How much malt to use...LHBS Conflict!

[Theblindguy]

OK I have brewed a few batches of pretty good tasting beer using a couple varieties of canned kits. always using 1lb of dry malt to add to the kit.

The first LHBS told me to add 1lb of malt per 4lbs of the liquid Kit.

I traveled to a second LHBS and they said no way to use only 1lb that I needed to use 3lbs of dry malt per kit if I wanted to get a beer higher than 3% ABV

Which one is more correct? Sorry I dont have OG's and FG's for ya.

 

[Yooper]

Well, I'm not sure which kit you are talking about, and what kind of beer. The ABV is generally a function of the amount of fermentables and so if you add more fermentables, you'll have a higher ABV. You still want to balance the malt and hops, though, so sometimes it's nice to have a recipe or a style to work towards.

Another factor in the ABV is the final gravity- some beer styles have more sweetness and so don't ferment as fully. Like a milk stout, for example. Also, the yeast attenuation plays a part.

So, it's really hard to answer such a general question without knowing what products you are considering, including the yeast.

 

[TwoHeadsBrewing]

It's going to be damn near impossible to give you a good answer without knowing which kit you're using and the size of the batch. From that information we can deduce what the gravity would be and whether you need to supplement with malt extract.

 

[Theblindguy]

Muntons Wheat Kit. The can says it is 4lbs. I am making a 5 gal batch.

 

[Yooper]

What about the hops? Is this prehopped, or are you adding hops?
What yeast?

 

[Yuri_Rage]

That's the only kit I ever made - it's prehopped and comes with a fairly neutral, generic ale yeast (dry). The instructions probably say to add 2 lbs of corn sugar. You can substitute 2 lbs of dry malt extract for the corn sugar and wind up with a beer that's fairly balanced and has about 5% ABV.

 

[Brett0424]

It depends on the alcohol content and body you want.
An estimate on using the can alone would be about a 2.7% beer.
Using one pound of malt extract (I'm assuming dry) will give you about a 3.5% beer.
Using three pounds of dry malt extract will give you about a 5.2% beer.
Using 2 pounds of corn sugar will give you a beer a little over 4% with less body than if you used malt extract.
This is all assuming a 5 gallon batch size.

 

[homebrewer_99]

What's the property of "X"??

 

[ChrisS68]

so, are you saying you're adding one pound of dry extract to a liquid kit? I assume you're doing this to make a bigger beer than the stock kit. You could go all dry or all liquid. As has been said, alcohol content is based on the sum of fermentables. Oh, wait, I read Yuri's post about the kit calling for additional sugar. Anyhoo, maybe the second shop misunderstood and thought you were using only one pound of dry extract without the liquid extract.

 

[Funkenjaeger]

Adding malt extract to a recipe is merely a means to an end - and that end is to achieve a particular OG. Because recipes vary widely anyway, there's little sense in making a general rule for how much extract to add to one. Instead, figure out what you want the recipe to be and how much extract you need to achieve that.

While you're at it, you will probably find that there's no longer that much sense in using kits instead of just starting with a recipe and buying the ingredients separately.

 

[WBC]

Brewing sucessfully is a matter of brewing knowledge and experience. If you are a new brewer and feel you do not have much experience or knowledge then modifing recipes without benefit of brewing math or a computer program is a crap shoot. You can add dry base malt or wheat to a given recipe if you don't over do it. 1 LB of malt will not hurt your beer of you are just trying to raise the alcohol.
If you are at a point you want to start changing things in your recipes then I would get a computer program like Beersmith ($20.00) and then you will know what your are doing and have a much better idea how it will turn out. This is also the point at which you should read about anything that you have questions about.

HERE

 

[grasshopper1917]

I brew alot of the prehopped kits like you are doing. If you are using DME go ahead and add 2 pounds of DME. I usually always add a bit of sugar too - you can add up a pound of corn sugar and I fine it still come out tasting like a million bucks.