DME Lesson Learned

[Garage Brewer]

I wanted to give LME, all-grain, and DME brewing a try to see which made the best beer, and which was the most fun. Last weekend I did the DME brew, using a Hop Mothra kit from MoreBeer. During the process I ran into an unforeseen issue that I want to mention here, so other new DME brewers don't make the same mistake.

When your kettle is boiling, and you cut open the plastic DME bag to stir it in - don't slow pour it into the water. The rising steam will turn the DME around the lip of the bag into a weird substance that looks like damp cotton candy. Soon you'll be holding a DME bag with something like ... a growing sugar tumor on the end of it, and it may get heavy enough to rip the loose plastic it's clinging to and fall into the brew.

I'm not sure how to fix the problem. Maybe dump all the DME in fast (afraid it would scorch at the bottom of the kettle) or transfer it out of the bag into another container for pouring, I guess.

Anyway, lesson learned.

 

[Broken Crow]

When using DME, hold back some of your brewing water in a seperate pot and mix the DME cold (or at least not steaming) and then pour that into your kettle when it's up to a boil.

 

[fluketamer]

yes the dme slurry in cool or warm water works. its the steam that really messes with pouring DME.


i originally shied away from dme because of that but its really much better to work with than lme. longer shelf life much easier to divide. easier to store etc.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

Another technique is to add the DME/LME/other-sugars to the kettle before the water starts steaming. For me this is below about 180F - the specific temperature depends on the relative humidity on the brew day.

In Unlocking Homebrew (Yager, 2024, ebook), the DME/LME is often added immediately after the steeping grains have been removed (so around 150F).

The only "drawback" that I have seen is that wort heats a little slower than water.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

give LME, all-grain, and DME brewing a try to see which made the best beer

"It's the archer, not the arrow".

There are a couple of brewers over in the "hazy" beers topics that periodically mention winning regional competitions using DME.

 

[AmarikinBrew]

I use a teflon nonstick pan and dump it in just prior, away from any moisture, then a quick throw method in one toss to put it in.

 

[mac_1103]

The rising steam will turn the DME around the lip of the bag into a weird substance that looks like damp cotton candy. Soon you'll be holding a DME bag with something like ... a growing sugar tumor on the end of it, and it may get heavy enough to rip the loose plastic it's clinging to and fall into the brew.

I used a couple of pounds of DME at flameout in yesterday's brew (I prefer this to 20+ pound grain bills for high gravity recipes). I knocked the "weird substance" off the lip of the bag with a spoon before the "tumor" had a chance to metastasize. It all dissolved in the wort just fine. As mentioned, there are also several ways to prevent this from happening at all.

 

[Yesfan]

When using DME, hold back some of your brewing water in a seperate pot and mix the DME cold (or at least not steaming) and then pour that into your kettle when it's up to a boil.

I pour the DME in cold. Never had an issue. Most of the time, I'm only using DME for starters.

 

[Steveruch]

I put dme into a big bowl at least a foot away from the kettle. Then using a scoop I add the dme a bit at a time. The scoop gets a little clumped, but is easy to deal with.

 

[elf_brewery]

I measure the DME in a metal bowl. At the end of the steep (152-154F) I stir the liquid vigorously, then dump in the DME and stir some more. The initial stirring helps keep the DME from sinking straight to the bottom, but some still gets there and needs to be stirred into the solution. I also have some leftover hot water from steeping the grains and pour that into the bowl, swish it around and then dump that into the pre-boil liquid. No simple proceedure, just what I do.

 

[elf_brewery]

I measure the DME in a metal bowl. At the end of the steep (152-154F) I stir the liquid vigorously, then dump in the DME and stir some more. The initial stirring helps keep the DME from sinking straight to the bottom, but some still gets there and needs to be stirred into the solution. I also have some leftover hot water from steeping the grains and pour that into the bowl, swish it around and then dump that into the pre-boil liquid. No simple proceedure, just what I do.

The left over hot water is after I steep the spent grains.

 

[WouldBeBrewmaster]

Dump the DME in hard and fast. The opposite of adding LME. Cut across the entire bag and dump it. If only using part of the bag, weigh it in a bowl and dump the entire bowl. If you add the DME before the boil either in an extract batch, or to adjust gravity in an all grain, any clumps will eventually dissolve.

DME is extremely hydroscopic. Any moisture from water or steam will make it clump.

Malted drinks like Ovaltine, Horlicks, or malted milk powder use a different kind of DME that dissolves more easily. The DME used in brewing is spray-dried, whereas extract for malted drinks is band-dried and then ground into powder. The band-drying makes it pick up color which doesn’t make it great for brewing. Band-dried extract is also treated with lecithin to help it dissolve in cool liquid, but will kill the head retention in a beer.