High gravity RIS - adding DME during fermentation

[conpewter]

So I'm re-brewing a RIS that turned out very well.

My OG into the fermenter is 1.095 and I bump that up during fermentation with DME. Last time I boiled the dme in a small amount of water and added it twice. This took a lot of time and was very messy.


Recipe:
5 gallon batch
1 lbs Rice Hulls (0.0 SRM) Adjunct
16 lbs Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) Grain
1 lbs 8.0 oz Barley, Flaked (1.7 SRM) Grain
1 lbs Oats, Flaked (1.0 SRM) Grain
12.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt -60L (60.0 SRM) Grain
12.0 oz Roasted Barley (500.0 SRM) Grain
8.0 oz Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain
8.0 oz Pale Chocolate Malt (200.0 SRM) Grain
8.0 oz Special B Malt (180.0 SRM) Grain
1.5 oz Magnum 60min
yeast nutrient at 10min
Irish ale yeast cake from previous brew
3 lb DME during fermentation
custom water profile built up from RO water
final aggregate OG 1.125

Since this is a very high alcohol brew I'm thinking of adding the dme without boiling. It is straight from the bag but I have read that it is not completely sanitary due to the way DME is dried.

If I can just put a funnel on the carboy and dump in a pound for 3 days then it would make it much easier and wouldn't increase my volume as much (I got a bit more into the fermenter this time than I intended)

Thoughts on adding DME to fermentation without boiling?

 

[PGEduardo]

Why not just sugar for alcohol plus a little maltodextrin for body?

 

[Hello]

Wouldn't sugar result in a pretty dry beer?
I would not add DME without boiling it. I too heard it is not completely sanitary.

 

[blizz81]

Wouldn't sugar result in a pretty dry beer?
I would not add DME without boiling it. I too heard it is not completely sanitary.

Generally in a RIS, you can't run the risk of going "too dry" even if you try. You'll see more "stuck fermentations" / attenuation challenges here than anything, and sugar could help, and wouldn't increase the volume much re: solubility. Though conversely, in a beer that's actively fermenting that will end up pretty high abv, you might have less of a worry than normal re: infection.

 

[conpewter]

Generally in a RIS, you can't run the risk of going "too dry" even if you try. You'll see more "stuck fermentations" / attenuation challenges here than anything, and sugar could help, and wouldn't increase the volume much re: solubility. Though conversely, in a beer that's actively fermenting that will end up pretty high abv, you might have less of a worry than normal re: infection.

Adding DME since I am actually trying to get something very thick and sweet, this was originally a dark lord clone. Previous batch came out less thick than dark lord, but I liked it better so keeping the recipe the same, just wanting to simplify the additions

Agreed though, for most RISs you could add sugar.

As far as infection, that's what I was thinking with a beer that is starting out at 1.095 that by the time fermentation is slowing down, I have a significant amount of alcohol to kill off anything in the DME, but still a bit worried since it is an expensive beer to brew.

 

[mascervesa]

You could try dry heat sterilization in the oven. I'm not sure how the powder would hold up to the heat.

 

[conpewter]

You could try dry heat sterilization in the oven. I'm not sure how the powder would hold up to the heat.

Interesting, I wonder if it would darken it? (probably not a problem with an RIS unless it burned)