Malt Extract - part 2!

[Calum]

What are the differences - in terms of both final product and actual practice of using - between cans of malt extract and dried malt extract. I've never used dried before. Worth trying?

[wulf]

I'm not sure about the shelf life on dried malt extract but I've read various things that suggest the liquid form doesn't keep brilliantly and also tends to a darker colour. That tin from the back of the shelf at the homebrew store will probably still produce a drinkable beer but not as good as it would have been with a fresher tin.

I've been using a "brew in a bag" approach and supplementing the quantity I can produce with my available boiling pot by adding DME (increasing the gravity, giving scope to dilute it later). However, it is again a bit of a compromise not least because it means that a good proportion of the maltose in my wort comes from unspecified sources rather than the grains I have picked as part of my recipe, and thus I'm working on ideas to avoid any malt extract addition.

Wulf