Advice

[Ricbec]

Hiyu all

Novice brewer here, just after a bit of info

I have heard of 3 different methods of doing a brew, namely using either pure liquid malt extract, or dextrose, or brew enhancer

From what I know you use either one of the 3 for adding to your brew kit

Can anyone provide some general info on why one type may be better than another depending on what kind of brew you are after

So far I have only done brews using Mangrove Jack's Aussie lager with Cooper's light pure.liquid malt extract

I haven't been fully happy with the taste I have obrained, I can only say that it seems to be a little on the malty side for me

My favourite store bought beer is Great northern

I have come across a Morgan's great northern brew, which comes with brew enhancer number one and using hops in it also

What can I expect flavour wise using brew enhancer in place of liguid malt extract, and am I correct in assuming that the brew enhancer is used in place of either liquid malt extract or dextrose?

Sorry for the noob questions but I'm finding it very hard to find the info I'm looking for, so any advice would be greatly appreciated

 

[wide eyed and legless]

I have never done kits but I am sure there are plenty of brewers started off with kits and probably still do them. Have a look on the Coopers site you may find something out on there.

 

[philrob]

I'm not surprised you find your brew on the malty side. The Coopers pure liquid malt is just adding more malt to your kit can than it was designed for. Not a bad thing, if you like a really malty beer.
The Coopers pure liquid malt is designed to be used in place of a kit can, and allows you to add your own hops, rather than rely on the hopping in the kit can.
A kit can is essentially designed to be used with a kg of sugar or dextrose.
I'd recommend you scale down the amount of the Coopers Light Liquid Malt and replace it with dextrose to an equivalent specific gravity (brewing software will help you here).
Alternatively, the Morgans Great Northern Brew kit you mention will give you something similar to the commercial example (don't expect an exact clone, you won't achieve that).
See which works for you, and then just tweak it till you're happy with your brews.
All of this, of course, depends on all the other vitals being in place, such as temperature control etc.

 

[golfandbrew]

The liquid malt, dextrose, and enhancers/boosters are different methods of getting additional fermentable sugars in your brew. In simple terms malt extract allows you to add fermentables while also maintaining the flavour and body also provided by the malt. Dextrose is pretty much just giving you more fermentable sugars without the malt flavour and body. Enhancers/boosters are meant to be a bridge between the two.

Enhancers/boosters generally contain a combination of dextrose, maltodextrin, and/or malt extract. Trouble is they generally don't tell how much of each is in whatever package you're buying. If you have tried supplementing your "kilo" with liquid malt extract and find the beer too malty for your liking try using half dextrose and half light dry malt extract for your next batch. This then gives you a benchmark to work from and adjust the amount of each to use with the following batch.