rcd

Recipes 

I've recently brewed my first successful batch, an amber ale. I learned most of what I now know in the book "How to Brew". It's a great book, but I noticed in his recipes he often instructs you to add half of the extract at the beginning, and the other half as you take the wort off the heat at the end.

Can anyone explain to me why you would do this? Only thing I can think of is the 2nd half avoids the hot break... so I guess you would have less proteins for a lighter mouthfeel, while still having fermentable sugars?? But that's purely a guess, I don't know a whole lot yet.

If that's the case though, I don't see what keeps you from adding it all at the end, after you've boiled the hops...

any insight is appreciated.

Exo

Recipes 

My guess is that if your boiling a low volume...like 2 gallons...you would avoid scorching and come out with a cleaner, more clear beer? Just a guess.

__________________
Primary:
doh!
Secondary:
Wasp Bitten IPA (a Walker-San clone);Cheesefood's Caramel Creme; Wee Heavy Scottish Ale;
Bottled/Conditioning:
Flyin' Hornet Pale Ale(Mirror Pond clone);Oktoberfest Ale
Drinking:
Boom-Boom Apricot Hefeweisen; Forbidden Ale;Pale-Ass Ale (SNPA Clone); Ol' Man Winter Ale
On-deck:
Dead Guy clone
Planning:
Walker's Espresso Stout; BrewPastor's Bastard Lager

Quote:

But honey, how else am I going to get enough bottles for my next batch? *burp*...*fart*

rcd

Recipes 

Well, boiling with 3, then adding 2 in the bucket, yeah.

chillHayze

Recipes 

With DME, how would you break down the clumps you get from not boiling? Or is this strictly LME?

__________________
RDWHAHB
Every little thing is gonna be alright.

rcd

Recipes 

This is strictly LME.

homebrewer_99

Recipes 

I believe his whole point is there's no need to boil the second half because it has already gone through the process before it was transformed into a liquid malt.

I do "late boils" as they are called and actually get a second hot break.

I boil about 1-1.5 gal of water with 1-2 lbs of malt (1 grain and 1 extra light DME) for 45 mins. This keeps scorching (carmelization) down to a minimum which keeps the color of the brew lighter.

I do not get clumps from DME because I turn the heat off and add only 1 lb at a time, stir it in, then add a second or third, etc. The trick is to stir it in and let it dissolve before adding the next lb then boil for another 15 mins. The hot break happens sometimes within 2 mins of the re-boil.

__________________
HB Bill

budbo

Recipes 

lighter color.. If you add the LME or DME and boil it for 5-15 min instead of 60 you get less carmelization and a lighter finished product.

rcd

Recipes 

hmm... well why not just add all of it at the end, then? if you wanted it really light, i mean... and don't you need the hot break for something?

homebrewer_99

Recipes 

I hear you, but I believe the sugars give the hops oils something to dance with during the boil.

The hot break also drives off all the oxygen in the water.

Have you ever noticed that when boiling DME the bubbles rise to the top of the pot. Once you achieve the hot break the water level drops as the bubbles disappear. With DME there's a lot of oxygen around each one of those powder modules that needs to be burned off too.

__________________
HB Bill

rcd

Recipes 

so are there any drawbacks to adding half at start, half at knockout?

so you get lighter color... that'd be nice sometimes. does it affect flavor or anything, though?

thanks again