Hello! Very new homebrewer here, but have lurked on these forums for quite awhile. Learned just about everything I know, for better or worse, from you all!
This weekend I tried DME for the first time, as I've been using LME exclusively. Could anyone give me some advice for how to better mix DME in the future?
I found it near impossible to mix without severe clumping... both in the pot and around the bag (from the steam I'm guessing). I must have lost a good 1/4 of the bag because many larger clumps quickly became rock hard.
Admittedly, I'm so used to using my stainless steel mixing spoon that I didn't use a whisk. Clearly, that will be a sanitized tool for next batch and should help... but I feel like it wouldn't have been enough.
Is cold water a better idea for mixing DME? If so, can you mix DME in cold water, but still steep grains in the (cold) DME wort?
Any advice on using DME would be appreciated... it was a disaster this weekend.
This weekend I tried DME for the first time, as I've been using LME exclusively. Could anyone give me some advice for how to better mix DME in the future?
I found it near impossible to mix without severe clumping... both in the pot and around the bag (from the steam I'm guessing). I must have lost a good 1/4 of the bag because many larger clumps quickly became rock hard.
Admittedly, I'm so used to using my stainless steel mixing spoon that I didn't use a whisk. Clearly, that will be a sanitized tool for next batch and should help... but I feel like it wouldn't have been enough.
Is cold water a better idea for mixing DME? If so, can you mix DME in cold water, but still steep grains in the (cold) DME wort?
Any advice on using DME would be appreciated... it was a disaster this weekend.