Replacing Grains With Malt?

[jhsbaker]

I'm fairly new to brewing (currently at the point of using kits plus hops and some grain).

I have found that most homebrew recipes on the net are all grain. I was wondering if these can be replaced with liquid malt extracts? If so, how much malt extract do you need for a given amount of grain? How close will the result be to the intended version?

I think that this is something that keeps a lot of beginner brewers within a very narrow spectrum of beer styles, so I would be interested to hear if it is possible to do this, and if anyone has done it already.

Cheers
James

 

[Voosher]

Generally speaking 1kg of grain (at 75% efficiency) is equivalent to 750g of LME or 600g of DME.
You can certainly sub the base grains for extract. The trade-off is the difference in some of the flavours.
Most extracts are made from Australian pale malt which means you won't get the subtle flavours of Pils malt or the extra maltiness of Munich or Melanoidin or even the smoother deeper flavours of Maris Otter - which is after all just another pale malt, but a much better one IMHO.
It's a good step forward however. I think that extract with fresh hops is a significant advancement over hopped tins.