First IPA Question: 60 min vs 90 min boil?

[Dinklefwat]

I'm going to try to brew my first IPA next week, and I had a question:

Should I go for a 60 min or a 90 min boil?

The reason I ask is that with my electric stove and SS brew kettle, I can only get 3 gallons to a boil. My evaporation rate in this kettle is 1 Gal/hr. So if I do a 90 min boil, I'll only be left with 1.5 Gal at the end of the boil, which seems pretty small. But 90 min (presumably) gives better hop utilization.

So what do you think? Thanks in advance!

 

[davesrose]

Is there a particular recipe you're following? I'd say longer boils are more important if you're getting into all grain. I've had a couple German recipes that use low AA hops for 120 minute boils. If you do use a boiling hop for 90 minutes, I would be sure to add some more flavoring hops on the front end. Since American IPAs tend to have more aoroma and flavor, a lot of my hop boils have been 60 minutes.

 

[Yooper]

I can't think of a reason to do a 90 minute boil with a partial boil. The "extra" hops utilization you'd get is minimal. I hardly ever do a 90 minute boil with hops. Usually, if a 90 minute boil is necessary due to the malt bill, I boil for 30 minutes before adding my first hops additions.

Do you have a recipe handy? I can take a look and see what I'd do.

 

[Dinklefwat]

It's an extract-based recipe, with hop additions at 60, 40, 30, 20, and 5 min, and also dry-hopped. So I guess the only real question is whether to use the bittering hops at 60 or 90 min.

90 min presumably gives better utilization, but leaves me with very little volume at the end of the boil.

 

[BioBeing]

If you are worried about the bittering, just add a few more hops at 60 min. No need to do 90 min boil. Given that you are doing a 3 gallon boil, I'd do a late addition (add half the extract at 45 mins). That will help utilization more than a longer boil.

 

[Dinklefwat]

Recipe is below. Following Palmer's advice, I'm adding about half the extract at the end of the boil, similar to what was mentioned above. Any comments are appreciated!


Style: 14B-India Pale Ale(IPA)-American IPA

Recipe Overview

Wort Volume Before Boil: 3.00 US gals
Wort Volume After Boil: 2.00 US gals
Volume Transferred: 2.00 US gals
Water Added: 3.00 US gals
Volume At Pitching: 5.00 US gals
Final Batch Volume: 4.50 US gals
Expected Pre-Boil Gravity: 1.004 SG
Expected OG: 1.066 SG
Expected FG: 1.016 SG
Expected ABV: 6.6 %
Expected ABW: 5.2 %
Expected IBU (using Tinseth): 67.3
Expected Color: 7.8 SRM
Apparent Attenuation: 75.0 %
Mash Efficiency: 30.0 %
Boil Duration: 60.0 mins

Fermentables
US Caramel 40L Malt 1lb 0oz (10.3 %) In Mash/Steeped
US Caramel Vienne 20L Malt 4.00 oz (2.6 %) In Mash/Steeped
Extra Pale Liquid Malt Extract 4lb 8oz (46.2 %) Start Of Boil
Extra Pale Liquid Malt Extract 4lb 0oz (41.0 %) End Of Boil

Hops
US Chinook (11.4 % alpha) 0.50 oz Loose Pellet Hops used All Of Boil
US Simcoe (11.9 % alpha) 0.50 oz Loose Pellet Hops used All Of Boil
US Amarillo (8.6 % alpha) 0.50 oz Loose Pellet Hops used 40 Min From End
US Cluster (6.4 % alpha) 0.50 oz Loose Pellet Hops used 20 Min From End
US Cluster (6.4 % alpha) 0.50 oz Loose Pellet Hops used 10 Min From End
US Amarillo (8.6 % alpha) 0.50 oz Loose Pellet Hops used 5 Min From End
US Simcoe (11.9 % alpha) 0.50 oz Loose Pellet Hops used Dry-Hopped
US Chinook (11.4 % alpha) 0.50 oz Loose Pellet Hops used Dry-Hopped

Other Ingredients
Irish Moss 1.00 oz used In Boil

Yeast: Wyeast 1056-American Ale

 

[davesrose]

Boil Duration: 60.0 mins

There's your answer

I have done 90 minute boils and 60 minute boils....but the difference in bittering is negligible with high AA hops. You're going to be getting a plenty hoppy beer with that hop schedule as is.

 

[TheDrunkChef]

If I were making this I would probably use more like 2 oz of boiling hops at 60, 1 oz at 30, and 1.5 oz at 15. your hops bill just seems a bit light for an IPA, you could then dry hop an ounce or maybe even 2. just my $.02.

 

[Zen_Brew]

Yeah, for extract 60 minutes is fine. If you were worried about IBU's you could put more in up front, but based on that recipe I wouldn't worry about it.

The Chinook and Simcoe up front will provide plenty of bittering over 60 minutes. The staggerred hop additions later will add a layered hop flavor and aroma across the spectrum, sort of like the Dogfish Head continually hopped. You should get a nicely complex layer of flavor in that beer, and you are not going to miss a couple IBU's of bittering up front with that recipe I would think. It looks like it will be hoppy and yummy.