Which grains should be combined with extra light DME for assorted LME flavors?

Does anyone know of a table or chart or resource they could point me to in order to base LME to DME + grain conversions?

I see a lot of recipes that call for, say, Amber Malt, and a lot of advice on these forums from people that say "just use extra light DME and use specialty grains for flavor/color" without specifying which grains to steep to approximate the amber color/flavor.

Do most people wing it or is there a resource I haven't stumbled upon that could help? I'd love to start buying DME in large bulk but don't feel confident in my ability to approximate the flavors of various extracts I see in recipes.

Thanks as always!

If you're talking about amber extract, it'd be hard to guestimate exactly what's in it. But if you have a recipe you'd like to try, we could give it a whirl.

Most really good recipes do NOT use amber or dark extract.

Yooper said:

If you're talking about amber extract, it'd be hard to guestimate exactly what's in it. But if you have a recipe you'd like to try, we could give it a whirl.

Most really good recipes do NOT use amber or dark extract.

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I'm thinking more generally, but I guess as an example, I have a recipe for a cream ale that uses 7 lbs pale LME, 1 lb flake maize, and .5 lb crystal 10.

I wanted to use extra light DME but wasn't sure which grains would best approximate "pale" LME. Likewise, what would be the grain difference in Light extract vs extra light, or Golden.

I'll keep that last statement in mind, hadn't see that before!

Pale, Light, Extra-light, Golden, and Pilsen ..... Treat them all as though they are the same and use them interchangeably. They are all made from light colored base malts.

It is when you get into Amber and Dark that you just don't know what they put in to make the color. Personally I just use Pilsen since it is the lightest you can get.

rifraf said:

I see a lot of recipes that call for, say, Amber Malt, and a lot of advice on these forums from people that say "just use extra light DME and use specialty grains for flavor/color" without specifying which grains to steep to approximate the amber color/flavor.

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If you go to the Briess website, it gives specs on what's actually in those cans of LME (same for their DME). My LHBS only stocks Briess, so I can only speak for that brand, haven't checked other websites, but I'm assuming you can find similar info. Once I looked at the Briess site, I realized it was silly to use their Amber or Dark, when I could just buy their lightest extract and steep my own grains. However, I just checked their site and its not specific about the Amber, but it does give a little info about their other extracts.

Calder said:

Pale, Light, Extra-light, Golden, and Pilsen ..... Treat them all as though they are the same and use them interchangeably. They are all made from light colored base malts.

It is when you get into Amber and Dark that you just don't know what they put in to make the color. Personally I just use Pilsen since it is the lightest you can get.

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Awesome thanks, that's what I thought but the LHBS guy was pretty adamant about me using pale LME