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Recently, we developed a non-destructive technique to create narrow beams of electrons (or positrons) of adjustable width and brightness from single-component plasmas confined in a Penning-Malmberg trap [Weber et al., Phys. Plasmas 13, 123502 (2008)]. Here, we review highlights of that work and discuss the distributions in energy of the extracted beams. A simple model for beam extraction predicts Gaussian beam profiles, with transverse spatial widths dependent on the number of particles in the beam. A Maxwellian energy distribution is predicted for small beams. The predictions of the theory are confirmed using electron plasmas. Extraction of over 50% of a trapped plasma into a train of nearly identical beams is demonstrated. Finally, the possibility of creating high quality, electrostatic beams by extraction from the confining magnetic field is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]