Another reason for a "full boil" is to develop melanoidens in the wort. Some brewers swear by a 90min boil for this reason and feel and imparts a noticeable character in the finished beer
^gotta love the extremes in this thread. People freaking about LoDo to trying save 30 themselves minutes
Try it - I'm in the middle of doing some experiments with short boils. At this stage I _think_ I can taste a slight change in the bitterness, but nothing that's particularly unacceptable. My feeling is that I might do the long boil for a competition entry, particularly something like a helles where you're using a lot of pilsner malt and there's nowhere to hide off flavours - but for ordinary house pale ales then the quicker brew day is worth it. That's still a feeling-in-progress though.
Saving 30 minutes on the mash, 30 minutes on the boil, and 30 minutes by chilling overnight allows me to brew on a weeknight. Brewing on a weeknight allows me to brew :rockin:
The longer I brew (20 years) the more certain I am that the primary differences we might find in process really comes down to the above^^^
Once you get past things like decent sanitation, use of reasonable ingredients, water and recipes, and gross process errors/negligence..... 90% of the differences we debate with and among ourselves really comes down to nothing more than what works within the parameters of our own system.
There are a lot of paths to the same destination. Ultimately, the best path has less to do with tangible results and more to do with what works best for our own systems, time, brew day, etc.
The longer I brew (20 years) the more certain I am that the primary differences we might find in process really comes down to the above^^^
Once you get past things like decent sanitation, use of reasonable ingredients, water and recipes, and gross process errors/negligence..... 90% of the differences we debate with and among ourselves really comes down to nothing more than what works within the parameters of our own system.
There are a lot of paths to the same destination. Ultimately, the best path has less to do with tangible results and more to do with what works best for our own systems, time, brew day, etc.
Perfect reply, I think I shed a tear on this one.
Try it. The main reasons for doing 60+ minutes are traditionally held to be :
DMS - the argument is that the extra half hour reduces the residual DMS from something like 40% of the starting DMS to 20% - and a 90 minute boil would be even better. 6-row has far more DMS precursors than 2-row, very pale malts like pilsner are a bit worse than standard pale. However a Brulosophy experiment found people couldn't tell the difference between pilsner malt boiled for 30min and 90min, and then measured the DMS properly and couldn't find any in the 30 min beer. It's just one data point, but it suggests that DMS is less of a problem with modern agronomy/malting than it's sometimes made out.
I think it makes little or no difference at all as long as it is not way too much or too little.
I have about 1 gallon of dead space under my mash screen. If I do a beer with under 10 pounds of grain, I use 4 gallons of water. If it is over 10 pounds I use 5 gallons...... So, I will use 5 gallons for 11-12-13-14 pounds. I never bother to even figure out the pound/quart ratio.
If I was doing something with a big grain bill, I might work it out a little more precisely to make sure I had enough room in my mash tun, etc. Otherwise, if it is anywhere in the ball park, I think it makes almost zero difference.
Long time lurker here, & I have a weird situation w/my 2nd NEIPA batch. It came out clear!!!!
So I brewed a NEIPA about 6 months prior to this batch & harvested the yeast (my first time harvesting). That batch had ~7 oz's of dry hops in 5 gallons, & the yeast cake was pretty green, even after many decantings. Anyway, made a starter before I brewed again, so I knew everything was viable.
Now that the beer is ready, it's clear.... The only big changes between this recipe & the last was adding some MO, honey malt, & flaked oats, which should, if anything, make it more opaque. The last batch was murky AF.
Has anyone had this experience before?
How do you figure your strike water temperature without considering water/grain ratio especially if you dump 5 gal in for 11-12-13-14 lbs?
Unless you heat it all together?
So I brewed a NEIPA about 6 months prior to this batch & harvested the yeast ......even after many decantings.
My strike water volume is based on my batch size not grist weight. For my system the bigger the grain bill the thicker the mash should be to avoid losing efficiency (if I'm going to sparge). I learned this method from a professional and it makes brewing easier, it sounds like the same approach Brufessor has.How do you figure your strike water temperature without considering water/grain ratio especially if you dump 5 gal in for 11-12-13-14 lbs?
Unless you heat it all together?
I heat my water to 162 every time. I dump whatever grain I am using into whatever amount of water I am using and mix it in thoroughly. It always falls somewhere between 150-155...... there just is not much difference in the outcome ... .not enough to worry about. At least not for me. I would doubt anyone could consistently pick out beers mashed at 151 vs 154 in a triangle test.
***Note - I brew 60-70 batches of beer per year on my system.... so, I have gotten to the point where much of it is "automatic" in terms of what I know happens with my system. That is not the case for everyone, and it is probably worth a little more precision when you are getting to know what your own system does and does not do under different conditions.
What do you mean by "after many decanting"????
Are you referring to your harvesting methods? The reason I ask is that if you were "washing/rinsing" your yeast multiple times in hopes of getting "clean" yeast.... what you may have done is "select" for the most flocculant yeast that kept falling out of suspension the fastest. If that is the case, perhaps it is simply that you selected a yeast population that drops out more than the original population.... Just a guess.... maybe that is not what you were referring to.
The most likely culprit is not dry hopping enough during active fermentation. Thatscwhat happened on my latest batch. I did 10oz of dry hops on day 4 when SG was 1.011. My FG was 1.010. I have a slight haze but nothing close to how murky mine usually are. I had maybe 20-30% oats and wheat.
I didn't use as much as you did, but I used basically the same amount of hops as my previous batch (~7 oz's over a few different additions), & as stated above, the previous batch was very murky. So I'm guessing that's not the culprit...
Long time lurker here, & I have a weird situation w/my 2nd NEIPA batch. It came out clear!!!!
So I brewed a NEIPA about 6 months prior to this batch & harvested the yeast (my first time harvesting). That batch had ~7 oz's of dry hops in 5 gallons, & the yeast cake was pretty green, even after many decantings. Anyway, made a starter before I brewed again, so I knew everything was viable.
Now that the beer is ready, it's clear.... The only big changes between this recipe & the last was adding some MO, honey malt, & flaked oats, which should, if anything, make it more opaque. The last batch was murky AF.
Has anyone had this experience before?
Really interested in reading your results. I have pondered doing this, 30 min boil, but am stuck in my ways for some reason. Anything to cut some time off of my brew day/morning would be great with a 2 yr old running around.
I heat my water to 162 every time. I dump whatever grain I am using into whatever amount of water I am using and mix it in thoroughly. It always falls somewhere between 150-155...... there just is not much difference in the outcome ... .not enough to worry about. At least not for me. I would doubt anyone could consistently pick out beers mashed at 151 vs 154 in a triangle test.
***Note - I brew 60-70 batches of beer per year on my system.... so, I have gotten to the point where much of it is "automatic" in terms of what I know happens with my system. That is not the case for everyone, and it is probably worth a little more precision when you are getting to know what your own system does and does not do under different conditions.
I was under the impression that mash temperatures needed to be considered more carefully. At what mash temperature(s) could you expect to to notice a difference if performing an infusion mash.
I was under the impression that mash temperatures needed to be considered more carefully. At what mash temperature(s) could you expect to to notice a difference if performing an infusion mash.
What was your dry hop timing and what was the gravity when you dry hopped?
What yeast did you use? I recently did a NEIPA with 1318 and it came out a lot clearer than usual.
Yea, it was 1318! But the first batch was super murky, & the 2nd is decently clear...