Dissolving dry malt extract

[Miraculix]

It's counterintuitive, but DME does not dissolve better/faster in got water. I don't heat starters and the DME dissolves in seconds.

If I'm doing an extract batch, I'll use about 10% of the DME in the boil. The other 90% gets dissolved in cold water and added at the end to help chill.

You don't need any malt for boiling the hops. You can add everything at the end, it's actually better for isomerisation to have no proteins (ie malt extract) in solution. You can get more ibus from the same amount of hops this way.

 

[FloppyKnockers]

You don't need any malt for boiling the hops. You can add everything at the end, it's actually better for isomerisation to have no proteins (ie malt extract) in solution. You can get more ibus from the same amount of hops this way.

I read somewhere that you need the sugar for hops to do their magic things. I'm no Walter White, that's just what I remember reading at some point.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

Boiling dissolved DME does create some Maillard reactions and flavor (perhaps too much?) but I suspect the boiling is mainly for hop extraction.

Boiling wort (made from either base malts or malt extracts) creates additional flavors and colors. In some styles those flavors/colors are desirable, in some styles the flavors/colors are not desirable.

In addition to adding flavors/colors, boiling wort removes things.

My intuition tells me an hour may be overkill, but my intuition is often wrong!

A number of years ago, with my 2.5 gal DME batches, I started to standardize recipes to 1) add all the DME at around 160F (after the steep), and 2) boil for no more than 30 minutes.

The beer color ends up appropriate for the style.

Switching to late additions of DME would probably lighten the color by 1 SRM - which could be important when aiming for the lightest color possible.

 

[Miraculix]

I read somewhere that you need the sugar for hops to do their magic things. I'm no Walter White, that's just what I remember reading at some point.

I've read that somewhere too, it's just bolocks that people keep repeating over and over again.

I've even tried it myself multiple times to make hop tea and add the dme at the end. Made some of my best beers this way.

 

[tracer bullet]

Seems like, with so many things brewing, if you have a repeatable process then it's good enough. I put DME in after the mash partly so that it doesn't get in the way of any extraction from the grains, and so that afterwards it's in the boil and contributing its gravity as far as hops work and etc. I'm sure this isn't required, and maybe not even beneficial, but it works for me. DME for me is a cheat of sorts, subbing for extra grain when my electric AIO simply runs out of space. I mash with the max that fits, then add some DME to compensate to where I'd really wanted to be (high gravity RIS).

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

I read somewhere that you need the stugar for hops to do their magic things. I'm no Walter White, that's just what I remember reading at some point.

water mineral composition, buffering capability, and pH when boiling the hops may also be considerations.

 

[ncbrewer]

I don't remember where, but I've read that boiling hops in plain water can result in a harsh bitterness. I've never tried it, so can't comment from experience. From the comments here, it seems nobody has seen this effect.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

I'll concede that this technique is perhaps a bit slow and labor intensive, but I think it'll avoid the dreaded DME iceberg phenomenon. I do not miss that!

The "dreaded DME iceberg phenomenon" has had a published solution since 2014 (see #12).

That technique works well (see #13) when doing a partial boil with late additions (typically to double the amount of wort going into the fermenter - e.g. make a 5 gal batch using 2.5 gal equipment on a stove top).

With regard to color in DME-based beers, the "AHA home brewer of the year" topic in the "extract brewing" forum talks about a DME-based recipe for an American Lager with color appropriate to style. This is a data point that may help confirm how much DME-based wort darken during a boil (see #16 for the 2005 for the BBR podcasts with the number). And, yes, one can get that small number of SRMs back by using 'no boil' approaches.

I put DME in after the mash partly so that it doesn't get in the way of any extraction from the grains, and so that afterwards it's in the boil and contributing its gravity as far as hops work and etc. I'm sure this isn't required, and maybe not even beneficial, but it works for me.

It's also easy to convert all-grain recipes to DME-based recipes and get a good starting point. Converting from a "full volume" DME-based boil to a "partial boil" and/or from a 60 min boil to a 30 min doesn't seem to have a negative impact. My guess is that with newer IBU estimate equations, one can convert a 15 min boils.

So why do 60 min boils with late additions when one can (perhaps) convert to a full volume 15 min boil?

DME for me is a cheat of sorts, subbing for extra grain when my electric AIO simply runs out of space. I mash with the max that fits, then add some DME to compensate to where I'd really wanted to be (high gravity RIS).

Adding DME late appears to be good for

1. extending batch size
2. making a big beer with existing equipment

IME, adding DME late to reduce SRM isn't worth the effort.

 

[Miraculix]

I don't remember where, but I've read that boiling hops in plain water can result in a harsh bitterness. I've never tried it, so can't comment from experience. From the comments here, it seems nobody has seen this effect.

The only thing that changes is the isomeration rate. It is much higher, way more ibus than with wort. This can obviously be perceived as harsh. In reality, it's probably just because they didn't account for the additional ibus.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

I don't remember where, but I've read that boiling hops in plain water can result in a harsh bitterness. I've never tried it, so can't comment from experience. From the comments here, it seems nobody has seen this effect.

Given the range of hop extract products (for bittering or aroma) that are available (in packaging that appears to work well for 5 gal batches), does it matter in 2025?

If it does, the "Woodland Brewing Research" site had a an article (or two) related to the topic. The primary writer behind the site also updated/packaged a lot of the content in to a book ($5 ebook, $10 paperback). Finally, there are a couple of related articles , from 2015, in the articles section here (e.g. Bittering Hops in 15 Minutes).

The content is generally approachable, yet backed by enough measurements/science that one could attempt to repeat the measurements/science. And perhaps make the process or result better (for one's personal definition of 'better').

 

[ChildBear]

The only thing that changes is the isomeration rate. It is much higher, way more ibus than with wort. This can obviously be perceived as harsh. In reality, it's probably just because they didn't account for the additional ibus.

I'm interested in trying out the hop tea + adding DME at the end method that you mentioned. Seems like it'd make for a much quicker brew day. Do you have a formula to figure out the right amount of hops to add (to adjust for the higher isomerization) when converting a regular recipe to a hop tea one?

 

[Miraculix]

I'm interested in trying out the hop tea + adding DME at the end method that you mentioned. Seems like it'd make for a much quicker brew day. Do you have a formula to figure out the right amount of hops to add (to adjust for the higher isomerization) when converting a regular recipe to a hop tea one?

It highly depends on the og of the recipe. The higher the og, the bigger the difference to plain water.

You can just use the brewers friend ibu calculator to calculate the ibus. The calculator takes this into account. Just type in 1.00 as the OG.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

Another starting point for customizing "no boil" DME may be be Coopers Kit customizations (link). It offers four common (for Coopers kits) methods to customize those kits.

One advantage of common technique is that it makes it easier to share recipes.

The methods are (obviously) ingredient specific, so if a method (like #1) seems useless, take a look at the example recipes to see what ingredients are involved.