What's in DME?

[DaveyT]

Hello
Does anybody know what's actually in dried malt extract? Specifically, Munton's Medium Malt Extract?
I usually use pale and extra pale which most recipes account for. I'm thinking of doing a TTL with just a smidgen of crystal malt in it. If the only difference between pale and medium extract is a smidgen of crystal malt it might have saved me the trouble.
Any input welcome.
Thanks in advance.

David

[Fuggled Mind]

Hi Dave

Not sure about Muntons or any other brands but in my notes (copied from their website i think), I have the following for Coopers:

Coopers Light - 5–6EBC
finely ground malted and unmalted barley

Coopers Amber - 30-38EBC
finely ground malted barley and crystal malt

Hope that helps

Cheers

Jason

[DaveyT]

Thanks, Jason - that's very helpful, actually.
It's now a question of allowing for it within the recipe or just chucking it in and seeing what happens. Perhaps I'll do a porter so I can just bung it in and be done with it without any great difference in taste.
I'm reluctant to leave out any crystal malt from my beers as it adds so much to the end product. There's only one way of finding out, though.

Thanks again
David

[Fuggled Mind]

I'm reluctant to leave out any crystal malt from my beers as it adds so much to the end product.

I know what you mean. I find pure extract beers taste just like kits. Adding crystal makes such a difference.

I've actually got 2.5kg of Brewferm amber malt extract that I ordered by mistake but I think you can use it as you would light. I'm sure on the kit brewing forum someone wrote that the flavour profiles are not that different - it's mostly a colour thing. However, it's not actually something that I've played around with.

I'm tempted to try brewing brown ale with my amber malt. I once brewed Charlie Papazian's Elbro Nerkte brown ale. That uses dark extract syrup but would be eaqually nice with amber.

Cheers

Jason

[DaveyT]

That's interesting. The EBC on the packet is pretty vague, too.
I think losing it in a dark beer would be a good way forward.
I'd be interested to know that Papazian brown ale recipe was like. I've never tried any of his recipes. Would you recommend it?
I've got a couple of his brown ale recipes. One is meant to be a Sam Smiths clone. It looks really dark, though. Not that this is a bad thing; I'm dabbling with GW's milds and the one I've done is supreme. Which only serves to highlight the successes I have when I add grains!

David

[Fuggled Mind]

That's interesting. The EBC on the packet is pretty vague, too.

I actually wrote to Brewferm to find out what the exact composition of their extracts were. They basically stated what is written on the packet. The best info I got was for Coopers. I don't have access to other DME's but I'm happy with the results I get from Brewferm. Still don't really know what's in it though

I'd be interested to know that Papazian brown ale recipe was like. I've never tried any of his recipes. Would you recommend it?

I've actually only brewed two of his recipes but both turned out well. I brewed his Palace Bitter twice. The first one used US-05 but was a little on the bland side but I brewed it again using S-04 and it's lovely - still got some in the cellar.

I brewed Elbro Nerkte Brown Ale a long time ago (you can find the recipe on this website. Just enter it in the search box at the top). It uses dark LME. The recipe turns out very dark. I will brew it again but use my 2.5kg of Medium DME. I would prefer my brown ale with a lighter colour.

I'm dabbling with GW's milds and the one I've done is supreme. Which only serves to highlight the successes I have when I add grains!

Which mild did you brew?

I've brewed GW's Hopback mild and the Highgate mild too. I followed the Highgate mild to the letter and its very drinkable. Think I used Danstar Nottingham.

The Hopback mild was a chance to use up some stuff I had lying around in my brew kit (e.g. Weyermann's Carabohemian which is a slightly darker version of regular crystal and Willamette hops). It's a lovely pint. I'm definitely going to brew that one again but will probably have a crack at a different recipe first. I quite like the look of the Thwaites recipe.

Cheers

Jason

[DaveyT]

Hello Jason
I'll look up the brown ale. You've got me thinking and I don't think I've had any other brown ales except Newcastle Brown Ale which I stopped drinking because of the damage it was doing to my tongue, my brain and my social life. Perhaps I ought to get to know a few others. I'll check out the recipe; thanks. I'm interested in doing a beer with bananas (for various reasons) and a brown ale might fit the bill. What do you reckon? (I might start a thread on here about it, actually.)
Anyway; milds. I did GW's Hyde's Dark Mild and it's a belter. It's really light and fresh even though it's a very deep dark brown colour. I was thinking of trying the Hopback mild; they know what they're doing at Hopback and I've not combined three steeping grains yet. I recommend the Hyde's a lot; berries and chocolate, indeed.
I've heard good things about Sarah Hughes' Dark Ruby and I'm sorely tempted, I have to admit. I think it might put me under the table, though.

David

[oneilldave]

... I'm interested in doing a beer with bananas ...

Hi DaveyT,

I am also very interested in doing a banana brew. I just did one with rhubarb and it was a little too tart so next time I will brew using some precipitate of calcium to reduce the acidity, which I think will clear that problem up. But bananas? Now that's a challange. How are you considering doing it, or have you a recipie in mind to follow? I thought about using two very, very ripe bananas in a boil of the wort. But I'm concerned that they may cloud the ale with pectin, assuming they have some, so wonder if pectolase would be a good idea? I don't know but I'm be very interested in doing this so any thoughts would be greatfully recieved.

Ta,

Dave.

[DaveyT]

Thinking of heating them to 80 C (prob in water) then adding them to the fermentor 24 hours after fermentation has begun. Not sure about quantities. I read somewhere about 60g per litre but I can't find the website anymore to verify it. They will have to be very ripe, as you say.
I don't know what pectolase is, I'm afraid, so can't help on that score.
I saw a recipe for Bateman's XXXB that attracted me; something dark-ish.

David

[Fuggled Mind]

I'm interested in doing a beer with bananas (for various reasons) and a brown ale might fit the bill.
David

Have you got some banana trees where you are David?

There's a lot of talk about bananas in beer on the American website Homebrewtalk. However, they are mostly talking about dunkelweizens (which taste slightly banana-like because of the yeast). Wells has proved the point quite well that a standard bitter can take a banana-flavour reasonably well but it's not a beer I could drink in quantity (actually I try to avoid drinking any beer in quantity).

Its funny, XXXB does have a faint banana like taste but that's something I've noticed more on draught than in bottled form. I can get XXXB in bottled form and drink it quite often but in that form it's more rich malt and peppery hops than anything.

I would say do a bit of research, start up a separate topic on bananas and eventually try a mini-brew. I'd only use a couple at the end of the boil at the very most though. Perhaps you could even write a letter to Wells. Not sure if they'd write back or not though. I seem to recall on some homebrew sites that they didn't respond to requests for more info on their Bombardier recipe.

Cheers

Jason

[DaveyT]

Yeah you could say we've got a couple in Gran Canaria, Jason. Canarian people are often referred to as 'Platanos' which roughly translates as 'banana people'. They're really good bananas, too.
It think I've seen a lot of the websites you're talking about. There's even one bloke who says he found a banana recipe by accident and one day he might even add bananas. Really helpful stuff! I have tried Well's Banana Bread Beer and did actually drink it in quantity a fair few years ago now. I might give the brewery a shout but my experience with Adnams has put me off somewhat.
You can get XXXB in Switzerland? Nice. The best we have here are 2 euro cans of John Smiths. Poor show. Lots of good German beer, though, which almost makes up for it.
I'll start a thread at some point but yesterday my mother-in-law said her fig trees will start to bear fruit next month. As that's ten days away I think I'll dabble with figs first. The bananas are all year round so they can wait.
Watch out for the fig post! Perhaps a dark mild or a porter...

David