Ordering Bulk Extracts

[beerdrinker]

Ok,

I am about ready to place an order for 30 kg pails of LME...

I was gonna go with one Pale LME and a Light LME for my order. So I can make light beers (lagers?) and Pale Ale's

THese malt extracts are the most often used as far as I have read... would this be a good order?

Sean.

[macgruffus]

would this be a good order?

Kind of depends on your brewing process. If you do extract only this would be okay but I'm guessing you do at least extract with steeping grains or partial mashes. In that case, I'd go with only the lightest extract you can get and let the specialty malts do all the rest as far as color.

The only other option I'd suggest, especially since you are considering lagers, would be to get some pilsner malt extract. It'll make a difference in the flavor of your lagers.

David

[beerdrinker]

I'm ordering from United Canadian Malt...

They offer Pale, Very Light, Amber, Dark, Lager (80/20), and Wheat LME's. I am doing extract with steeping grains.

So I figured I should get Pale cause thats what the Pale Ale recipes call for, and then the Light one for making Cream ale's and my initial attempts at lagers.

[macgruffus]

Lager (80/20)

Any idea the composition of the Lager LME? 80% pale and 20% pilsner? I'd consider that one for your lagers.

David

[beerdrinker]

I'll ask them about the composition when I put in my order.

Two questions:

1) How long will a 30 kg pail of liquid malt extract last?

2) Could a Light LME be used to make a pale ale instead of a Pale LME? I'm defiantly buying a pail of the Light stuff, cause I need it to make my cream ales. But the Light stuff plus some grains steeped in might work as well for a pale ale. I'll likely buy both, as once my kegerator is set up at my cottage, I expect to go through a good amount of beer this summer

Sean.

[macgruffus]

1) How long will a 30 kg pail of liquid malt extract last?

I'm going to use Doc's favorite answer ... "it depends". It depends on how your storing it ... at what tempurature, exposure to light, oxygen, etc. I'd only count on 3 months or so unless you have a way to take smaller porions of the whole lot and repackage them in airtight, refrigerated containers. Here's a BYO article I found ... http://byo.com/feature/892.html

Rough estimate would be that you'd have about 10 batches in 30 kilos of LME (assuming about 3 kilos per batch). Brew heavy and use it up before it starts to darken or grow mold.

2) Could a Light LME be used to make a pale ale instead of a Pale LME?

Absolutely! Use the light LME as your base and then you can control the color and flavor with various Crystal and other specialty malts. Make one with some Crystal 40 and then another with double Crystal 20 and compare. One with some Crystal 20, Crystal 40 and Crystal 60! kind of like a beer layer cake. It's all about having fun, right?

I use ProMash to do recipe formulations but there are all kinds of tools out there you can use to put something together using the ingredients at hand so you'll get an idea where it'll end up.

David

[beerdrinker]

would the shelf life be higher if all the LME was transfered into 1 liter jars and refrigerated?

I'm now thinking I'll only go for one pail. So the decision is now between:

Pale Brewers Diastatic LME-LD 100 Malt Extract, $70 / 30 kg

and

VLM Brewer's Non-Diastatic LME 100 Pale Malt Extract (VLM - Very Light), $67
/ 30 kg

or should I go for the Pale Dry Malt Extract, which is 107/ 22.68kg that will last longer?

AHH... I just need to get this to be able to have beer for my kegs that come in about 3 weeks...

[macgruffus]

would the shelf life be higher if all the LME was transfered into 1 liter jars and refrigerated?

Absolutely. Storing it in the fridge if possible will keep down the growth of mold and will probably extend the life to a year perhaps. Breaking it into smaller jars will also minimize the exposure to oxygen.

You might also consider using some of the extract to can starters. I do this when I have any extra extract. I try to always have jars of ready-to-pitch wort for starters. BYO had a good article on this a couple issues ago and I found this article online ... http://www.brewboard.com/index.php?showtopic=47615

Pale Brewers Diastatic LME-LD 100 Malt Extract, $70 / 30 kg and VLM Brewer's Non-Diastatic LME 100 Pale Malt Extract (VLM - Very Light), $67 / 30 kg

Now you've gone beyond my comfort level ... diastatic vs non-diastatic ... hopefully someone else will jump in. I always go for the lightest extract and let the specialty malts "do my talking."

or should I go for the Pale Dry Malt Extract, which is 107/ 22.68kg that will last longer?

As long as you keep the DME dry it'll last a lot longer. I always have some around anyway to "bump" up batches if my efficiency is off out of the mash tun or to keep malt bills down to a size I can mash in my equipment.

When I do partial mashes I also use a "late extract" approach to keep kettle caramelization to a minimum. I'll formulate a recipe that has both base malts and LME plus specialty malts. I mash the smaller amount of base and specialty malts and then only use those runnings in my full boil. I add the extract late in the boil with enough time to sterilize (usually the last 15 minutes) but not enough time to caramelize and darken. I get enough pH from the small mash to keep my hop utilization up during the boil but can still make lighter beers. BYO article showing this method (http://byo.com/feature/1510.html).

David