boil hops first? recommended

[Steiner]

Ok, so I've never heard of this before, but it was recommended to me by the staff at my LHBS. I am brewing an extract blonde, without steeping grains. I picked up a bag of Dextrine instead of spending a 1/2 hr steeping carapils- it's a small grain bill and I was told dextrine=carapils. One of the LHBS staff recommended that I boil the hops in water in accordance with the hopping times as usual, but don't boil the extract beforehand. So first the hops and then in the last ten minutes, add the dry malt extract along with the hops (since the recipe calls for a 10 min hopping). He said this would reduce the caramelization of the sugar. Any feedback? I plan on brewing tomorrow and wanted to know. Thanks everybody.

 

[Steiner]

Here's the recipe:

It's an extract version of BierMuncher's Centenniel Blonde. http://homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=42841

Batch Size: 5.50 gal
Boil Size: 6.57 gal
Estimated OG: 1.044 SG
Estimated Color: 3.2 SRM
Estimated IBU: 16.8 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.0 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
5.00 lb Extra Light Dry Extract (3.0 SRM) Dry Extract 83.3 %
1.00 lb Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 16.7 %
0.25 oz Centennial [9.50%] (45 min) Hops 7.8 IBU
0.25 oz Centennial [9.50%] (20 min) Hops 5.1 IBU
0.25 oz Cascade [7.80%] (10 min) Hops 2.5 IBU
0.25 oz Cascade [7.80%] (5 min) Hops 1.4 IBU
1 Pkgs Nottingham (Danstar #-) Yeast-Ale

Hoping to make this a mellow crowd pleaser.

 

[homebrewer_99]

You should add some malt to your boil for better hop bitterness extraction. How large is your boil? I boil 1.5 gals.

If you add 1 lb to 1 gal of water that's equivilent to a full boil and all your malt that is boiled for 1 hour.

 

[david_42]

Late-addition of extract is a common technique to minimize color. Since you don't have a 60 minute hop addition, you could cut the boil time to 45 minutes. Cut the boil volume by 0.5 gallons if you do this.

 

[conpewter]

I have heard of the late addition of Malt Extract sometimes and it is to improve the color and also to help hop utilization.

I agree that you need to have some extract in for the 60 minute boil though to help pull out the bitterness in the hops. You may want to put in less hops than you'd planned though for the 60 minute boil since they'll work better with the lower initial gravity. You'll want the same amount of 10 minute hops.

Happy brewing!

 

[malkore]

as stated, pure water won't isomerize the alpha acids in the hops. you need SOME malt in there. even just 20% of the total malt extract will be sufficient.