Boil length

[Steveruch]

How long do you boil? Why did you decide on that amount?

 

[worlddivides]

99% of my brews have been 60 minutes. The reason being that it's the norm.

The other 1% have been 90 minutes. Mainly because either the recipe called for it or I made a recipe based off a brewery that did a 90 minute boil for their beer. This has almost always been Imperial IPAs or similarly high-alcohol beers. I have done a few 90-minute boils out of fears of DMS, though I've come to realize that DMS is likely not a concern in modern modified Pilsner malts.

I am thinking of doing my first 30 minute boil in the future, though, increasing the amount of hops for the bittering addition, but I don't see any reason not to try a shorter boil. Even so, though, I expect that 60-minute boils will still be my norm, but if the 30-minute boil goes well, I'll do it from time to time.

 

[Spartan1979]

I mostly brew lagers with pilsner malt so I boil 90 minutes. That was the conventional wisdom at one time, and even though it may no longer be, it works for me. If I'm brewing with pale ale malt I'll usually boil for 60 minutes.

 

[mac_1103]

Almost always 60, sometimes a little longer if I'm over on my pre-boil volume or shorter if it's something that doesn't need a lot of bittering. Did a 120 minute boil once, for a 120 minute IPA. For the obvious reason.

 

[dmtaylor]

My last batch of witbier I boiled for 45 minutes because:

1) bitterness isn't significant for this style,
2) don't care about clarity or haze for this style,
3) 45 minutes ain't that different from 60 minutes anyways regardless of style,
4) save a few minutes of your life.

When I care about clarity or getting the most bitterness from my hops, I'll boil for 60-75.

If I am brewing a high gravity beer, I'll sparge extra to collect extra wort, then plan for a long 2-3 hour boil, which maximizes efficiency, and might result in a little extra color and caramelization vs. standard 1-hour boil.

But most often I boil an average 70 minutes just because. And maybe I'll turn this into 45-50 to save a little time without much loss on bitterness or clarity.

 

[MaxStout]

60 minutes at a good, rolling boil for almost everything. Even with pils malt--never had off-flavors. Only exception is for certain high-gravity beers, like barleywines and such. Those go 90-120 minutes. Refractometer readings tell me when I've hit the target pre-boil gravity.

 

[DonT]

Most ales I'll boil for the standard 60min, big stouts I'll go 90-120 depending on wanted SG, NEIPA's I've been doing only 30min because no bittering hops, some lagers get 90....

 

[Snuffy]

60 is default or 90 depending on the recipe and more if it's a stepped mash.

 

[day_trippr]

60 minutes if my preboil volume and gravity were both on the nose. If the latter is low I'll collect more sparged wort (I fly sparge) and boil to get to "on the nose", then it'll be a 60 minute boil from there.

Cheers!

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

For future readers: (link) and (link).

 

[JohnDBrewer]

60 or 90. A few 120's for big beers. Occasionally a 45 if I'm trying to speed things up.

 

[DavidBD]

I usually boil for 80 or 90 minutes.Bamforth, Palmer and Zainasheff all say to boil more than 60 to first create DMS from its SMM precursors and then to drive it off. Scott Janish talks about the 37 minute half life of SMM. You get rid of 75% or so at 90 minutes and almost all at 120. Yes, Bamforth talks about DMSO as another precursor, but knocking out the SMM is especially important. If you do a lot of dry hopping, the diastatic power of hop creep can manufacture more DMS after fermentation when the yeast won't actively clean it up.
There's something else that no one ever mentions: I believe a subtle flavor development happens after very long cooking. The wort includes tiny particles of whole grain (including a few teeny bits of husk), and those particles need time to fully cook and develop flavor. It may not be a Maillard reaction, per se, but there is a delicious melding that only happens after the grain simmers for a very long time, rather like making a bolognese sauce; it's just not the same when you rush it.
I think modern society puts an undeserved premium on doing things as quickly as possible. I'm trying to maximize quality, not speed. No one drinks a beer and says, "hey, this brewer saved 20 minutes!"

 

[An Ankoù]

I wonder if increasing fuel costs and wanting to be "energy efficient" have got anything to do with it.
I agree that we're often in to much of a rush with things.

 

[SFC Rudy]

There’s a lot of five monkey rules in home brewing.

I’ve started doing a lot of 30 minute boils, adjusting my hop schedule and saving 30 minutes on brew day.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

With all grain custom recipes, the first attempt uses the color groups (yellow, amber, brown) from water adjustments as a starting point for boil time (30, 45, 60). Mash time is 60 min (although I was doing some 45 min mashes with lighter colored recipes a couple of years ago).

With all grain published recipes (I tend to avoid cloud based recipes), I initially follow the recipe timings. There are some delightful amber colored recipes that are 60 min boils with the first hop addition at 20 min (before flame-out).

When I want a shorter brew day for an APA or IPA, I delegate the wort creation and typically limit the boil time to 15 minutes (or less).

 

[bwible]

“Why do we boil wort?” used to be an essay question on the BJCP exam back in the day. I’m surprised nobody wrote that answer.

There are 5 reasons we boil wort:
-Sanitation
-Hop Isomerization
-To stop enzyme activity
-Protein Coagulation
-Maiard reaction (color)

I’d add wort concentration

60 minutes was always the standard. The 90 minutes to avoid DMS with pilsner malt has been debunked. Brulosophy has done experiments with “Short and Shoddy” 30 minute boils. There are some recipes you can probably get away with 30 minutes, especially if its all extract and/or all your hops are going in late or whirlpool.

 

[Gajol]

I've reduced my boil time to just 30 minutes for most of my homebrews, and it's been working very well
I primarily brew lagers and pilsners. Despite common concerns about DMS in lighter beers, I haven’t encountered any off-flavors or stability issues.

