Coopers Wheat malta extract question

[elmiguel]

Hi all,

I bought a Coopers Wheat beer kit, with a Coopers Wheat Malt Extract can (1.5kg). The kit says I should use it together with 500LME + 300 Dextrose....but now I bought the Wheat Malt Extract, which theoretically should be use insted of 1kg of sugar, correct?

So shall I suse the whole malt extract 1.5kg can with the kit?


Thanks in advance

 

[Andrew5329]

I'm assuming 500 and 300 refer to grams, and that your doing a 5gal/20L batch?

The kit looks a little on the low side for fermentables with 1.5kg of LME + .5kg of DME +.3kg Dextrose, but if your planning a light beer that's not necessarily a bad thing.

Personally if I was doing that recipe and I had enough extra malt extract on hand, I'd substitute that for the dextrose outright.

People use dextrose because it's basically "free" alcohol without adding any flavor (as it ferments completely), though it does "water" down your beer's taste.

 

[elmiguel]

thanks for the answer!

Yes it is 500grDME and 300gr what is recommended for the a 20L batch.

What I was thinking is using the Coopers Wheat Malt Extract can (1.5kg) instead of the 0.5kg+0.3kg Dextrose....shouldnt that be enough?

 

[elmiguel]

Any other opinion?

I would love to start this evening!

 

[brewmaster89]

I added 500g of DME when I did this (at the beginning of March) and it came out really sweet. I would cut the dextrose at least in half if not all together.

 

[JRapp]

Hold on, I am confused!

Are you saying you have 2 wheat malt extracts or you have 1 can of coopers wheat beer prehopped mix, 1 can of wheat malt extract and some DME and dextrose?

If that's the case, then yes, You could certainly add the malt extract instead of the DME and the dextrose!

I didn't do the math quite right(beer calculus program doesn't have coopers wheat, so i dont know its gravity and what not), but adding the 1.7kg prehopped, the 1.5k wheat and the .500kg DME will give you like a 5-5.5% brew. Which is what I would do, though it might make the prehopped hops seem weak. I just like my beers to be above 5%....

Without the 1.5k LME it just seems weak. But you could certainly just do the LME and the prehopped LME

 

[elmiguel]

I have this:
http://www.coopers.com.au/the-brewers-guild/how-to-brew/ale/wheat-beer
And this (the wheat one)
http://www.coopers.com.au/the-brewers-guild/brewing-products/brew-sugars/malt-extract-range
Is that enough?
I have some light Malta extract, shall I add 0,5kg of this also?

As beginner I know I have to read more on the differences between the malta extracts

 

[JRapp]

I honestly dont know.

I feel like the wheat recipe they have just seems so....weak. Using the LME extract with the wheat beer just seems like it would have so much more...umph

Ive brewed 2 coopers, and they sort f planned out these prehopped pretty good, the recipes they put on the site are meant to be foolproof and pretty on point to the style( i think) .....I still cant stick with them though.

Not saying you should, but If I was to make this batch, I would make it exactly as directions, but knock it down to 21(or the safer 22) Liters instead of the 23.

This will give it a little more kick, and it wont seem watered down from the dextrose or too malty if you added the LME.

 

[Andrew5329]

I have this:
http://www.coopers.com.au/the-brewers-guild/how-to-brew/ale/wheat-beer
And this (the wheat one)
http://www.coopers.com.au/the-brewers-guild/brewing-products/brew-sugars/malt-extract-range
Is that enough?
I have some light Malta extract, shall I add 0,5kg of this also?

As beginner I know I have to read more on the differences between the malta extracts

Basically you can mix/match extracts of the same grain however you want, because functionally there's no difference between Liquid malt extract and Dry malt extract except that DME is 20% more concentrated so .8kg DME gives you the same amount of sugars 1kg LME.

When planning a beer, you need to decide what your total grain budget will be.
Your budget will determine if your beer is "heavier" with more flavor or
lighter" and more refreshing.

For most brews you want your grain "budget" to be anywhere between 3.0kg of sugars and 5.0kg for a 5gallon/20liter batch.

The way your kit comes as I understand it puts your total fermentables at 3.3kg with 2.3kg of malt, and 1.0kg of dextrose.

As I explained in my previous post, dextrose ferments completely so it doesn't add any flavor, leaving you with only 2.3kg of malt to give your beer body and flavor. That is really really light. Not necessarily "bad", but very, very light.

Personally I'd either substitute that 1kg of dextrose with malt extract or simply use both if I wanted a higher ABV, you'll have more flavor and body with the extra extract, and to most people's tastes it'll probably taste better.

For the poster who said it was "too sweet" he probably used malto-dextrine which does not ferment at all. I looked at the coopers site and they're pushing it pretty hard. The other way his beer would be too sweet is that he didn't let fermentation run long enough for the yeast to eat the extra sugar.


Brewing in general isn't a set of hard and fast rules, it's more of a spectrum that you adjust according to taste.

Are you doing a regular hop boil or are you using the pre-hopped extract stuff? I've never used pre-hopped extract so I cant quote exact numbers at you, but take into consideration that you need to use enough to get your desired bitterness.

 

[elmiguel]

sorry Andrew, I didnt get your amounts

The amounts are these:
1.5Kg pre-hopped Standard Coopers

I have:
1.7KgLME (wheat)

They suggest:
0.5Kg DME + 0.3Kg Dextrose

I was thinking in going for( 1.5kg pre-hopped+ 1.7kg LME) instead of the (1.5kg pre-hopped+0.5Kg DME + 0.3Kg Dextrose) and do 23 litres or maybe a bit less 21 or 22 as suggested....

The question was if using the 1.7kg LME should I also add the 0.5kg DME to make it a bit better or if that would made the pre-hopped hops seem weak

 

[Andrew5329]

I would probably throw everything you have there in. I dont know how much bitterness the pre-hopped extract will give you (I've never used it because I boil my hops with the wort).

I would definitely use the extra DME as well as both cans of LME but I'm on the fence as to whether or not I'd still add the dextrose, but that's up to you to decide what you want to get out of your beer.