So I'm new to the world of home brewing and i was wondering how to substitute malt extract for some thing fresh and where to get fresh malt and how the ratio would work? any info would be great, thanks.
Using Fresh Malt is what's called brewing 'All Grain' (if no extract is used) or 'Partial Mash' or 'Mini-Mash' if the wort obtained from the mashed grains is supplemented by extract (LME or DME) in the kettle. For a good, fairly quick primer in mashing, see this section in 'How to Brew'... http://www.howtobrew.com/section3/index.html Some grains can be steeped rather than mashed, because their starches have already been converted to sugars. http://www.howtobrew.com/section2/index.html But to answer your actual question, it depends on what you would assume the mash efficiency for the all grain recipe (or steeping efficiency for steeped grains) to be. Let's say it's 75%. (i.e. that your mash would convert and extract 75% of the grain's potential sugars). And say your malt has the theoretical potential to yield 36 points per pound per gallon (PPG) of gravity (a measure of sugar concentration). 75% Mash Efficienct x 36 PPG = 27 PPG for grains Pale LME is about 36 PPG (depending on brand). Pale DME is about 44 PPG (depending on brand). So your rule of thumb for using grains instead of LME would be 36/27 = 1.33 lbs grain substitued for 1 lb LME. And your rule of thumb for using grains insead of DME would be 44/27 = 1.63 lbs grain substituted for 1 lb DME. But again, the big factor here is your assumed mash efficiency for the grain. It's not all that hard in practice. And most people use software (or spreadsheets) to figure this stuff out. And where to buy malt? There's Northern Brewer, Midwest Supplies, Brewmaster's Warehouse, Morebeer, Rebel Brewer, ad nauseum. Or your local homebrew store. The fact that you're asking where to buy malt leads me to believe you haven't brewed yet. In that case, I recommend reading all of How to Brew.
Vikeman basically covered it right there. As a general rule, for five gallons I use 12 lbs of crushed malted barley. This includes the base malt and specialty malts (if any) and yields a beer of about 6%-6.4% ABVon my system. Vikeman's system might be more or less efficient, so he might get a slightly different result from the same recipe (it's unlikely we would get wildly different results tho, we'd both make around the same beer using the same ingredients). To make a 6.4% beer using only dried malt extract, I would need a bit more than six pounds of extract. LME is not as concentrated, so you'd need more. Of course extracts can make fine beer. I made a wheat beer using only wheat LME that came out fantastic. Dried extracts are also quite good these days and can make great beer. In general, when I was making beer using extracts, the beer came out fine. I still dabble in extract brewing on the side, even tho I've gone all grain. So yes, read how to brew, then go from there.
