Hop additions and boiling the wort
 

Hi

I'm new to home brewing and getting confused regarding boil times and additions.

If for example a recipe calls for "add the hops @45 mins" does that mean add the hops 45 mons from the start of the boil or 45mins from the finish?

Thanks

If it says 60 minutes. They need to boil for 60, so add right when you get a boil.
If it says 45 minutes. They need to boil for 45, so add them when your 15 minutes into the boil.

Etc etc...

Great thanks for your help. So if a recipe says "15g Amarillo @ 15, 5 and rack" that means 15g with 15min left in the boil. Then ANOTHER 15g with 5min left in boil. Then yet ANOTHER 15g dry hopped in the rack.

Also I assume most boils are done for 60min? Unless noted otherwise in the recipe?

Thanks again, sorry if these sound like dumb questions

Yeah, 60 minutes seems very common. For an extract brew, though, I think you only need to boil it for the length of the longest hop addition (the malt extract is usually sterilized before you get it based on its production process). 60 is a very common number for the bittering hops, though.

And there are no stupid questions.

Yes, but I haven't seen the term rack used. I assume the recipe is having you transfer to a secondary and adding the dry hops at that time. Also, is there another hop addition at the start of the boil?

Most boils are done for 60 minutes, although 90 is also common, but that's because you are adding hops for a 60 minute boil to get full bittering. If, in your case, the 15 minute addition is your first hop addition (such as if you are using pre-hopped extract) then you really only need to boil for 15 minutes.

Yes by racking I'm referring to secondary fermentation. The recipe doesn't specify whether the first hop addition is at the beginning or end if the boil. It just says "15, 5 and rack"

I think you have all answered my question anyway. Since it's an extract boil I would be doing the 1st hop addition as soon as the boil starts, the 2nd hop addition 10min into the boil (i.e 5min from the end) and then dry hopping when the beer is in secondary fermentation stage.

Thanks again everyone for your help - I love this app!

I recommend at least a 90 minute boil. You'll get a cleaner beer. Also, do not boil with a lid on, you need to let any organic chemicals natural in the wort to get the hell out of your brew. A lid just returns them to your precious wort. I also recommend the first hop addition to be 30 minutes after boil commences. So, for a 60 minute addition use a 90 minute boil. With some of the heavier beers (like a barley wine) where you may have a 90 minute addition, then add 30 and make it a 120 minute boil.

After a few brews you will discover what your average evaporation rate is. This will give you a general idea what to sparge to in the boil kettle. For example, if you want a 5 gallon batch, boil for 90 minutes, and have a .5 gal/30 min evaporation rate, then you need 6.5 gallons after sparge to end up with 5 gallons. More or less, figure in some for the cold break and what not, it's a general rule. And with paler brews you'll want to sparge to a 1.007 or 1.010 runoff sg. But that may be a little bit more advanced than your question entails. Store the info for down the road.

How does a 90 minute boil give you cleaner beer if you are doing an extract batch? I haven't heard that, just that 90 minutes is sometimes needed to help remove dms.