Really long boil for color and flavor

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BeerLogic

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Hi all,

I thought I would post the results of an interesting experiment I tried recently. I decided to make an ESB without any caramel malt and get the usual color and caramel flavors entirely from kettle caramelization using an extra long boil. In my first attempt I made the following recipe:

10 lbs Maris Otter

1 oz. Challenger FWH
1 oz. EKG @20
1 oz. EKG @5
1 oz. EKG Dry Hop 7 Days

Mashed @148 for one hour
Boiled 3 hours and added RO water to make up 5.5 gallons
Fermented with Wyeast 1968 London ESB

OG 1.060
FG 1.015
ABV 6%
IBUs ~40
SRM ~9-10? (Found by holding glass next to a white wall beside a printout.)

It came out a little lighter than it appeared in the boil, but it tastes fantastic! Far better than any ESB I've made with any amount or color of caramel malt. Probably the closest thing I've tasted to Fuller's; I wish I could retract the clone recipe I posted. Next time I'm going to do a 4 hour boil (as I had initially planned, but it was 16 degrees out!) to see if I can make it closer to 12 SRM and develop even more of the delicious kettle caramel flavor.

It would probably be more efficient just to boil down the first gallon or so of the runnings to make a darkish wort caramel, so I might give that a try at some point, too. Does anyone know if I can go to the same temps as a normal caramel (maybe adding some DAP?), or are there things in the wort that might scorch?
 
I did something similar (based on a zymurgy article). I collected 1 gallon of first runnings and boiled it down separately from my boil. I'm pleased with the results, although next time I will boil down more first runnings for additional flavor and color.
 
Old thread, but I've just found it. I have done this with a Barleywine, boiling all 2-row for 4 hours. I did it by creating a 2.5 gallon recipe to my desired specs, then calculated mash and sparge additions to yield a volume to support a 4 hour boil. The color and flavor are wonderful. I did find that the long boil tended to diminish the fermentability of the wort and my attenuation wasn't what I'd hoped. I'm about to do a 5.5 gallon batch using only Maris Otter, boiling 13.5 gallons down to 6.5 in the kettle. I'll mash at 148 to offset the long boil's effect on fermentability.
 
Old thread, but I've just found it. I have done this with a Barleywine, boiling all 2-row for 4 hours. I did it by creating a 2.5 gallon recipe to my desired specs, then calculated mash and sparge additions to yield a volume to support a 4 hour boil. The color and flavor are wonderful. I did find that the long boil tended to diminish the fermentability of the wort and my attenuation wasn't what I'd hoped. I'm about to do a 5.5 gallon batch using only Maris Otter, boiling 13.5 gallons down to 6.5 in the kettle. I'll mash at 148 to offset the long boil's effect on fermentability.

That seems to work very well! One of the things that might work just as well and not lower the fermentability is that you can boil just the first runnings to condense them and caramelize them, and still mash at a regular mash temperature.
 
I'm working up a brown and thought I'd try getting this flavor into it to give it some personality.

I'm wondering if it would be worth adding water and sugars to counter the loss in fermentability and rise in body.

Any idea from those with experience on if this would work and how one might go about it?

Here's what I'm thinking - Take 1 gallon of first runnings and boil for 3 hours. Boil the rest for 1 hour w/ hop additions, etc. Combine worts. Add boiled water to make up difference of the 3 hour boil (via software calculations for standard losses). Then add brown or Turbinado sugar to desired gravity.

Thoughts?
 
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