Adding LME at 20 minutes

[patrick66]

So brewed a Belgian Tripple extract kit today. The instructions said to add 3.15# of the LME at 60 minutes and 6# LME at 20 minutes. I thought the reason for the 60-minute boil is to convert the malt extract to fermentable sugars, how is that going to work for the 6# that only boiled for about 15 minutes? When I added the 6# the boil stopped for about 5 minutes. Just trying to understand.
Thanks, Patrick

 

[PCABrewing]

Your LME is already converted. The LME is the result of the grain they used being mashed and the resulting liquid being reduced by evaporation into a thick syrup.
So using LME or DME you simply get to skip the step of mashing which is where the conversion takes place.

 

[PCABrewing]

Taste a little bit of the LME and you will see right away that the sugar is already there.
I recommend tasting and/or smelling most of the ingredients you use in a brew. It helps you recognize where the different flavors come from.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

So brewed a Belgian Tripple extract kit today. The instructions said to add 3.15# of the LME at 60 minutes and 6# LME at 20 minutes.

Do the instructions say to start the boil with all the water (around 5.5 gallons)? Or to start the boil with 1/2 the water (around 3 gallons) then add the rest of the water in the fermenter?

When I added the 6# the boil stopped for about 5 minutes.

This is OK.

Just trying to understand.

For people who can not boil a five gallon batch, with DME/LME, one can use a "partial boil with late additions" approach: roughly 1/2 the water and DME/LME at the start of the boil, the rest of the DME/LME towards the end of the boil, then add the rest of the water in the fermenter.

When compared to a "full volume boil" recipe, the bittering hop additions should be adjusted to account for the size of the boil and for the additional water. There is a limit on the number of IBUs in wort, so high IBU recipes may not work well with this approach.

 

[patrick66]

Thanks guys, that explains it.
The instructions call for boiling 2.5 gallons. I actually start with 3 gallons and after steeping the specialty grains at 170 degrees for 30 minutes I rinse them under hot water and add about 1/2 gallon of rinse water to the kettle. So I boil about 3.5 gallons of wort. I lose about .5 gallons to steam evaporation (I minimize it by putting the lid on once the foam is under control) so I add 2 gallons of cold water to the carboy to have 5 gallons fermenting.
So is the 60-minute boil time only for the benefit of the hops that are added at beginning of boil?

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

So is the 60-minute boil time only for the benefit of the hops that are added at beginning of boil?

It's a primary consideration. For bittering hop additions, utilization appears to peak with a 55 to 60 min boil.

You will also find people who talk about doing 30 min boils (with either DME/LME or 'all grain' recipes). Shortening the boil time to 30 minutes requires may require adjusting the amount of bittering hops. For me, with darker and maltier styles of beer, I prefer a 60 min boil. For lighter & hopper styles, I find that a 30 min boil results in an enjoyable beer.

eta: updated after reading @RM-MN 's comment and reviewing out a couple of IBU estimation models. One of the (newer) estimating models did show a 10% difference.

 

[RM-MN]

With a 30 minute boil you get about 90% of the bittering of a 60 minute boil. I've never adjusted the amount of hops as I can't tell the difference.

 

[BeerAndTele]

Boiling all the sugar in half the water for a full 60 minutes can give you a bit of an extract “twang,” as they call it - a function of the maillard reactions that occur when sugar is heated - it might give you more malty sweetness than you want. When I brewed with extract, I felt my beers were better when I saved half the DME for the very end of the boil … just long enough to dissolve it. Cheers.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

Boiling all the sugar in half the water for a full 60 minutes

This is a recipe design mistake.

 

[Steveruch]

Extract doesn't need to be boiled at all. It's boiled in the process of manufacturing it.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

Extract doesn't need to be boiled at all.

15 min boils are another option. For example: American Pale Ale - 15 Minute Cascade Pale Ale (link)

Also, keep an eye on the Advanced extract brewing (link) topic over the next couple of months.

 

[wsmith1625]

I'm guessing the reason they add 6# of LME at 20 minutes instead of adding it all at 60 minutes is to keep the color lighter. Adding all the LME at the beginning of the boil will result in a slightly darker beer, especially when doing partial boils.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

Here's a number for how much extract darkens in the boil:

in the [Basic Brewing Radio] Nov. 17, 2005 episode, Bob Hansen of Briess says, to paraphrase, you'll get about 0.75 to 1 degree Lovibond darkening after a 45-minute extract boil. With "reduced volume" brewing, the color darkening happens faster.

Timestamp 48:50: http://www.basicbrewing.com/radio/mp3/bbr11-17-05.mp3

A couple of people here have confirmed that number to their satisfaction.