Adding Fermentables After Primary?

[mountainbrewer]

Hi all,
My first post....I've been reading for some time.
My situation: While brewing on a Sunday I find I am short one pound of DME. By the time I find this out, I have already gotten in to the brew session and choose not to stop. My OG ends up light, about 1030 for a brown ale.
My question is, now that primary fermentation is complete, can I boil up, cool and add the DME I was short and add it in when I rack to the secondary?
Anybody ever do this?
Thanks in advance,
Wayne

[jayhawk]

We regularly add fermentables after primary to prime the batch before bottling/kegging, so I think this is "do-able". I think the key would be to vigorously boil the DME addition for at least 1/2 hour to facilitate a good hot break. Just be prepared to allow the beer a little more time to finish up and condition.

Good luck
Chris

[BillyBock]

I would, and have done so before. Make sure you put the cooled wort in the secondary first, then rack the beer on top of it to minimize aeration/oxidation of the beer from the primary. It may or may not foam up through the airlock, so I'd keep it away from carpet

Good luck.
v/r

Bill

[mountainbrewer]

Thanks for the feedback guys. I'll do it this weekend.
As far as foaming up through the airlock, I'm pretty careful about that now. I still remember my panicked wife calling me at work after the airlock plugged, built up pressure, and blew like a volcano. And there she was, hands over the top, and beer foam just blowing away. I'm still cleaning the remnants out of our pantry a year later.... ;~)
Wayne