# Liquid Vs Dry Malt - Equivalent Dosage?



## Ploppy (31/1/06)

Hi, I'm relatively new to brewing and have a quick question about the amount of liquid malt to use. I bought some Coopers _India Pale Ale_ extract at my local homebrew shop, and since it was part of a special deal, I got a free 1.5 kg can of liquid malt extract with it. 

The instructions say to use 500g of Coopers dry malt extract + 300g dextrose, or alternatively liquid malt extract. So far so good, but just as I was about to start my brew I realised I wasn't quite sure about how much liquid malt extract is equivalent to the 500g of dry malt and 300g of dextrose.

So...how much of the liquid malt extract should I use? The entire 1.5kg tin? I'm assuming so, but I'm not really sure if the liquid stuff is more or less potent than the dry stuff in terms of how much fermentable sugar it contains. If anyone can clear this up for me, it would be much appreciated!


----------



## Mr Bond (31/1/06)

Liquid malt extract is about 80% solids and 20% water,therefore 1.5kg LME will yield around 1.2kg of fermentables,as opposed to the 800 gms of the other combo.

Personally i would add the 1.5 kg of LME and get a little more alc,and body which will suit the style more.(but thats just me)


----------



## berto (31/1/06)

Second the whole 1.7kg of liquid extract in there. Should make for a decent full bodied brew, and give you decent alc% of around 5-5.5 off the top of my head.


----------



## PistolPatch (31/1/06)

[Edit Note: For those reading through this thread, my reply below will seem as though I've totally missed the question asked. The original post was a little ambiguous so I assumed that all Ploppa had was the India Pale Ale. Ploppa quickly fixed this with an edit which I just noticed today. Cheers!]

How goes it Ploppy!

Congrats on your first post! Youll find the people on this site really helpful and theres enough info on here to keep you going probably for a lifetime. A good place to start is here.

http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/Freq...pics-t1151.html

First thing to read is, Two Can Kit Screamers and Beefing Up the Kit Brew.

Anyway, to your question

Brauluvers answer above is absolutely correct but as you say that you are relatively new to brewing Im going to word it a different way.

For a normal kit brew you usually use 1 tin of malt extract (thats your India Pale Ale) plus a kilo of dry stuff such as dried malts, sugar, dextrose etc. These are commonly called adjuncts. So you are going to need.

1.5kg Tin of Coopers India Pale Ale
1.0kg Adjuncts

In your post you say, The instructions say to use 500g of Coopers + 300g dextrose, but Im unsure of what you mean by Coopers. Im guessing when they say that, they are suggesting you use, 1 tin of Coopers India Pale Ale, 500g of Coopers Brew Booster (1 or 2) and 300g dextrose. If so, then this would make sense.

So, I know you definitely have your 1.5kg tin of India Pale Ale. All you need now is 800g to 1kg of dry adjuncts (forget liquid adjuncts in your early brewing so probably and hopefully theres no need for your original question to be answered anyway!)

For your 1kg of dry adjunct, I would suggest that you go to your brew shop and buy a 1kg bag of their Brew Booster. Alternatively, go to the supermarket and buy 1kg of Coopers Brew Booster (No 1 or 2). These contain a better quality mix of dry adjuncts and are all you will need. You wont need any dextrose (dextrose is a pretty low quality ingredient as well).

If you are relatively new to home brewing, before you put this next batch on, try and wait until the weekend which will give you a bit of time to do some more reading.

The best 3 things I can suggest are

1. Buy some household bleach and search this site on how to use it as a cleaner/sterilizer.

2. If you are going to the Home Brew Shop then buy a pack of Safale SO4 Yeast (about 2.75). Just put the yeast supplied by Coopers in the fridge and keep it for an emergency. Safle is a far higher quality yeast. Also, it goes berserk so you will have more fun watching it!

3. Work out how to keep the temperature of your fermenter constant and as close to 18 degrees as possible. I use a 100 Can Cooler from Kmart ($20-$30) and ice bricks. You can use soft drink bottles of frozen salt water instead of ice bricks. Youll only need to change them a few times each day.

Think Ive written way too much!

Cheers mate!

P.S. If Ive totally misinterpreted your question and your Coopers India Pale Ale is left over and you simply want to use it instead of dry adjuncts, then Brauluvers answer is the go! Mind you, if youre only going to use a part of the tin then youll need to store the remainder in the fridge under air-tight conditions.


----------



## poppa joe (31/1/06)

Just the two cans Braulover...Nothing else..Just curious as well..
Thinking of a "two canner"  
Cheers
PJ :beerbang:


----------



## Screwtop (31/1/06)

This kit extract makes a great IPA, so long as you like big bitter ales with good hop aroma. Play around, try replacing the Coopers DME with the tin of LME and include the 300g of Dex. Try to get some liquid English Ale yeast and try to ferment at 20deg. Rack when SG remains the same on two consecutive days (usually after 6 days) to a second container and let settle for another 7 days then bulk prime and bottle. Next time you drink some megaswill at the club or pub, you will wonder why, and want to get home to your IPA a quickly as possible. It's that good. Where I say TRY (try to ferment at 20deg etc) just try to achieve this for maximum results, no have too's, you will still make great beer.

Cheers and welcome


----------



## berto (31/1/06)

Hey, 
thought i would throw it in promash for you so you can see what to expect regarding Starting gravity (SG) and final gravity (FG). You should have a formula to use with these to give alcohol content. 

Hope this works. New to promash, so now a whiz bang guru... yet. 

