Upping Gravity in Primary with DME

Cpt_Kirks said:

For future reference, here is how I do my AG batches:

I have 2 quarts of boiled water in a sanitized container in the fridge. When my wort is just about ready to pitch, I put a quart of water on the stove to boil.

I take my final gravity and, if it's too low, add enough DME or corn sugar to the boiling water to hit my target OG. I let it boil a little, then combine it with the cold (sanitized) water and add it to the wort. When you figure how much extra DME or sugar you need, you have to include the extra 3 quarts of water into your calculations.

As my AG technique improves, I am adding less and less extra sugars. I don't add it at all to about half of my batches now. Tough to hit gravity for 8 gallon batches in a 5 gallon MLT.

For your current batch, it looks like 1.5 to 2 pounds of DME would work. I would use Wheat DME (wheat and barley combined). Also, the sooner you add it the better. I don't think it will have a major impact on taste, though the brew will be stronger and maltier.

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SpanishCastleAle said:

Or you can just add the DME to your wort towards the end of the boil and not have to worry about boiling water or anything. You'll need to measure your gravity pre-boil and know what your final volume will be though. Just multiply the pre-boil wort gravity (in 'gravity points') by the pre-boil volume/post-boil volume ratio to figure your post-boil gravity.

So if the preboil wort was 6.5 gallons @ 1.030 and you will boil it down to 5 gallons:
30 * 6.5/5 = 39
so your post-boil gravity should be about 1.039 (maybe 1.038 if you used a lot of whole hops).

You can then calculate how much DME to add to hit your target OG. Just remember to adjust for the expansion of hot water when measuring your pre-boil volume. 6.7 gallons measured @ sparge temp (170-ish) would measure about 6.7 * .97 = 6.5 gallons @ room temp (the actual volume). And always read the hydrometer sample when cool.

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