Minimum boil time for extract brewing

bigolbigbelly · 08-24-2010, 07:50 AM

So, I was moved to graveyard shift at work and have found my time to brew is almost none. This is going to force me to move to all Extract brewing. I brewed 5 extract batches before moving to all grain when I first started brewing, So I am not as familiar with the logistics.

I recently came across a Berliner Weisse recipe from NB that only required a 15 min. boil. http://www.northernbrewer.com/documentation/beerkits/Kinderweisse.pdf

Can all of my extract batches be a 15 min. boil?

Would I be losing anything if I do cut the boil time down? (i.e. head retention)

How much would I need to scale down the hop additions with this short of a boil?

I will be doing full size boils if this helps any answers.
Thanks

**CrookedTail** · 08-24-2010, 01:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigolbigbelly

So, I was moved to graveyard shift at work and have found my time to brew is almost none. This is going to force me to move to all Extract brewing. I brewed 5 extract batches before moving to all grain when I first started brewing, So I am not as familiar with the logistics.

I recently came across a Berliner Weisse recipe from NB that only required a 15 min. boil. http://www.northernbrewer.com/documentation/beerkits/Kinderweisse.pdf

Can all of my extract batches be a 15 min. boil?

Would I be losing anything if I do cut the boil time down? (i.e. head retention)

How much would I need to scale down the hop additions with this short of a boil?

I will be doing full size boils if this helps any answers.
Thanks

You wouldn't need to scale down your hop additions, you'd need to scale them up. The longer you boil your hops, the more bitterness you get from them.

**Yooper** · 08-24-2010, 01:18 PM

The only reason you boil an extract batch is to for the hops- the hops need to boil to isomerize. Berliner Weiss is a different sort of beer- most extract batches with steeping grains require a one hour boil. One hour is a pretty standard boil, since that gets most of the bittering unit out of the hops.

You can definitely boil for less time- but as the other poster mentioned, you'd need more hops to boil for a shorter time and you'd get quite a bit more hop flavor so that wouldn't work very well for non-hoppy tasting beers.

DrawTap88 · 08-24-2010, 02:07 PM

+1 on stepping UP the hops to get the correct amount of bitterness. But even then if you're only doing 15 minute boils, I'd assume that you'd get a lot more aroma out of the hops than what would be desireable.

bigolbigbelly · 08-26-2010, 07:43 AM

Ok, So now I found this http://www.mrmalty.com/late_hopping.htm This talks mainly about late hop additions, but also talks about pro brewers using only 3 to 4 IBUs for bittering and the rest all late hop additions. Some brewers even leave out the bittering hops all together. They do increase the aroma and flavor hops to make up for this. Now, these are all American brewers, so I will not be doing any kind of styles like an Oktoberfest. I think I am going to try a couple of batches this way and see how it turns out. gonna try one at a 30 min boil and one at 15. I will report back when they are kegged.

**redgum** · 08-26-2010, 12:24 PM

Basic Brewing Video did a 15 minute amarillo ale one time. I'm sure you can find it if you search their archives. Nice quick video from James.

broadbill · 08-26-2010, 12:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigolbigbelly

Ok, So now I found this http://www.mrmalty.com/late_hopping.htm This talks mainly about late hop additions, but also talks about pro brewers using only 3 to 4 IBUs for bittering and the rest all late hop additions. Some brewers even leave out the bittering hops all together. They do increase the aroma and flavor hops to make up for this. Now, these are all American brewers, so I will not be doing any kind of styles like an Oktoberfest. I think I am going to try a couple of batches this way and see how it turns out. gonna try one at a 30 min boil and one at 15. I will report back when they are kegged.

I'm guessing the feasibility of this strategy would depend on the price of hops. It would be cheaper to boil 1oz of hops for an hour than to add 2-3 oz of late additions to achieve the same amount of IBU at the end of the day.

Definitely report back...hop prices are pretty good right now.

DrawTap88 · 08-26-2010, 02:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by broadbill

I'm guessing the feasibility of this strategy would depend on the price of hops. It would be cheaper to boil 1oz of hops for an hour than to add 2-3 oz of late additions to achieve the same amount of IBU at the end of the day.

Definitely report back...hop prices are pretty good right now.

Very true that it would be cheaper to boil 1oz for an hour. But to keep the conversation going, I usually use 2oz of hops in a typical brew anyways. Also, if you only add your entire addition will give you more aroma than a brewer may want in their beer.