Cheapest extract liquid or dry?

[timbo41]

Folks can anyone point me in the direction of a really cheap source of extract either dry or liquid. For my first extract brew I am going to use 2 cans of extract from malt miller costing about £13, but times are tight so any alternative will be considered Dont really have the space for a bulk buy though unless its dry, and how would I store that if I did. Help much appreciated

[RobWalker]

Dry tends to be cheaper if you can get a good deal. My local stock it at 2.25/500g. All I can say is shop around, don't get ripped off on it!

[timbo41]

good advice will post the best deals as i find them . At moment , Malt Miller doing 1.5kg LME at £6 ish a throw unfortunately + pand p

[sparky Paul]

Those in the Irish Republic can buy 500g packs of Munton's Spraymalt for €2.00, free delivery on €30 orders, from here...

http://www.homebrew.ie/products.php?cat ... -Enhancers

...fab price, I wonder if they'd consider shipping to the UK?

Another seller based in Ireland which does ship to the UK has 1Kg bags for £5.00, free shipping over £70...

http://www.thehomebrewcompany.co.uk/ind ... cPath=3_36

[SchemieRadge]

£3.99 for 1kg?
http://www.worcesterhopshop.co.uk/produ ... cts_id=152
If you ever find some space, they're doing 25kg LME just now for 49.99... cheapest way by miles.
(I've got one of their 15kg jerry cans sitting out in the garage - doesn't really take up much space)

[RobWalker]

£3.99 for 1kg?
http://www.worcesterhopshop.co.uk/produ ... cts_id=152
If you ever find some space, they're doing 25kg LME just now for 49.99... cheapest way by miles.
(I've got one of their 15kg jerry cans sitting out in the garage - doesn't really take up much space)

finally they're stocking it! hahah. they live local to me so i pick up from them. great quality ingredients, very fresh hops. great place!

[jabbathehut]

i had one of the 25kg of lme before ...never again. After using about 10 kgs of it i left it for a while ( inside the house) when i opened it next a few weeks later there was a lot of mould on the top. I drove on and just gave it and extra long boil... DME is better by far in my opinion... also fyi the 2 euro dme is short dated some end of july ( got a big delivery of it only the other day) ... Im sure they would ship to UK for a low price contact them they are eager to work with customers....I also use http://www.thehomebrewcompany.co.uk ( irish branch) and they are superb for service and always have low prices.

Actually.. does DME stay much after tht bbf date as some of the stuff i got is up end of june rest end of july....if it would keep long term ( say 6 months) then i might stock up on more....( got 8kg of it last time ) might grab more at 2 euro a 500g if its would keep ( its all foil packed muntons stuff by the way not generic packaged.

[Rookie]

I understand the need to find the best price, but keep in mind sometimes there's a reason stuff is cheap. No matter how much you save at first if the stuff is crap you wasted your money.
DME lasts better than lme which darkens with age. I read somewhere that if lme gets mold on it you can scrape off the mold and the extract underneath is still okay.

[SchemieRadge]

So what are the characteristics of crap extract as opposed to good extract?

I got my 15kg batch from the place above and can't tell the difference between that and brews made with Coopers or Brupaks extract... should I be looking out for something in particular?

[RobWalker]

I suppose the premium ones would use better base malts, maris otter etc. Cheapest would be the mega cheap high yielding base malt!

[SchemieRadge]

I suppose the premium ones would use better base malts, maris otter etc. Cheapest would be the mega cheap high yielding base malt!

I've no idea what you just said... you're speaking to a malt ignoramus. Tell me in terms of beer.. how would cheap malt manifest itself in a finished batch of beer? Bad taste? Bad attenuation?

[RobWalker]

Nothing bad particularly. I use cheap extract, doesn't bother me, still wrangle up some good beer from it.

Muntons say their spraymalt is made of the "finest quality" barley. There are different varieties of pale/base malt, and I'd like to assume that theirs is made from something like Maris Otter (very good quality pale malt) but they're all pretty decent anyway, so unless you're a) rich or b) planning a special beer, just go with your basic, extract is far too expensive to do anything else with really.

The whole process is a bit of an impediment in itself, hence why people eventually move to AG. See it as a way of getting an original beer with some of the hard steps cut out.

What you must understand is that extract on the whole is generally twangier, muskier, requires more ageing than an all grain beer in my experience, and I do both regularly. The most important thing you can do for an extract beer is ferment at the right temperature and give it plenty of conditioning, as well as calculate your ingredients, water volume and timings accurately, those will affect the overall experience a lot more than the type of extract you use.

[Jocky]

Personally I buy dry malt with the longest date possible, and I don't get too wound up about price as quality is more important to me. Plus if I wanted super cheap beer I'd be making one can kits with sugar or going all grain.

From memory, old malt can cause all kinds of flavours in your beer that are generally known as 'extract twang'. Dry lasts better than liquid, but once a bag is opened you still want to use it fairly quickly.

[SchemieRadge]

I find extract brewing quite expensive.. as in, almost cheaper buying beer in the supermarket expensive. Hence why I try to keep costs down.
But on balance I'd rather give my money to home brew shops than Tesco so I don't let price bother me too much.
Cheers for the info above Rob - very helpful.

[sparky Paul]

£3.99 for 1kg?
http://www.worcesterhopshop.co.uk/produ ... cts_id=152
If you ever find some space, they're doing 25kg LME just now for 49.99... cheapest way by miles.
(I've got one of their 15kg jerry cans sitting out in the garage - doesn't really take up much space)

Nice spot. I used to buy spraymalt for a similar price from Rob at The Malt Miller, but he hasn't had any in for ages. The bags of spraymalt from Rob were great.

The one thing you have to remember about bulk malt extract is that moisture is the enemy - if you can keep the water out, even the liquid extract will keep for a long time. That's why the sealed 1Kg spraymalt bags are so handy.