Adding Fermentables

[paullys brew]

I Have done a coule of brews now & I was wondering when doing a K&K, since you have to boil water to add to the fermenter anway, can I throw in the dex, dried malt powder etc to the water that goes into fermenter & boil for a few minutes to dissolve etc.

Ive just noticed when adding to the tin of goo in powdered form its a bit of a PITA to mix in before adding cold water. Does boiling it do it any harm, change any flavours etc, or am I better off adding the powdered form straight in???

I usually use coopers BE2 but was going to try 500g dex & 500g Coopers Light dry Malt balanced out with some hops..& thought it would be easier to add as a liquid rather than a powder?????

Any advice welcome

 

[Pollux]

In my last two brews I have used 500gm of Cooper LDME and 1kg of BE1. I normally throw the LDME in the base of the fermenter, add 2L boiling water, then pick up the fermenter and swirl it hard, then add the BE1, some more water, swirl again.

Then the goo, top up to roughly 10L, stir like crazy, then top to 23L stir once more, draw one can worth of wort from the tap and toss it back in the top to clear the tap.

Works for me.

 

[Barley Belly]

That's how I do all my K+K or Kits and Bits to be more exact, since moving on from 1kg Dex only.

I had trouble once I started using LDME, getting Maltesers, so I started to boiled my sugars.

I put about 1.25l water in pot, bring to slow boil, add 1kg sugar mix (currently using a LBHS mix of LDME, Maltodex, Dex and Wheat Malt), slow boil (MUST BE SLOW BOIL-IF YOU HAVE IT TOO HIGH YOU WILL GET A RATHER NASTY BOILOVER- trust me I know)for 15 mins to dissolve and kill any nasties.

Then I put around 2 litres of cold water in my fermenter, then add Extract kit (pre-warmed in hot water out of tap), then pour boiled sugar mix into empty tin to dissolve any of the extract left in the tin, pour that in, lid on, big swirl and shake, then top up with cold to required volume, as I stir with mixing spoon.

 

[Bribie G]

I just use an eight litre stockpot I got from an op shop. One jug of boiling water goes in, then the goo, wash tin out with a second jug of boiling water, then the LDME whatever. Bring to boil for a few minutes - any maltesers will dissolve in a few minutes. I have a couple of dedicated 10 L cubes (ex springwater with the taps removed) that I fill with water direct from the tap out front where it's fresh from the mains. Pour one cube into the fermenter, pour the pan of fermentables in, wheel round to the garage, add second cube until desired level and pitch yeast when cool enough.

I now do partials so there's a parallel stream going on with the mashing, boiling (second stockpot) and hops so I do the above towards the end of the partials boil, strain wort through the hop bed into the fermenter and add the pan of goop as above.

Because I am ending up with more hot liquid in the fermenter than just a Kit n Bits I prechill my cubes of water over previous night and can usually pitch immediately.