Premier malt extract

[MAsteveINE]

Was reading recently that hopped extracts have the bittering of the hops and not much of the flavoring due to all the cooking involved so taking the water with finishing hops for a quick boil before adding the malt syrup, or mix the water and syrup and boiling that.

Over the centuries beer has been an amazing assortment of beverages, my dictionary
says it is anything that is fermented but not distilled. The old moonshine makers drank freely of their wort and took home a bucket, I have a recipe for Peach Beer, 40 lbs white sugar and 7 bushels of rotten peaches, the woods are full of lore about beer from
molasses, so the old loggers, road builders, river boaters, ranch hands and soldiers had
had good and ample reason for including a barrel of molasses on every grocery order.
Blue Ribbon Malt Extract was shipped nationwide as a bakery ingredient, there are cookbooks out there that went with it. However for the working guy who could squeeze out the price of a can and come up with something sweet to add in it was a matter of stir it all up in a crock and throw a horse blanket over it till Saturday night. I guess in order to understand one has to be totally stone broke while hard working for years...and years.

MAsteveINE

 

[Bierliebhaber]

First post on this board. Wow this thread goes on...

I'm an AG brewer, but my wife brought home a can of this PME. So a few weeks ago, at the end of a brew day, I threw a beer together with this can. I only made a three gallon batch, so as to not use so much sugar. I added enough brown sugar to bring the OG to 1.051 and threw in about an ounce of Amarillo pellets to make sure it had some decent hop flavor. I boiled the water and extract for 20 minutes and added the hops at 10 and the brown sugar at 5. As I was just throwing this together and not expecting much of a drinkable result, I forgot to add yeast nutrient and whirlflock. The ferment went a a little slow (12 days--I don't know how old the dry yeast was, but I rehydrated). I put the beer in my 3gal keg and it turns out it is a drinkable, dare I say, enjoyable beverage. The brown sugar and Amarillo hops gave this beer an interesting citrusy honey flavor. A little cloudy with the absence of whirlflock. Not bad for approx. $5-6 total cost.

 

[DoubleAught]

Revvy linked this thread to me. I wish this was still good to use, but it's unfortunately not. Still thought some might like to see a 30 year old (or so) can of Blue Ribbon Extract.

 

[DoubleAught]

Revvy linked this thread to me. I wish this was still good to use, but it's unfortunately not. Still thought some might like to see a 30 year old (or so) can of Blue Ribbon Extract.

seemingly...the picture didn't download, lets try again...

 

[HoppedIPA]

I bought a case of it last year from a grocery wholesaler in northern Arkansas. used it a few times as a kicker to my other beers and once alone with specialty grains..it had a mild cider flavor ofcourse i dry hopped it too and added extra hops in the boil..lol not bad easy to drink for me

 

[cincydave]

Interesting. I've never seen it in any stores around Cincinnati area. Any Cincy brewers know where to find this stuff?

 

[breew]

This is ava in Jasper Indiana at the Jasper hardware store.. They also mail it.

 

[OldLager]

This thread brings back good memories! I used Pale-Dry Premier Malt Extract to make lagers back in the 1970’s, when it was a basic ingredient in some of the recipes advocated in Leigh P. Beedle’s “Brew It Yourself”, a home-brew bible of the era. Other ingredients were 3 pounds of light or dark dried malt extract, brewers’ yeast, nutrients, etc., corn sugar for priming. No cane sugar-derived ingredients. Beedle didn’t like the unbeer-like flavors imparted by sugar cane, and his recipes were all-malt. I have to say I agreed with him. I used to vary the recipes by adding small quantities of crystal malt and I replaced light dried malt with amber dried malt. I was trying to imitate Marzenbier, which was my favorite while I was stationed with the Third Infantry Division in Wurzburg, Germany. This recipe came reasonably close, I used to think. Having recently discovered that the Premier Malt line still exists (I thought for years that it was extinct) I’ve ordered a case of Pale-Dry and will try my hand again. One change, though, the cans have been reduced from 3 pounds to 2.2 pounds (1 kg). I am not very concerned about the smaller quantity of fermentables, but I wonder if the “Pale-Dry” cans will have enough hops now. I will order some Hallertauer pellets (a typical Bavarian hop) and experiment. Beedle maintained that all the 1970’s era hopped products in the Premier line were over-hopped for the recipes I described above, except for “Pale-Dry” grade. If you bought one of the other grades, you were advised to reduce the liquid malt by one-third of a can to avoid excessive bittering. Maybe, that was the point of the can change? But for all I know, they may have changed the formula, as well as the can size. The sales lady at Premier told me that most of the old customers did not modify their recipes when they changed the cans however.
Oldlager

