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DME - The love / hate relationship

Northern Brewer General
#1

DME - the oh-so-useful brewing companion…need to make a starter…need a little extra boost in fermentable sugar…need to mix up some bottling solution…make some pancakes…sweeten up a bowl of cereal…YUP! It does it all…and more!

BUT…and I say BUT

There is an evil side to DME…it has a nasty habit of getting everywhere…and once it finds it’s way everywhere it gets sticky on contact from the most minute amount of moisture, even from just the air. Counters, spoons, measuring cups, hands, floors, babies, pets, are all are potential victims of this scourge. It clumps up and coagulates when you are trying to add it to a steamy boiling pot…now I even measure out extra to compensate for the leftover klingons I can’t shake loose…

Why, why do I post these things? I’ll tell you why…this weekend, I was pushed over the edge…past the line of tolerance…I am a broken man…I’ll set the stage:

Saturday - being a good hubby I take care of all my honey-do’s…have a little bit of time before we have to leave to watch the game at a friends house…perfect, just enough time to make my starter…get the water going, measure out my DME and put in a tupperware to take outside when the water boils, I put it next to the back door, back to the kitchen to santize…I hear “oh, no” from the other room…yup…wifey lifted the top to the ottoman (how can you not see a big container of power sitting right there, but that’s another conversation)…DME EVERYWHERE! She offers to clean it up, next thing I know she comes running back with WET paper towels…I told her to stay away…I got this…turn the burner off…sweep/vacuum everything…burner on…re-measure more DME…finished the starter…then got flack that we’re running ‘late’ a full 1.5hrs before the game begins :roll:

I hate DME…but I love it…but I hate it… :evil:

#2

+1 to trying to get it out of a bag into boiling water. And I hope I never have to figure out how to clean it off the carpet/furniture.

#3

From the bag to stainless steel mixing bowl to brew pot. Either dip bowl into pot to discard the steam/wet DME or ladel some into the bowl, swirl and pitch. No waste.

#4

yeah it sucks, I wish they would package it different, especially for the price.
I always put mine in something else but wish it would just come in better packaging

#5

Yes, it sure is annoying. The only time I use it is for starters, that’s only about a cup or 2. But still, even just that small amount, you spill a little, or whatever, it STICKS TO EVERYTHING. ARGH!
But I’m not really one to can or save wort from batches, so I guess it’s my only option, more or less. That or just not make starters, but I don’t much, since I’m saving and reusing slurry now.

#6

[quote=“Beersk”]Yes, it sure is annoying. The only time I use it is for starters, that’s only about a cup or 2. But still, even just that small amount, you spill a little, or whatever, it STICKS TO EVERYTHING. ARGH!
But I’m not really one to can or save wort from batches, so I guess it’s my only option, more or less. That or just not make starters, but I don’t much, since I’m saving and reusing slurry now.[/quote]

wouldnt that be more reason to make a starter if your saving slurry?

#7

No need if you can arrange to use the slurry within a few weeks.

I don’t even keep extract on hand any more. I just use the tail runnings from a mash to make starter wort.

#8

No need if you can arrange to use the slurry within a few weeks.

I don’t even keep extract on hand any more. I just use the tail runnings from a mash to make starter wort.[/quote]

true, when u said saving I thought longer periods than that

#9

What Sean said. I should start using those last runnings of the mash for starters…but yeah, I try to use my slurry within a month.

#10

I’ll make a special batch of wort for my starters, then put it in canning jars and boil them.

#11

I was just going to say pressure canning is the way to go. You are pressure canning, aren’t you? Water bath canning won’t kill all the nasties in wort.

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