[Review] Craft Range LME

[LordEoin]

We've no ingredients section, so I suppose here in extract will do.

The new craft range LME seems to be brewing up a storm so far with it's fresh taste and smell, so I decided to take it for a bit of a trial run on its own.
The BH cans of LME left residual sweetness and darkness making them unsuitable for crisp light colour beers like  pilsner for example, lets see how this new LME gets on.

I used one pouch to diluted to 10liters (no hops, no grains, no boiling) and it came in at 1.044 OG. Smells great, tastes great. Grand job!
4 liters of that went straight into a demijohn at 20C with some 'top fermenting ale yeast' which is also craft range, washed from the craft range stout kit.
It's only been in there about 2 hours and the airlock is already coming to life. Craft range LME and yeasts seem to like each other.
The LME so far looks quite dark. We'll see in a week or so how far it has fermented out and how much colour is left in there


I have another pouch that I added to the remainder, brought up to 16L with water and a grain(amber) steep, challenger boil, and same yeast.

Has anyone else had any experience with this LME yet? There should be more information about this LME soon with the extract raffles/reviews.

[Damofto]

I used it with a Finlandia Ale kit at the weekend, it's much lighter than the cans of LME that I was buying before.  It came out a lovely golden colour, I'd say it could be used with the lager kits no problem.

[Damien M]

We've no ingredients section, so I suppose here in extract will do.

Get on to the Admins/Overseers/Mediators about adding/removing seCtions! sHouldnt be a problem! 

[molc]

LME vs DME is always one I wonder about. All the extract recipes I've done so far call for a mix of both, about 2:1 balance in favour of DME. Now, the DME is about three times the price, so I'm wondering is there a noticeable difference?

For reference, I've been using the Light LME from HBW. http://www.homebrewwest.ie/bh-light-lme-liquid-malt-extract-15-kg-2733-p.asp and then muntons extra light DME http://www.homebrewwest.ie/muntons-foil-pack-spraymalt-extra-light-500grm-961-p.asp

[LordEoin]

only 2 days in and getting lighter already, nice smell out of the airlock

[molc]

How has this worked out in the end? I used two cans of HBW LME in a brew there recently and it came out quite sweet in the end, so quite interested in seeing how this works out for you.

As an aside, I'm still trying to figure out when to use dry vs. liquid extract. Is residual sweetness a feature of LME or should there be any difference?

[LordEoin]

it should be about ready now, I'll have a look and see if it's cleared yet.

[brenmurph]

Kildare have an extract to review. So far so hood. Full review when it at its peak.  It is a lager

[LordEoin]

They're not clear yet, but this should give you an idea of the colour that it will add to your brew
With washed craft range ale yeast it fermented from 1.044 to 1.010.
There's less residual sweetness compared to the BH LME.
It's actually not bad as it is, and would be quite drinkable cold with a little bit of bittering extract.
I made a batch with just amber and challenger also, so I'll crack one of those open tonight and see how it got on.

[molc]

Looks promising. The sweetness is def. promising. I'm still trying to figure out why my last batch was so sweet. I put in two cans of BH Light LME and used 1 coops cab drop per 500ml, so really didn't expect such a sweet tang from the beer after carbing...

[LordEoin]

The BH LME does leave quite a bit of residual sweetness. It's good in amber/dark ales and stouts but not great when you want a crisp clean finish.
I opened a botle of an extract brew i made with this Craft Range LME + 300g amber + 25g challenger @30, 15, 5 and dry, 16L batch. It's very nice!

[molc]

I think I'll give it a shot in the next batch I make now. Thanks for the info!

[LordEoin]

Opened another of these tonight to see what the final verdict was.
colour seems to be the exact same, so take that as final. That's how much colour it will give at a rate of 3kg to 20liters (1.044). if you need a lighter appearance to your beer use extra light DME.
Smell and taste is slightly cidery, but less than BH LME.  But remember that this is with no grains or hops added. Any brew I've made without any hops or grain is the same. I grained and hopped the rest of the same batch and there is no cidery taste or smell off those. in fat it's a great beer.
This LME on its own seems to add no malt/grain flavor on drinking, but it does have a slightly malty lingering taste.
head retention is poor, so be sure to add some carapils/crystal or something similar.

Overall compared to cheaper BH LME: Ferments out cleaner. Less lingering sweetness. Lighter colour.
I think it pretty much passes all the claims that have been made about it

[molc]

Got the wheat kit with this from HBW with the free bottle tree, so dying to give it a shot now after all I've heard