What actually is an extract kit?

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Can someone please explain or send me a link that explains what an extract kit actually is, and more importantly how it is made?

Is it essentially a wort that's been boiled for a long period to reduce the water content? If so, is this done for any other purpose other than to reduce the volume for transporting/logitical purposes?

I've been using the Fresh Wort Kits from Grain and Grape and would like to know how these differ from using an extract kit.

Thanks.
 
If by extract kit you mean something like the Coopers or Morgans range then, yes, you've got it in one.

The wort is boiled under partial vacuum, so it boils at a far lower temperature than a straight boil at atmospheric. However the concentrated wort takes on a lot of the same flavours you get in plain liquid malt extract. Hence the oft commented "kit twang"

A simple analogy, water down a tin of Carnation evaporated milk then compare it to fresh milk. It's made in exactly the same way.

This will surprise most home brewers under the age of 50 but up till the early 1990s Coopers used to distribute 20L FWK cubes (and experimented with bag in a box at one stage) of their Sparkling and Stout worts straight out of the kettle. I ran a LHBS in Maryborough in the late 1970s and we sold a fair few but they were very expensive, due to freight as the OP has twigged. The last time I saw them was in 1994 when I brewed up a stout when I lived in Caboolture and bought the cube from the LHBS on Matthew Terrace opposite the Railway Station. So this actually did take place, not an alcohol fuelled delusion :lol:
In fact I used the cube as a plant pot for years afterwards.

Apart from their commercial brewery, Coopers already did malt extract for bakers and confectioners and had the equipment for extract kits already in place, so when tins took off in popularity, mostly thanks to the likes of Brigalow, Coopers switched to tins instead of fresh wort, sadly, and the rest is history.

With the big increase in home brewing since then, one wonders how they would go if they reintroduced FWKs.
 
In addition to the question I was wondering about the actual 'kits' such as the 1.7 kg Australian Pale Ale & Canadian Blonde kits.
Do they contain some specialty grains eg crystal malt, chocolate malt to help target the beer style?
Or are they just bitterred liquid malt extract?
Asking because if I steep some of my own specialty malts to use with a kit I would be effectively doubling the amount used which might throw a recipe out of balance for example?
 
If you're going to the trouble of steeping your own grains, why would you use a kit as the base, why not just liquid / dry extract, plus psec grains and hops. Results are likely to be a lot better, IMO
 
mcalpine91 said:
In addition to the question I was wondering about the actual 'kits' such as the 1.7 kg Australian Pale Ale & Canadian Blonde kits.
Do they contain some specialty grains eg crystal malt, chocolate malt to help target the beer style?
Or are they just bitterred liquid malt extract?
Asking because if I steep some of my own specialty malts to use with a kit I would be effectively doubling the amount used which might throw a recipe out of balance for example?
Coopers have a kits and bits brewers forum, I expect there will be heaps of information over there.
 
Yeah I get what you mean Blind Dog I do normally use malt extract partial boils with spec grains but just had a cheap kit on hand that's still in date and was wondering what it's made of.

Thanks as well Bribie G I'll check it out.
 
Email coopers and ask. Won't be much spec malt in the paler tins so if making a kit plus steeped grain brew, I would start with a pale kit and add grains for colour and flavour.
 
I think the OP may be getting at this.

Extract - liquid or dry, is just a dehydrated fresh wort without hops. May or may not contain specialty malts. Label should tell you.
Kit is the above plus hops.

Is that the simple distinction you were after?
 
Bribie G - Thanks for the explanation that clears up the "kit" definition for me.

Mckenry - That also helps, I didn't realise there was a distinction. Now I think about it, I've heard of dry malt extracts and liquid malt extracts. Is the dry malt extract just a powdered form of a liquid malt extract? Apart from the obvious, what's the difference between these two in terms of how they're made, pros and cons of each, when you would use one over the other etc.?

Thanks.
 
adzr said:
Mckenry - That also helps, I didn't realise there was a distinction. Now I think about it, I've heard of dry malt extracts and liquid malt extracts. Is the dry malt extract just a powdered form of a liquid malt extract? Apart from the obvious, what's the difference between these two in terms of how they're made, pros and cons of each, when you would use one over the other etc.?
Yes, they are from the same parent. Besides the obvious difference, there is also a specific gravity difference.
One is more concentrated in 'malt' - I'm going to assume its the dry form. You could look it up, or just use a brewing software that will show you the potential SG from x kilos of each in X litres of water.
 
As for pros and cons, opinions differ. Some say dry is better, because its more stable and cant go off, whereas others say fresh LME is way better than any dry.
I dont know. I am all grain.
 
At the Grafton Show I had the chance to talk to a previous brewer at Coopers. He says that of the dried malt extract (called dry spray-malt overseas) they make about a third of their output for baking and confectionery. It's a special formulation and not used by the home brew trade. The LDME you get in home brew shops that came from Coopers originally, especially the stuff in the Coopers boxes and in Brew Enhancer 2, is purpose made for brewing.

Similarly the liquid malt extract for brewing, branded as Coopers (and their associated company Morgans) is formulated specially for home brewing but they do send tankers of LME to companies such as Arnotts and Nestle. He wasn't sure of what proportion of the production went to those companies.

So if you are using LDME or LME it would pay to check where it came from and use the Coopers/Morgans branded product. Some of the LDME I used in my early days, from various LHBSs chucked a wicked chill haze, for example, and may well have come from a job lot of confectionery malt extract that the LHBS got on the cheap.

Other companies such as Wander make malt extract, and checking their website there's no mention of brewing whatsoever, but it could presumably end up in LHBSs.
Edit: Wander say the malt sugars are produced using "natural malt type enzymes" so I'd say they are using enhanced enzyme conversion in their mash tuns to get maximum yield.
 
Briess and weyermann make extract specifically for hb market and that includes specific barley malt types like pilsner and munich.
 

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