munich, amber, british malts with pilsner

[Hoont]

Good evening to all!

I am an extract brewer and will typically use a light pilsner malt from my local home brew shop for malt. Occasionally I'll try a recipie that specifies Munich, Amber or British LME specifically. Is there a way to simulate these malts by steeping grains (munich and crystal)? It would be more economical but I also want to give my beers the best chance to be great!

Thanks in advance!

[CRBrewHound]

Go to one of the larger online distributers such as Northern Brewer, they carry those extracts. For base malts I would not try to do steeping as I don't think you will end with the same results as you would by using the malt extract of those types of malts.

[Bugeater]

You can do this if you change your steeping method just slightly. You will need to do a mini-mash for those malts such as munich and amber that have some diastatic power (i.e. they still have active enzymes that can convert starches to sugar). For a detailed explanation on how to do this, check out http://www.howtobrew.com/section3/chapter18-3.html

Wayne

[Hoont]

I will check that out; I have not stepped into the partial mash world yet, but its worth a look! Thanks for the suggestion.