dme foam--probably just a rookie thing

[Nealie]

my second batch is a kit IPA, calling for 6lbs of dme. i'm good at following instructions so i toss in the dme prior to boil and get a ton of whitish foam filling my pot. even my 30qt pot (may be new but i plan on more substantial boils ahead) could barely hold it down. i'm not really worried about flavors or the batch in general--it's been a week or so now and seems to be wrapping up fermenting nicely--but it was a really odd sight. is this normal?

 

[c.n.budz]

Your better off bringing it up to a boil, remove the pot from the heat and then add your dme. You can also add it throughout the course of the boil a little at a time.

Welcome to the forum

 

[homebrewer_99]

Very normal. It's just the oxygen being driven out of the DME.

Reduce the heat or slide it half way off the flame until it subsides.

 

[kleinbeer]

happens at least once to most called boil over

 

[Funkenjaeger]

Refer to this:
http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter7-2.html

How I deal with it is a combination of the above: take the pot off the burner to add extract, so I can focus on stirring it in without worrying about it boiling over while I do (also avoids scorching extract on the bottom of the pan), and then when I put it back on the heat, when it starts to foam up, I either stir it more vigorously, or spray it with a water bottle. If it gets out of control, just lift it off the burner for a few seconds and it'll almost immediately stop. On my first couple batches, I did nothing but lift it off the burner, and after doing this a couple of times it subsided for the rest of the boil.

 

[Nealie]

thanks for all the replies. i guess i'll just need to be more careful when adding the extract in that immediate pre-boil stage to avoid having sticky messes.