How long to boil

[grubb]

I just brewed a Belgian wheat and had to much water so i boiled it for about 1.5 hours before i added the hops and started my 60 minute boil. Will this change the flavor any.

 

[impur]

Yah it'll change it a little bit. I don't think it will be enough to make much difference. My first few all-grain attempts I always ended up boiling longer than 60min. Its just a matter of adjusting your boil a little higher so you have more evap over the 60min.

Another thing you can do is adjust your hop schedule. Add the 60min addition 30min into your boil and so on.

 

[treesmcgee]

I've boiled like that before. It will not change the hop flavor because if you don't hop before you started that long boil no alpha acids will be isomerized.

 

[shawnbou]

I've boiled like that before. It will not change the hop flavor because if you don't hop before you started that long boil no alpha acids will be isomerized.

+1. The hop profile shouldn't change if you didn't boil any hops for longer than an hour. One thing that may happen from the longer boil is increased Maillard reactions, which may result in a slightly darker beer and maybe a little more toasty/biscuity flavor, but I wouldn't worry about it.

I've been hearing a lot lately about longer boils (90 minutes minimum) being recommended for beers with a very light grain bill (e.g., Pilsner malt) to drive off DMS precursors. With a 2.5 hour boil, you might end up with your best beer yet.

 

[treesmcgee]

I've also heard that, but worry about the boil rate that can sometimes be an unforeseen and hard to control variable. With upping the boil of say a beer that I normally boil for 60 minutes, I would change my hop schedule to reflect 60 minutes of hopping, but would probably have to sparge with more water, or add some to the boil kettle to keep my final into carboy amount and final gravity the same?