does extract go bad ?

[BrewnWKopperKat]

Recipe?

 

[dmtaylor]

View attachment 674280
Does the darkness and turbidity of this possibly come from the old wheat LME? This was taken while bottling.

YES, absolutely. I've had this happen to me. LME goes dark quickly, and yours was 7 years old (right?). Yes, this is from the age of the LME. Use fresh next time and then it will "only" be a deep orange color instead of brown. If you want lighter color, use dry DME instead of LME.

FG 1.020 is normal for LME beers as well. DME can get the gravity lower.

 

[dnr]

Recipe?

5 gallon batch
6.6 lb wheat LME
1 oz UK gold hops
1 lb brown sugar
12.5g instant dry Baker's yeast
LME kept at a low boil for 60 minutes. Full 1oz hops at 60. Seriously brought brown sugar to a bowl just to dissolve in water and sterilize. OG 1.055 - FG 1.020.
Racked and bottled 2.25 gallons for bottling after adding 5 oz priming corn sugar. Second half is still in primary fermenter. I added 5 pears frozen, blended and heated for sterilization and a little caramelization. Pinch of allspice and 1 clove.
This is the beer 1 week in primary, 9 days bottled, 24 hour cold crash.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

1.020 seems to be a fairly common final gravity for LME beers.

5 gallon batch
6.6 lb wheat LME
1 oz UK gold hops
1 lb brown sugar
12.5g instant dry Baker's yeast

Not replying directly to anyone specifically, but to the idea that LME typically finishes at 1.016 to 1.020 (not clear if people are considering strain of yeast).

I don't brew with LME, so if the forum wants to have a "consensus opinion" that LME finishes around 1.020 (without regard to recipe), I can be OK with that. A couple of LME-based one gallon Hop Sampler style batches (US-05, S-05, S-33, ...) may be science-y enough to prove/disprove the consensus. It's also plausible that there would be some variation between brands (Briess, Muntons, ...) of LME.

With my DME+steep batches (mainly Briess, recently some Muntons), if I start at OG 44 (all DME, no table sugar), with US-05 or Nottingham yeast, I get a FG around 10. If I want to end at OG 20, I would use a strain like Windsor.

 

[ncbrewer]

1.020 seems to be a fairly common final gravity for LME beers.

Not replying directly to anyone specifically, but to the idea that LME typically finishes at 1.016 to 1.020 (not clear if people are considering strain of yeast).

My LME batches with around 1.050 - 1.055 OG average about 1.012 FG as a reference. I did have problems with poor attenuation, but attention to yeast management got me past these problems.

 

[dnr]

I opened a bottle of my beer and feel like it's mellowed it very nicely. My wife took a sip and said she thinks it tastes like a crisp yet toasty porter/Stout.

The carbonation is awesome. It's very soda-like, small prickly bubbles.
I'm actually very happy with this!

 

[Sebastian Weetabix]

Anytime you think your extract is bad, just put some on fresh, hot buttered pancakes!

You’ll never look at maple syrup the same way again!

 

[dnr]

Anytime you think your extract is bad, just put some on fresh, hot buttered pancakes!

You’ll never look at maple syrup the same way again!

Oddly enough, to test my Baker's yeast, I made a maple wine/Mead with ****** flavored corn syrup stuff and fresh strawberries.
Dunno how it's gonna turn out, but LME on pancakes and maple syrup in my Homebrew mash. I like how this is going.

 

[smata67]

I don't usually do LME, but I had the opportunity to get about 50 lb at $1/lb and did not pass. Price was due to age, probably around 2-3 years old. The ultralight MoreBeer stuff in the silver bags. All recipes I did with that LME ended up at 1.020 and even the lighter beer recipes (all ales) came out dark despite adding the LME at flameout. The LME tasted fine, but looked dark prior to use. All the beers turned out fine.

 

[dnr]

Yaaaaas, Queen! That's what I'm looking for. That matches my experience.

 

[blackbogbrew]

Very late to thread. But do not waste DME. It has more uses than only making up the malt bill. You can also use it for making a yeast starter or for doing gravity adjustments where the relatively small amount won't really impact flavor,while allowing you to focus on the more primo stuff to make up the bulk of your beer.

 

[IslandLizard]

Very late to thread. But do not waste DME.

Welcome to HBT!

This and other threads about using old malt extract, are often about using old LME (Liquid Malt Extract).
LME is far more susceptible to aging than DME is, although moisture, oxidation, and time can change nice light DME into something putrid too.

But your suggestions are spot on, and usually apply to LME as they do to DME. It's just much more difficult to prevent LME from the ravages of time and aging.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

With LME: for best results, don't store it. Buy it fresh, store it cool, use it promptly.

This chart is from a 2004 slide deck (p 26, link to pdf). Reply #11 links to a similar article from 2014.

With un-hopped LME starting at 2L, 6L is "extract darker than expected" and 10L is getting very close to those "classic" extract off flavors.

Hopped LME products may have a slightly different shelf life profile - see the taste results, starting at about reply #210, in no boil prehopped beer kits.