First Brew........DME question

[William_Stout]

So tomorrow is my first Brew, I posted some questions about it earlier. I'm basically doing an experiment for my first brew because I could only get certain ingredients.
I am going with 6lbs of Gold Dry Light DME. I've read up a little about adding DME later in the boil. This is my plan.
I am going to steep
1lb caramunch
1/4lb chocolate
@160ish for 30 min
bring to boil
@60
add 2.5lbs of the DME
add 1oz Hallertau
@15
add 2.5lbs of DME
add 1oz Saaz
@flameout
add 1ox Saaz

and then carry on. Is there much benefit for me to add the DME this way. I have no idea what my OG is going to be, its basically just a random.

 

[mbird]

Hi Willian,
Your gravity will be about 1.045 in 5 gals. (expecting 1.045 per lb dme per 1gal.) and as far as adding the 1/2 the dme later in the boil, you may achieve a slightly lighter color but this is questionable. You may also achieve a slightly higher extract of IBu's from your first addition of hops but again this may be negligable. Happy brewing!
mark
Beer Diary...

 

[cervezarara]

You can steep between 150 and 155- that way if you overshoot a bit, you won't risk extracting tannins. But be sure you remove the steeping grains before you take this wort up to boiling temperature. (Wasn't in your post, although you are probably aware.)

The DME additions don't add up to 6 lbs- are you cutting back to 5 lbs? You would only add half of the DME at the beginning of the boil if you are doing a partial boil with top off water later. If you are doing a full boil, there would be no reason to do a late addition. So, if you are doing about 2.5-3 gallons in the boil, your wort gravity would be close to the OG of your wort after top off. This would likely allow pretty normal hop utilization.