Extracts are a natural product made from beer wort using classical technology and malted cereals, mainly barley. They are dry and liquid, un hopped (without the addition of hops) and hopped.
Malt extract. What it is?
It is a concentrated or dried essence made from barley malt, most of which has found application in the food industry. Using the extract, malt milk, cereals for breakfast, additives for dough, and animal feed mixtures are prepared. In order to prepare malt extracts, cereals such as barley and rye are used.
Extracts are malt and fodder. Low-grade barley grows with small grains containing a large amount of protein, poorly digestible starch. Its husk is thick and not suitable for consumption. Malt extracts for beer are made from high quality grain. To make a good drink, you need to be sure of it.
How to prepare the extract?
To do this, you need to soak and dry the barley grains so that they begin to germinate. This is necessary in order to activate the enzymes that process starch, which feeds the embryo. It is important to use them correctly. From the moment of germination of the grain, it should be dried in a special oven. This is done to stop the process at the most favorable stage for the brewers. Thus, all the necessary and useful substances are preserved. It is this grain with a fixed stage of germination that is called malt, which is divided into many varieties, each of which has its own taste, smell, color. The malt is light, Viennese, Munich, fried, chocolate, dried. It depends on his choice what kind of beer will be.
The production of the extract begins with grinding and soaking the grain in hot water. This is necessary to resume and accelerate the process of formation of enzymes, which turns the supply of starch in grains into sugar, which gives fermentation. Germinated grain is called green malt. He is more active. The result is a solution of sugars called wort. It is first boiled, then mixed with hops, and yeast is added for fermentation. To obtain the extract, the wort is placed in the evaporator, where the solution thickens. Thus, malt extract is a concentrated wort. If you buy it and breed it at home, you get the usual wort, prepared in an industrial environment.
Boil the wort needed to break down heat-resistant proteins. If this is not done, the beer will be cloudy, its taste and smell will deteriorate. Malt extracts for beer are sold in powder and syrup form. To obtain a dry product, the syrup is heated, it is sprayed in a hot chamber, its droplets dry and begin to settle on the walls of the container. In dry extracts there is no hop; their composition is similar to syrup.
Hopped malt extract
The most difficult step in the brewing process is to make wort. To get a hopped malt extract, hops are added to the malt to give the beer bitterness and aroma.
The biological resistance of beer improves, its foaming increases. This is done after mixing the malt with water and heating it to a temperature of 75 degrees, when the starch dissolves and turns into sugar.
After adding the hops, the wort is cooled and it is saturated with air. This improves fermentation, which should take place in a hermetically sealed container with a water seal installed in it. After a few days, fermentation ends and the beer is bottled. Malt extract or sugar is added to it.
After that, the dishes are corked and left for maturation. Beer malt extract is ready.
Un hopped malt extract
It is prepared without the addition of hops, which opens up great opportunities for experiments. Such a beer can be easily prepared according to your own recipe at home. Un hopped malt extract is an important ingredient in making quality beer. It is used for the preparation of various types of foamy beer; it replaces sugar in the production of wort. Such malt extracts are obtained from malted mature grain. They contain a lot of carbohydrates, vitamins, trace elements and amino acids.
To replace sugar, unmixed malt extract is used in the following proportions:
- One and a half kilograms of a liquid product is replaced by one kilogram of sugar.
- Replacing one kilogram of sugar with the same amount of dry un-hopped product produces the highest quality beer.
- If you add 0.5 kilograms of dry extract to one kilogram of sugar, the malt taste of beer will increase, it will become 20% stronger.
Barley Malt Extract
To obtain it, use light barley brewing malt. A feature of the process is the replacement of malt with unmalted barley (30%), which complements the composition of vitamins, which have a beneficial effect on the body. Therefore, barley malt extract is actively used as an additive to various confectionery and bakery products, meat and dairy products.
In order to fully extract the extractives, it is better to use enzyme preparations and brewer's yeast in a liquid state. Barley malt extract can be stored at room temperature for four months. Differs in unpretentiousness due to the content of a large number of solids (75%). Malt extracts retain beneficial properties at lower temperatures, which is convenient for long-term transportation in the winter.
Home brewing technology
Using malt extract, you can easily and quickly make beer at home. To do this, you must:
- Remove the lid from the jar containing the concentrate and remove the yeast bag.
- Hold the jar under hot water for ten minutes.
- Mix the contents of the jar with three liters of boiled hot water.
- Add 1 kg of sugar or malt extract without hops to the resulting liquid mixture.
- Stir everything well and add cold water in an amount of 19 liters. In total, 23 liters of the finished solution should be obtained.
- Pour yeast from a bag.
- Leave the prepared fermentation mixture for one week. The temperature should be room temperature.
- After this time, sterilize the bottles and pour the resulting beer wort into them.
- For each liter add 10 grams of sugar or a couple of candies.
- For three days, leave the bottles alone at room temperature, let the drink ferment.
- After that, place the beer bottles for two weeks in a place where the temperature will be no more than 10 degrees.
- Beer is ready for use, and to make the taste more saturated and rich, you should hold it closed for another two months.
Coopers Malt Extracts
They are produced by the Australian company Coopers. The extracts are intended for making beer at home. They are brewing concentrated wort, which is produced in the factory, and evaporated to obtain the extract to completely or partially remove the liquid, depending on what you want to get. In the first case, a dry concentrate is obtained, in the second - liquid.
Therefore, if you dilute malt extract with water at home, you will get a real industrial wort, on the basis of which you will prepare delicious beer.
Beneficial features
Malt has a positive effect on the human body. Malt extracts contain a large number of trace elements, soluble substances contained in grains. It contains phosphorus, magnesium, manganese, selenium, calcium and vitamins. Malt is valued for its high protein content, which has the necessary set of amino acids that stimulate muscle growth and development.
The benefits of barley malt are undeniable. The composition of the grains contains insoluble fiber, which is able to stimulate digestion, intestinal function, cleanse the body of toxins. Barley grain contains a lot of dietary fiber and vitamin “B4”. Acting together, they create a good choleretic effect, prevent the formation of stones in the gall bladder. Barley malt has wound healing and enveloping properties in case of damage to the mucous membranes of the intestines and stomach. As a prophylactic with diseases such as colitis, gastritis, gastric ulcer, cholecystitis is the daily use of infusion from barley malt.
Rye malt is a highly efficient energy food that can restore and strengthen the human body. Therefore, it is recommended to use it for anemia, exhaustion. Rye malt is taken under heavy loads, to increase muscle mass. It is used as a diabetic product because of the substances contained in its composition that slow down the absorption of carbohydrates. Malt normalizes blood sugar. With its help, the production of natural insulin is regulated.