How to add DME to the wort

I use DME for bottle priming, and occasionally I will add some to my wort. To avoid clumping, I place the desired amount of DME into a sanitized plastic bottle, add some hot water and cap. The DME gradually dissolves, but I give the bottle a few shakes if I wish to speed up the dissolving process. When fully dissolved, I pour contents of bottle into fermenter or bottling bucket.

Here are some guidance notes from Coopers (I use their LDME): "To avoid clumping, place into the fermenter first, add 1-2 litres of hot water and swirl the contents until dissolved (do not stir with a spoon). Once dissolved, add Coopers beer kit and other fermentable sugars as desired and mix as usual)." This is why I use hot rather than cold water.

Why "do not stir with a spoon"? I don't know, but I observe this instruction and encounter no clumping or other problems.

DME is very easy to work with when adding to cool water. It's a pain to add to hot wort (like a late addition) as the heat makes it clump. If you are adding it to wort (like from steeping grains), it's easiest to add it to a separate container with cool water and stirred first. In the end, the yeast will eat the clumps, but it makes it near impossible to get an accurate starting gravity reading if you have a bunch of clumps. For late additions added directly to the boil, I'd recommend LME. If you are doing a knockout addition, and you also plan to top up (like a stove-top, partial boil), then you can add the dme to some of the cold top up water first, then add it to the kettle.

I take it out of the bag and put it in a bowl or something to pour from. Then I pour slowly while stirring. Minimal clumpage.