Missed OG so had to do a 2 1/2 hour boil

Patrickdc9 · 02-07-2012, 03:55 AM

I recently made a high gravity double IPA 5 gallon batch and I over sparge and ended up with almost with 7 1/2 gallons of wort. I had to boil for almost 2 hours and ended up with the correct OG of 1.080 and 5 gallons. I have a few questions being a new all grain brewer:

1. Does a long boil like that effect the taste of the final product?
2. I started my initial bittering hops at about 1 1/2 into the boil and the final aroma hops in the last 10 and 2 minutes. Was this enough time for the bittering hops?
3. I have a basic hydrometer and it doesn't give a formula for adjusting for temperature. I've been taking samples of the boiling wort, cooling them in the snow until it reaches 60 dgs, then I take my reading. Is there an easier way short of buying a refractometer?

craftbrewing · 02-07-2012, 04:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Patrickdc9

3. I have a basic hydrometer and it doesn't give a formula for adjusting for temperature. I've been taking samples of the boiling wort, cooling them in the snow until it reaches 60 dgs, then I take my reading. Is there an easier way short of buying a refractometer?

Get yourself a graduated cylinder that you can do your hydrometer readings in. Once you have that, and you may already, water bath it in cool water until it’s at the temperature your hydrometer is calibrated for. You don’t need to fill your sink or anything, just run cold water down the size. Glass cylinders work very well, but the plastic ones you can get from your LHBS will suffice just fine.

Refractometers are a pain in the ass and using conversion tables for temperature with hydrometers is just plain lazy. We spend so much time trying to get things right and then half ass our testing.

Hope that helps!

dogbar · 02-07-2012, 04:15 AM

Pre-fermentation, refractometers are the furthest thing from a pain in the ass that you'll find.

Take sample. Droplet on glass. Look through eyehole. Get immediate gravity reading.

KuntzBrewing · 02-07-2012, 04:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by craftbrewing

Get yourself a graduated cylinder that you can do your hydrometer readings in. Once you have that, and you may already, water bath it in cool water until it’s at the temperature your hydrometer is calibrated for. You don’t need to fill your sink or anything, just run cold water down the size.

Good way to shatter glass is to have boiling water in them and run cold water on them

Edit: I guess u didn't say glass but still make sure its plastic and not thin plastic as it will deform from. Heat

WarblyTremolo · 02-07-2012, 05:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Patrickdc9

I recently made a high gravity double IPA 5 gallon batch and I over sparge and ended up with almost with 7 1/2 gallons of wort. I had to boil for almost 2 hours and ended up with the correct OG of 1.080 and 5 gallons. I have a few questions being a new all grain brewer:

1. Does a long boil like that effect the taste of the final product?
2. I started my initial bittering hops at about 1 1/2 into the boil and the final aroma hops in the last 10 and 2 minutes. Was this enough time for the bittering hops?

1. Extending the boil does change the flavor profile due to maillard reactions in the wort (the most common mallard reaction is the browning of a steak when it's cooked). Generally these reactions enhance the malty flavors of the brew. With a 2 1/2 hour boil is also possible to caramelize some of the sugars...but it's pretty unlikely.

2. Here's an IBU calculator that's pretty easy to use: http://www.brewersfriend.com/ibu-calculator/
The bitterness really depends on the Alpha Acid % of the bittering hops and how much of them you put in, i.e., 3oz 13% hops > 1 oz 5% hops.

Calichusetts · 02-07-2012, 05:50 PM

How is a refractometer a pain in the ass? Drop in wort, read, done...under 5 seconds.

**keesh** · 02-07-2012, 09:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Patrickdc9

I recently made a high gravity double IPA 5 gallon batch and I over sparge and ended up with almost with 7 1/2 gallons of wort. I had to boil for almost 2 hours and ended up with the correct OG of 1.080 and 5 gallons. I have a few questions being a new all grain brewer:

1. Does a long boil like that effect the taste of the final product?
2. I started my initial bittering hops at about 1 1/2 into the boil and the final aroma hops in the last 10 and 2 minutes. Was this enough time for the bittering hops?
3. I have a basic hydrometer and it doesn't give a formula for adjusting for temperature. I've been taking samples of the boiling wort, cooling them in the snow until it reaches 60 dgs, then I take my reading. Is there an easier way short of buying a refractometer?

Your other questions have been answered pretty effectively, but I am going to quote Dave Miller's Homebrewing Guide to answer your 2nd question:

Quote:

Hop utilization is affected not only by the vigor of the boil, but also the length. The longer the wort is boiled with the hops, the more of the bitter resins will be isomerized. However, this is not a linear progression. According to one experiment, boiling the wort with the hops for 30 minutes gave over 80 percent of the isomerization achieved in 2 hours. Furthermore, the chemical changes that take place during boiling are not limited to simple isomerization. Various alpha and beta acid derivatives may undergo further changes as the boil continues, with the result being that bitterness may actually decrease, or, even worse, harshly bitter compounds may be formed. For this reason, it has long been the practice in most Continental breweries to restrict the hop boil to 1 hour at most. (Note: This is the boiling time after the hops are added. Hops are added at intervals over the last hour of this period.)

tl;dr - You need to boil for at least 30 minutes for extracting hop bitterness, i.e. isomerizing the alpha acids, but it isn't recommended to boil longer than an hour. Then again, DFH does 90 and 120 minute boils for their IPAs, so I suppose there is conflicting evidence. Hope this helps.

dogbar · 02-07-2012, 09:40 PM

Any number of commercial breweries do 90-minute hop additions. It improves utilization somewhat, which can make a big cost impact when you're talking about commercial scale.

**keesh** · 02-08-2012, 05:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dogbar

Any number of commercial breweries do 90-minute hop additions. It improves utilization somewhat, which can make a big cost impact when you're talking about commercial scale.

True, I'd like to know more about the claim he makes about it creating harsh compounds.

Patrickdc9 · 02-12-2012, 09:40 PM

Much thanks! All good info.