Quote:
Originally Posted by StophJS
Interesting, I wasn't sure how significant the difference really was. Given that, are there even enough benefits to full boils to warrant the extra effort?
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No. There has been some new thought on full boils and hops utilization, and even John Palmer started saying in 2008 that he was wrong in his book "How To Brew" about gravity affecting hops utilization in the boil.
He now says that hops utilization MAY be affected by break material, but not to the extent that most programs (such as Beersmith) say, or that he has said in the past.
Basic Brewing Radio had an experiment recently where they had several brewers brew the same beer as a partial boil and a full boil and kept the hopping the same. There were not perceptible differences.
In my own experience, a low IBU beer done as a full boil IS a little more bitter than the partial boil counterpart. It calculated out as a 15 IBU beer the partial boil way, and calculated at 27 IBUs as a full boil. That's a fairly large difference, and the taste of the beer WAS more bitter. It wasn't too bad, and it mellowed quite a bit in the bottle, to the point it was barely perceptible.
But in a higher IBU beer (APA) done the same two ways, I didn't notice a difference. If there was a difference, it was small. And in the difference between 40 and 48 IBUs, say, the human tongue would be hard-pressed to be able to discern that difference. However, I do prefer the flavor of a late edition extract in a partial boil, OR a full boil, over the "regular" extract methods.
That's a long way of saying, "Heck, leave it alone! The differences are pretty imperceptible."
Full boils with recipes that call for less?
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