Using DME in production brewery?

[HobKnobBrewery]

Do any breweries use DME for their primary sugar sources? There's a guy in our brew club who all he does is extract based brews...and he's the most award winning member of the 200 member club. Can you be successful doing it at the production brewery level with like 7bbl sized batches? I'm a noob at production sized stuff so not sure how well that would work out...pros? cons? Thanks!

[gitchegumee]

Why bother? What is the attraction? Simple, easy and inexpensive? Kinda like Mcdonalds? DME is more expensive and less fresh. You can always make better beer with fresher ingredients. Sure great beers have been made with extract. Sure there are extract breweries that are making money. The same skill could have made better beer with whole grain. Several threads here address this issue. Don't know how anyone would call their beer "craft" by using dried powder. Certainly any decent barista would cringe at the thought of using freeze-dried coffee in their trade. Regardless of awards and accolades, I would not even consider it for a moment. Take control of your process and mash your own wort. So now off the soapbox.....

[Graydon]

While I tend to agree with the previous post, there is a brewery in Oakland Ca that has done well with malt extract.

http://www.pacificcoastbrewing.com/

Most of the other malt extract breweries I have visited are out of business or I did not like their beers. Pacific Coast has made great beers with malt extract for a very long time.

Cheers and good luck.
Graydon

[Bham Brewer]

When I worked at Bell's in the late 80's, we used extract in 3 or 4 beers, but only at about 50% of total fermentables. Mainly this was on high-gravity beers.

[greenmtnbrewer]

On the smaller scale, I can see why it could be attractive.

Looking at a 60# pale of LME, it's about $75.

If that makes 1 BBL, it might take about 85# of 2 row to achieve the same OG or $55 worth of grain at $0.64 per pound. You are paying a $20 premium for LME.

But the process is much quicker , you have fewer man hours, less equipment, no grains to dispose of, less energy. The more barrels you are brewing per batch, the less it is attractive probably, because it doesn't take 7x as long to brew 7 bbl as it does 1 bbl.

[dfalken]

$0.64 per pound for your malt? Not sure where you are buying it but you are certainly over paying!

On the smaller scale, I can see why it could be attractive.

Looking at a 60# pale of LME, it's about $75.

If that makes 1 BBL, it might take about 85# of 2 row to achieve the same OG or $55 worth of grain at $0.64 per pound. You are paying a $20 premium for LME.

But the process is much quicker , you have fewer man hours, less equipment, no grains to dispose of, less energy. The more barrels you are brewing per batch, the less it is attractive probably, because it doesn't take 7x as long to brew 7 bbl as it does 1 bbl.

[greenmtnbrewer]

Just going off the county malt group price list. It goes down as low as .50/# or so for other brands or in bulk. Was comparing Briess to Briess since Briess makes the LME/DME.

[Kev7555]

Beer is made from water, barley, hops and yeast...

[WaterEng]

Be aware that Briess DME and LME products contain potentially excessive sodium content. For a wort reconstituted to 1.045, the sodium content is 100 ppm when reconstituting with distilled water. That content doubles if the gravity is brought to 1.089. If the local tap water already has sodium content, that impact is added to the extract contribution.

The problem is due to Briess using the local Chilton, WI water which is ion-exchange softened. The typical sodium content of that water is 100 ppm.

Brewers should be aware of this impact and if it degrades the perception of their beers, seek out other extract sources.

[Fausto Yu-Shan]

In my humble opinion the use of DME will depend on what it is stated by the Beer Laws and Regulations.


e-CFR Data is current as of September 21, 2012

Title 27: Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms

PART 25—BEER

Subpart B—Definitions

§ 25.11 Meaning of terms.
Beer:
Beer, ale, porter, stout, and other similar fermented beverages (including saké and similar products) of any name or description containing one-half of one percent or more of alcohol by volume, brewed or produced from malt, wholly or in part, or from any substitute for malt. Standards for the production of beer appear in §25.15.

§ 25.15 Materials for the production of beer.
(a) Beer must be brewed from malt or from substitutes for malt. Only rice, grain of any kind, bran, glucose, sugar, and molasses are substitutes for malt. In addition, you may also use the following materials as adjuncts in fermenting beer: honey, fruit, fruit juice, fruit concentrate, herbs, spices, and other food materials.
(b) You may use flavors and other nonbeverage ingredients containing alcohol in producing beer. Flavors and other nonbeverage ingredients containing alcohol may contribute no more than 49% of the overall alcohol content of the finished beer. For example, a finished beer that contains 5.0% alcohol by volume must derive a minimum of 2.55% alcohol by volume from the fermentation of ingredients at the brewery and may derive not more than 2.45% alcohol by volume from the addition of flavors and other nonbeverage ingredients containing alcohol. In the case of beer with an alcohol content of more than 6% by volume, no more than 1.5% of the volume of the beer may consist of alcohol derived from added flavors and other nonbeverage ingredients containing alcohol.

[T.D. TTB–21, 70 FR 235, Jan. 3, 2005]