I am back in the brewing game after about 16 years off, and I got myself a used Braumeister because I am lazy. I just made an ale, and I like the Braumeister just fine. Problem: I have read that in order to make heavy beers, I will have to resort to adding extract because the Braumeister’s grain capacity is limited. I have the 20-liter machine.
I have never made an extract beer. The obvious question is this: will adding extract to all-grain wort diminish the quality of the beer?
As I recall, Denny Conn was the big-beer expert back in the old days.
I don’t think it was necessarily the hops in the extract. More likely stale LME, as Dave said. Hopped LME isn’t all that common any more. But DME is a very viable ingredient, especially for bumping up a high OG AG beer. My experience is that it won’t diminish quality. Likely you’ll never know it’s there.
Nice to get a response from you, Denny. You gave me a lot of advice long ago, when I was using another handle on rec.crafts.brewing. I wonder if any of those guys are still kicking.
I had a transforming experience with Rasputin Imperial Stout over the last few days, so I may be asking more questions about big beers. Maybe I’m headed for your side of the fence.
You can do that. I find adding extract much easier and produces nearly identical results. But my experience with double mashing is limited to about 3 trials. I guess because I found it to be a PITA!
