Adding half of DME 15 min before end of boil

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av8er79

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Have purchased several kits from my local shop. I have noticed that all the recipes call to add half of the DME 15 min prior to the end of the boil. I asked them what's the reason? They claim that it improves the clarity of he beer? Is this true and how can it be?
 
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Not really clarity, but more the color is lighter, and you'll get less of the twang from "cooking" the extract really long.
 
Yup,it helps get rid of extract twang. But mainly gives lighter color & better flavor. It's mainly LME's that caramelize in the boil after long times. DME's not so much. And you don't have to boil late additions at all. I add them at flame out,since the wort is still boiling hot. Then cover & steep 15 minutes to pasteurize,which happens at 162F. Well below the 180F+ it's still at at flame out. Which should make the color a hair lighter yet.
 
I started doing this about seven batches ago. The little bit of "extract twang" in a couple of batches I had previously is now gone.
I thought the concept applied more so to LME rather than DME but I do it for both now as just standard procedure.
 
Idk about hop utilization. That's more a function of wort gravity. But this method does apply more to LME,which caramelizes easier than DME. But I also use the late extract method either way.
 
I like to use DME over LME, but sometimes in a bigger recipe, the price difference will add up, and I'll split it sometimes.

I'll generally go with the idea of adding the DME early, sometimes all of it' if it's under 3 lbs... The the rest of it at flame out. Works pretty well, and no twang.
 
Idk about hop utilization. That's more a function of wort gravity.FONT]


I don't follow what you mean. Adding half of the extract late gives you lower wort gravity for most of the boil. The brewing software shows increased hop utilization, and my taste buds agree.:confused:
 
I do partial boils of 2.5-3 gallons,& half a 3lb bag of plain DME. 1.5-2lbs of DME in this case works quite well. The heavier the wort,the less utilization they claim. But this way works well...
 
In addition to the colour/twang thing it also stops your partial boil from being a really high gravity, so increases hop utilization for a given volume and time.
 
Hi,

I will have to agree with those who choose to bypass a little of the conventional wisdom.
It should be safe to say that extracts are supplied in a ready-to-use form, i.e, Pilsner malt extract. Now if you go cooking it for an additional HOUR, it will no longer be Pilsner Malt Extract. Unless there are no available sugars to be affected by the additional cooking. After all, when using an all-grain recipe, or even a partial, an extract is made from the grain by heating in water. Once the optimal amount of desired ingredient has been converted/released from the grain, a one our boil commences. To boil for an ADDITIONAL hour is not described in ANY recipe I have seen.
My first two extract recipes didn't turn out in any blue ribbon categories. The first batch died of natural causes. The second batch (five years later) had darkened well beyond it's profile and had enough twang to launch an 8 foot fencepost. It took extra time to tame the twang- and was not recommended to impress friends. The batch that left the gate with great fanfare was an American Wheat that was done severely limiting how much extract was in for the 60 minute boil- 1lb. was all I put in. The remainder was added in the last 10 minutes of the boil. The wort tasted appropriate, the beer was ready on it's schedule without additional aging. "Extract twang" almost non-existant.
The most recent batch was done a little differently. I'm still doing 3-gallon boils, and this one called for a full 3 ounces of hops. After two ounces where in, it became obvious that the hops would absorb all of the wort and would scorch, so I boiled a second gallon of water and added the last ounce of hops to that for 5 minutes. This went into the fermenter first; I figured it may be good to have antioxidant properties in the fermenter waiting for the wort. An additional gallon of water form the freezer was added, and brought the temp down to 74F. The wort chiller dropped the temp of the wort in to stockpot down to pitching temp in about 10-15 minutes. The drop from boiling to 100F was the fastest part- it took longer to get the last 26 degrees.
SG points looked right, so I pitched. That was Sunday evening. As of this morning, fermentation has nearly completed, and this stuff smells GOOD! Just took the final gravity and the Cooper's hydrometer reports 1.002. Amazing? No. It is off by .004 -.005 (measured in distilled water), so it is more than likely done at 1.007 or so. Off to aging it goes today. And it has a good beer taste to it. Just way too green!!!
My vote goes for NOT over-cooking extracts.

gnarlyhopper
 
I do about 3 gallon boils and I've had as much as 6 ounces of pellet hops in my wort. My main concern was preventing boil-overs (with fermcap-S). The hops expand in the wort, but I don't see much lost due to absorbtion. They tend to float, so there's little risk of scorching. I let the bags drain back into the wort during chilling.

I've seen a recipe for barleywine that calls for a 2-hour boil. Pilsner should boil for 90 minutes. There are IPA's that take 90 minutes (Dogfish Head).

Finally, most of the antioxidants come from the malt.
 
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