120 min boil ok?

Hey - just wondering, I think it is ok but to get the gravity I wanted I had to boil for 120 min. I was planning on a 90 boil with 18% evap, but since it wasn't 17F out and the wind wasn't blowing I was only evap'in at like 7% so I put the only hop addition in after 30 min shooting for 60. After 60 I realized I was going to need at least another 20-30 min for FG and final volume so I removed the 60 min hop and boiled for another 30 min. Any problem with this?

Thanks!

Adding the hops and taking them out isn't ideal, but it shouldn't be a big problem. Your utilisation and IBU's aren't going to be accurate. Long boils are common for big, dark beers. I think there is a break down point for alpha acids during the boil, but I'm going to guess you still made beer that probably will taste pretty good.

No prob. I do a long boil sometimes accidentally. BTW, I just add water back after fermentation to get to my intended gravity.

My understanding is there's not a lot of increase in hop utilization after 60 minutes so depending on the type of beer you're making you might not have needed to pull out the hops. It's a good idea though, I never thought of that.

Boiling for a long time can darken the beer and intensify malty flavors, so depending on the type of beer it can be a very good or maybe not so good if you're trying to make a crisp, light pilsner or something like that.

Yeah, I was thinking since I was making a dark stout and there was only one hop addition (bittering of course) at 60 that after 60 my utilization was maxed out and I didn't want any possible negative flavors (just paranoid)... It tasted great going into the fermenter so I'm pretty sure it will be fine.

Passedpawn, you add water 'after' the fermentation? That is interesting. You boil it first, then bottle/keg?

Netflyer said:

Passedpawn, you add water 'after' the fermentation? That is interesting. You boil it first, then bottle/keg?

Click to expand...

I have 6g fermenters, so most beers get boiled down to 5 - 5.5g, then reconstituted once the krausen falls. I add the extra (boiled) water when I add gelatin. I have also added the water at bottling time with my priming sugar. I'm adding water anyway, so I started adjusting my recipes to make this work... and it does.

Going from a 60 minute to a 120 minute boil would only increase your IBUs about 10%. Doing it the way you did, more like 5%. You won't notice the change.