DME curds: faster way to dissolve them?

[Captain Damage]

I've been doing late addition extract brewing - do most of the boil with a pound or so of dme and add the rest at 10 mins. When I do this late addition (usually 4lbs or more) I wind up having to pause the boil for -no fooling- 15 minutes while I break up the lumps and try and get it to dissolve. Is there an easier/faster way? It's got me wondering if I should go back to lme.

 

[david_42]

You could take part of your wort out at 60 minutes and stir in the DME while waiting.

 

[rcreveli]

I've only done 2 batches, so I'm no expert but, the clumps remind me of what would happen if you dumped raw flour into liquid. The outer layer gelatanizes. The advantage of DME is that unlike flour it will breakdown with stirring. I think David_42's idea is the best. Basically make a slurry of the DME and a liquid. Not sure how much wort it would take to dissolve 4#'s of DME. But I'm pretty sure it's between 2-4 qts.

 

[Hermit]

I stir it in right after I pull my steeping grains out and it dissolves right away for me. Maybe it is harder when the water is hotter?

 

[Captain Damage]

I stir it in right after I pull my steeping grains out and it dissolves right away for me. Maybe it is harder when the water is hotter?

The point of late addition is to get more a efficient hop utilization. If you do most of your boil with a small amount of extract then you can get a few more ibus. The remaining extract still has to be boiled for at least a few minutes to sterilize it and to coagulate some of the proteins.

 

[WIP]

I do the late additions. I find that if you add it at 20 minutes and just keep stirring during the boil, the DME will disolve by the 5-10 minute mark.

 

[Captain Damage]

Late addition also helps keep the extract from darkening from caramelization.

 

[Hermit]

Well, putting it in when I do, it dissolves and I do three gallon batches so if I have to use a tad more hops, I guess I just don't care that much. I have not noticed any darkening either. At least nothing that seems to carry over to the finished product.

 

[WIP]

This isn't a thread about early vs. late additions. He asked how we break up the clumps.

 

[impatient]

Wire whisk it in. It is like making gravy. Don't let the lumps form to begin with.

 

[homebrewer_99]

You need to be stirring while dumping it in. I usually dump no more than 1# at a time to make sure it's dissolved before adding another lb in.

 

[SupraSPL]

Good info thnx! I have been using 6 lbs of LME and adding 1 lb of DME. My next batch I am going to try using 6 lbs of DME so hopefully it cooperates!

 

[johnbrain]

I'll be adding 6#'s at flameout Friday. And 2#'s of sugar. My wort is from mashed Belgian pilsner. my question is this. If i heat the water back up to break up clumps, do i increase the hops utilization even further? I don't want to. I did my recipe with brew target and it factors in late addition.

I do intend to whisk it in but that's my whole strategy.

 

[Toy4Rick]

+1 on the wire whisk. After 30 seconds the clumps are gone, move to stirring with a spoon and I'm done in 2-3 mins tops

Toy4Rick