Full boils and Late Additions? Good idea/Bad idea?

duffman2 · 12-01-2009, 07:12 PM

I'm doing up an AHS Irish Red Ale today and have moved to the PM Full Boil method. I've read a little about Late Malt Additions, and liked what they were supposed to bring to the table (Less Extract twang, lighter color, better beer?).

My question is, with the full boil that I will be doing is it advantageous to do a late addition as well? Not necessary? Not recommended?

Just curious as I'm about to start brewing soon,

Thanks and

ForRealBeer · 12-01-2009, 08:07 PM

Something interesting for you about late malt extract addition and hop utilization: Can you hold off the addition of malt extract (in an all-extract or partial-mash recipe) until the end of the boil?

I'm not completely certain that in a full boil you will or will not see improvement in the extract flavor, etc., but it may be worth a shot. The beer will be good, how much better may be worth giving it a try just to see for yourself.

Me, I'd tell you that since you are going to do a full boils that between this brew and the next one go ahead and get a Gott cooler for mashing and go AG, since you are pretty close anyway. All you need to add is the cooler setup and a precision thermometer...you can certainly grind your grains when you buy them at least for a while.

duffman2 · 12-02-2009, 08:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ForRealBeer

Something interesting for you about late malt extract addition and hop utilization: Can you hold off the addition of malt extract (in an all-extract or partial-mash recipe) until the end of the boil?

I'm not completely certain that in a full boil you will or will not see improvement in the extract flavor, etc., but it may be worth a shot. The beer will be good, how much better may be worth giving it a try just to see for yourself.

Me, I'd tell you that since you are going to do a full boils that between this brew and the next one go ahead and get a Gott cooler for mashing and go AG, since you are pretty close anyway. All you need to add is the cooler setup and a precision thermometer...you can certainly grind your grains when you buy them at least for a while.

thanks for the link dude. I definitely want to go AG and it's more of a matter of when and not if right now. Hopefully its sooner than later

kanzimonson · 12-02-2009, 08:51 PM

I brew AG for all my beers, but occasionally I'll make a huge beer that has such a high malt bill that I can't fit enough grain in my system, so I have to use some extract. In this case, the gravity is so high that my hop utilization starts to noticeably decline, so I'm definitely a fan of adding the DME late. Maybe in the 15-30 min range?

duffman2 · 12-02-2009, 09:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kanzimonson

I brew AG for all my beers, but occasionally I'll make a huge beer that has such a high malt bill that I can't fit enough grain in my system, so I have to use some extract. In this case, the gravity is so high that my hop utilization starts to noticeably decline, so I'm definitely a fan of adding the DME late. Maybe in the 15-30 min range?

do you do full boils when you use this method?

TipsyDragon · 12-02-2009, 09:14 PM

im a big fan of LEA. it wont hurt your brew and you can save some cash on hops because of the increased utilization. there is no reason NOT to do it that i can think of.

Scimmia · 12-02-2009, 09:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by duffman2

do you do full boils when you use this method?

All grain = full boil. All though in this case, it becomes more of a partial mash.

This would only really become advantageous when doing a very big beer. With a small to normal gravity beer, the hop utilization won't decrease enough to have that much effect.

kanzimonson · 12-02-2009, 09:29 PM

Yeah, like Scimmia said, all grain definitely means I'm doing a full boil.

Basically, I wouldn't worry about late malt additions unless the gravity of your boil will exceed 1.060 when you add the extract. While hop utilization declines when the gravity is over 1.050, I don't really worry about those first 10 points. I'll just accept the 2-3 IBUs less.

The real issue comes when someone's doing partial mashes, and can only boil say 3-4 gallons. If you're getting half your fermentables from mashing and boiling 3-4 gallons, your boil gravity will probably be "normal", i.e., somewhere around 1.030-1.050. Adding a few pounds of extract will bring the boil gravity up to 1.060-1.075. That's a little high for me, so I'd consider adding late here.