Liquid Amber Malt -Recipe Suggestions

[Joewalla88]

So, a local homebrewer guy passed away a couple months back, RIP, and they were selling his beer making stuff. So, I bought 26 cans of liquid amber malt extract for like 50 or 60 bucks. Seemed like a good deal. I was just coming here to see if anyone has some fun recommendations of what to brew with all this. I usually do AG Biab, but thought these would fun to mess around with. Probably should brew an amber ale, but anyone have anything a bit more out of the box? I've got an esb going, and Fleishman red going with it right now, but I still have a lot left.

 

[Bobby_M]

I don't relish bringing up something negative, but liquid malt extract has an annoyingly short shelf life especially at room temperatures. Who knows how long the store had the cans before this guy bought them and then how long he had them. Look for a packaging date or Best By date. If it's several months past the best by, the only thing I'd do with it is ferment it and distill it if you're into that.

 

[Joewalla88]

I don't relish bringing up something negative, but liquid malt extract has an annoyingly short shelf life especially at room temperatures. Who knows how long the store had the cans before this guy bought them and then how long he had them. Look for a packaging date or Best By date. If it's several months past the best by, the only thing I'd do with it is ferment it and distill it if you're into that.

That's one of my other ideas, but one reason I'm looking for ideas, is to get it used up, but the older cans first.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

anything a bit more out of the box?

"Dial in" a set of "No boil (pasteurized)" or "1 min boil" (c.f. Basic Brewing Hop Sampler series) amber / brown / porter / stout recipes.

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With regard to staling, there's probably some difference in storage life between metal cans (no headspace?) and plastic jugs (with headspace).

Enough difference to matter?

This (from BYO Big Book of Homebrewing) may help with assessing the quality of the LME:

With Amber LME, if the sample is brown or black, it's probably stale.

eta: yes, I've used this technique a couple of times with pale LME. Yes it works (with pale LME, 'red' is stale).

 

[Joewalla88]

"Dial in" a set of "No boil (pasteurized)" or "1 min boil" (c.f. Basic Brewing Hop Sampler series) amber / brown / porter / stout recipes.

---

With regard to staling, there's probably some difference in storage life between metal cans (no headspace?) and plastic jugs (with headspace).

Enough difference to matter?

This (from BYO Big Book of Homebrewing) may help with assessing the quality of the LME:

View attachment 821439

With Amber LME, if the sample is brown or black, it's probably stale.

eta: yes, I've used this technique a couple of times with pale LME. Yes it works (with pale LME, 'red' is stale)

Thanks. That's a good idea. I'm not too worried about staying. Half the cans are just slightly past the best by date, and the others are good till through 2024. That being said, I wonder what styles would work best for the staler cans.

 

[FloppyKnockers]

When I was an extract brewer, I somehow had a can that was a little over 18 months past its best by date. I made a beer with it anyway - a recipe that was on rotation so I could see if there was a difference. The color was a bit darker than expected, but the flavor was surprisingly extremely close. That said, I wouldn't worry about the age too much.

As far as a recipe goes. An Amber is an obvious choice. Maybe a brown. Possible a good time to start messing with steeping some smoked grains or other flavorings.

 

[Joewalla88]

When I was an extract brewer, I somehow had a can that was a little over 18 months past its best by date. I made a beer with it anyway - a recipe that was on rotation so I could see if there was a difference. The color was a bit darker than expected, but the flavor was surprisingly extremely close. That said, I wouldn't worry about the age too much.

As far as a recipe goes. An Amber is an obvious choice. Maybe a brown. Possible a good time to start messing with steeping some smoked grains or other flavorings.

Oh smoked grains. That's a good one I didn't think of. I think I even have some laying around. Thought about doing a english mild? Would I be able to squeeze it into a Baltic porter? Might not be the right base for that profile.

 

[FloppyKnockers]

Oh smoked grains. That's a good one I didn't think of. I think I even have some laying around. Thought about doing a english mild? Would I be able to squeeze it into a Baltic porter? Might not be the right base for that profile.

I honestly have no idea about that, but I have messed with smoked grains with varying degrees of success. My favorite is cherry smoked in an IPA. Strong smell of the smoke before brewing - really subtle in the beer.

You've gotta report back on what you do.

 

[Joewalla88]

I honestly have no idea about that, but I have messed with smoked grains with varying degrees of success. My favorite is cherry smoked in an IPA. Strong smell of the smoke before brewing - really subtle in the beer.

You've gotta report back on what you do.

I've got some Chinook hops laying around too, so maybe I'll do an arrogant bastard "clone".

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

anyone have anything a bit more out of the box?

Buckwheat honey might be an interesting way to mask some of the stale flavors in the older cans.

I've brewed this ESB recipe a couple of times (when I remember the recipe and then remember to get the honey). With an Amber LME base, maybe call it a "Best Brown Buckwheat Bitter".

https://beerandbrewing.com/buckwheat-esb-honey-ale-recipe/