Working my way through a 28kg bucket of malt extract!

I found a local guy in Nelson that sells home brewing ingredients, Bill Fennell (website – ThatBeerPlace.com). I had a look through is his lists of supplies and the bulk malt extract caught my attention because it cost a fraction of what I usually pay for malt. The only snag was that it came in such large quantities, 28kg of malt extract is a lot of homebrewing! And liquid malt extract needs to be used up while it’s fresh so it’s not ideal to leave it hanging about for many months. Too much malt for me to handle in a short timeframe I thought.

Then some friends of mine decided to get into home brewing after tasting some of my beer. So I figured if we split a bucket between us it would be doable to use it up while it’s still fresh. Four batches each would see it all used up. So we ordered a bucket of Maltexo All Malt Light. I have 2 new batches in the fermentors now so I’m half way through my half. Here’s what I have brewing:

Batch # 13: Double Cascade APA

This a reprise of my first extract batch, the All Cascade APA, but with double the amount of cascade hops, 200g instead of 100g. It also features double dry hopping, 40g at ferment temp and another 40g at cold crash temp. I got that idea from reading about an Epic Pale Ale clone but I haven’t gone with quite as much hops as the Epic. Still it’s about double the hops that I typically add to a batch so it should be pretty intense.

Batch # 14: Common Room ESB

Most of what I’ve brewed has been in the style of American Pale Ale using US05 yeast, so I figured it’s time to try something new. So I’m trying an English bitter, my first time using S04 yeast and English EKG and Fuggles hops. I found a popular ESB recipe on the HomeBrewTalk forum called Common Room ESB and tweaked it a bit and converted it to extract.

Now I just need to plan my next 2 batches. I’m not sure yet what I’ll brew. To help me branch out from the usual pale ales and try new things, I have ordered a book called ‘Brewing Classic Styles‘ which includes award winning recipes for all significant beer styles.