DTT just has a shorter half life but both are sufficient reducing agents. I use DTT because BME is volatile and after heating at 100 degrees, the smell kills me. You can add BME or DTT to your stock solutions and make sure that you keep the stock frozen until use. I usually keep about 500ul in the fridge and heat it up to 42 right before I add it to samples. I boil my samples at 95/100 for 5-10 minutes. Also to an elder, he had flakes and not goop, which wouldn't suggest protein/carbohydrate.
I think your problem is that you cooled your samples on ice which caused SDS to precipitate out. Don't cool your samples on ice afterwards if you are loading. You may want to let them cool closer to room temp but even this isn't necessary. Good luck and I hope this helps!
Did you cool your samples afterwards? It sounds like SDS or DTT may have precipitated out. I usually heat up my loading buffer beforehand at 42C, vortex it, and add it to my samples to prevent this from happening. You should add the buffer beforehand and then heat your samples.
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