30 minutes?

this recipe i got for an extract brew only calls for a 30 minute boil, with hops going in at the beginning, then 8 minutes to the end and then the last minute. is a 30 minute boil accurate? im just a little confused because ive never heard of this before

It's certainly possible. Boiling for 30 minutes means you might get some hop flavor as well as bitterness coming through, but it shouldn't really hurt anything, assuming that 30 minutes is enough time to extract enough bitterness. I've deviated from the standard 60 minute boil several times with no ill effects; for instance, I did a Kölsch with only a 40 minute boil and it turned out great. Just out of curiosity, what style of beer is it?

well its an ESB so i would have thought it should be boiled for longer then that

Most of my extract kits have had a 60 minute boil but just as "jar1087" experienced, my Kolsch used a 45 minute boil. I've also read some other extract recipies that have shorter boiling times.

would a 30 minute boil really be a good idea for a bitter, or should i just deviate from these instructions a bit?

What are the alpha acid % and weight of your hop additions and what IBU are you shooting for?

im too early for the alpha acid % and IBU thing, Im not exactly sure what they are, but the hops are listed in the ingredients as follows

1 oz Northern Brewer Hops (boiling) 30 minutes
0.7 oz Fuggles Hops (flavouring) 8 minutes
1.5 oz East Kent Goldings Hops (finishing) 1 minute

pivot676 said:

im too early for the alpha acid % and IBU thing, Im not exactly sure what they are, but the hops are listed in the ingredients as follows

1 oz Northern Brewer Hops (boiling) 30 minutes
0.7 oz Fuggles Hops (flavouring) 8 minutes
1.5 oz East Kent Goldings Hops (finishing) 1 minute

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Personally, I'd boil 60 min.; especially if you are expecting an Original Specific Gravity (OG) of 1.050 or above. Add the NB at around 45 min, the Fuggles at 10 or 15 before flameout, and the EKG at the 1 min mark as directed.

But that's just me.....

RDWHAHB!

Dave

pivot676 said:

well its an ESB so i would have thought it should be boiled for longer then that

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No actually not, just the opposite.

Bitters are low grav/low ibu beers ("bitter" as a name is a misnomer, most of them are very balanced or even more malty than hoppy imho) so it makes perfect sense that an extract bitter would have a shorter boil time; you don't NEED the extreme bitterness that a 60 minute boil would do...You don't have to worry about a huge isomerization of the alpha acids.

I'm noticing that a lot of low Ibu extract recipes are going for the shortest boil possible these days, just enough to extract any alpha acids from hops and to steraliize the wort. I'm thinhking this may be another brewing culture shift...which may be a great thing for lighter beers, a shorter boil means less carmaliziation of the extract and may make for lower srm extract beers.

So I would stick with the recipe in this instance....if it were an IPA, I would have a different take on things.

So Revvy, you think I should just do the boil as per the instructions at 30 minutes?

pivot676 said:

So Revvy, you think I should just do the boil as per the instructions at 30 minutes?

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yeppers!!!!!!

alright Im gonna do it the way it tells me then. thanks for all the input I feel confident going into this thing now. but if it doesnt work out it on your head! haha thanks

Assuming average alpha acid percentages (alpha acids provide bittering when boiled) and a 5.5 gallon batch, you should have around 28 IBUs, which is a little on the low end but not unreasonable for an ESB. If you want you could extend the boil by maybe 10 or 15 minutes (still add the others at 8 and 1 minutes respectively), but you should be good either way. I don't think that 60 mins is necessary though.

@ Revvy

It is an ESB, rather than a bitter, so he might want a bit more bitterness to balance the somewhat bigger beer.

@pivot676

I do agree that 30 minutes should be fine and the recipe was designed that way for a reason. That said, it's your beer and you can do what you want; experimentation is rarely a bad thing.

the only reason I was really doubting the instructions was because I bought the ingredients as a kit that came with the instructions, but the instructions looked as if they were just common instructions for all of the places extract kits.

