Brewing with malt extract means the technical, time-consuming parts of brewing beer have already been taken care of – giving you the time and freedom to experiment without breaking the bank.
If you're interested in All Grain Brewing - head over to check out the Grainfather here
What is an Extract Kit?
An Extract Kit (or Beer Kit) is a packaged set of ingredients needed to create specific styles of beer. Each kit contains instructions, malt extract, a yeast suitable for that style of beer, and in some kits, dry hops, wood chips and botanicals. Kits do not include equipment ie fermenter, etc. For that, you need a starter kit.
- The Malt: The malt extract in a Mangrove Jack's kit is a thick, smooth consistency (a bit like treacle) thanks to the important evaporation step. By boiling the wort, evaporation takes place to remove 80% of the water, which allows us to transport the wort to you in a practically-sized package rather than a 23 Litre drum! Throughout this process, the temperatures are kept nice and low to prevent any unwanted darkening or flavour change of the wort. When the evaporation is complete, the malt extract is a stable concentrate which you can then rehydrate when you’re ready to brew.
- The Yeast: The Mangrove Jack's Craft Series Yeasts are propagated and dried using state of the art manufacturing facilities to ensure optimum sterility, superior shelf stability and ease of use.
Why use an extract kit?
If you read the blog post, The Beer Brewing Process (Simplified) you will know that homebrewing from scratch can take between 4-8 hours of your day before even pitching your yeast – yikes. While this can be great fun to do, it can also be a messy and sometimes challenging process. The different variables of time and temperature have a huge influence on your final beer, as will the grain types and hop varieties.
Depending on your equipment, as you play around with different settings, it is likely to take quite a few "brews" before you start to get consistent results. One time the temperature is slightly too high, and the mash is toast; the next time it’s too low and the wort isn’t quite right. The process is tricky - satisfying once you get it right, but be prepared for some trial and error during your first few brews as you learn to manage the variables!
If you’re a bit like us and prefer to have a refreshing, delicious beer that you know is going to taste good, malt extracts are the way to go. Using an extract kit, you can concentrate on the sanitation, yeast, fermentation and dry hopping - if you're looking for that extra crafty hit (arguably some of the most important ingredients and steps when it comes to brewing!). Each malt extract brew will take around 1 – 2 hours of hands-on time before leaving your wort to ferment - which means you can even sneak in a cheeky brew after work!