Re: boil times with late extract additions

Jonathan, Good questions. Not boiling your wort for the full 60 minutes does have some negatives. If we look at our BJCP Study Guide we can see that boiling the wort for 1 hour has the following advantages: 1) Extracts, isomerizes and dissolves the hop alpha-acids This will still happen and in fact happen at greater efficiency, depending on the gravity of the wort. If you add the one ounce of Hallertau (4.5% AA) and 6# Wheat extract at 60 minutes (for a 5 gallons batch), you'll get about 18.5 IBU (the style is 10-20 IBU). If you drop the amount of extract to 3# your IBU's climb to 19.4. When I entered the information into Beertools.com it came out linear (yes, I graphed it in Excel). Therefore, it is something that can be predicted, thus planned for. 2) Stops enzymatic activity This does not take long to happen (about 10 minutes). For all grain brewers, this happens during the mashout. Since extract is wort that evaporated to a syrup, this "may" already have happened before the extract has left the jug, pail or can. Thus, don't worry about it. 3) Kills bacteria, fungi, and wild yeast Even though most extract may be fairly sanitized, since it comes in a sealed container when you get it, I would still say this one is still a very good idea. Sanitation, the second you don't respect it, it kills your beer. To sanitize most liquids (wort included) you only need to boil it for 15 minutes. This could be a cool experiment to try (here I go again). You could make up a gallon of wort and boil one quart of it for the following times: 15 minutes, 30 minutes 45 minutes and 60 minutes. This will visually let you see the affect that boiling has on color. Of course you'll need to adjust the liquid level, so that you're comparing apples to apples. Or you could assume that less boil makes a lighter beer and go with that. 4) Coagulates undesired proteins and polyphenols in the hot break This is that foamy stuff that forms at the top of the kettle in the first couple minutes of the boil. This will be covered by boiling for 15 minutes, but since you'll have your hops in there, skimming the hot break is now a bad idea. Although, I doubt that you skim the hot break now in your commercial system. Removing the hot break will help to clarify your finished beer. Since it's a wheat beer, this really isn't an issue either. Thus, don't worry about it. 5) Stabilizes salts for correct boil pH Sweet. I'm not a chemist, so I really shouldn't comment on this. But since I often talk about many topics I know nothing about, let me pose the questions; do you measure the pH of your wort now??? Exactly. Thus, don't worry about it. 6) Evaporates undesirable harsh hop oils, sulfur compounds, ketones, and esters. Since you're still boiling the hops or the 60 minutes, you should be fine from there. The only thing I'm not sure about is the removal of DMS. I don't know how long that takes given a open boil, but think of it this way, it may add a complexity to your "house flavor." 7) Promotes the formation of melanoidins and caramelizes some of the wort sugars This is what you want to avoid anyway, so you should be fine. Thus don't worry about it. 8) Evaporates water vapor, condensing the wort to the proper volume and gravity. Since the evaporation rate of water is also predictable, it can be planned for. So why should extract brewers ever boil for a hour instead of 15 minutes?? First of all, boiling for a hour is needed for hop bitterness and to remove hop flavor and aroma (something not desired in some beers). The next is that adding your extract to a vessel that has been boiling for 45 minutes increases your chances for scorching your wort. So the main thing that you will need to be careful about is when you add the extract in the kettle. Since you'll have the boil going for 45 minutes before you add the extract, you could get scorching on the bottom due to your kettle temperature. So be careful. If you want to only boil the entire batch for 15 minutes (wort and hops), you'll need 4 times the amount of hops and expect a huge hop flavor and aroma. Your other question about Irish moss, should be covered by the 15 minute boil. If you add the Irish moss when the extract is dissolved, you should be golden. Thus, don't worry about it. In short, relax and have a homebrew. If you want to pilot the idea. Do it at home on a five gallon batch. If you want to do some reading about the issue, "Brew Your Own" magazine had an article on "no boil" batches. Can't tell you which one it is though (beer is one of the words that the work system filters for). I hope this helps, Jeff "Crist, Jonathan" <cristj(a)bsci.com> To: "'mba(a)thebarn.com'" <mba(a)thebarn.com> Sent by: cc: mba-bounce@thebarn Subject: boil times with late extract additions .com 02/19/2003 03:31 PM I've noticed more extract or partial mash recipes that specify adding the malt extract (liquid or dry) either in the last 10 minutes of the boil or after flameout. Many of the recipes also have less than 1 hr boils. These include recipes posted by White Labs. The obvious benefit is reduced caramelization and lighter color. Has anyone tried a few brews with late extract additions (compared to early additions)? If so, here are my questions: 1) did hop utilization change noticeably with the lighter boil gravity? 2) Is that possibly why many of the recipes are 30 to 45 min boils rather than 1hr boils? 3) did you still see a benefit from irish moss? 4) any hidden benefits or problems with the late malt addition? I'm thinking about trying it on a wheat beer tonight. I would like to lighten up my brews and get rid of the "house flavor" where I can, but I don't want to trade for an unexpected shift in bitterness at the same time. THANKS! Jonathan