schadelh
Active Member
Why do we boil our extracts (and finished sparge water)? I know that we need nice high temperature to steep our hops, but is there anything beyond that? Does it help break down complex sugars into more easily fermentable ones? Will yeast be able to consume these complex sugars at any (if not slower) rate?
AND
A rolling boil can get messy, especially in an apartment on an electric range with a 20qt cheap-o brewpot. Will a 210*F almost-boil do the same things for the sugars and hops as a rolling 212*F boil?
I ask because during my last brew I overestimated the amount of water I would loose while sparging, and underestimated the amount of volume I would gain from the extracts, so I had to remove about 1 or 2 quarts of sparged and lightly malted wort (maybe 5# of my extracts got in, on a 5 gallon batch). I put it in the fermenter because, hey, who wants to waste good wort? So about 2qt worth (with maybe 1/2# of malt plus 1/16th-1/20th of the total sparge) of wort didn't get the 90 minute boil.
Also, to avoid boilover (which would piss off SWMBO), once I added all my extracts I only kept the temp at about 205*F to 210*F and stirred often rather than keeping it at a rolling 212*F boil. do the extra 2-7*F really make much difference?
I know, I know, RDWHAHB. I have been relaxing, and watching the airlock happily bubbling away for 3 or 4 days now, so I know I didn't kill the batch or anything, I am just wondering if this will have any effects on my final product.
AND
A rolling boil can get messy, especially in an apartment on an electric range with a 20qt cheap-o brewpot. Will a 210*F almost-boil do the same things for the sugars and hops as a rolling 212*F boil?
I ask because during my last brew I overestimated the amount of water I would loose while sparging, and underestimated the amount of volume I would gain from the extracts, so I had to remove about 1 or 2 quarts of sparged and lightly malted wort (maybe 5# of my extracts got in, on a 5 gallon batch). I put it in the fermenter because, hey, who wants to waste good wort? So about 2qt worth (with maybe 1/2# of malt plus 1/16th-1/20th of the total sparge) of wort didn't get the 90 minute boil.
Also, to avoid boilover (which would piss off SWMBO), once I added all my extracts I only kept the temp at about 205*F to 210*F and stirred often rather than keeping it at a rolling 212*F boil. do the extra 2-7*F really make much difference?
I know, I know, RDWHAHB. I have been relaxing, and watching the airlock happily bubbling away for 3 or 4 days now, so I know I didn't kill the batch or anything, I am just wondering if this will have any effects on my final product.
seriously, the stuff is great. remove heat, make additions, and crank the heat again. rolling boil, no stirring, and no foam.
