Looking for beer recipes which I can use mostly Amber Malt extract in? Got lots to use up!

[Lollim96]

Hey guys

Got loads of this Amber Malt extract in 25kg drums. Looking for some good recipes in which I can use mostly Amber malt extract as the base?

Would ideally prefer if the Amber malt extract is the only grains which are used in the recipe. If if not the only then that most of the grains come from the Amber malt extract. Don’t mind using some other extracts or grains providing it’s mostly made up of the Amber malt extract.

I particularly like hoppy IPAs but happy to consider any beer recipes.

I did find the following which I plan to give a try!

• 3kg Amber Malt Extract
• 50g Amarillo Hop pellets
• 50g Cascade Hop Pellets
• 11g Danstar BRY-97 Yeast (or American Ale yeast of your choice)

I also did wonder what would happen if I taken any IPA recipe and swapped all the grains for Amber malt extract?

Does anyone know what taste I should expect from using such high amounts of Amber malt extract in brews? Say 3kg + per 5g brew?

Any help, recommendations or recipe suggestions would be most helpful!

I do own several all in one brewing systems so boiling the hops is absolutely no issue!

 

[IslandLizard]

Where and why did you get those barrels with amber malt extract?

 

[Lollim96]

Where and why did you get those barrels with amber malt extract?

Well I have two x 25kg drums of the Amber malt extract. Local brew shop done me them for £50 each as they were on the BBE. Think they are about £80 each when not on sale.

But yeah, any recipes or general advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

Amber Malt extract

A brand name would be helpful. Your "Location" suggests you're on the east side of "the pond".

Over in the USA, some of us have brewed with both Briess "Sparkling Amber" and Muntons "Plain Amber" dry malt extract. They are different products and have different flavor profiles.

I also did wonder what would happen if I taken any IPA recipe and swapped all the grains for Amber malt extract?

The result would probably be a malty Red IPA or a 7% Amber Ale ("double red", "imperial amber").

Don’t mind using some other extracts or grains providing it’s mostly made up of the Amber malt extract.

10% simple sugar is often used in malt extract based IPAs.

Two x 25kg drums of the Amber malt extract. Local brew shop done me them for £50 each as they were on the BBE.

So roughly $1 per pound.

What does BBE stand for? (eta: apparently 'best before end')

 

[IslandLizard]

Well I have two x 25kg drums of the Amber malt extract. Local brew shop done me them for £50 each as they were on the BBE.

Ah, I see.
Extract has a limited freshness, especially after opening. There should be a date on the barrels, What is it?

A 23 liter (5 gallon) batch using 3 kg (6.6 lbs) will have a gravity of around 1.045. Gravity-wise that's lowish Pale Ale, American Amber or Brown Ale territory.
You'd get 8 batches like that out of each 25kg drum.

If you raise them to around 1.060-1.065 you'd get 5-6 batches out of each drum, for somewhat stronger beers (IPAs etc). You could add some dark roasted malts (steeped) to produce darker beers, Porters, Stouts, etc.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

.

eta: here's a simple technique for determining the quality of ligher colored LME.

A technique for measuring the quality of LME was published in BYO's Big Book of Homebewing, 1e. Basically: make a sample wort [roughly OG 50], measure its actual color against expected color. I've done it (actual: red vs expected: gold) and found that some of those 'early' off flavors from stale LME were present.

For amber LME, if it's darker than amber, it may be stale.

 

[OakIslandBrewery]

You might even be able to use that extract for non brewing purposes. Adding to ice cream came to mind while I was reading, but bread, mix with spent grain for animal feed. I'd try making beer first before feed for the barnyard animals though!

 

[madscientist451]

I’ve used old extract from time to time, sometimes it’s ok, sometimes the flavor is off somewhat. I try to do high flavor beers when I use extract in an effort to mask the extract flavor. With Amber extract, I’d add grains and sugar to each batch and make Baltic Porters, Hoppy brown ales, “bourbon barrel” stout and maybe barley wine.

 

[madscientist451]

Briess has a recipe page where you can choose what ingredients you want to use. I chose “extract with grain “ and there are almost 100 recipes there. Here’s one that uses a variety of specialty malts along with the extract, but there are many more on their web page:
https://www.brewingwithbriess.com/recipes/beer/display/dark-chocolate-porterAlso, check out the HBT recipe forum, you’ll likely find something that works for you.

 

[IslandLizard]

Excellent suggestions, guys! ^

Maybe the OP @Lollim96 can chime in on the BBE date on the barrels and if they are still closed (factory sealed) or have been opened or even partially used. Oxygen (in the air) is one of the major culprits of oxidation and staling of products such as LME.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

"Advanced Extract Brewing" reply #385 (link) contains a couple of emails between poster and Muntons regarding Muntons spray malt.

In one of the email responses, it is suggested to " [...] use specialty malts such as light crystals and caras in order to get the full depth of flavour you would expect from an amber ale [...]".

FWIW: I've brewed a couple of times with Muntons Amber spray malt and find that advice to be useful. And with Briess Amber DME, I don't need to add additional crystal/caramel to get a good Amber Ale.

Point being, it would be helpful to know the brand and approach for the amber extract (is amber a 'color' similar to Muntons? or a it a 'style specific' extract similar to Briess?) when suggesting specific recipes.

That being said, beer will be made. Please don't be disappointed with the recipe if the beer doesn't meet expectations.

