Used wheat dme to bulk prime recently and the results really surprised me - the beer had really thick and creamy head. Was good enough to spur me into doing it in more brews. Just boiled the arse out of it for 5 minutes and racked as per usual.
I forgot about priming....... :lol:
There is a lot of debate about whether or not the priming adjunct makes any difference at all. It's a bit of a hot topic, actually, and can get some people pretty worked up.
My thought on it is rather pragmatic. If the beer has enough of a malt backbone (such as an all malt kit with grains, full extract with grains, partial mash, and AG), dex is more than fine. If theres even a consideration that head is going to be a problem with head, prime with malt. It can't hurt, and can only help imho. Yes its more expensive, yes its a little more fiddly, yes you need to rework the prime for a lower fermentability. But if head is a real concern, than go for it.
Personally, I found that a 50/50 split of dme and wheat dme gave beers that were struggling with head (back when I was doing kits and extracts) that little bit of a push. I'm fairly sure it results in a tighter packed head, and finer bubbles.
There are a lot of articles that point to the validity of the things I said in the prior post, and some explain the science behind it. But there is very little hard data, from what I can find, about priming adjuncts. It all seems to be
opinion, rather than fact based on sound scientific theory or empirical data. So my opinion is, if you are unsure, prime part of a batch with dex (or your other adjunct of choice), and some with dme (either barley, wheat, or a mix), and to form your own opinions.
mmmmm, maybe basicbrewing could look at this in a podcast?.....
