Harlequin SMASH Beer | Muntons Craft Your Own Malt Extract | Extract Brewing

[@ssadams]

I have found the LME to be dark as well. I changed to DME and the lighter ones actually produced lighter colour beers. Cheers 🍻👍😊

[@jonathang.5092]

It's definitely the extract. I don't think these are designed to be boiled, merely dissolved in hot water. I'd make it again at half the volume, no boil and make a hop tea and add that to the wort. Also when you've filled your pressure barrel put the lid on loosely and give a couple of bulbs of co2, let that escape then tighten the lid fully. This will help to purge the oxygen that's sitting in the headspace. Oxygen kills hop aroma.

[@AceTeale]

Lme is always darker than I like, briess light pilsen malt is my one of choice. Another lesson learnt still great video

[@G-townbrewer]

Thanks for watching! Cheers!

[@paul.b1730]

Great vid as always. If I do use extract, I only use DME these days, liquid seems too prone to scorching. Saying that, the colour and head retention looked amazing and just a hop change may make all the difference.

[@G-townbrewer]

Thanks mate. Yes I agree, DME seems to be a much more stable and consistent product.

[@dylandecharmoybouchet5325]

An idea, instead of boiling the malt which will definitely make it darker why not steep just the hops in a litre of water then add that to the malt mix in the bucket. Just a thought.

[@G-townbrewer]

There will be some caramelisation during boiling but it was a short boil with only half of the extract so I doubt it would have made that much difference. Cheers

[@dylandecharmoybouchet5325]

@@G-townbrewer the darkness must come from when they are making the extract. I make a cream ale with 82% marris otter 10% flaked maze and 8% Dextrose. The colour is straw like a pilsner

[@Skid-Baxter]

It's a shame about the beer color and the Harlequin hops not measuring up. Yeah Mr Scotchpie covered the LME vs DME topic good. I don't blame you for not wanting to chance it again in a pale beer with that last can of extract. Good, honest review of the Munton's Craft Your Own Maris Otter Light malt extract. Cheers!🍺🍻

[@G-townbrewer]

Thanks mate. I haven't been overly impressed with the Muntons CYO extracts so it's back to the DME for me and maybe some more BIAB brews. Cheers!

[@tubedinoz]

It's a shame the beer didn't turn out how you were expecting, but I must say it's a very attractive looking beer in the glass. I'm trying to think how I got on for making light coloured extract beers with reduced malt flavour, so the hops could shine through a bit more. I think the best result I ever had was using 100% light dry malt extract. I imagine that would be an expensive option for a full batch size these days. Cheers mate 🍻

[@G-townbrewer]

I think I'll give up on the LME for now and go back to the DME for my extract brews as it just seems to be a more stable and consistent product, but yeah you're right it's not the most economical way of brewing. More BIAB coming up for me in the summer. Cheers!

[@benbinks2012]

I just finished a brew which contained 2.4kg of GEB Extra Light Malt extract, and Saaz hops. It's only been in the bottle a week, but I had a cheeky tester anyway. First thing I noticed was the amber colour. I did not boil my extract. My brew was bittered with isomerised hop extract, and dry hopped with Saaz. I did notice that the colour gradually appeared to get darker during fermentation, which was MJ M54 yeast. I'm all ready to repeat with all grain, so I'm guessing I will find the same results as yourself. I suppose maybe it could have been oxygen exposure during dry hopping and bottling that changed the colour?

[@dylandecharmoybouchet5325]

Malt extract is boiled to the syrup state, this is more than likely the reason. Dry hopping and even during bottling will not make a difference to the colour.

[@benbinks2012]

@@dylandecharmoybouchet5325 so you don't think oxidisation would change the colour?

[@dylandecharmoybouchet5325]

@@benbinks2012 if you dry hop while fermentation is still going on then no, you will not see a change in colour. I bottle all my beers and never had a issue with oxidation. The big risk beers with oxidation is beers such as hazey IPAs, they have lot's of adjuncts which increases the risks even when bottled.

[@benbinks2012]

@Dylan De Charmoy Bouchet thanks, I'm only on brew no.5 currently. Your experience is appreciated 👍

[@G-townbrewer]

Not sure it would get darker during fermentation but maybe the yeast dropping at the end would make it appear a different shade?

[@jimcook5707]

Would it be worth going back and revisiting this with a small 5 Litre all grain batch to see what the difference is?

[@G-townbrewer]

Yeah maybe, I'm not really inspired to use Harlequin again, there's too may other good alternatives.

[@benbinks2012]

Looking at the EBC rating for these LME's you can see they have a colour rating EBC based on a dilution rate of 10% weight to volume. My extra light LME has an EBC of 15 which is quite dark, but also this is at 10% dilution for a gravity of approx. 1.032. I brewed at a gravity of 1.043 and that is why I ended up with a darker beer, because the LME was in a higher concentration than stated on the packaging. I would imaging this is the same for yourself here with the Maris Otter at EBC of 12 when diluted correctly. What was the OG? IF it was higher than about 1.032 then the colour will start to darken as you increase the LME to water ratio. Plus there are other thing at play here I agree.

[@G-townbrewer]

Where did you find the EBC info for these? I have found it frustratingly difficult to get any technical information on Muntons products without writing and asking. My OG was 1.042 btw. Cheers!

[@benbinks2012]

@The G-Town Brewer the EBC for the extract I got from Geterbrewed, is written on the packaging. Muntons only quote less than 6 ir 7 for Maris Otter on their product spec page for the extracts. They all seem to quote these ebc numbers based on a dilution rate. Whether that dilution rate is the same for all, I'm not sure. A good experiment would be to try a 10% weight to water ratio, at gravity 1032 and see if the colour is 6 EBC or less as they say 👍

[@benbinks2012]

@@G-townbrewer apologies, I quoted

[@benbinks2012]

Confirmation from Muntons today, EBC equal to 11 or less, depending on storage and age. So as I said earlier, less than 12 for Maris Otter Pale LME

[@MrBeewhisperer]

I wouldn't boil the malt, or put a new hybred hop in to boil.... Dry hop at day 2 and 10, after that leave 4 days or until no sign of bubbles in the air lock and bet it's different! And ditch the hop bag, just chuck them in at day 2 and 10. Sock on the syphon is plenty good enough👍 this is just my thoughts as done 2 of the malt kits 1x oat malt and 1x medium malt with So4 yeast and a punk'd hop mix... Light and super hoppy. Hazy but nice!

[@G-townbrewer]

I’ve tried it unboiled and still didn’t like it. I’ll stick to dry malt extract for any future brews. Glad yours turned ok though. Cheers.

[@chriswhitehouse7065]

Skip the extract and go back to grain.

[@G-townbrewer]

I would brew AG all the time, if I had the time. My brews with dry malt extract have been much better but the LME just doesn't seem any good recently.

[@chriswhitehouse7065]

Think boiling the LME darkens it as well, my father in law brewed a hobgoblin gold clone with light LME and it came out as dark as a bitter. Followed the instructions to the tee but really dark after a 60 minute boil

[@G-townbrewer]

Yeah it does to some extent but I only boiled half of it for a short time so I don’t think it would account for the colour of the beer. I don’t get the same when I use DME either.

[@GodfreyTempleton]

How stupid to boil the extract, that's already been done at Muntons. Just ferment the stuff.

[@G-townbrewer]

Righto. 😂