Extract brands - favorites?

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Argyll Gargoyle

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What is your favorite brand? I’ve mostly brewed kits so far, which means I have a hard time differentiating between brands of extract - different recipes and all. Anybody brew the same recipe with a few different brands?
 
Briess or Muntans DME are probably the best quality mAlt extracts. Stay away from lme if you can, less fermentable by weight, messy, can settle at the bottom and burnb
 
Yea, LME has less ppg than DME but it’s also cheaper. I don’t find it to be any messier than DME.
Glad to hear Breiss is good since I just scored a bunch from a NB sale
 
Yea, LME has less ppg than DME but it’s also cheaper. I don’t find it to be any messier than DME.
Glad to hear Breiss is good since I just scored a bunch from a NB sale
DME is far cheaper actually. If you look at the actual package cost, yeah LME IS 12.99 for 3 lbs and DME is 13.99 for 3 lbs. that said LME is 36 ppg per lb/gal and DME IS 45 ppg per lb/gallon. Meaning you get 20% more sugars with dme verses using LME
 
Hmm I hadn’t done the math on that - I’ll have to take a closer look. I got some ipa kits for $23, each containing 9gal LME. I think NB usually charges $33 for a 9 lb jug. Haven’t really done a good survey of prices though
 
Anybody brew the same recipe with a few different brands?
Yes, as an 'experiment' in adding salts to DME+steep beers (Briess vs Muntons). For me, it confirmed some of what is in Chapter 14 of the book Brewing Engineering (2014). Based on the 'experiment', I'm willing to trust the author for the rest of what's in that chapter.

What is your favorite brand?
I suspect that a favorite brand is recipe / style specific (similar to all-grain base malts). Unfortunately, availability of DME brands has recently become a factor for me.
 
Yes, as an 'experiment' in adding salts to DME+steep beers (Briess vs Muntons). For me, it confirmed some of what is in Chapter 14 of the book Brewing Engineering (2014). Based on the 'experiment', I'm willing to trust the author for the rest of what's in that chapter.

Could you summarize what you learned for us? I don’t have a copy of Brewing Engineering - I take it you are a fan?
 
No favorites but I only use DME. "Briess" and "Muntons" are the only two I can name and have ever seen. If there's a noticeable difference, I haven't noticed it.
 
Here's the recipe I used to compare brands of DME.

1 gal batch (in the fermenter), 30 boil min @ "level 1". Distilled water, 1 lb "golden light" DME, 4 oz table sugar. 5 g Cascade (8.3%) @ 30, 5 g Perle (7.0%) @ 20, 5 g Cascade (8.3%) @ 10, 5 g Cascade (8.3%) @ 5. Nottingham yeast. With these batches, I added DME & sugar at flame-on as I was curious about how each brand of DME 'behaved' when heated slowly (10 minutes) from 125 to 175.

For me, the batches tasted different. When adding various brewing salts to the glass, the 'just right' amount was noticeably different. There's a piece of "forum wisdom" that suggests adding a little table salt with DME/LME - for me, that worked well for one brand and not with the other brand.
 
I've been happy using mostly Briess dme, and a couple of proprietary blends from Williams.
This article in the current Zymurgy has some good info.
IMG_20200807_101651.jpg
 
Fresh Briess liquid malt extract for beers and Briess DME for canned starters. I started to brew in ... 1991 and malt extract has come a long way. My tripels are all grain , but the some dubbels with dark grains and candi syrup are brewed using LME.
 
Fresh Briess liquid malt extract for beers and Briess DME for canned starters. I started to brew in ... 1991 and malt extract has come a long way. My tripels are all grain , but the some dubbels with dark grains and candi syrup are brewed using LME.

Interesting - is your preference for AG vs LME in these two beers related to fundamental differences in those styles, or is it more due to how you originally began those recipes? E.g. by the time you’ve refined a recipe to how you like it, you probably aren’t interested in completely re-jiggering things
 
Interesting - is your preference for AG vs LME in these two beers related to fundamental differences in those styles, or is it more due to how you originally began those recipes? E.g. by the time you’ve refined a recipe to how you like it, you probably aren’t interested in completely re-jiggering things
My tripels are all grains, it isjust a matter of color, not flavor . I'm afraid that brewing a tripel using the palest extract, a pinch of caramunich and some sucrose or homemade pale candi syrup the color would still be too dark. Dubbels and dark strong , on the other hand , don't have that kind ofcolor problem. But as I'm not brewing for competitions , your comment motivates me to brew an extract tripel.