With today’s modern, highly modified malts, a long 60- or 90-minute boil isn't always necessary. These malts are processed in a way that drastically reduces DMS precursors, making a shorter boil quite viable—even for delicate lager styles.

 

[Tony B]

I’m usually at 60 minutes for many of the reasons listed above. I have done a few ales at 45 minutes.

 

[bwible]

I’ve gotten a couple recipes from actual breweries where they say to boil for 70 minutes but the first hop addition gets boiled for 60. I’m not sure why they say to do that - based on the 5 reasons we boil wort what does 10 extra minutes buy? I can’t think of anything but I’m no scientist either.

 

[Gajol]

If I rember correct this video have some great info (can't watch it now, so might be wrong)

 

[bwible]

If I rember correct this video have some great info (can't watch it now, so might be wrong)

I’ve watched a few of his videos. He’s good.

 

[Yooper]

It depends on what I'm making. A blonde ale, oh, like maybe just 30 minutes or so after the hot break. I make mostly IPAs lately, so I go with 60 minutes most often. I like knowing my boil off, and at my house boiling for 60 minutes generally gives me the ability to hit my volume perfectly.

 

[ncbrewer]

When I developed a back problem, I had to shorten the brew day. I went from all-grain back to extract brewing, and I went to mostly 40 minute boils. I'm happy with the results.

 

[YeastFeast]

Never anything but 60 minutes.
Rarely brew anything other than hazies, stouts & porters.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

There's something else that no one ever mentions: I believe a subtle flavor development happens after very long cooking. The wort includes tiny particles of whole grain (including a few teeny bits of husk), and those particles need time to fully cook and develop flavor. It may not be a Maillard reaction, per se, but there is a delicious melding that only happens after the grain simmers for a very long time, rather like making a bolognese sauce; it's just not the same when you rush it.

Home brewing discussion is overwhelmingly all-grain and hop forward. It's hard for ideas, like the one that you suggested, to 'stand out'. But if you suggest the idea occasionally, across a couple of forums (here, Brewers Friend forums (sister site to HomeBrewTalk), /r/homebrewing, AHA forums, ...) you'll find people who have experiences to share.

My best barley wine was a 2 hour boil with 1st hop addition @ 60.

The "Evil Twin" recipe (link) from 2006 (yes, almost 20 years ago) over at the AHA site uses a 90 min boil, first hop addition is @ 20. The first time I brewed it, I shorted the boil to about 20 min. It was a nice amber ale. The second time I brewed it, I tried a much longer boil, and the result was a very different (in a good way) beer.

I’ve gotten a couple recipes from actual breweries where they say to boil for 70 minutes but the first hop addition gets boiled for 60. I’m not sure why they say to do that - based on the 5 reasons we boil wort what does 10 extra minutes buy? I can’t think of anything but I’m no scientist either.

Does the absence of hop oils during this part of the boil promote better protein coagulation?

 

[BrewerofBeers]

I kinda like a long boil! I do 120 minute-boils sometimes. I'm not convinced I could taste the difference between a 30-minute or 120-minute boil in a blind test. I often boil for 80-90 minutes because it slows things down, gives me a minute to eat a meal, measure hops, and clean things up.

I do BIAB and I track my volumes down to the tenth of a liter and got everything down pretty good. I know my boil-off rate and how much water the grains and hops keep. With those two variables you can calculate your volumes pretty close, and sometimes a longer boil plays a very nice role in that!

I was almost tempted to do a shorter boil on a recent batch and would not have hesitated if I didn't have another plan instead.

 

[corncob]

I find that the character of the hop flavor changes between 45 and 60 minutes. The ibu formulas say there's little bitterness added, but it really seems like it takes a full hour to get a "hard" or "firm" or "stiff" bitterness, no matter how much more hips are added.

This might be 100% placebo effect, but I am convinced enough to spend an extra 15 minutes. And I do everything I possibly can to shorten the brew day.

 

[Snuffy]

I'm definitely going to screw around in the Grainfather recipes and see what differences in hop and water volumes are created when the boil and hop times are adjusted to 30 mins or less. I may test this out when I brew the Fizzy Yellow.

* I just got back from fooling around with this in the recipe software and I decided if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Modifying the boil time did not change the water volumes. I guess these are based on grain volume alone and don't consider boil time. I need the boil off and an hour is easy enough as-is.

 

[worlddivides]

I find that the character of the hop flavor changes between 45 and 60 minutes. The ibu formulas say there's little bitterness added, but it really seems like it takes a full hour to get a "hard" or "firm" or "stiff" bitterness, no matter how much more hips are added.

This might be 100% placebo effect, but I am convinced enough to spend an extra 15 minutes. And I do everything I possibly can to shorten the brew day.

It's also one of the reasons why I've never tried less than a 60 minute boil before (though I intend to try one within the next few months). I've actually made some sours before where I did a full 60 minute boil but didn't add the hops until 20 or 30 minutes so the IBUs would be appropriately low for the style (3 or 4 IBUs, for example). As with many brewers, I've noticed the same hops at 30, 45, or 60 minutes have a slightly different character to their bitterness. Now, I'm also sure some of it is mental, but I also tend to find longer additions to have a more "hard" or "firm" bitterness as you put it. I've done 90 minute boils for imperial IPAs a few times, and that 90 minute addition definitely feels like a "hard" and "firm" bitterness. I'm sure some would say it's just the high IBUs, but I've also had beers with the same IBUs but done as a 60 minute addition, and it does feel different, though not night and day, of course.

 

[BrewZer]

60 minutes, but the 20 or so minutes of high flame it takes to bring the wort to a boil has an effect as well.