Why use both DME and LME?

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oakasfan

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I have been brewing less than a year and still consider myself very much a beginner... few extract brews and 4-5 partial mashes so far have gone better than I expected.

I have been reading BYO magazine over this past year and have been confused by some of their recipes use of BOTH DME and LME in various quantities in many of their recipes.

Is there a good reason to purchase 2 different products (assuming they are both light DME/LME) for a recipe instead of simply increasing the amount of DME or LME to make up the difference??

I feel I am missing something here and didn't get much out of a search....
 
Most comercial LME comes in 3 lb. and 6 lb. jugs or cans. So to make up the difference some recipies call for DME which can be bought comercially in 1 lb. increments.

Also a lot of people like to use DME in the first half of the boil, and then with about 20 minutes left, will add the last part of the extract in LME form. It combines easier in water than the DME does.

Lastly... depending on the recipe... a certain type of LME or DME is being used and it might only come in one form.

Gary
 
GASoline71 said:
Most comercial LME comes in 3 lb. and 6 lb. jugs or cans. So to make up the difference some recipies call for DME which can be bought comercially in 1 lb. increments.

Also a lot of people like to use DME in the first half of the boil, and then with about 20 minutes left, will add the last part of the extract in LME form. It combines easier in water than the DME does.

Lastly... depending on the recipe... a certain type of LME or DME is being used and it might only come in one form.

Gary
Click to expand...

This ^^^^. Plus it's much easier to weight out a specific quantity of DME to bring the amount of malt extract up what the recipe calls for.
 
Then why not use only DME... available in a wider variety of weights, easier to weigh out... why use LME at all?
 
oakasfan said:
Then why not use only DME... available in a wider variety of weights, easier to weigh out... why use LME at all?
Click to expand...

Because LME is less expensive.

You can make an all-DME batch if you like, it'll just cost you roughly a dollar per pound more for the dry extract.
 
In my experience I have run into more types of LME than DME (I usually only see light DME's and you will find everything from light to amber to dark LME's). So for all extract batches you will most likely need LME to get the specialty grain flavors/color.
 
DJ's right. Plus they have different grains made into LME like munich for instance,than DME does. But also,when using Cooper's cans in a recipe,I had to use plain DME in the boil for hop additions. Then add the Cooper's pre-hopped can at flame out as a late addition. This preserves the can's hop profile & keeps it from darkening. Not to mention,no extract twang.
 
oakasfan said:
Then why not use only DME... available in a wider variety of weights, easier to weigh out... why use LME at all?
Click to expand...

Because LME comes in more varieties. You can get rye LME for rye beers, Munich LME, maris otter LME, and so on. It's nice for making a variety of beers. Normally, rye malt, Munich malt and maris otter need to be mashed, so buying it in LME means being able to made a wider variety of beers with extract.

Otherwise, if it was all light extract in a recipe, I'd use all DME.
 
Thanks all... I can understand the variety argument... I guess I haven't expanded my recipes enough yet to take advantage of the other malts yet....

Guess I need to get to brewing!
 
Agreed with all the others on the qualitative differences. Quantitatively, I've found that LME is cheaper than DME at my LHBS even accounting for the fact that you need more LME. I believe LME is around $17.99 for 6 lb (0.5 gal jug), while DME is $12.99 for 3 lb (both prices from memory, not 100% sure). LME wins as long as I'll use the whole jug within a month or so, otherwise I'll use DME for the difference. No idea if this is true, but I feel like ants would be more attracted to LME in my basement.
 
I like to use DME for yeast starters. I've heard LME can be used as well but I've never tried it.
 
When I use LME,it's either a Cooper's can as a base,even for PM's. Or the lil 3.3lb milk jugs midwest sells from Breisse. I usually only use 3lbs of plain DME or 3.3lbs of plain LME in my PM beers anyway. The rest comes from the mash.
 
Yooper said:
Because LME comes in more varieties. You can get rye LME for rye beers, Munich LME, maris otter LME, and so on. It's nice for making a variety of beers. Normally, rye malt, Munich malt and maris otter need to be mashed, so buying it in LME means being able to made a wider variety of beers with extract.

Otherwise, if it was all light extract in a recipe, I'd use all DME.
Click to expand...

I didn't realize this. I was basically wondering the same thing as the OP. Thanks for the explanation!
 

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