Late extract addition

I was look through some recipies that someone gave me, and all of them have you add a pound of dme after you steep, then you start a 60 min. Boil. When you get to the last 15min. You shut the heat off then add the rest of your extract, usually lme. Then finish the boil.



What is the point of doing it this ways, I've never seen recipies like this. Thanks

Many of us add the late addition @ flame out. Since the wort's still boiling hot & pasteurization happens in seconds @ 160F, it'll be lighter colored & cleaner tasting. You don't have to boil the snot out of it to sanitize.

cncquinn said:

I was look through some recipies that someone gave me, and all of them have you add a pound of dme after you steep, then you start a 60 min. Boil. When you get to the last 15min. You shut the heat off then add the rest of your extract, usually lme. Then finish the boil.



What is the point of doing it this ways, I've never seen recipies like this. Thanks

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The technique is called "late extract addition". Technique can be used in most extract recipes to reduce the darkening of the extract due to being heated, called the Maillard Reaction.

The late addition can also be done without the wort being brought back to a boil. The extract will be "sanitized" by temperatures over 160°F.

In a nutshell it is done to adjust color and flavor. It also affects hop utilization. BeerSmtih has a good write up here:

http://beersmith.com/blog/2008/02/20/better-beer-with-late-malt-extract-additions/

I've heard that the late addition also increases hop utilization. This makes intuitive sense to me - is it also true?

Also, is there an upper limit to how much extract can or should be added at the end of the boil? Could you, for example, do your entire recipe's worth? Is there any reason why a person would want to add their extract sooner?

Thanks!

I use about 1lb of extract per gallon of water in the boil. Sometimes I just use 2lbs in a 3 1/2 gallon boil & the normal hop amounts work fine when topped off in the fermenter to recipe volume. Mmm, smell sausage stuffing being prepared. Damn, that smells good. You need some extract in the boil for good hop utilization. But saving most of it for flame out addition works well for me. Unless I'm doing pb/pm biab, then I use the mash wort, which is some 50% of the fermentables, for hop additions, saving the extract for flame out.

when I brewed extract, I would add 25% of my extract after steep. the 75% last 5-10 minutes of boil. I did full boils except with my coffee stout, where I used extra strong cold coffee for top up water. usually 3 gallons.

So if I do a lighter color ale this would be the way to do it, not so much for your porters of darker beers

Yeah, but It's part of my process, so I do it for all my beers for cleaner flavor as well.

Thanks for the info, I'll give it a try

I could've been clearer before though. Late (read flame out) additions work well for all styles, light or dark. It just helps get the intended color of the beer.