A lot of brewers (and most beginning brewers) use malt extracts. A malt extract is made by mashing malts and grains and then concentrating the wort by removing water. In the case of liquid malt extract, almost all of the water is removed and what remains is a thick syrup. As the name implies, dry malt extract has all of the water removed. There are many different brands of malt extracts on the market, and some are of better quality than others. At HopTech we have narrowed the field down to those extracts which are of superior quality. We don't carry any "canned" extracts. All of our liquid extracts are stored under nitrogen and poured fresh from 55 gallon drums per your order. The liquid extracts are packed in a small plastic bucket that holds up to 12 pounds, is extremely easy to get the extract out of (since it can be easily dipped in the hot brewing water), can be easily resealed if you only want to use part of the contents and when empty is useful for many other purposes. Because we pour the extract to your order, you can order as little or as much as you like without the restrictions of pre-packaged extracts.
Some brewers prefer to use dry malt extracts (commonly called DME). They are more easily measured than liquid, but tend to have a higher dextrin content and darker color than the liquids due to the extra drying involved. They can also be sensitive to moisture pickup, which causes them to cake easily. HopTech's light and dark dry malt extracts are dried by a special process that creates a granular texture (similar to table sugar) as compared to the powdery texture of most other extracts. This reduces the tendency to pick up water and to cake, and if kept sealed will last much, much longer than others.
Liquid malt extract will make a wort of approximately 1.034 specific gravity per pound of extract per gallon of water. Dried malt extract will yield approximately 1.045 points per pound of extract per gallon of water. To figure out how much to use, multiply either 34 or 45 times the number of pounds and divide by the gallons in your batch. For example, if we used 7 pounds of liquid malt extract in a 5 gallon batch, we'd multiply 34 times 7 (to get 238) and divide that by 5 to get 47.60 so our wort should have a starting gravity between 1.047 and 1.048.
All of HopTech's liquid malt extracts are made by Alexander's in California. The quality of these extracts is second to none. They are also the most "neutral" extracts made. By that we mean that they have no distinguishing character of their own. This allows you maximum flexibility when steeping grains or doing partial mashes because you control the final taste of the beer, not the extract company.
You can order as much
or as little extract as you want, in 1/2 lb increments. 12 pounds will go in each
container. If you order less than 7 pounds, we charge you an extra $2.00 for the
bucket. If you order more than 7 pounds, the bucket is included at no extra charge.