long boil suggestion

[Donthoseme]

I was reading the book The Brewmaster's Bible last night and i came across an interesting note. It said that for a Munich Lager i should do a decotion mash and boil for upwards of 3 hours in order to get a darker color, caramel sweetness, and velvety smoothness all without the use of a bunch of specialty grains that can add harshness. What do you think about this? Will the 3 hour boil really smooth the flavors and do specialty grains really add harshness? I didn't think crystal 60 would add harshness? Thanks for the advice.

 

[Donthoseme]

anybody read the book? Want to comment?

 

[carnevoodoo]

Specialty grains can add a harshness that may be undesirable in the style. Lagers are usually so clean when they ferment, anything can throw them off.

If you want to do a shorter boil, but you want some of that caramel, you can do what I do with Scottish ales. I will take a gallon of the first runnings and boil them down for a while separately to get some more caramel out of it.