Using DME only

I have a question. Many years ago a friend made some ales using just DME and no liquid malt. is this possible? if so - then what is the difference with say 3 lbs of DME by itself and that of using it in conjunction with liquid malt extract? I apologize for such a dumb question. there are reasons to this question…

They are both extract and can be used together or alone. It doesn’t matter.

DME adds more gravity because LME has some water in it. So you can use less DME than LME to get to a certain gravity. I believe you would use about 20% less DME to get to the same gravity as you would LME.

Ok - Thanks. :slight_smile:

Most malt extracts usually also say how much sugar they contain on the label, expressed in points per pound per gallon. You can use that if you want to be extra precise about substitutions.

For example NB’s Pilsen LME is 36 ppg, while Briess Pilsen DME is 43 ppg. So if you’ve got a recipe that calls for 6 pounds of Pilsen LME, that would yield a gravity of ( (36 ppg * 6 lb) / 5 gal) = ~1.043. To get 1043 out of the DME, you’d instead use ( (43 points * 5 gal) / 43 ppg) = 5 pounds.

wow - never knew that! thanks!

So as you can deduce from bunderbunder’s post, you can fine tune your OG a little better with DME. Sure you could put .5lb of LME in the freezer. But it’s easier to put .5lb of DME in the freezer.