Re: boil times with late extract additions - mba

19 Feb 2003

I can only comment on #1 below.  A few years ago for the club campout I
used a old George Washington era recipe for "hop beer", from the book
"Early American Beverages".  Some people probably still remember that
beer (really a stretch to call it a beer as we think of beer).
The recipe called for boiling some hops in just water for a real long
time and saving that water and then boiling the hops in some more
water.  Then take all the water and add some fermentables to get the so
called beer.  It was extremely bitter, hop utilization models show
utilization dropping as the gravity increases and I was boiling the
hops in 1.000 SG water so I got real good utilization.  I suspect most
of the utilization models aren't accurate at 1.000 SG since breweries
aren't interested in beer that weak :-)  Most of the utilization
research is probably done for the large commercial operations doing all
grain full boils.
Note that the fermentables were molasses and sugar as I recall with a
little very brown bread toast used to "add body".
Crist, Jonathan writes:
...

 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

--
Steve Piatz                             piatz(a)cray.com
Cray Inc.                               651-605-9049
1340 Mendota Heights Road
Mendota Heights, MN 55120