Beer recipes with Hopped Malt Extract??

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Hi,I just received my ez caps the other day and have a batch of ciderbrewing currently. However, I'm particularly interested in brewingbeer/ale. I bought a beer brewing kit a few years ago but it seemed socomplicated and time-intensive that I never got around to using it.This is why I'd really like to use a hopped malt extract for mypreliminary batches of beer/ale instead of boiling a bunch ofingredients together and risk messing everything up!My questions are:Can anyone recommend a variety of hopped malt extract and recipe thatworks well with the ez caps and is easy enough for a beginner? What'sthe shelf life of the liquid hopped malt extract and is there a dryversion?What type of yeast have you had success with and is there a preferencebetween ale and lager yeast? What's the difference?Is the addition of sugar or corn syrup required for brewing a beer/alein this manner? If so, is there a preferred sweetener and how muchshould I use?Finally, has anyone added fruit juices (apple or grape) to theirbeer/ale with any success? What other flavors are commonly used andare they added at the beginning or the end?Variations on the standard cider recipe would be very helpful as well.On a side note, I generally prefer a drier, not overwhelmingly sweetcider (aiming for around 6% alc) so I made my current batch with 1/2cup of sugar instead of the full cup. I plan on brewing it for about aweek. Does this sound right or did my logic fail somewhere along the way?Thank you all in advance for your help!ORGINAL POSTER: lafaria28