Not completely dissolving the liquid malt extract & sugar

[degameth]

Hello everyone,
I have started fermenting two buckets of Pilsner kits using liquid malt extract 5 days ago. However, I was not able to fully dissolve the extract & sugar before topping up the water and adding the yeast. It has been doubting me since. Would the contents get dissolved during fermentation? Or some of it sticks to the bottom and stays as a lump?
PS: there is consistent bubbling and everything seems fine so far.
Thanks!

 

[PCABrewing]

Hello everyone,
I have started fermenting two buckets of Pilsner kits using liquid malt extract 5 days ago. However, I was not able to fully dissolve the extract & sugar before topping up the water and adding the yeast. It has been doubting me since. Would the contents get dissolved during fermentation? Or some of it sticks to the bottom and stays as a lump?
PS: there is consistent bubbling and everything seems fine so far.
Thanks!

Was this extract and sugar added after the boil or did it remain throughout the boil?
Have you stirred it?

Normally you don't have any un-disolved sugars at the end of the boil so when you top-up you're diluting an already blended wort. I would not expect the yeast to be able to work their way through the whole blob of extract depending how thick it is. It can probably work on some of the surface extract but I doubt all of it. If it does it will be a slow project.
That's my guess without seeing it.

 

[Hans O. Lowe]

Sounds like a wait-and-see thing to me. This would be a good time to invest in a hydrometer setup if you don't have one already. Then you can keep tabs on it at least.

 

[davidabcd]

However, I was not able to fully dissolve the extract & sugar before topping up the water and adding the yeast. It has been doubting me since. Would the contents get dissolved during fermentation? Or some of it sticks to the bottom and stays as a lump?

Knowing what you did specifically during your brew day would help: heating, adding, stirring, gravity reading (mentioned).
I wouldn't count on LME dissolving at room temperature if that's what happened.

 

[Joe P]

Thats a little tricky. Recipe kits make for some very tasty brews. However, "if" the DME wasn't fully disolved it's a matter of how much. 5 days in and bubbling is a good thing as it's def fermenting. A hydrometer reading would help. At least you would see the progress by the falling numbers. I've made worse mistakes . I'd ride it out. I don't believe stirring it would help, but I'd probably stir it anyway..."If" the Hydro readings weren't lowering from the OG or original gravity. Again, there's ALOT worse then your deal. Good luck

 

[degameth]

Was this extract and sugar added after the boil or did it remain throughout the boil?
Have you stirred it?

Normally you don't have any un-disolved sugars at the end of the boil so when you top-up you're diluting an already blended wort. I would not expect the yeast to be able to work their way through the whole blob of extract depending how thick it is. It can probably work on some of the surface extract but I doubt all of it. If it does it will be a slow project.
That's my guess without seeing it.

I did not boil the LME in the water beforehand if that is what you are asking. I simply mixed LME + sugar + 1.5 litres of boiled water in the fermenting bucket, gave it some shake, stirred it, added some cold water, stirred it a bit more. However, I was still feeling some LME in the bottom (and was able to see LME on the mixing spoon when I scraped the bottom) even after I topped up the water.

On this note, I would like to learn if it is OK to dissolve LME + sugar in a stovetop pot (say, 3 litres of water) before putting everything in the bucket? Will it somehow spoil the LME (since it will reach ~100C temp). I have never done that before; always dissolved the contents in the bucket and always got good results (given a good dissolution ofc ).

Thanks everyone for the answers and help! I also doubt that undissolved LME would dissolve by itself, but I guess opening the bucket and checking/stirring is not an option at this point? I'll surely give an update when I open the bucket for bottling. I guess the worst-case scenario would be to have a dilute mix and watery-tasting beer?

Peace!

 

[Joe P]

Keep us posted. I've made mistakes and would like to know how the brew turns out. It might not be as bad as you think.

 

[davidabcd]

On this note, I would like to learn if it is OK to dissolve LME + sugar in a stovetop pot (say, 3 litres of water) before putting everything in the bucket? Will it somehow spoil the LME (since it will reach ~100C temp). I have never done that before; always dissolved the contents in the bucket and always got good results (given a good dissolution ofc ).

That is totally okay to do. It won't spoil. I would heat through just until dissolved. I say that since I don't know whether your kit has hops in the extract.
I do extract a little differently. I buy all the ingredients like extract, hops separately. I do a full one-hour boil basically because that's how the recipe is and I don't feel like doing calculations for timing on how long the hops need to be boiled. Note: that is not the only way to do it.
The point is that heat won't harm the extract if it's just done to dissolve it.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

I would like to learn if it is OK to dissolve LME + sugar in a stovetop pot (say, 3 litres of water) before putting everything in the bucket?

I did not boil the LME in the water beforehand

Pasteurization can be "your friend" when it comes to sugary liquids.

eta: for the brands / styles of DME & LME that I have looked into, the general recommendation is to boil it.

 

[degameth]

@Joe P surely! I guess the batch will be ready for bottling towards the end of February.

@davidabcd and @BrewnWKopperKat my kit has hops in it. I've always thought of boiling (or at least heating) the extract into a fully homogeneous solution but none of the kits I've bought so far have instructed the preparation in that way. instead, instructions were to solve everything in the bucket, which I've always followed. I'll surely do as you say the next time because ensuring a full dissolution in the bucket is the most tiring process

 

[madscientist451]

If the extract is already hopped, you don't have to boil it, but heating the water to almost boiling will kill off most of the unwanted bacteria/yeast that may be present, and also make it easier to get the extract evenly blended with the water. If you only have a small pot, perhaps heat water and add extract in several batches until its all dissolved.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

my kit has hops in it

Can you share the kit name and link to (or picture of) the instructions? Some brands / styles of LME are packaged so that they don't need to be pasteurized (styles of hopped extract are often packaged that way).

 

[balrog]

Would the contents get dissolved during fermentation?

Almost certainly. Nature abhors miscible liquids of highly different concentrations living in contact with with one another -- they will mix, yeast will find them, they cannot hide.