What Are Muntons Malt Extracts?
Muntons take grain, crush it and them cook it in water at a specific temperature to cause the starches in that grain to turn to sugars. This sweet liquid is then concentrated into Liquid Malt Extract.
In beer brewing, the biggest grain used is Barley. There is an enzyme in barley that causes the starches to turn to sugar. Barley is the main ingredient to add sugar to a beer.
There are lots of other grains, such as wheat, oats, rye, maize, which can all be added as an ingredient on top of the the barley which is the main ingredient to add different flavours, colours and textures to the finished beer.
There are lots of different types of barley which have their own flavour and character. Just like there are lots of varieties of hops. The different barley's have different flavours, colour, mouthfeel and sugar. You can brew a beer from just the plain barley and get an amazing tasting beer.
Then you can roast the barley to get even more flavours. A gentle roast can create a grain which adds toffee flavours. A bit more roasting and you get a grain that adds biscuit flavours. A bit more roasting and you get a grain that adds chocolate flavours. A bit more roasting and you get a grain that adds coffee flavours. You can keep going to you end up with black malt which should be used sparingly as its adds real black colour and a really burnt acrid flavour.
All these roasted barleys and the other grains are known as adjuncts. They are like the flavourings you add to a cake mix of flour to make different flavours and textures of cake.
So Muntons combine different grains and different roasted grains, cook them in the water to extract the sugars, flavours and colour and then concentrate them to make Liquid Malt Extract with different characteristics.
Available in their range are - Extra Light Barley Malt Extract, Marris Otter Light Barley Malt Extract, Light Barley Malt Extract, Hopped Light Barley Malt Extract, Amber Barley Malt Extract, Hopped Amber Barley Malt Extract, Medium Barley Malt Extract, Hopped Barley Malt Extract, Dark Barley Malt Extract, Hopped Dark Barley Malt Extract, Munich Barley Malt Extract, Vienna Barley Malt Extract, Wheat Malt Extract, Oat Malt Extract and Sour Barley Malt Extract.
Shop Our Range of Liquid Malt Extracts
So that's how Muntons Malt Extracts are made, but how do you use them?
- - -
Now, a lot of beer kits tell you to add 1kg of sugar when making the kit. This can leave the finished beer a little thin. Great if you like a thin beer. But you can substitute that sugar with Liquid Malt Extract.
But what Malt Extract Do You Use With Which Beer Kit?
If you are making a pale ale, a bitter or a lager, then the Light Malt Extract will be great.
If you are making a bitter, you might want to add some Amber Malt Exctract or Medium Malt Extract to add extra richness.
If you are making a stout, then you might want to beef it up with Dark Malt Extract.
But these arent rules. These are guidelines. Why not add Dark Malt Extract to an IPA kit and make a black IPA? It's up to you, just use your imagination and turn a standard beer kit into something different.
We recently made a Tom Caxton Pilsner and added the Munich Malt (a rich, amber extract that adds biscuit flavours and lots of body) and turned a pils into something special. Rich, Dark, Malty, more like a German Dunkel Lager Beer. Very Nice indeed.
You can even use these kits to make your own beer in your own way.
We did this recently to make a hazy craft beer, just 2 cans of extract, an Extra Pale Ale and a Oat Malt, with lots of hops to make an aromatic American east coast style craft beer, lots of body from the oats. Have a read of the recipe here.
Muntons also hop some of their malt extracts - named Hopped. This means they have the bitterness you get from the hops too. So you don't even have to use hops. Just use 1 can of hopped extract and 1 can of standard extract.
Here's What Muntons Say About Their Malt Extracts
They have even given some recipe ideas like...
Amber Ale
American Pale Ale
DIPA
Muntons have lots more recipe ideas on their website
They do make it more simple than it actually is, but if you have been brewing from grain, then you'll get the idea.
Also some of the ingredients like some of the yeast they recommend are difficult to get, so you may have to substitute the yeast for alternatives, but thats part of the fun of creating your own beers.
Well I hope that have given you lots to think about when you want to make your next beer. Whether you are making an all grain kit and just want to add a little extra depth, because you didnt get as an efficient mash as you had hoped, or if you want to make your own LME creation or you want to spruce up a standard beer kit, I hope we have given you lots of ideas.
Cheers & Happy Brewing
Davin
