Can DME go bad? I made a starter last week for a lager I will be brewing. When the wort began to boil, there was no rise in foam or hot break.
I really don’t think that’s it. I have some DME that a friend gave me before he moved that was probably a couple years old. It was in a ziploc bag, and it has worked fine for a couple starters I’ve made. It’s like any sugar; does sugar sitting in a container on your counter top go bad?
Well actually the sugar in the kitchen didn’t go bad, but got hard as a rock. Had to chip it out of the bowl. The new DME is in better shape.
I hope what happened was that I may have gotten it too warm using a tart burner covered with tin foil to warm the area the stir plate is in. I surrounded with the stir plate with aluminum bubble insulation. Had the tart burner in there too with a 45 watt bulb. I had the top of the insulation partially covered to let heat escape. I did this because it is only 50 degrees where I brew. I wanted to warm the starter to 70 degrees. The house is 63 degrees. Guess I’ll bring the stir plate into the kitchen for the next starter.
