DME into cold water?

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neilb

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This is something I just thought about and couldn't find a clear answer on.

The normal approach is to bring your water to a boil, remove from heat, and then add your DME. Normally this creates a lot of foam, and the steam makes the DME gum up around the packet/container.

So I thought....why not add it to the cold water and then heat that up?

I wonder what effect this would have on the foaming. Anyone know? I might try it next time.
 
This is something I just thought about and couldn't find a clear answer on.

The normal approach is to bring your water to a boil, remove from heat, and then add your DME. Normally this creates a lot of foam, and the steam makes the DME gum up around the packet/container.

So I thought....why not add it to the cold water and then heat that up?

I wonder what effect this would have on the foaming. Anyone know? I might try it next time.

The only effect I can think of is that it'll take longer to get to a boil, and more of a chance to carmelize and darken.

If you put your DME in a bowl before adding it to the boiling water, then the gumming up/stickiness isn't so much of an issue.
 
I usually heat up the water and to 160-170 then add the DME slowly. I make sure to stir the wort frequently for the next few minutes, and then let the water continute to a boil. I have not experienced much foaming this way.
 
I believe Palmer suggests this in How to Brew. Not in his first walkthrough, but about midway through the book. However, he doesn't say where specialty grains fit in. In the next chapter, he gives an example of specialty grains, but no DME. Would you just steep the grains in water that already has DME added?
 
Steep grains first before boiling. Pouring the DME into the hot water helps it dissolve and keeps it from carmelizing or scorching by sittingon the bottom.
 
For my pilsener, I did add the dry malt extract first and then start to boil. And yes, the colour did darken (quite significantly). But other than that, not much difference in taste than from my next batch (adding the malt extract at the start of the boil).
 
Palmer's suggestion of DME to cold water is just to avoid clumping. He doesn't make any promises of taste. He has LME at knockout, which would offset some darkening.
 
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