This week I take a look at brewing using malt extract and some of the advantages of going back to this “old” style of brewing.
The History of Extract Brewing
Home brewing was once caught up in the Prohibition era. In 1919, the 18th amendment made alcohol illegal (Prohibition). While it was repealed in 1933 by the 21st Amendment, unfortunately the home brewing of beer was left out of the final legislation (unlike wine) so it remained illegal. It was not until 1978 that Jimmy Carter signed a bill making it again legal to brew beer at home in the US (effective 1 Feb, 1979).
As home brewing grew in the 1980’s, almost 100% of the brewers used liquid or dry malt extract. The first kits were imported from the UK or Australia primarily and consisted of 3 lb cans of liquid malt extract and usually had a small packet of yeast, often bread yeast, attached to the top of the can. A lot of the extract was pre-hopped, so you typically added water to create wort on a stovetop, boiled it for a while and then cooled it by adding several gallons of cold water. You then pitched the packet of yeast, wait a while and you have beer.
As we entered the 1990’s and home brewing became more popular, it became easier to access quality ingredients. We started steeping specialty malts before adding the liquid extract, and you could now buy fresh extracts, better quality hops and even liquid brewing yeast. While some brewers did venture out into all-grain brewing, the vast majority of kits and ingredients were extract based.
There was a bit of a shakeout in the industry around 2000, but as we entered the ’00’s we started to see more brewers expand out to all grain brewing. However it was not until about 2015 that the percentage of all-grain brewers first exceeded the percentage of extract brewers in the annual AHA industry surveys. In just a few short years, all grain brewing came to dominate home brewing over the next decade, especially with the introduction of small all-in-one brewing systems.
The Advantages of Extract Brewing
While all grain now dominates home brewing by about 70%-30%, we’ve also seen a decline in brewing at home. The causes for this are complex, including people shifting to other hobbies, fewer social events post-COVID, the availability of good Craft beer and others. However, we’ve also seen brewers brewing less, probably due to shifting priorities mixed with the fact that all grain brewing does take quite a bit of time. Brewers are also making smaller batch sizes than they were 10 years ago.
So today I’m going to make the case that if you are too busy to brew, or are making smaller quantities you might want to revisit extract brewing. Here’s a few reasons why:
- Extract Brewing Takes Less Time: With our busy lifestyles, you can brew an extract batch in as little as an hour where an all grain brew typically takes 3 hours or more, and on larger systems can easily consume your entire day.
- You can Steep Many Grains for Additional Flavor: While you can’t use most pale and kilned malts without mashing, you can steep most roast and caramel/crystal malts in hot water before adding your malt to add fresh flavors.
- You can Brew on your Stovetop: You don’t need a separate burner or dedicated all-in-one system. You can start with a large pot on the stove.
- Extract is Great for Small Batches: Many brewers have moved to smaller batches post-COVID, so an extract
- Extract Brewing Takes Less Equipment: Many of us started brewing extract with a large stovetop pot and a plastic bucket, with minimal cost. Mini-extract batches can probably be done using a pot you already have and small bucket. In addition to the cost savings, less equipment means less time preparing and cleaning equipment.
- You can Use All Major Hop Techniques – Extract brewing still lets you add hops in the boil, whirlpool or dry hopping, so you can create great IPAs and other hoppy beers using extract.
With all that being said, Extract brewing does have some limitations. First, you can’t use many pale and kilned malts as well as non-barley malts without mashing, so there are a few styles that are off limits. This can be worked around in some cases – for example you can purchase a wheat based malt extract to make a wheat beer even though you can’t directly steep wheat. There are other more subtle factors like being able to finely tune water chemistry and add mash hops, but these are relatively minor compared to the steeping limitations above.
Extract Brewing as a Supplement to All Grain Brewing
As our lives get more busy, and a larger portion of our day is spent in front of little screens, most of us are looking for ways to save time. A lot of brewers have a nice all grain system, but not the time to fully use it. So some brewers have moved to extract and even no-boil brewing as an alternative for making smaller batches when time is in short supply.
I have a 10 gallon (40 l) Blichmann all grain system which is a work of art. However it takes almost a full day to prepare, brew and clean the system. Even then I don’t always need 10 gallons of beer. So I’ve been toying with going back to the stovetop to make a 2 or 3 gallon extract batch in an hour or two instead. When I had Chris Graham on my podcast recently to discuss their no-boil brew kits, he mentioned that many of the kits are being sold to experienced brewers. I think extract kits fall into the same category.
So whether you are a new brewer or experienced brewer who’s short on time, I urge you to consider extract brewing as a great alternative for the casual brewer! Thank you for joining me on the BeerSmith blog. Please subscribe for regular weekly delivery, check out the podcast, and don’t hesitate to retweet, link, like or mention any of my articles on social media.
