Question regarding late malt additions....

[Teufelhunde]

Today I cooked up an extract recipe that called for a 15 minute addition of 3lbs DME. It got me to wondering why specify a late add? Why not just put it all in at the beginning of the boil? Does it really make all that much difference? What kind of difference?

TIA for all of the forthcoming input....

Lon

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

How to Brew, 4e, offers two approaches to brewing with extract. One is a full volume boil (with all the extract added at the start of the boil). The other is "stove top" brewing - use half the water / extract at the start start of the boil, add the rest of the extract at the end of the boil, and "top off/up" with water to get to the desired batch size.

The strength of the "stove top" brewing approach is that people can try homebrewing (and make good beer) with existing kitchen equipment. No need to initially buy a big kettle and a strong heat source to boil a full volume wort.

One can also shorten the boil time. American Pale Ale - 15 Minute Cascade Pale Ale (started in 2010), Basic Brewing Radio's "Hop Sampler" (2018), and the "no-boil" recipe (2019) threads may be of interest.

 

[kartracer2]

Hi @Teufelhunde
A thing about late malt additions is that your wort won't darken as much. It's more important with lighter colored beers but it affects all of them to some extent. It's more important with partial than full boils.
I seldom (never really) full boil all my extract, 1/2 at most and usually only about a 1/3rd of the total to start out. When the boil (flame out) is done I pull the hop bag and then add the rest of the extract while still hot. It has worked for me with out any problems. It also reduces scorching that can happen when adding extract.(more an issue with LME as it tends to sink to the bottom more than DME)
Now the possible down side is that you my end up with a more hoppy (bitter) beer. As wort density rises, hop utilization goes down. That said, if the recipe calls for late extract additions, hop utilization probably has been figured in to it.
Hope this helps,
Cheers,
Joel B.

 

[Tobor_8thMan]

Less color addition with less time.

 

[D.B.Moody]

As @BrewnWKopperKat said you can use this to shorten boil times, which is why I recently tried a late addition and will do so in my next planned brews.
As @kartracer2 said, the kit you have presumably figured it in. Adding it at the start will make you beer less bitter than the kit intended it to be.
Just so you know, adding DME to a hot wort will create cloud that'll settle stickily all over, so pour carefully and have a lid ready. (I dissolve my DME before adding it to avoid this. I'm married and brew in the kitchen. )

 

[GeorgeGreen]

Hey so I'm in the middle of brewing a porter and I added the six pounds of liquid DME at the beginning of the boil, did I just completely screw this brew up?

 

[kartracer2]

Hey so I'm in the middle of brewing a porter and I added the six pounds of liquid DME at the beginning of the boil, did I just completely screw this brew up?

Naw, you will still have beer.
Now the question is, are you following a recipe? If the recipe is followed, things will work out. With a porter, color is less of an issue than say a blonde or to a lesser effect an amber ale.
Where it makes a difference is it will change hop utilization if that's not the processes in the recipe. Total boil volume makes a difference also. Recipes are not just a list of ingredients, how you put them together (as in timings/volumes) can change a beer dramatically.
Cheers, and good luck.
Joel B.

 

[GeorgeGreen]

Naw, you will still have beer.
Now the question is, are you following a recipe? If the recipe is followed, things will work out. With a porter, color is less of an issue than say a blonde or to a lesser effect an amber ale.
Where it makes a difference is it will change hop utilization if that's not the processes in the recipe. Total boil volume makes a difference also. Recipes are not just a list of ingredients, how you put them together (as in timings/volumes) can change a beer dramatically.
Cheers, and good luck.
Joel B.

Hey thank for the response. I am following a recipe (albeit poorly!) that did say to add it with 15 minutes left on the boil (2.5 gallons). I guess I'm just wondering what impact iI can expect it to have on the taste.

 

[kartracer2]

It will probably be less bitter or more sweet tasting in the end. It's a little late to do much about it now unless you have some more bittering hops you could add to it. Probably too late for that also as they need 30+min boil for good effect.
When you get a minute can you drop the recipe (or a link). It'll help to see what ya got going on a little better.
Cheers,
Joel B.

 

[GeorgeGreen]

Ha yeah def a little late, I guess I was just more curious about the effect. I do plan on adding bourbon soaked oak cubes (high rye bourbon) so maybe that will help it a bit.

Here's the link, I basically just bought the ingredients at my local shop and followed this recipe. https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/2...lPorter-1526671773047.pdf?7456820704981429339

 

[kartracer2]

Yeah, you have a lot of flavors going on there. You might not notice anything missing. Maybe at this point just get it into the fermenter and get it bubbling. When it's done taste it and if it's too sweet maybe make a hop tea and add that to the beer.
Cheers,
Joel B.

 

[kartracer2]

No doubt too late but you could have added more water to your boil if you had room. That would have reduced the wort density some. Sorry for being a little late on that.
I ran the numbers through my Beersmith2 program and found that you should be at the lower end on the bitterness scale for an American Porter,, barely but still in the window. It's gonna be beer if all else goes to plan.
Cheers,
Joel B.

 

[GeorgeGreen]

Yeah, you have a lot of flavors going on there. You might not notice anything missing. Maybe at this point just get it into the fermenter and get it bubbling. When it's done taste it and if it's too sweet maybe make a hop tea and add that to the beer.
Cheers,
Joel B.

Fair enough, thanks for the help. Just pitched the yeast, OG is 1.062

No doubt too late but you could have added more water to your boil if you had room. That would have reduced the wort density some. Sorry for being a little late on that.
I ran the numbers through my Beersmith2 program and found that you should be at the lower end on the bitterness scale for an American Porter,, barely but still in the window. It's gonna be beer if all else goes to plan.
Cheers,
Joel B.

ididithandswaving.gif I’ll try to remember to follow up