Confusion on when to add LME

[BiotinX]

All -

I'm having some confusion regarding when to add LME in an extract brew. In my "How to Brew" book by John Palmer it says on page 9 step 6 the directions say to add the malt extract. From the description it sound like it's saying to add both the DME and LME at the same time. However, the instructions for the same recipe (Cincinnati pale ale) on page 82 step 9 says that at T =5 to add the LME.
So which is it? Do I add the LME and DME at the beginning of the boil or just the DME? Does it matter? I'm curious because I boiled the DME for 25 minutes with no noticable hotbreak and maybe that was because I only added the DME and not the DME and LME.

Thanks!!!

 

[Kaz]

You can add either at the beginning or end of the boil...not much help. It doesn't hurt to add it all at the beginning and you'll make fine beer, it may be a little darker. When I make an extract beer, I generally add half the at the beginning at the boil and the other half with about 15mins left. The hops are really what get the most out of the boil, you need to boil them to get bitterness out of them, having some extract in there will help with hop utilization as well. Hope that makes sense...

 

[Yooper]

The "old school" way was to add all of the extract at the beginning of the boil, but over the last 10 years or so it has become more common to add the bulk of the extract at the end of the boil. LME is particularly likely to darken due to maillard reactions and create more of a caramel-like "cooked extract" taste.

I would use about a pound of extract per gallon of water in the boil at the beginning, and add the rest of the extract at flame out. There is no reason to add it with 15 minutes left, and it doesn't need to boil to be pasteurized and if you add it during the boil, it actually stops the boil. That can screw up your hopping.

My guess is that his recipe has the "new" thought to it, but the write up hasn't been changed.

 

[Lefou]

If you're using dry and liquid extract as your fermentables you probably shouldn't expect a noticeable "hot break" where proteins become visible and clump together. If you're boiling and add hops, you may get some particulates to form as the hop oils dissolve in the wort.

 

[Calder]

There is no right or wrong time. You can add it any time you like. Many are adding about half at the start, and the rest at the end after removing the pot from the boil.

If you add during the boil, you need to be concerned about scorching the extract, and as Yooper said, it also stops the boil for 5 to 10 minutes, which screws with your mind as to whether to boil additional time for the hops, or not. ...... I don't know the answer to this question.

 

[BiotinX]

Thanks all for the replies. One of the things I love about this forum is the wealth of knowledge a new brewer can draw from all the valuable input from seasoned brewers.

The conclusion that I came to based on your input was that it makes little difference when you add the extract, however it might be better to add the LME towards the end of the boil to avoid "cooking" the extract.

Thanks!

 

[irontodd]

I just did a partial mash brew with 5.5 lbs grain and 4 lbs DME. Added the DME in 1 lb increments 15 minutes apart. Boil didn't die for long. We will see how it turns out, fermenter is bubbling away with this one.

 

[ncbrewer]

According to conventional wisdom, hop utilization (and IBU) is affected by boil gravity. When you add the extract affects what the boil gravity is at various times during the boil. A few years ago this theory was challenged, but from what I've seen, it seems to be mostly accepted now. To keep it fairly simple, you could plug the extract addition times into some brewing software and let it make these calculations. If the resulting bitterness isn't quite like you want, you can modify it next time.

 

[jalc6927]

The new wisdom states that adding it all at the boil can carmelize it making it darker and twangier...

Try half at boil and half at 30 or some other time frame

I’m finding that most of conventional wisdom is not all that important to making a great beer

 

[mr_stout]

If you dump it in at mid boil it will stop the boil and the kettle will have to heat up again. Put in at the beginning or at the end.