Longer boil=Better beer?

Hey all, I was wondering if a 120 minute boil would be good for say a stout or an imperial stout? I mean would there be any noticeable difference in the finished product? I have been doing some reading and it seems like longer boil times can produce more caramel flavors. I'm wondering if it would be worth it.

Ok there are a few things that happen over the boil:

#1: Water evaporates. We start with x volume of wort in the BK, after a period of time we have less than x volume because the water evaporates. This reduces overall volume and increases gravity (water evaporates, the sugar doesn't).

#2: Hops are utilized. If you take wort (all other variables equal), throw in an oz of hops and boil it for 15 minutes then done, it will be less bitter than that same wort boiled for an hour (or more). The longer the hops are in the boil, the more IBUs they contribute.

#3: DMS is boiled off, 60 minutes seems to be the industry-standard magic number for making DMS (DMS badddd, baddddd DMS) disappear. Longer won't hurt, it just won't help. Shorter boil times would hurt.

#4: Caramelization and malliard reactions. I don't know what these things mean, someone else touch base here.

Alot of higher gravity beers (barleywines and imperial stouts, for example) have a longer boil time because you will need to mash thinner and sparge more to get a good extract efficiency from such a large grain bill. Therefor, to get down to your necessary batch size you will have to boil longer. Also, these beers typically require more IBUs to balance out the large grain bill.

Hows that for a start to your boil time research Someone else fill in the blanks!

#4 has to do with the sugar cooking or caramelizing. Millard reactions are what happens when toasting a piece of toast. It creates a toasted, bready like flavor and make the beer slightly darker. This is important for decoction mashing as well. You don't want to really boil hops over 90min otherwise they can add a vegtable-like flavor. I have boiled the wort to reduce volumn in water for a very long time and it doesn't hurt the beer of help it. We are talking like 9h here to boil off 4g of water on a stove.

On the DMS note, 60 minutes is the general rule of thumb except when using very lightly kilned malts like pilsner, then I've seen a lot of recommendations for a 75-90 min boil or more.

Given you're making a stout, that's provably not a concern. The malliard reactions are important for certain styles though, like scotch ales.

and decoction mashing can provide the malliard reactions for many of those beer styles as well.

So do you guys agree that a 120 minute boil would produce desirable flavors for a stout or imperial stout? In other words, you agree that it would be worth it?

My last batch of beer I made was a porter. I fell asleep during the boil and woke up after it had been going for 3 and a half hours. It boiled down to 3 gallons. It's in the keg now and surprisingly I really like it. Finished at 9 or 10 abv but it's so bold tasting you don't notice the alcohol

sounds good Craig! I'll think I'll definitely go with a longer boil time.

CraigT said:

My last batch of beer I made was a porter. I fell asleep during the boil and woke up after it had been going for 3 and a half hours. It boiled down to 3 gallons. It's in the keg now and surprisingly I really like it. Finished at 9 or 10 abv but it's so bold tasting you don't notice the alcohol

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I litterally LOLed when I read this. Sounds like a good way to burn down the house.

Sadly I could see myself doing this too, but I try to occupy myself by cleaning the mash tun (aka drinking beer, don't tell SWMBO)

jaycount said:

#4: Caramelization and malliard reactions. I don't know what these things mean, someone else touch base here.

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I love seeing people admit they don't know what certain things mean instead of trying to sound like an expert because they've heard the term in the past

eon said:

So do you guys agree that a 120 minute boil would produce desirable flavors for a stout or imperial stout? In other words, you agree that it would be worth it?

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What is your grain bill?

11.00 lbs. 2-row
11.00 lbs. Golden Promise
1.50 lbs. Crystal 40L
1.50 lbs. Crystal 120L
1.50 lbs. Flaked Oats
0.50 lbs. Black Patent Malt
0.50 lbs. Chocolate Malt
0.50 lbs. Roasted Barley
1.00 lbs. Candi Sugar (dark)

WhiskeySam said:

I love seeing people admit they don't know what certain things mean instead of trying to sound like an expert because they've heard the term in the past

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No shame in my game. I learn more than I share here so what I can share, I will

With that much grain 120 min will be necessary to hit your desired OG.