ESB - Extra Special Bitter

Here's a definition of bitter on Wikipedia.

oh and one last thing, my kit included a package of nottingham dry ale yeast, but since the batch number matches that mass recall, im thinking of using a pack of coopers i have here, is that an alright substitute to the nottingham

pivot676 said:

the only reason I was really doubting the instructions was because I bought the ingredients as a kit that came with the instructions, but the instructions looked as if they were just common instructions for all of the places extract kits.

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Like I said, I think it's being done more so for the color than the need for the bitterness drawn for a full boil...

As much as many people bash kit instructions. I still maintain that if they said something like that they are doing it for a reason.

I'm pretty sure that the people who created the kit probably had an idea/reason behind doing that way, and I would follow it....if you wanted a beer that tasted like the designers intended that is...

I bet they added just the right amount of hops to account for, compensate, and extract the EXACT amount of ibus they intended for THEIR recipes.....

I mean when I put out a recipe, whether it's with beer OR food (and I have had recipes published in cookbooks) I expect that if the person follows my directions implicitly they will acheive the same results that I did, and that I intended them to achieve....If they veer from it, then they will no longer be making EXACTLY the dish (or beer) that I prepared. It's their choice to do so...but if my recipe reflected exactly my ingredients and clearly outlined MY process, then they should be getting exactly what I got....ANd if the veer from it, they run the risk of the recipe being ubalanced or tasting like crap....

Oh yeah that makes sense for sure. the only thing is is that its pretty evident to me now, looking at these instructions, that these exact same instructions are probably seen over a wide selection of beer styles.

Revvy said:

I mean when I put out a recipe, whether it's with beer OR food (and I have had recipes published in cookbooks) I expect that if the person follows my directions implicitly they will acheive the same results that I did, and that I intended them to achieve....If they veer from it, then they will no longer be making EXACTLY the dish (or beer) that I prepared. It's their choice to do so...but if my recipe reflected exactly my ingredients and clearly outlined MY process, then they should be getting exactly what I got....ANd if the veer from it, they run the risk of the recipe being ubalanced or tasting like crap....

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I stand corrected, and properly chastised....

Dave

I always recommend that when new brewers are starting off, they follow the instructions of the kits..ANd they don't alter the recipe by adding stuff like fruit or spices to THAT recipe or kit...that if they want a "cherry chocolate coffee stout" rather than buying a stout kit and trying to figure out how much cherry, chocolate and coffee they need, that they actually just buy the Cherry Chocolate Coffee Stout kit instead...

The kits are nearly fool proof, which means if, you can concentrate on your brewing process AND if something goes wrong (which is rare) you're more easily able then to examine your process to see where you messed up, and can improve the next time you brew...If you go "off the reservation" and randomly start changing either the recipe or the process, you really run the risk of first throwing off a balanced recipe, and secondly and most importantly not really being able to figure our WHAT went wrong should the beer not turn out.

If the beer tastes yucky, you won't be able to tell if you screwed up your process (like your sanitiation, let's say) or because you altered the ingredients in the recipe and through of the balance.

I say that before people start changing things willy nilly..They .actually LEARN about what the ingredients do, how recipes are created.And how the process (like length of boiling time) affects the final product.

Brew a few kits or recipes "AS IS" before you start tinkering with them...coming up with a balanced and tasty recipe takes some understanding of things...just like cooking...dumping a cup of salt will more than likely ruin a recipe...so if you cook, you KNOW not to do that...it's the same with brewing...you get an idea with experience and looking at recipes, brewing and playing with software how things work..what flavors work, etc...

In other words work on your brewing process FIRST...and least for the first 5 or maybe 10 batches...Then you will have better idea of what effect your "playing" will have on the other ingredients. Stick with the kits, and follow their instructions, at least initially.

It may not sound very exciting....but you WILL get a good final product...If you plan on doing this hobby for a long tike like most of us, there will be plenty of batches of beer, and plenty of time for experimentation....