DME vs. LME - one gives better taste

I got mix opinions over this question, let do a poll and see the number.

Only done LME though have been told DME is way better!

I have never tasted a difference, DME is much easier to work with though.

I only use LME because it's $1.70/lb out of a bighuge tank right into my plastic pail at my LHBS. DME is $3.69/lb there, so I almost always LME, even when a recipe calls for it.

Many years ago I went to radio shack. Just for something simple. I wanted a real cheap headset. Real cheap... the kind you find at the dollar store with the little foam pads. Nothing special. Well I had a real "saleman" I was dealing with. He just went on and on about how I'd be better off getting this one or that one. The sound quality is so much better he tells me. Did not give me much of a chance to really say much.

He finally took a breath. I pointed to my ears.... "I'm deaf.... just what kind of sound quality do I need?" (for all who dont know... a person with hearing aids puts thier aids on telephone mode when using headphones. The telephone mode just is a magnet that picks up signals of another magnet (in the case of a telephone the magnet is in the reciever), in the case of headphones the magnets are the small speakers of the headpieces. 0.99 cents ones work just as good as $500 ones....)

Perhaps I need two beers of the same type... one with DME and one with LME as a taste test or something. I've used both and can't say that I taste any difference. This is not to say that the can in that thread "I dare you use this" would taste like Sh*t. Nowdays though the stuff we buy is of pretty good quality one way or another compaired to years back I'm sure. I would guess that if you brewed a beer and it tatsted like Sh*t that you might have a dozen other reasons why it did before you got to that you used LME and not DME.

I voted "other". I do not taste a difference between the two, although a side by side comparison would be the only way to really tell.

I use about one half to two thirds light LME and the balance extra light DME on most recipes. I do this because I my LHBS does not have extra light LME and DME is so much more expensive. I add most of the LME at the beginning of the boil and the rest of the LME and all of the DME in small increments up until about 20 minutes before flameout.

budbo said:

DME is much easier to work with though.

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Thats interesting I find LME easier to deal with. The DME always clumps up, where the LME pours in. When most of it is out of the bucket I ladle in a few cups of near boiling wort into the and get the rest out.

- magno

magno said:

...DME always clumps up, where the LME pours in. When most of it is out of the bucket I ladle in a few cups of near boiling wort into the and get the rest out.- magno

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I use DME almost exclusively. I used to get clumps, but not anymore. I've learned that if you use warming water it will not clump.

You only clumps if your water is too hot because it carmalizes the malt on the outside (producing clumps).

When I use the "late boil" technique my DME does not clump either. I've learned to add it only 1 pound at a time then stir it in to dissolve. The first pound takes about 5 seconds to completely dissolve, the last about 20 seconds.

i think that dme is easier to work with, and stores better, and produces a lighter beer, i dont know if all that combined makes it better, but for me it does.

i'd go dme every time.

I'm used both and haven't noticed a significant difference. DME has the advantage if you're mail-ordering, since you use 10% less weight. I also think there's more variation with DME's than LME's, but that may be due to lack of investigation. The two brews I currently have in process are LME's.

Funny, I like working with liquid better. The dry stuff seems to go everywhere (my clumsiness may be a factor). I pour out the liquid, rinse out the can with hot water and get every bit of it in the boil. Dry, I am constantly spilling.

Taste seems to me to be a non-issue. I've never noticed any difference.

I've never noticed a difference in taste. Of course, I always add at least 2lbs. of specialty grains in all of my batches and I guarantee that's what's giving the flavor. Not so much the extract.

I like the DME because it's easier for me to work with. Large volumes of hot liquid, making a whirlpool, and slowly pouring from the bag are my tricks. I never get clumps that way that stay together for more than a moment.

Spyk'd said:

I've never noticed a difference in taste. Of course, I always add at least 2lbs. of specialty grains in all of my batches and I guarantee that's what's giving the flavor. Not so much the extract.

I like the DME because it's easier for me to work with. Large volumes of hot liquid, making a whirlpool, and slowly pouring from the bag are my tricks. I never get clumps that way that stay together for more than a moment.

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Interesing poll results so far, it seems like most of people don't notice any different in taste, but if one does, he/she probably says DME is better!
There are also liquid-people and dry-people (who like either to work with L or D

Spyk'd said:

I like the DME because it's easier for me to work with. Large volumes of hot liquid, making a whirlpool, and slowly pouring from the bag are my tricks. I never get clumps that way that stay together for more than a moment.

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Wow that seems like a lot of work to me I cut the whole top off the bag and dump it fast before the steam from the water makes sticky clumps on the edge of the bag. I think it's cool to watch the big wad of DME stuck to the spoon dissolve

calman said:

Interesing poll results so far, it seems like most of people don't notice any different in taste, but if one does, he/she probably says DME is better!
There are also liquid-people and dry-people (who like either to work with L or D

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Since making starters I always buy DME. Lets face it... opening up a can of LME to make a starter and attempting to save the rest of the LME for the brew in two days can be REALLY MESSY.

thanks for telling me about the DME i hated the fact that it clumps up...i'll have to start adding it before the water gets too hot...by the way i'll never turn my back on my kettle again..i had another boil over last night..thank god i have a ceramic stove top and no wife to answer to anymore...

I've used both and haven't noticed much difference. Maybe I'll feel differently after I've made more batches, though.

revrand65 said:

..thank god i have a ceramic stove top and no wife to answer to anymore...

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:rockin::rockin::rockin::rockin:

it depenmds a lot on what you do with it.

DME can be used in small quantities for starters, priming, correcting an AG brew that comes in below the target gravity, etc. LME would be a poor choice for any of these things because it's hard to use small quantities and then store the rest.

DME is also easier to measure accurately.

I've made some very good extract batches with both, although one of my LME batches that used LME from a can definitely tasted like the can.

Although I prefer DME for all the reasons stated previously (I don't know about taste, though), I do like to save the empty cans that the LME is packaged in. Makes a nice storage container, or just to display.

I think that your LHBS or home-brew mail-order guy makes ****loads of money off of DME and LME. Buy grain or go home!

Exo said:

I think that your LHBS or home-brew mail-order guy makes ****loads of money off of DME and LME. Buy grain or go home!

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I've used both, but I like DME for all the reasons everyone else does. I like Exo's idea because extract is too damn expensive, and I'm a control freak. Next batch: AG!

Gahh!! Bloody cuss-filters...

My LHBS carries several brands of extracts (both dry and liquid). Another topic might be variations in taste among one type or the other.