Adding LME at Knockout Safe?

All -
If I were to add all 6.6# of extract at knockout in order to improve hop utilization -- would I be OK?

Just dump it all in at knockout and allow to steep for 5 min or so before wort chiller?

Suggestions?

Yes, that's what I'd do. I know some people suggest boiling it, but it's sanitary coming from the manufacturer. Also, I use raw milk to make cheese and a temp over 160 for 15 seconds is enough to pasteurize milk. My thinking is that if milk is pasteurized in 15 seconds at 160 or higher, adding sanitary LME at knockout (over 200 degrees) certainly would be fine. I would add the LME, stir it up well, and then begin chilling as normal.

Thanks, Yoop.

Amazing that when I change the boil from 60 min to 'add at knockout' it changes the IBU from 57 to 99.

I will save a lot on hops this way it seems.

the only problem i can see, and it may not even be a problem, is your not going to get a hot break that way. and if you stir it while its not boiling you may get hot side oxidation. but i have no proof one way or the other that these are even issues.

Hmmm... good points tipsy... what do others think of this?

I don't think a hot break (or lack of) is even a concern with extract. It's already been boiled/processed and it's definitely not a concern. I don't believe in HSA, but if I did, I don't see how adding LME at knockout would be any different than adding hops and stirring. You're not using a blender and beating it to a froth- you'd add the LME and stir it in and begin chilling. I mean, if HSA was a concern wouldn't it happen if you added the LME earlier, too? HSA comes (supposedly) from aerating the mash or pouring hot wort, not only at knockout.

+1,000,000 on what Yooper says, as usual.

You might get some minor additional hot break during the boil, but 95% of it happened when they boiled it to make the extract in the first place. And HSA is, if not entirely a myth, not a major concern for home brewers who aren't doing anything absurd.

Word.

Thanks, guys. I feel like in the 2 months that I have been doing this I have been able to refine my technique so much thanks to all the help I get here.

You rule.

My last batch I actually add half my extract at the beginning of the boil and half at the end. If I recall, Palmer's book recommends doing just that to improve hop utilization. I stir it in jusssst before flame out. If I had aroma hops at 5 minutes, I stir in at 3 or 2 minutes and stir past flame out.