Sorry for the delay, I've been meaning to reply to this for a while. "Extract" means different things to different people unfortunately. For some "extract" means tins in kits, for others it means, well, extract. When I talk abotu extract, I mean things like
http://www.hopshopuk.com/products/view/ ... tract-25kg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; or the entire category of
http://www.hopshopuk.com/categories/vie ... lt-extract" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; I try and refer to kit tins like
http://www.hopshopuk.com/categories/vie ... inal-range" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; (The classic tin + sugar) as "kit"
Anyway, you can maybe get better results with kits by adding hops. I've heard of people using two tins and no sugar instead of a tin+sugar. But I'm here to talk about extract. Extract is great!
When I first started brewing here, and right up until Ölvisholt (Thanks Valli!) started selling us grain directly, I did all my brewing as "partial mash" which Eyvindur hinted at. It's not a real common method, but it's less equipment than my all grain setup, and the results are very good, certainly far better than you can get with kits. The limiting factors are that you can never make a beer as light in colour as with all grain, and it does cost more than all grain. (Not an awful lot for 20L brewers though really) You can brew in a much smaller pot too.
Method is all as per:
http://www.sanfranciscobrewcraft.com/ar ... asp?id=133" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; (Great brew shop if you ever get out to SF)
Here's a couple of recipes I used a lot from back then:
"Retirement Porter"
Mash Teabag: ~800g Marris Otter (Or just Pale Ale) 300g CaraPils, 150g Chocolate Roast
Extract: 3kg Liquid Pale
Hops: 60min 35g Target, 5min 30g EKG
Yeast: Gervin Ale Yeast (S04 or similar)
"SADS"
Mash Teabag: 600g Marris Otter (Or just Pale Ale) 600g Crystal
Extract: 3.4kg Liquid Pale
Hops: 60min 40g Target, 20min 20g Centennial, 1min 20g Centennial
Yeast: US05 or similar
I generally boiled ~16-17L and then topped up with cold water to about 24L, for OG's ~1.045 But you can play around with that. I rarely used a mashteabag bigger than about 1.5kg, and usually 2.8-3.6kg of extract. Bear in mind, no-one's importing any drums of extract yet, and now that I've got the gear for all grain, I tend to just stick to that system now, even though it takes longer.
Hope this helps somewhat, it's not real common to find any serious information about extract/partial mash brewing.