 

[NKYRon]

Hi all,
Joined the forum just to tag onto this topic. Had a neighbor bring over some old cans of Premier Light that someone in his family just had laying around for years. I can't determine the age of the cans, but it's the 1kg can Produced in the UK and not Canada. The price tag looks old, but it's marked at 5.99 so the guy was eaither paying too much for it or the price tells me they can't be that old. The Yeast comes in a blank white packet and did not start fermentation in a starter, so I bought a 6g pack of Muntons premium gold yeast and sprinkled it over:
-2 cans of extract brought to boil with 2 gallons water
-Soaked some oatmeal in a bag in the water. Threw a 1/4 cup of it straight into the wort
-Brought it to 5 gallons and mixed in 3 cups light brown sugar and 2 cups white granular sugar. Got a reading of 1.051 just before I pitched the yeast into ~ 78 degree wort.

Waited...and waited. Only after a full day did it even start to bubble in the air lock. It's never gone into a full fast, gurgling, bubble that I would expect out of that much sugar in the mix. And I have to give it a good swirl and keep the temps higher(~76-78F) that I am used to to keep it fermenting. It's been 8 days since I pitched the yeast and and 7 days since the first bubbles. I just took a reading and it's down to 1.032, but I'm used to the kits I buy being completly done in a week. Questions:
1. Was that too much sugar for 6g of muntons yeast? Do I need to add more yeast?
2. Could the extract just flat out be too old and it's throwing a wrench in the process?
3. Do I just need to be patient, keep stirring it up and keep the heat up on it?

The wort still had foam on the top of it and Im getting bubbles again after I took a reading, put the lid back on and swirled it. Thoughts?

 

[TC2000]

My grandfather also brewed with this malt and I have a 1950's-1960's recipe laying around somewhere. I know he used 1 can of malt, 5lbs of sugar, and diced up a potato in it, heated it like he was mashing it out and it said cool to 78* and add 1 cake of yeast. I also seem to remember bottles exploding in the basement as a child too I know he had shelves full of them all over the basement.

 

[papajuan]

I have an old family recipe from my grand parents from the late 1800's that is very close to this recipe, It used 3 pound of Blue Ribbon malt extract and 3 pounds of table sugar in six gallons of water and bread yeast. It was bottled when the fermentation was almost finished (two bubbles rising per minute in a water glass of wort) Bottle and store in a cool cellar for two weeks. covering the bottles with a horse blanket was suggested. (flak vest?) I have made this beer it did not taste like modern American filtered, carbonated rain barrel water.

 

[ron,ar]

I have used Premier LME in a pepper beer I make and it always comes out pretty good, but I do add a lb of dme also. One thing about it, the price is right!

 

[smokediverxxx]

I have used Premier LME in a pepper beer I make and it always comes out pretty good, but I do add a lb of dme also. One thing about it, the price is right!

Did you add the 3 lbs of sugar too - and was this a 5 gal batch?

Thanx

 

[cwdrake]

Anybody seen this stuff anywhere lately?

 

[Dynachrome]

Subsbcribe.

 

[moontester]

I bought a case of it last year from a grocery wholesaler in northern Arkansas. used it a few times as a kicker to my other beers and once alone with specialty grains..it had a mild cider flavor ofcourse i dry hopped it too and added extra hops in the boil..lol not bad easy to drink for me

I live in northwest arkansas. Where did you find this malt?

