seeking advice on how to add DME

I'm about to do my first all DME brew tomorrow (having used LME previously), and I've heard some warnings about trying to put this powder into a boiling pot of water and that this might be problematic.

I'm wondering what suggestions people have. Can it be easily mixed with cold water first and then dumped in? Should I add the DME before boiling, or will this (most likely I'm guessing) just cause it to burn on the bottom of the pot?

Thanks for any suggestions.

i add it during the boil. just watch out the steam doesnt make the powder stick to the bag.

I take it off the heat just like i would with LME, also because it tends to clump I use a wisk initially to get it mixed in. Also, the steam will definitely cause the powder to stick, kind of a pain every time to me.

I never have any problems, but if you're concerned you could put the DME in a big (dry) bowl. When it's time to add it, take the pot off of the heat and whisk in the DME.

I've never had a problem mixing in while on the heat source. If you stir the crap out of it, there is a low risk of scorching

Has anyone premixed DME with cool water before adding it? The OP asked about doing it and I've wondered myself, as I've found adding DME to be a slight pain in the butt with all the clumping and boil-over potential.

Gameface said:

Has anyone premixed DME with cool water before adding it? The OP asked about doing it and I've wondered myself, as I've found adding DME to be a slight pain in the butt with all the clumping and boil-over potential.

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I haven't needed to. In my experience, the clumping is annoying but not a real problem.

The boil over potential *is* an issue. The only solution I know of is to watch your kettle and stir continuously.

Thanks to all who replied. I staged the DME in a big bowl and I feel this was helpful. I used a big flour scoop to help transfer it to the hot water, and this was easy to get any excess DME stuck on it off by stirring it in the wort for a minute.

There was quite a bit of foam on top initially, but I actually just skimmed this off and all went well (so far, knock on wood).

I posted a question related to the yeast in this brew over here in the ingredients forum.

I just did a DME batch about 2 hours ago...only problem I had was adding the whole bag at once. Do it in parts like maybe 1/2 then the other half....otherwise it clumps.

I always mix my DME with cold water and my LME with hot water and I have had excellent results. I never had any issues with scorching. That is how I first learned from Dave Miller's book, so I have always stuck with it. One thing to note though, I have never done late extract editions with DME so I am not sure how that would work. . .

Skimmed off the foam? anyone else do this? i have never seen this done before..

FSBrewer said:

There was quite a bit of foam on top initially, but I actually just skimmed this off and all went well (so far, knock on wood).
over here in the ingredients forum.

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cenla said:

I haven't needed to. In my experience, the clumping is annoying but not a real problem.

The boil over potential *is* an issue. The only solution I know of is to watch your kettle and stir continuously.

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I keep a spray bottle filled with water close by. Once the hot break begins I spray it almost continually with water. This most definitely prevents a boil over.

Of course you want to have your heat on low as well.

HoppedIPA said:

Skimmed off the foam? anyone else do this? i have never seen this done before..

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No. I don't think I want to either. From my understanding the proteins help with head retention. Wouldn't skimming off the foam take some of the proteins out of your wort?

Those of you who don't think DME is a pain in the ass must have magical powers. It clumps, it sticks to the bag, it foams when you try to wisk it in. I've tried adding it to warm water first and made more of a mess than just adding it straight to the boil.

Bottom line, plan on lots of foam and do the sprinkle/wisk method then dip the bag or bowl in the hot wort to get the bits that stick from the steam.

Ok so if you think about it.. LME is a gooouuey sticky mess so DME is the same thing just dry.. when you start to add moisture wether vapor or liquid you now for intent and purposes have LME which is still a goouueeyy stickkkyyy mess.. I used it last night i guess having a 15 gal pot that i brewed 5 gal in makes a difference as the foam wasnt a issue..

It sounds like things went very smoothly with my large dry bowl. It clumped in the pot, of course, but the clumps went away soon enough. After I skimmed the foam off (into my conveniently available large empty bowl) it was no different than if I had used LME.

Using DME doesn't seem to be much more trouble than using LME. In fact, it saves you the trouble of heating up the cans and trying to get all the syrup out.

dfc said:

No. I don't think I want to either. From my understanding the proteins help with head retention. Wouldn't skimming off the foam take some of the proteins out of your wort?

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Mike McDole mentioned on a radio show a while ago that he used to do this during the boil. He said that once he stopped doing this, head retention was much better

NorCalAngler said:

Those of you who don't think DME is a pain in the ass must have magical powers.

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Maybe you're the one with magical powers. You just haven't learned how to use them yet.

The foam (which I skimmed off) doesn't amount to much volume, so I wonder how much impact skimming it off could actually have, unless somehow its content is radically different from the rest of the wort. At any rate, it would be easy enough to add it back later after it's settled down a bit. I thought about doing this, and may actually have, but I can't actually remember for sure what I did (too many homebrews, I guess).

FSBrewer said:

I'm about to do my first all DME brew tomorrow (having used LME previously), and I've heard some warnings about trying to put this powder into a boiling pot of water and that this might be problematic.

I'm wondering what suggestions people have. Can it be easily mixed with cold water first and then dumped in? Should I add the DME before boiling, or will this (most likely I'm guessing) just cause it to burn on the bottom of the pot?

Thanks for any suggestions.

Click to expand...

That's usually only a problem with superheated solutions with no
agitation. For example, if you heat a cup of water in the microwave
with no stirring, then suddenly drop a tea ball in there, the fine particles
cause gas nucleation and the cup boils over violently. As long as you
are stirring the liquid before adding the powder, it shouldn't be a problem,
but stirring itself can cause a violent boilover if the water is still and you
superheated it. I always add the extract before it gets near boiling
anyway so I don't have the boilovers.

Ray