Edumacate me on boil times and when to add LME/DME

Hello,
First beer brewed was a success.
I noticed the wort got very dark in the last 10-20 minutes of the boil.
I've been using beersmith, and noticing that you can either boil less hops longer or more hops shorter for a given target total IBU.

Questions:
1. Why isn't it common practice to boil the hops, then add the sugars (DME/LME) in the last 15 minutes?

2. Why boil the bittering hops 60min? Why not use twice as much for half the time?

3. Why is 60min the nearly universal standard extract brewing time?

I'm just not able to search and find good reasons for the above questions. Lots of just do it, not the why to do it.

Thanks,
steve

EvenOlder said:

Questions:
1. Why isn't it common practice to boil the hops, then add the sugars (DME/LME) in the last 15 minutes?

Click to expand...

Some people do.

2. Why boil the bittering hops 60min? Why not use twice as much for half the time?

Click to expand...

That costs twice as much.

EDIT: also, boiling the full 60 min. gets completely rid of all the aromatic flavor and leaves *only* hop bitterness.

3. Why is 60min the nearly universal standard extract brewing time?

Click to expand...

For the hops. I often boil 45 when I do all extract, though.

Thanks Justibone!
That explains questions 2 and 3, which are related.

It still doesn't explain #1:
Why boil the sugars the whole boil as standard practice?

Oh, and how hard a boil is desirable after the "hot break"

Thanks,
steve

EvenOlder said:

Oh, and how hard a boil is desirable after the "hot break"

Click to expand...

I only go with a nice rolling boil, just enough to break the surface. I used to do boils where it was jumping out of the kettle, but I was boiling off too much.

Opinions on this will vary, as with everything in life.

Instructions vary widely. Typically the sugars caramelize and get darker, so if you want your beers lighter, you add the sugars (LME, DME) later in the boil. If you don't care, add them early and get it off the list.

Hops have oils. Oils need to break down to a molecular level to bond with the water molecules. Hence, the 60 minute boil is the optimum to get the most bittering out of a set amount of hops. A 30 minute addition leaves a bit more flavor, a bit less bitterness. Flame-out additions are all about aroma and flavor, no bitterness. It's all a matter of degrees. There is some involvement with the utilization of hops in plain water v. water with sugars dissolved in it - but that gets a bit complex.

Regarding the boil: a full rolling boil is what you're after - to drive off the DMS (DiMethyl Sulfides) which tend to impart a disagreeable flavor/odor to the beer. (Wikipedia)

To control that rolling boil, which has a tendency to boil over, many here recommend (as I do) the addition of a few drops of Fermcap-S, a simethecone product that will instantly stop that boil-over, and drop out of suspension into the trub in the fermenter.

Welcome to HBT and your new obsession, EvenOlder.

I'm good with the full boil - I'm using an 8gal pot, so no boil-over issues with 3-4 gal extract boils.

Thanks for all the responses, what I'm gonna take from this for my first self-designed recipe:

1. 45min total boil, bittering hops in the whole time. While I can appreciate a 60min boil could produce the "cleanest" bittering hops taste, I'm partial to a little more flavor.

2. 15min or less for aromatic hops time

3. 20min or less for the sugars. I'm assuming the hot break takes at least 15min with the sugars, or is it related to the hops?

Thanks everyone,
steve

Since you're designing your own recipes - it might be time to consider software. BeerSmith has a free trial - You pick a style (blonde, IPA, porter) and begin adding ingredients. (Bold type in the results box indicates out-of-style). So you can experiment with hop additions, amount, time of boil, etc. Yeasts, malts, they're all there.