01-31-2006 Ploppy's IPA

A ProMash Brewing Session Report
--------------------------------

Brewing Date: Tuesday January 31, 2006
Head Brewer: Ploppy
Asst Brewer: 
Recipe: Ploppy's IPA

BJCP Style and Style Guidelines
-------------------------------

07-0 India Pale Ale, India Pale Ale

Min OG: 1.050 Max OG: 1.075
Min IBU: 40 Max IBU: 60
Min Clr: 8 Max Clr: 14 Color in SRM, Lovibond

*Recipe Specifics
----------------


Batch Size (L): 23.00 Wort Size (L): 23.00
Total Extract (Kg): 3.20
Anticipated OG: 1.044 Plato: 10.98
Anticipated SRM: 3.8
Anticipated IBU: 0.0
Wort Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Actual OG: 1.044 Plato: 10.98
Actual FG: 1.012 Plato: 3.07

Alc by Weight: 3.30 by Volume: 4.22 From Measured Gravities.
ADF: 72.1 RDF 60.0 Apparent & Real Degree of Fermentation.*


Grain/Extract/Sugar

% Amount Name Origin Potential SRM
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
100.0 3.20 kg. Coopers LME - Light Australia 1.038 3

Potential represented as SG per pound per gallon


Hopefully ive bolded the important parts for you. There is nothing wrong with using the liquid at all and will turn out better than using the stuff recommended to you on the can. 

You have made the first important step of going to a HB shop and not a supermarket. Next time youre in there pick his brains about different things and im sure he will be only too happy to help, as are others on here.


----------



## Ploppy (31/1/06)

Wow, thanks for all the great responses everyone!


PistolPatch said:


> How goes it Ploppy!
> 
> Congrats on your first post! Youll find the people on this site really helpful and theres enough info on here to keep you going probably for a lifetime. A good place to start is here.
> 
> ...


Thanks, I'll give it a read shortly.



> In your post you say, The instructions say to use 500g of Coopers + 300g dextrose, but Im unsure of what you mean by Coopers. Im guessing when they say that, they are suggesting you use, 1 tin of Coopers India Pale Ale, 500g of Coopers Brew Booster (1 or 2) and 300g dextrose. If so, then this would make sense.



Sorry, I had meant to write "Coopers dry malt extract". I must have been daydreaming at the time. Anyway, I've edited it in now 



> The best 3 things I can suggest are
> 
> 1. Buy some household bleach and search this site on how to use it as a cleaner/sterilizer.
> 
> ...



Thanks for the advice, I'll definitely look into the cooler idea - it sounds like just what I need.


----------



## Ploppy (31/1/06)

berto said:


> Hey,
> thought i would throw it in promash for you so you can see what to expect regarding Starting gravity (SG) and final gravity (FG). You should have a formula to use with these to give alcohol content.
> 
> Hope this works. New to promash, so now a whiz bang guru... yet.
> ...



Hey, thanks berto. I'm going to take Brauluver's advice and use the whole can of LME, so I'll let you know what the OG actually turned out as. 

By the way, what's "promash"? Some sort of brewing recipe software?


----------



## tangent (31/1/06)

yeah software
thats for later 
make a few more brews 1st
good luck


----------



## PistolPatch (31/1/06)

Cheers Ploppy. If it's Coopers Dry Malt Extract, then you have everything you need! Seriously recommend getting the Safale yeast though!

And, if you don't understand Berto's post, don't worry. As Tangent said, that's for later, way later, I can only just understand it(!), though it will be very clear to those who have been brewing for a while! Cheers Berto!

'Keep things as simple as you can for the moment,' is even better than the EXCELLENT! advice I gave above!!!!!!!!! (Well, come on guys, it was excellent advice! Having a few beers here, reading the posts, looking through, having another beer, thinking about work tomorrow as I've had a few days off, ramble, ramble, ramble...) 

By the way, Ploppy, I wrote my first reply cold stone sober! Cheers mate!


----------



## Simon W (1/2/06)

PP, he doesn't need to buy anything, he was given a free can of LME.



Ploppy said:


> I bought some Coopers India Pale Ale extract at my local homebrew shop, and since it was part of a special deal, I got a free 1.5 kg can of liquid malt extract with it.



Ploppy, just throw in the free can of LME. (Liquid Malt Extract - click Here for help with the acronyms you'll find in this forum.)
As already mentioned, 1.5kg of LME is about equal to 1.2kg of DME.
Malt extract isn't entirely fermentable, so it will be close to equal the 1kg of white sugar(which is entirely fermentable), that most kit manufacturers recommend. As you've read on the can, Coopers don't recommend white sugar, atlest not with their 'higher end' cans.


----------



## PistolPatch (1/2/06)

Cheers Simon! Your're absolutely right! Just read the initial post again and was trying to work out how I had misinterpreted it after reading it several times last night, sober! Thought I was going mad but just saw that Ploppy edited his original post after my reply! Thank God for that!

I'm not as think as you stupid I am! 

Thanks for pointing that out Simon - I'll edit my post now so others reading will not get confused!

Hope some of the info was of help Ploppy! 

:beerbang:


----------



## Ploppy (1/2/06)

PistolPatch said:


> Hope some of the info was of help Ploppy!


It certainly was - thanks again to everyone for their input. I went ahead and did the brew using the 1.5kg can of LME, and it's bubbling away merrily now.

The OG was 1.040, which I suppose is slightly lower than expected for an IPA, but as long as it's still a pleasant enough beer in the end I'll be happy. I've tried some of the cheaper Coopers kits before (the ones you can buy from Coles), and they tasted at least as good as the average $30 carton of beer from the liquor store, so I'm sure this one won't let me down.


----------



## Simon W (2/2/06)

LoL PP, I've done it a few times myself. It's pretty easy to do when yer trying to read a million posts a day! (slight exaggeration!)

Ploppy, 1/2kg DME and 0.3kg dextrose would have got you around the high 30's so your not far off what the can's instructions would have got ya.


----------

