Late DME additions???

[Brewer88]

I am new to brewing, ~5 batches. I am wondering what a late DME addition is going to do for your beer. or what advantages it has if any. This may be a stupid question but im just trying to familiarize myself with my new found hobby.

[siwelwerd]

You will have less carmelization of the wort and greater hop utilization. Just be careful to stir well as you add it, you don't want a clump to sit on the bottom and scorch.

[brewinhard]

+1. You can brew a lighter colored extract beer since you are not boiling all the DME for the entire 60 min. boil. Definitely the way to go for pilsner, kolsch, etc.

[Brewer88]

Will a late DME addition result in a better fermentation. If I have 7 lbs of dark malt extract for a porter recipe how much could be added late? I am just looking for ideas because the batches I have brewed have been okay but not necessarily good. The beers I have made are okay but lacking any complex flavors, and I am wondering what is causing this. Could adding the DME late help to bring out more in the hops since the DME is just being added at the end?

[siwelwerd]

Will a late DME addition result in a better fermentation.

No. Fermentables are fermentables. Yeast health, pitching rate, oxygenation, and fermentation temps are where you want to look if you are not getting the fermentation you desire.

If I have 7 lbs of dark malt extract for a porter recipe how much could be added late? I am just looking for ideas because the batches I have brewed have been okay but not necessarily good. The beers I have made are okay but lacking any complex flavors, and I am wondering what is causing this. Could adding the DME late help to bring out more in the hops since the DME is just being added at the end?

Adding it late can get you a little more hop bitterness, but it really won't bring out the hops any. You can add it all late if you want. For complex flavors, I suspect you may need to consider your recipe. I always got far better results using an extra light extract for everything, and steeping specialty grains to get the necessary malt flavors, as opposed to using a dark extract--the reason being you don't know what specialty grains they put in it to get that color.

[spiderwrangler]

If you are doing stovetop brewing and are boiling half your volume, add half your extract at the beginning and half towards the end. This will help your hop additions to get more bitterness out if that is the issue. Feel free to post recipes here if you'd like someone to give feedback.

[crupp]

When I started judging about five years ago, one could really tell an extract beer when it came across the table (I’m not trying to be a dick here…it’s true). In the past two years, I’ve judged flight after flight of beers without coming across an obvious extract beer. Extracts are getting better, and people are learning how to use them.

I’ve been playing with extract quite a bit lately (cleaning the kettle and Mash Tun in sub zero temps sucks). Everything in the other posts is true. I’ve made a handful of extract batches doing a full boil with all distilled water (use distilled or RO water because the extract will have all of the extra minerals you need in your wort. If you use your house water or spring water, you have the potential to create an overly mineraly beer). I add about ½ the extract at the beginning of the boil and the other half with about 15 minutes left. While I would not call this an experiment by any means (far from scientific), I have been very happy with the final product.

My thoughts…

I’m honestly of the opinion that you can do a 15 minute brew if you want to add all of your hops at the end of the boil (great for pale ales, IPAs, etc.) If you’re not looking for a hop forward beer, you will need to lengthen the boil so as to reduce the hop flavors and aromas.

Whether you are using LME or DME (I prefer DME), that stuff has already been boiled down to its present state. I’m of the opinion that any extra boiling will only create off flavors (extra carmelization or that extract “twang” we’re all familiar with) that tend to hide some of the beer’s other qualities. If you think about it…since it’s been boiled, I don’t think you need to worry about getting a great hot break (I could be wrong here), and I doubt you need to worry about DMS. You simply need to worry about sanitizing the wort.

My tips for brewing a great extract beer:

Do a full boil if at all possible.
Use distilled or RO water.
I prefer DME over LME…just my opinion…
Add ½ of your extract at the beginning of the boil and ½ with 15 minutes left (make sure to turn the heat off and stir like hell when you add it).
Use www.mrmalty.com to pitch a healthy pitch
Ferment under temp control

I hope this is at least somewhat helpful. I would like very much to hear others’ opinions.

[kcschmitt]

I've heard a few people in my brew club say that you can tell when someone is using extract over all-grain, but I find this not to be the case. I've brewed several extract batches and had fantastic results. Nobody believed me when I said I did extract batches. I think extract brewing is best when you use the freshest malt extract possible. do full boils if possible and control fermentation. It's just like Jamil says if you ferment properly nobody will have any idea if you used extract or all grain and I can personally contest to this.