 

[moontester]

What store is it in what town. I live in northwest arkansas.

 

[LeChuck]

Is this stuff completely off shelves by now? Or is there any hope of finding old cans still? It's really a shame, I'd love to try making a batch with the 'original' (atleast I'm assuming the recipe for the 'light hopped' flavor didn't really change over the years). Anyone stockpile cans and have extras they'd part with? Or is there another available brand that is comparable flavor/hop-wise?

Similar story as others - my grandpa used to brew out in his barn using a woodburning stove and an 8 gallon crock (which I found and now keep as a memento). Covered with a cloth and poured into bottles with a dipper. Don't have a recipe, but I'm sure it's similar to what others have described. I believe he was doing this around the 1940s - 60s. Lots of stories of people not being able to walk straight after drinking it

Random question - what was the size of a yeast cake in that timeframe? Most of the Fleischmann's yeast cakes I see in photos were 0.6 oz. The recipes all seem to just call for 1 cake without mentioning the size.

 

[Revvy]

Is this stuff completely off shelves by now? Or is there any hope of finding old cans still? It's really a shame, I'd love to try making a batch with the 'original' (atleast I'm assuming the recipe for the 'light hopped' flavor didn't really change over the years). Anyone stockpile cans and have extras they'd part with? Or is there another available brand that is comparable flavor/hop-wise?

Similar story as others - my grandpa used to brew out in his barn using a woodburning stove and an 8 gallon crock (which I found and now keep as a memento). Covered with a cloth and poured into bottles with a dipper. Don't have a recipe, but I'm sure it's similar to what others have described. I believe he was doing this around the 1940s - 60s. Lots of stories of people not being able to walk straight after drinking it

Random question - what was the size of a yeast cake in that timeframe? Most of the Fleischmann's yeast cakes I see in photos were 0.6 oz. The recipes all seem to just call for 1 cake without mentioning the size.

The company is still in business on Groesbeck Ave. in Warren, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit, I no longer live in the area, but drove by it last week.

Premier Malt Products Website

Under brewing, and "canned malt extract" they list these products
Natural Hopped Flavor - Light (1kg) Code #70261-00002
Natural Hopped Flavor - Dark (1kg) Code #70261-00003
Natural Hopped Flavor - Pale Dry (1kg) Code #70261-00006
Natural Hopped Flavor - Extra Pale (1kg) Code #70261-00001
Natural Hopped Flavor - Plain (1kg) Code #70261-00004

It might be interesting to contact them and see if they sell to homebrewshops still, or see if you can order from them some of their stuff

 

[LeChuck]

I sent an email just to make sure, but I thought others had already confirmed it was out of production. Has anyone found another extract that's comparable? Unfortunately some of the others like Muntons hopped light are around $25 a can.

Has anyone tried to actually ferment in an original crock? I'm not sure what exactly these were made of, but I have a feeling it's probably not considered safe nowadays (esp. if it has chips or cracks).

Also still curious about the yeast cake question above, in case anyone has info

 

[countypark]

They quit making the light extract about three years ago.

 

[Dynachrome]

I bottled it, and let it sit for several days now. After cooling the beer, it cleared up nicely. The taste has greatly improved! I have to admit, it is better than most commercial beers on the market, however, it is very filling. It also has a little more potency than I like in a brew. Can't handle too many of these in one sitting! A very nice dark amber color and has hints of apples and spice in smell. The taste is smooth and crisp with a nice finish. After getting off of work (about an hour ago), I poured a glass and went out to the garden for my morning inspection. Talk about an enjoyable experience!!! A nice, cool morning with dew still on the grass, my first attempt at making beer in hand, sun shining through the brew....what a way to end a long night shift. I'm hooked!

Yu can add water and lower your initial gravity (water it down a little).

 

[z-bob]

If you do try to recreate an old recipe, be aware that the old cans of Blue Ribbon or Premier malt were 3 pound cans (and farther back they might have been 3.3) not 2.2 lbs.