Suma Malt Extract

Anyone tried this stuff.



Which is £12.44 on Amazon.co.uk for 3.18Kg.

I've read about it before, IIRC it is not made for brewing beer so will taste bad.

Aren't suma the guys who make the fruit soar concentrate? I've read about people making turbo cider with that, maybe this stuff isn't too bad... I guess you'd need some nutrition information from the tub to decide

I've read about it before, IIRC it is not made for brewing beer so will taste bad.

From the amazon website:-

A delicious dietary supplement
A key ingredient for brewing beer
Add to bread making for extra flavour
Malt extract is a deliciously versatile ingredient that adds a distinctive flavour to baked goods and is also useful for beer brewing. Buying in bulk is an economical choice, so stock up now!

An example of one of the reviews of someone using this for home-brew.

Just like Captain Reech I use this for home brew and have discovered it is the ideal base for an American style IPA. 1 tub will make 40 pints at around 4.2% ABV without the need for any extra sugar or spray malt. I boil 1 tub in a large pan with about the same quantity of water for an hour adding 1 oz of hop pellets at the start of the boil, then half an ounce at 30 mins and another half at 45 mins. I like a really zingy hoppy flavour so don't normally strain the wort. Pour it in the fermentation bucket and make up to 40 pints with cold water and when cooled below 25 centigrade add the yeast. Unlike the Captain I prefer a barrel to bottles but each to their own. During my first attempt I discovered it took a couple of weeks to clear in a barrel and suspected it was a pectin haze, so on my second attempt tried a pinch of Irish Moss towards the end of the boil and it cleared within 5 days.

Seems this might be okay for home brewing.

[graysalchemy]

The problem with malt extract made for food consumption and not brewing is two fold. Firstly you have no way of knowing at what temp it was mashed at and as a result low the beer will attenuate. And secondly how long it was boiled for and wether it achieved the hot break and also wether the break material was preciptated out.

Finally not having read the ingredients is it 100% barley malt and was the barley a variety used in beer brewing?

Personally I would stick with one made for home brew.

Second vote for the proper brewing stuff.
Not worth the risk when prices are not that much different.
Check out Robs extract Malt Miller

That's what I started with .......... it was nasty TBH. Maybe old, I don't know. But it had a strong twang and left a harsh after taste. If you wany LME there are better ones and at about the same price.

The problem with malt extract made for food consumption and not brewing is two fold. Firstly you have no way of knowing at what temp it was mashed at and as a result low the beer will attenuate. And secondly how long it was boiled for and wether it achieved the hot break and also wether the break material was preciptated out.

Finally not having read the ingredients is it 100% barley malt and was the barley a variety used in beer brewing?

Personally I would stick with one made for home brew.

It's funny but back in Aug I really didn't understand totally your response. I totally get it now. Shows you how educational this place is.

That's what I started with .......... it was nasty TBH. Maybe old, I don't know. But it had a strong twang and left a harsh after taste. If you wany LME there are better ones and at about the same price.

I gave it a miss in the end and am currently enjoying my first footsteps down the all grain route.

I've just done a brew with Suma malt extract and Admiral/ Target hops, Safale-04 yeast. Just put some in a barrel and bottled the rest last weekend.

SG went from 1.043 to 1.012 so about 4.1% ABV. Took two weeks to finish fermenting. Bubbled all the way. The sample jars of beer taste good, kind of like a young beer kit that had extra hops added.

I plan to condition this for three weeks or so and try a bottle first. Will report back on how it goes.

After ten days conditioning, I opened the first bottle. It tastes great! Clear in the pint, good balance of malty versus bitter so my IBU calculations helped. Also nice hoppy flavour, surprising since I used the wrong hop ( Target) as aroma hop, should have used all Admiral but then that's all I had.dry hopped with Target as well. Beer still tastes young so I will open another bottle at the end of the month.

Definitely going to use Suma LME again. This pint is reminiscent of old speckled hen on draught in terms of hoppy ness but not body or malt. Think I'm going to get some different hops and do several pseudo SMASH brews with different single hops for bittering, flavour and aroma.

And I did not boil the extract. The hops were boiled in muslin bags in tap water to make a hop tea. Admiral at 60 mins, Target at 10 mins boil. Dry hopped in the fermenter with target. SAF ale o4 yeast.