short boils

I read a while back that you can get as good a beer from a 20 to 30 minute boil that you can from a 60 minute boil using Malt extract. Can somebody shed some light on on this subject? When to do this and why?

I've never done it, but if you're using a pre-hopped extract I can't see much use in boiling for an hour.

I don't see why that wouldn't work for hopped extract. If you're trying to make a hoppier beer that is not pre-hopped then you wouldn't get the hop utilization and would have to use a lot more hops. I definitely would NOT advise this for any beer with pilsner extract though. The dehydration process may be enough to drive off the DMS precursors but I wouldn't trust it. If I'm using pilsner I'm boiling for 90 minutes rather than 60 in all cases. Give it a try with some hopped extract and let us know how it goes.

Ive seen 20min boil kits at midwest brewing; Im not sure how they differ in ingredients though, so Im really not sure on how/why it works but I would be interested to find out

I do 20-30 minute boils. I really think with hopped extract you could really do 5?

"I do 20-30 minute boils. I really think with hopped extract you could really do 5?"
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Re Bader...no need to boil extract at all unless adding hops and/or steeping grains, and then he recommends boiling with only one cup dme/lme, then adding all the remaining extract after boiling.
Others--mostly on beer forums--insist/recommend boiling at least half your extract anyway, and the other half after boiling--although theyclaim to go along w/the late extract thing.

Strange, huh?

My understanding is that boil has more to do with hop utilization than with the malt extract. Many brewers add the malt extract late or even at flameout.

The shorter boils are usually for a hopped extract kit where the hop utilization has already occured.

There's also sterilization. Now you don't have to worry about the extract itself but if its pouring over an opening in the bag that has bacteria and anything else that you put in into your beer all needs to be sterilized. I think that not boiling at all will increase your risk of bacterial infections but its probably not that big a risk. If your extract is already hopped then you probably aren't adding much. The heat helps the extract to mix evenly too.

If you are using canned kits and aren't adding any other ingredients you don't need to boil anything.

If your canned LME is prehopped I would just boil a pot of water, turn off the heat and add the LME, dissolve and let sit for a few minutes (@15) for pasteurization reasons and be done.

Boiling for 30-60 mins is to extract the bitterness/flavor from the hops.

If you are using DME or unhopped LME doing a 30 min boil and adding hops then you need to double up on the hops. With a 30 min boil you will be getting the effects of 1/2 the bittering and flavor from them. Doubling up on the quantity will get you the full bittering as well as flavor.

I just generally follow the instructions when using a kit.

I made a 30 min. IPA once that turned out great. Granted I had to use a fair amount of hops to get the desired IBU's but the hop flavor and aroma was intense and the bitterness was quite smooth. It will also reduce caramelization in a partial boil quite a bit.