There are reasons for boiling wort beyond extracting bitterness from hops. For example: Evil Twin . I've brewed it as a 20 min boil and as a 60 min boil. I prefer it as a 60 min boil.
That question is kind of a can of worms. You will get opinions all over the place. Some folks do not boil at all. As @bailey mountain brewer says, you need to account for the amount of water that is boiled off over a given time to predict what your final post boil gravity and volume will be. There seems to be a divergence in opinions regarding how long one needs to boil wort with pilsner malt in it. Conventional wisdom says to boil that 90 minutes but lots of folks are backing off on that due to the belief that modern grain processing has eliminated the need for the long boil. Longer boil time will generally lead to darker wort and some Maillard reaction flavor enhancement. That's good for many darker beers. Light colored beers would be less affected by a short boil (except pislner... ). There is a lot to unpack in the question of how long one should boil. Once you get that figured out you might try asking how hard should one boil if you want to open another can of worms.
Can you elaborate on enzyme activity in the boil?
I'm a fly spare guy, but I also always boil for 60, sometimes more, never less. That's just me. I have more of an issue when I use my condenser lid, boil off rate is different then, and my fermenter is full to the brim haha.how did you sparge? if you plan on just boiling for 30min, keep that in mind for sparge volume, to get the volume into the boil kettle for only 30 minutes of boil, other wise you might be surprised why your fermenter won't hold it all.
