# Lesson learned when brewing with DME



## Pumpkinman (Feb 10, 2013)

I used DME (dried malt extract)instead of LME (liquid malt extract) to brew my current 5 gallon Belgian Grand Cru, little did I know that I should have used a full boil to preserve the light color of the beer.
I chose to use 2.5 gallons of water resulting in the DME caramelizing and getting a nice flavor but a darker, amber color.
The flavor is amazing, but lesson learned!
I think that I like fermenting as much as I like growing giant pumpkins...lol!


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## Jeff180 (Feb 15, 2013)

Did you boil the DME for the whole hour? You can add it near the end to cut down on the darkening. 10 to 15 minutes is enough to sanitize. Or add some early, some late. Late does make it more bitter though.

I've only used the LME so far. Is the DME your only fermentable in this recipe? I was wondering if the powder alone would still make a decent beer.


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## Pumpkinman (Feb 21, 2013)

yea, it was a straight DME Grand Cru recipe. It came out great


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## botigol (Feb 25, 2013)

Jeff180 said:


> You can add it near the end to cut down on the darkening. 10 to 15 minutes is enough to sanitize. Or add some early, some late. QUOTE]
> 
> From what I have read, you need to add some of the malt extract, whether dry or liquid, up-front in order to get proper hop utilization. 25% seems to be the current consensus and then add the rest with 15 minutes left to avoid unnecessary darkening. I was going to try this Late Extract Addition on my first batch, but then dumped it all in while chatting with unexpected company that dropped by. Everyone makes reference to this process increasing the IBU, but nobody says by how much. Is it a big difference or just something that is noticeable?


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## Pumpkinman (Feb 26, 2013)

no more worries, I went all grain.


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