I brewed three gallons of Ten Fidy clone on Saturday and undershot my desired OG by 34 points (Looking for 1.100, hit 1.066). It was already chilled and in the carboy before I realized, so I couldn't add any DME to the boil. My current plan is to boil up 2.5 lbs of DME in a half gallon of water, cool that to fermentation temperature, and add it to the carboy in the middle of primary fermentation. Are there any big problems with this plan?
You plan could work okay, though I would probably just let it ride. But how did your OG end up this far off? Was this extract or all grain? What was the recipe?
Shouldn't be a problem. I think I would try to dissolve into as little water as possible. More of a slurry-like consistency. Start doing pre-boil gravity readings and adjust during the boil.
If it was off by 5 points I wouldn't even consider it, but 34 was too much for me. After all, how could I call it a Ten Fidy clone if it only hit 6% abv? This was an all-grain batch, this recipe but adjusted down for three gallons. It comes out to about 14 lbs of grain. This was my first attempt at anything above 1.060, so I think I just overestimated the efficiency I was going to get. I didn't check pre-boil gravity because, uh... because I was dumb, I guess. A learning experience!
I would normally avoid DME altogether as it's already a damaged product (oxidized in its production), but I think in a bigger, malty and hoppy beer a small amount won't even show. Why not? It'll at least help to get your hops back in balance.
DME is oxidized? where is the oxygen in what is essentially dry powder? I never heard or read of this before. I don't use DME exclusively too much anymore but when I was all extract my brews were definitely not oxidized.
I use DME all the time to hit my target OG or sometimes just to boost ABV. I have never had an Oxidized flavor once.
So what you guys are saying is that beers made from extract taste as fresh as beers made from all-grain? If that's your opinion, great. DME is liquid extract blown through the air to release moisture and dry into a powder. It's oxidized.
You could say that it's temporarily oxygenated, but I wouldn't really call it oxidized. The water containing the freshly introduced O2 is flashed away in about a second. Thus there is no (or very little) remaining moisture to hold dissolved O2 to slowly oxidize the product. There's always the chance of air and moisture reaching the product later, but that's true for whole malted grains too, for example.
Pretty sure. I don't have a refractometer, so that was right off a hydrometer immediately after cooling. I mashed with 3.7 gallons, drained the first runnings, then added 2.25 gallons to sparge. If I were to do it again, I would mash thinner and use more sparge water, and boil longer to get the gravity up.
Agreed VikeMan, I'm with you, no one wants stale grain. Follow that thought process along thinking about what happens to dried malt extract and what do you get? But I won't argue. BA isn't about conflict, it's about learning. And as I stated earlier, I don't think using DME in a malty and hoppy beer like a Ten Fidy clone will make much difference. In a Pilsner, of course, but not with all those dark malts and hops.
I don't doubt that DME stales faster than unmilled malt. I'd be pretty surprised if it doesn't. My point was to point out that the DME manufacturing process itself (the vaporization/drying step) shouldn't oxidize the DME.
I think the staling reaction is worse the higher the moisture content and I'll bet DME if stored properly, is lower than most unmilled malt. Maybe.
i think you are jumping to conclusions. there are plenty of reasons why a beer made all grain can be and usually is "better" than extract. mostly because extract brewers have limited equipment and experience. and other reasons as well; the age of the extract (typically a problem with LME and not DME), the amount of adjunct in the DME if any, the quality of the malt to begin. i do not believe the staleness or freshness of the beer has anything to do with oxygenation of the grain or DME. for one thing, it would be the result of hot side aeration, which is kind of sort of dubious to begin with. if you are familiar with stale/sub standard/dull extract beer you are not alone. but i can assure you that there are some very strong all DME brews being made. frequently. i know i am not alone when i report that very good weizens as well as pils can be made exclusively with DME. Cheers.
I am uncertain what your specific ‘goal’ is here but high quality homebrewed beer can indeed be brewed using Dried Malt Extract (DME); those extract beers will not suffer from oxidation from using DME. Needless to say that homebrewed beer using DME can suffer from oxidation but that would be from poor homebrewing practice but not from the ingredient (DME) used to make the beer. Cheers
Unless the hydro-sample was cooled to 60F...then the OP's reported 1.066 OG was closer to 1.068. Still well under the 1.100 target. 1.06 QT / # is a tad thick..so a mash time longer than 60" would be indicated. Attention to your water chemistry also plays a role. You'll likely find your extract efficiency is more better with a double batch sparge. As for a mid-fermentation DME addition...I too lean toward letting this batch ride. Your best beer ever It may not be but it's beer Better brews ahead! -hoMeBrEW HiaKu
Don't worry, the 'oxygen' in DME will be readily used by the yeast to help build cell walls if it exists. Oxidation is a problem down the line, after primary fermentation. To OP: I think you may into problems with it not being well mixed. I would forgo the DME addition.
Actually, any free oxygen (O2) in DME would be driven away by the boil. Nothing for the yeast to worry about. Oxidized compounds (i.e. the O2 is no longer free) in DME would be a different matter, but stored properly, DME should stay relatively fresh for quite some time, at least compared to LME (which could hold dissolved O2,which would slowly oxidize compounds/elements in the LME).
