking to do mostly partial mashes from here on out. and spending 35-40 bucks a batch is getting old quick. i also plan to get a good amount of other ingredients to have here so i can brew on a whim instead of having to plan in advance. i am thinking briess pilsen dme is my best bet as i prefer lighter beers especially belgians (also so that i am not the only one drinking the keg).

basically here is my question:

is there any beer styles, period, that i can't get from the 4-8 lbs of partial mash/specialty grains while then using light dme to make up the difference? As i said i will be making mostly beers on the lighter side, however i still want the option to throw in some darker beers on occasion. thanks -kevin

I've made dark and light beers alike using pilsen extract and never had any ill effects. I use it as my standard DME for pretty much all batches now, with the possible exception of wheats. Wheat beers, I find it's just easier to deal with wheat extract than fussing with ensuring I get enough base and husks for conversion.

There are a few styles that can't really be made properly with light DME, but they can't really be properly made with ANY sort of extract (rauchbier, roggenbier, lambic, etc).

As far as I'm concerned, dark extract is unnecessary, and is often old stuff as well.

Pilsen Light is what I get when I buy DME in bulk.

If you are doing a true partial mash (i.e. not just steeping, but actually converting), you can make any beer style. Pilsner is great if you make mostly Belgian/German beers, golden/light is a little better for English/American styles, but you can always just use Pilsner and mini-mash with something flavorful like Maris Otter and maybe a touch of Victory/biscuit malt to compensate.

smagee is that why i have noticed a lot of partial mash wheat recipes using wheat extract instead of in the mash? i was hoping to go the opposite route and mash the wheat.

what do you guys think is the most versatile dme? briess pilsen, muntons extra light,briess golden light, or something else?

kevkev5 said:

smagee is that why i have noticed a lot of partial mash wheat recipes using wheat extract instead of in the mash? i was hoping to go the opposite route and mash the wheat.

what do you guys think is the most versatile dme? briess pilsen, muntons extra light,briess golden light, or something else?

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Yes, that would largely be why. When I last made a PM hef, I tried mashing 5lbs of wheat with only a little base (~2lb, I think) and ended up with a doughy mess and an efficiency of 50%. That's not to say that you can't mash wheat; my setup simply doesn't allow for me to do partial mashes of the size I would need to for that much wheat at once. If you have a larger mash setup, you can swing it so long as you balance the wheat properly with base grains and hulls, as needed.

At this point, I just find it easier to do a PM with a pound or two of wheat at a 1:1 ratio to the base malt and supplement the rest with wheat extract.

As far as versatility, I find pilsen perfectly sufficient for just about everything I need to do. If you're concerned with pilsner flavors coming out of it, however (which shouldn't be the case as with a PM, you're really not using so much extract that it should be a concern), I'd go with breiss extra light. I just prefer lighter extracts to allow me to manually control the color balance.