Shorter Boil

[Slappy White]

I am about to brew a Belgian White beer tomorrow and my LHBS suggested that I do a 30min boil for better results. Was wondering if this was true for a Belgian White and what is the reason for this.
Thanks

 

[bull8042]

Shorter boils are more common with extract brewing. it keeps the wort from darkening as much from over-boiling.

 

[Slappy White]

Its a PM so that should be the reason...shorter boil it is then...thanks

 

[PseudoChef]

Wait wait wait wait wait....


You're going to want to boil a small portion of the extract for 60 mins - because that's the amount of time you'll want to boil your hops. Wits shouldn't have too much hop flavor to them, just the bitterness component. At around 10-5 minutes at the end of the boil, you'll add the remaining extract so that it doesn't carmelize as much.

 

[bull8042]

WHOA! I didn't think about the hops, just the DME/LME. PseudoChef is exactly right.

 

[Yooper]

Wait wait wait wait wait....


You're going to want to boil a small portion of the extract for 60 mins - because that's the amount of time you'll want to boil your hops. Wits shouldn't have too much hop flavor to them, just the bitterness component. At around 10-5 minutes at the end of the boil, you'll add the remaining extract so that it doesn't carmelize as much.

I agree. Your beer would be too sweet if you don't have the proper amount of bittering from the hops utilization. A 30 minute boil just isn't going to extract the expected bittering from the hops.

OR- you could post the recipe, and we could help you figure the IBUs so that you can add extra hops for the 30 minute boil, to extract the same amount of bitterness. You'd have the same bitterness, but more hoppiness as well, so this may not be what you'd want to do. Doing more hops in shorter time would be great for an IPA or APA, though.

 

[homebrewer_99]

At 30 mins just double your hops...

The result will be all the bitterness plus flavoring.

Check out Papazian's TCJOHB Hop Utilization Chart...

 

[Slappy White]

Well here is the recipe:
6.6lbs of Wheat/Barley Malt Extract(liquid)
1/2 lb. of Torrified Wheat
1/2 lb. of Crystal Malt
1oz. of Argentine Cascade Alpha 3.2%
1oz. of Coriander
1oz.of Sweet orange peel

Also was thinking about putting some sweet gale in also....but let me know what you think about this?

 

[PseudoChef]

At 30 mins just double your hops...

The result will be all the bitterness plus flavoring.

Check out Papazian's TCJOHB Hop Utilization Chart...

But you don't really want hop flavor in a Wit, as I mentioned above.

 

[Yooper]

Well here is the recipe:
6.6lbs of Wheat/Barley Malt Extract(liquid)
1/2 lb. of Torrified Wheat
1/2 lb. of Crystal Malt
1oz. of Argentine Cascade Alpha 3.2%
1oz. of Coriander
1oz.of Sweet orange peel

Also was thinking about putting some sweet gale in also....but let me know what you think about this?

I ran this through Beersmith- with a 60 minute boil, you get only 8.3 IBUs. I certainly wouldn't want any less than that!

If you did it with only 1 pound extract, and a 60 minute boil, you'd get 13.9 IBUs. Then, you could add the rest of the extract with 15 minutes left. You'd still get the light color, but you'd get the full bittering potential of the hops.

My Beersmith program assumed a 3.5 gallon boil. If you did a 2.5 gallon boil, the IBUs would be 6.6 and 12.9, respectively.

That recipe with a 30 minute boil would give you like 5 IBUs. I think that would be a mistake.

 

[Slappy White]

Thanks Yooper, I was going to do a full boil so that would bust up the IBUs from the 8.3 at 3.5gal right? and then if I did a late addition of some of the malt extract that would bring the IBUs up too? If I did that, would that be near the IBUs of a standard Belgian White?

 

[Slappy White]

Also, should I use the sweet gale or leave it out...if so, when should it go in and how much...thanks

 

[Yooper]

Thanks Yooper, I was going to do a full boil so that would bust up the IBUs from the 8.3 at 3.5gal right? and then if I did a late addition of some of the malt extract that would bring the IBUs up too? If I did that, would that be near the IBUs of a standard Belgian White?

A full boil of 6 gallons for 60 minutes would give you 10.9 IBUs (with all the extract added at the beginning). Adding 1 pound at the beginning, and 5.6 pounds late would give you the IBUs of 14.4.

If you're doing a full boil, I would just add all the extract at the beginning, after the partial mash, and proceed.

 

[Slappy White]

Thanks, that clears that up for me...I was kind of confused with the hop utilization...since that would be close to the bitterness I would want, should I forget the sweet gale?

 

[Coastarine]

I'd do a full length boil with late extract addition. Very common. Personally I wouldn't want too much hop flavor in my wit.

edit: I hadn't refreshed this page for a while. What they said.^

 

[homebrewer_99]

But you don't really want hop flavor in a Wit, as I mentioned above.

I know, but since it's Cascades the bitterness will be citrusy which will add to the flavor of the orange...

If you wanted to really make a true Belgium Wit you wouldn't use Cascades.

Most clones recommend Hallertau, Saaz and Tettnanger. I've only seen one with KEG and Cascades.

At 30 mins you won't get much flavor anyway.

 

[Coastarine]

Strisselspalt!

 

[phissionkorps]

I'm brewing a wit right now using Spalt. The LHBS had low AA tettnanger/saaz. I think both were 2.5, and the hallertau were 3.0...so the closest I could get is 4.0 spalt (replacement for 4.5% tettnanger)