Extract Boil Times

Just wondering, when I brew using extract, am I doing the right thing.

I bring water to the boil.
Add the liquid malt extract.
That usually brings the temperature down quite a bit, so I wait for it to boil again, and then add the hops, and start the hour long boil.

Is this right, or should I start counting the hour and adding the hops immediately after adding the LME?

No - for me time stops and then starts again to ge a full 60 minutes boil.

Make sure you take the pot off teh stove for adding the extract and then mix. Could burn.

I generally start my boil time once I get the wort boiling and add the 1st set of hops.

1) Steep specialty grains
2) Bring to boil, remove from heat add extract
3) Bring to boil, add bittering hops, start 60 min timer.

Sounds to me like you are doing the exact right thing; wait for it to return to boil, add hops, and start 60 minute timer.

Although what is to stop you from adding the extract immediately after removing your specialty grains, bringing the wort to a boil then adding the hops and starting the 60m time? I suppose the longer the extract is on heat the more caramelization, but other than that I don't know if it would make a difference and would reduce the process by a step.

Tenchiro said:

Although what is to stop you from adding the extract immediately after removing your specialty grains, bringing the wort to a boil then adding the hops and starting the 60m time? I suppose the longer the extract is on heat the more caramelization, but other than that I don't know if it would make a difference and would reduce the process by a step.

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It will take the extract longer to dissolve in the colder water.

TheJadedDog said:

It will take the extract longer to dissolve in the colder water.

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Would that be the same for LME vs DME do you think? I may have to try it next time to see how it goes.

Tenchiro said:

Would that be the same for LME vs DME do you think? I may have to try it next time to see how it goes.

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Definitely for DME, I'm guessing LME might be a bit easier, but it will still take longer to dissolve in the colder water I think.

Hi everyone,

Just a quick question about boiling times for the LME. I have read a few of the threads about extract boiling times and I see that most say an hour or so of boiling, but I did find one that said longer 10-15 minutes is unnessesary.

The guy at the local homebrew store said has on his website to only boil for10 minutes, and he encouraged my friend and I to follow his instructions, so we did. We boiled the water, added the liquid malt extract and other can that said IPA on it, than boiled for 10 minutes. Is this fine? What effect might this have? Any reason to boil for an hour?

Thanks in advance,

mechedd

mechedd said:

Hi everyone,

Just a quick question about boiling times for the LME. I have read a few of the threads about extract boiling times and I see that most say an hour or so of boiling, but I did find one that said longer 10-15 minutes is unnessesary.

The guy at the local homebrew store said has on his website to only boil for10 minutes, and he encouraged my friend and I to follow his instructions, so we did. We boiled the water, added the liquid malt extract and other can that said IPA on it, than boiled for 10 minutes. Is this fine? What effect might this have? Any reason to boil for an hour?

Thanks in advance,

mechedd

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Hi! The reason for an hour boil is for the hops, not the extract. It sounded like you used a can of extract that already had the hops in it (the kit), so that was fine.

They were talking about not using a kit, and so were adding hops for bittering the beer. When the hops are added, that's when the boil time starts. Prehopped canned extract doesn't need to be boiled at all, but as you've found in your experience, it can be if you want to dissolve it with more extract and/or sugar.

YooperBrew said:

Hi! The reason for an hour boil is for the hops, not the extract. It sounded like you used a can of extract that already had the hops in it (the kit), so that was fine.

They were talking about not using a kit, and so were adding hops for bittering the beer. When the hops are added, that's when the boil time starts. Prehopped canned extract doesn't need to be boiled at all, but as you've found in your experience, it can be if you want to dissolve it with more extract and/or sugar.

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yes, what she said ^

Also, as long as folks are talking about boil times and brewing with extract, I think late-addition extract brewing is a much better brewing process and one that you should look into. It lessens the carmelization of the wort, reduces your chance of burning, lightens the color of your beer, and isn't even a little bit harder.

Add some of the extract (say one pound) at the beginning of the boil - this helps the hops add their bittering magic to the beer. Add the remaining extract at the end of the brew, with 10 minutes left. As noted above, always take your pot off the heat when you are adding extract, and stir like a mad man.

when doing a late extract addition, do you count the time it takes to get back to a boil in the 60 minutes or do you stop the timer until you are boiling again?

gratefuldisc said:

when doing a late extract addition, do you count the time it takes to get back to a boil in the 60 minutes or do you stop the timer until you are boiling again?

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Exactly the question I was about to ask. I stop the timer until I get back to boiling.

gratefuldisc said:

when doing a late extract addition, do you count the time it takes to get back to a boil in the 60 minutes or do you stop the timer until you are boiling again?

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Why not add the extract at the end, so that you don't have to worry about the timer?

blisterman said:

That usually brings the temperature down quite a bit, so I wait for it to boil again, and then add the hops, and start the hour long boil.

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This is the correct way. But what you should really do is preheat your LME. Throw your LME is a pot and turn on the burner to low. Stir it and let it get warm. Don't try to boil it... Then add it to your brew kettle. There is absolutely nothing that says you have to wait for the it to start boiling before you add the LME. Add it slowly as you are heating up your beer.

I was just reading about this process in "How to Brew" yesterday before I brewed. I had read here about a late malt addition and was thinking of trying it. I didn't do it this time but I did try what Palmer suggests with the "hot break."

Palmer suggests, as I read it, that after you add the extract to wait for the hot break before you add your hops and then time the hour from the hop addition. I tried this and will see if it makes any huge difference.

Here is the link to the section that speaks to this:

http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter7-2.html

Pappers said:

Also, as long as folks are talking about boil times and brewing with extract, I think late-addition extract brewing is a much better brewing process and one that you should look into. It lessens the carmelization of the wort, reduces your chance of burning, lightens the color of your beer, and isn't even a little bit harder.

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Thanks for the advice, I will look into it. The benefits seem to justify the extra boiling time. I will eventually switch from extracts to grains, but in the mean time while I learn the process I want to make sure I am doing it right.

-mechedd