 

[AmarikinBrew]

You might even be able to use that extract for non brewing purposes. Adding to ice cream came to mind while I was reading, but bread, mix with spent grain for animal feed. I'd try making beer first before feed for the barnyard animals though!

CAUTION! NOT FOR HORSES! The Equine species of mammal may go into COLIC and death may occur if untested, unknown quality, unknown substances are introduced to their food at any time or amount!
How do I know this? I am a Texan, raised on a farm and have seen it first hand, kept a horse alive until the VET could administer the shot, AND IT WAS NOT ANY FUN.
And I like horses.

 

[OakIslandBrewery]

CAUTION! NOT FOR HORSES! The Equine species of mammal may go into COLIC and death may occur if untested, unknown quality, unknown substances are introduced to their food at any time or amount!
How do I know this? I am a Texan, raised on a farm and have seen it first hand, kept a horse alive until the VET could administer the shot, AND IT WAS NOT ANY FUN.
And I like horses.

Thanks for the clarification!

I like horses too and certainly wouldn't want see them getting sick or dying.

 

[Lollim96]

A brand name would be helpful. Your "Location" suggests you're on the east side of "the pond".

Over in the USA, some of us have brewed with both Briess "Sparkling Amber" and Muntons "Plain Amber" dry malt extract. They are different products and have different flavor profiles.


The result would probably be a malty Red IPA or a 7% Amber Ale ("double red", "imperial amber").


10% simple sugar is often used in malt extract based IPAs.


So roughly $1 per pound.

What does BBE stand for? (eta: apparently 'best before end')

View attachment 840764
View attachment 840763

Sorry for the late reply, had a stupidly busy week with work.

I can confirm this is Muntons plain Amber LME.

Just out of curiosity, what impact does simple sugar have on amber beers apart from increasing the overall abv?

Yes BBE stands for best before date here in the UK. These buckets of amber LME are dated BBE 04/2024 so I was a little out of accuracy regarding being on the BBE though they are sure close!!

 

[Lollim96]

Ah, I see.
Extract has a limited freshness, especially after opening. There should be a date on the barrels, What is it?

A 23 liter (5 gallon) batch using 3 kg (6.6 lbs) will have a gravity of around 1.045. Gravity-wise that's lowish Pale Ale, American Amber or Brown Ale territory.
You'd get 8 batches like that out of each 25kg drum.

If you raise them to around 1.060-1.065 you'd get 5-6 batches out of each drum, for somewhat stronger beers (IPAs etc). You could add some dark roasted malts (steeped) to produce darker beers, Porters, Stouts, etc.

The date on the barrels is 04/2024. One of them is open but only opened 2 weeks ago and since has been refrigerated. The other one is sealed.

I think as of right now they are fresh enough.

Had an old Mexican Cerveza coopers kit that would have otherwise gone in the bin (terrible kits overall imo) so I decided to do a small experiment. I brewed the coopers Mexican Cerveza kit with 2kg of the muntons amber LME.

It came out very similar to a Vienna lager of sorts.

Very malty overall and I couldn’t detect any off flavours from the extract. Not really my kind of beer as I’m really not a lager fan though friends who enjoy dark lagers seemed to enjoy it.

So I’m assuming as of right now the extract probably is still good to go. Though probably not for long!

 

[Lollim96]

Excellent suggestions, guys! ^

Maybe the OP @Lollim96 can chime in on the BBE date on the barrels and if they are still closed (factory sealed) or have been opened or even partially used. Oxygen (in the air) is one of the major culprits of oxidation and staling of products such as LME.

They are Muntons Amber LME and one of them is sealed. The other I opened about two weeks ago for a test brew to see if it was still fresh.

Overall my experiment with an old coopers Mexican Cerveza kit and the Amber LME worked well. Appears to be fresh enough though not sure for how long that will last.

Dated BBE 04/24

 

[OakIslandBrewery]

When I bought five gallon pails of LME, after opening them and pulling what I needed, I would pour enough vodka on the top to ward off mold growth. You should only need enough to cover the surface. Keeping the pail cold will help too.

If you like Vienna lagers, try brewing it as an ale. I think when you start looking at recipes you'll find many uses for your amber extract and it doesn't need to be a strict "amber". Amber wheat comes to mind.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

Just out of curiosity, what impact does simple sugar have on amber beers apart from increasing the overall abv?

Using sugar in place of DME/LME results in a lower FG. I notice the difference at around 6% ABV.

 

[IslandLizard]

Using sugar in place of DME/LME results in a lower FG. I notice the difference at around 6% ABV.

Just dotting the i-s, this is meant to read as: Using some sugar in place of all DME/LME [...].

Do you have any guidelines how much to increase the percentage of sugar with increasing gravity?
For example with 6% ABV start replacing with 5% (or 10%) sugar and perhaps increasing by 5% for each additional %ABV?

When used in larger amounts, say over 10%, is Dextrose preferred over Sucrose (table sugar) for a cleaner taste?

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

The commonly stated guideline of "use 10% sugar" is a safe and effective starting point.

Yeast selection is a consideration. With DME and maltier styles, I prefer strains with higher attenuation (e.g. Nottingham) over lower attenuating strains (e.g. Windsor). For hop-forward styles, hop friendly strains (e.g. Verdant) are helpful.

As for sucrose vs dextrose, I haven't had a reason (or made time) to give dextrose a try.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

Amber DME color observation/speculation: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/thread...e-a-few-weeks-ago.703564/page-5#post-10344337