Full boil & late extract addition?

After a failed attempt at a Munich Helles (extract, partial boil) which turned out dark, I wanted to try this again but with a full boil and possibly a late extract addition to lighten the color and get it more on target.

Is it necessary to do both or should I just stick with the full boil? Munich Helles is more malty than hoppy and I heard a late extract addition can utilize the hops more, making it more bitter.

What malt are you using?

If you are using an LME there's not much you can do about the color. It'll always be darker than you want.

Where are you in Jersey? I am currently in Rockaway until tomorrow.

Unfortunately, Extracts are going to be a bit darker than a comparable AG batch. You can improve on this by doing full boils, which thin the wort and help prevent it from overcooking on the hot bottom of the kettle, and by adding some of the extract later, which does the same thing.

Be aware that if you do late extract additions, you may have to adjust the hops amounts, because a thinner wort will extract more hops resins than a thicker wort.

Also, Dry Malt Extract is generally considered to be lighter in color than Liquid Extract. I think it is because the DME is processed using a Spray Drying technique, while the LME is generally cooked down. They have methods to limit the amount of color change in LME, but it will always darken up some in the process.

DME definitely will make a lighter beer than LME, adding half of your extract at the beginning of the boil, than adding the rest at 10 minute or flameout will help to considerably lighten your final product. Like homercidal says you can reduce bittering hops, but I have found that I am still within style guidelines without a reduction of hops in a partial boil.

With a full boil you don't have to do any hop reductions, or worry about caramelization of the LME/DME as much, though it will still occur to some extent.

By far the easiest way to handle these adjustments will be with one of the brewing software packages. Input your original recipe, then tweak items (boil size, late extract addition, hop additions) until you get a beer with the same specs.

Also, you won't get truly light-colored beer until you go AG, no matter what you do. At least that was my experience.

So I just finished with the brew. I did a full boil, put 1/3 of malt in the beginning and the rest in the last 25 mins. I also removed about 1/3 of the bittering hops. I didn't have the software for the right tweaks, so I was shooting from the hip with this one.

The sample in my hydrometer valve looked perfect though...yellow golden color. I'll let you know how it tastes in a few weeks!

Shoemaker said:

So I just finished with the brew. I did a full boil, put 1/3 of malt in the beginning and the rest in the last 25 mins. I also removed about 1/3 of the bittering hops. I didn't have the software for the right tweaks, so I was shooting from the hip with this one.

The sample in my hydrometer valve looked perfect though...yellow golden color. I'll let you know how it tastes in a few weeks!

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Sounds good! You can try out Beersmith (which I use and recommend) for free for like a month or something. I ended up buying it because I went AG and it really helps out when trying to figure out mash temps and volumes and that stuff. But it's also useful for IBUs and stuff like that.