Best Extract Ever

[Frebird]

Please tell me who makes the best extra pale unhopped liquid extract, and dry extract, and crystal malt. What's your favorite?
Want to brew the best Lager ever made in New England... Growing Saaz and Tett as we covers...
-Adam

[fretlessman71]

Hmmm... my guess is that you're going to get a better result with doing an all-grain, but since you're probably not set up for that (and neither am I, so I'm kinda one to talk), I think you're going to be just fine with whatever you get. Probably want to get unhopped extract and do it yourself to get the desired results. Remember, wine is more dependent on the quality of the ingredients, and beer is a much harder concoction to make, but can be done with a variety of ingredients of varying qualities. It lets you be the artist a little more; a great brewer can make great beer with mediocre ingredients, and a bad brewer can take the best ingredients and thoroughly ruin them. It's up to you, pal! Best of luck!

[BluesHarp]

Originally posted by Frebird
Please tell me who makes the best extra pale unhopped liquid extract, and dry extract, and crystal malt. What's your favorite?
Want to brew the best Lager ever made in New England... Growing Saaz and Tett as we covers...
-Adam

for a German style lager...Bierkeller LME, Munton DME, and Durst specialty grains. JMHO...:)

[wortchillergoal]

I use Muntons DME with good results. Two people have asked for a barleywine recipe that had Muntons as it's malt source.

[BluesHarp]

If you want a beer with a good amount of unfermentable sugars, I've found Laaglander Dark DME adds lots of sweetness and body with low fermentation.

[BrewDog]

I've had great results with Cooper's Extra Pale DME. When I did extract batches, I found that the generic unhopped bulk LME at my LHBS was inexpensive and produced good results, so I went with that.

Honestly, though, I really don't think there is a 'best' extract. As long as it's fresh, and your basic brewing procedures are sound, you can make up many or most of the brand differences in an extract w/ grains batch through any combination of:

1) changing the amounts of extract used in the recipe
2) using different or different amounts of specialty grains or other adjuncts
3) changing your wort boiling times -- search for "extract late" here on real beer
4) changing to a more (or less) attenuative yeast

IMO, what you really want to do is shoot for consistency. Pick a favorite style and brew the exact same recipe several times in a row. When you feel you have it down so you could do it in your sleep, and the batches all start tasting the same consistently (good) taste, then you'll be ready to start screwing with the recipes. I think this is the most fun part of brewing (besides drinking it with my friends).

Also, home grown hops are awesome, but you should only use them for the late additions. Unless you can send them off to a lab for analysis, you'll never know how bitter (alpha acid %) they are, and that can cause havoc with your results. Again, consistency and predictability is the key.

Just my .02