Jacques
 
I have been brewing just over a year and use Brewers Best kits. I have been experimenting with different processes to help with clarity. The beer I am brewing is a simple American Light, one I can drink daily so I want to get my process down to pert near perfection before I start messing around with different hops and such. I know I may sound like a rookie (which I like to think I am), but at least the process keeps me out of trouble lol
 
@RevDroz those American lights are one of the harder styles to get right on a repeat basis. Any little screwup shines through. Plus they are easy to make and taste great when you nail it. Try grabbing some different hops or yeast and experiment a little. You’ll likely be stoked with the results
 
@NGD As a matter of fact, I have begun purchasing various hops for that very reason. Ideally I would want to keep a nice smooth brew for daily drinking and have one or 2 varieties for a change of pace.

I like how easy this kit is to make but have been noticing how they vary from brew to brew. Either way, I am enjoying the process and now the challenge to make it consistently. I will be trying larger batches in the near future.
 
I feel like I lost 20 minutes of my life I will never get back, the questions seemed simple:
Extract brands - favorites?

So I too have asked this question with various answers and none of which I helped me out, so i will answer and not help you either...

I live in Northeast Ohio, I have found that LD Carlson is about 45 minutes from me and alot of my local Brew Stores carry their extract kits. They make the Brewers Best Kits, I have found that they come with all of the ingredients for new brewers and takes the guess work out of "which yeast" or "DME or LME" as when you are new you may not know which one to use or which you prefer when brewing extracts.

I have also asked the questions of: what are your top 5 beer kit types, again no straight answer so I will rate the ones I have done so far as I am still new....

1. Brewers Best Watermelon Wheat - Sounds gross but is one of the best kits I have tried, key is bottle conditioning on this one. Let it sit for a month or so in the bottle it gets so much better as it ages.
2. Brewers Best Cream Ale - skip it, nothing special but I am not a big cream ale fan
3. Brewers Best Summer Ale - I love these types of summer beers with a hint of coriander and orange peel, very good while riding a lawn mower
4. Brewers Best Zombiefest - hands down best brew I have made, caramel and malt forward with a light after taste. This was my first beer that I learned the lagering method <built a fermentation chamber> and the first beer I kegged and force carbonated.
5. Brewers Best American Light Lager - so I brewed this for my wife but turned out great, this is the first time I cold crashed and tried to clarify the beer by adding gelatin and it worked out well. Beer was clear and crisp, everyone who has tried it has said it tastes just like a coors light <not sure if that is good or bad>.

Anyhow I have an Irish Stout from Brewers Best and a hazy Wheat on my shelf but my friends are asking me if I am doing a Christmas Ale, so it looks like I am going to pick one up tomorrow in hopes of having it done by the 12 of December... UGH!

Would love to hear about the ones you have tried or have been using. I am thinking of checking out MoreBeers site on Black Friday as I heard they may be doing a deal with their kits whereas each kit you purchase you get a tap handle.
 
What is your favorite brand? I’ve mostly brewed kits so far, which means I have a hard time differentiating between brands of extract - different recipes and all. Anybody brew the same recipe with a few different brands?
My brews almost always use 4.5 - 5 lbs dry or 6 lbs of liquid malt extract. Since most of my brews are British ale wannabes, my extract preference is Munton's dry malt extract. I prefer Briess liquid for a pilsen extract to use with Strisselspalt hops in one of my recipes. I may or may not bother to use Briess (either form) with Centennial and Cascade hops for my summer ales. Part of the reason I don't use much liquid malt extract anymore is that Midwest Brewing became a part of Northern Brewer and they were bought by AB-InBev and their prices rose. So, I admit my preference is partly price sensitive, partly bias against the Evil Empire., and partly love of British ale.
 
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And have been sold by them to some other investment group awhile back.
Cheers,
Joel B.
Thanks. I was made aware of this on the thread "Yeast prices -What happened?" So I already apologized there for saying they were still owed by the Evil Empire, and admitted they are owned by regular, American capital.
 
@D.B.Moody NP, that news just does not make the headlines like when they (AB-InBev) buy something.
Back on topic.
I use Briess for both DME & LME if I have the option for no other reason than I feel comfortable with the quality. That said I'm sure any Extract sold today is probably good, age is more important. As far as any difference in taste I don't have the best "judging" tongue as some do. As a smoker I'm sure I miss some of the subtle nuances and details that others can taste. I will say though, I dislike any LME packaged in a bag, I find them a PITA
Cheers,:mug:
Joel B..
 

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