Boil Temperature

[Zorn]

I was sucessfully brewing full extract kits (Coopers) and recently starting doing partial extract kits from my local brew shop. The last two kits I have brewed have not come out right and smell cidery. I don't think I am boiling at the right temperature. The kit states "Brew to a rolling boil for 45 minutes.... etc.). I have brought the liquid to a boil and followed the directions to the tee but have not had a good batch yet. When you bring the batch to a "rolling boil" what should the temperature range generally be throughout the boil?

Your help is greatly appreciated.

(Will also ask the brew shop that I got the kit from).

 

[motobrewer]

water, unless under pressure, boils at 212F. after that, it turns to steam.

boil = boil = boil = 212F. you don't need a thermometer in your boil.

 

[BendBrewer]

I'm at 3600 feet. My water boils at about 209 degrees.

 

[weetodd]

I heat mine full bore until I get a big churn going. This usually leads to the hot break/foam over phase. After that, I dial it back to get a nice consistent churn at the top, but nothing crazy. I don't know that you need much more than that. I try to keep this consistent from boil to boil so I tend to boil off about the same amount.

As far as temp for the boil, the others are right, water boils at 212 unless you are at altitude, when it will boil a little lower. Whether your thermometer agrees is another thing, but those natural laws are a little tough to get around...

 

[BendBrewer]

I heat mine full bore until I get a big churn going. This usually leads to the hot break/foam over phase. After that, I dial it back to get a nice consistent churn at the top, but nothing crazy. I don't know that you need much more than that. I try to keep this consistent from boil to boil so I tend to boil off about the same amount.

As far as temp for the boil, the others are right, water boils at 212 unless you are at altitude, when it will boil a little lower. Whether your thermometer agrees is another thing, but those natural laws are a little tough to get around...

It's a good way to calibrate your therm. along with checking its reading in a glass of ice water. Near sea level it should read 212 and 32 respectfully.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

Boil temp is elevation based.

 

[jds]

Zorn:

All kidding aside, I'm guessing it's not the quality of your boil that's making less-than-great beer. I think it's more likely that you are having problems related to freshness of your ingredients, fermenting time and strategy, and possibly not aging the beer long enough.

The good news is, you've come to the right place. Help is available.
Assuming you want to keep brewing from kits for a while (and there's no reason not to), I'd suggest you try the following for your next brew:

1. Buy a kit from Austin Homebrew Supply, Northern Brewer, or another high-volume online retailer. This improves your chances of getting good, fresh extract.
2. If your kit recommends adding a pound or more of table sugar or corn sugar, don't. Use extract instead.
3. Only add half the extract to start with, and add the other half of the extract with only five or ten minutes left in the boil. Turn the burner off before you add the 2nd round of extract, so it doesn't scorch.
4. Ferment like you normally would, except leave the beer in the fermenter for three weeks in a cool, dark place. Don't transfer to a secondary fermenter. Just go from the primary straight to the bottling bucket at three weeks and then bottle as you normally would.
5. Do everything else just like you normally would.
6. Read a lot here on HBT while that beer's fermenting. You'll learn all kinds of tips on how to improve your beer.

Good luck, and here's hoping for better beer!

 

[motobrewer]

go read www.howtobrew.com

i'm not sure what's causing your cidery flavors. post a recipe and your process.

 

[IceFisherChris]

Boiling temperature is always around 212, less if you live at a higher altitude. So if you get it to a boil, you should be fine. If you are following the recipe exactly, it could be the recipe itself. I would try another type. Better yet, go to your LHBS with a recipe (or ask them if they have any) and pick out ingredients.

 

[CodeRage]

Bravo jds!
I think #2 on your list is the most likely culprit. First thing I think of when I hear cidery.
Zorn,
Stick with it bud, there is a lot of good information around here and good people too.

 

[JiveTurkey]

Only add half the extract to start with, and add the other half of the extract with only five or ten minutes left in the boil. Turn the burner off before you add the 2nd round of extract, so it doesn't scorch.

Or, add the last half at flame/knock-out. At the end of the boil: remove from heat, set a timer for 10 minutes, stir in the extract, and cover with a lid until timer is up. There's still plenty of heat to pasteurize the extract after knock-out and before chilling the wort.

 

[motobrewer]

if you add extract at any time other than at the beginning, you'll start messing around with hop utilization.

 

[Corkster]

What is a "partial extract"? is that more or less a partial mash? if so (and if I'm not way off base....as I usually am) that means there are grains involved? If there are grains involved, shouldn't they not be boiled due to excess tannins or some such thing?

Wow... how irritating to write a post composed entirely of questions...... my apologies.

 

[motobrewer]

partial extract means adding some extract at the beginning of the boil, and the rest at the end.

especially with liquid malt extract, it greatly reduces chances of caramelizing/burning/darkening. plus it increases hop utilization since you are boiling hops in a less-gravity wort. end result, you get to use less bittering hops.

 

[ChshreCat]

I've never heard that referred to as "partial extract". It's always been a "late extract addition" to me.

Another thing to add to the list that could be an issue is fermentation temp. Make sure you're sticking within the recommend range of your yeast, preferably in the lower half of that range and as stable as you can get. If you can do that, your beer will improve no matter what!