NOT bringing wort to full boil ???

[sdalziel]

I am a newbie so please bare with me...

I received a beer brewing kit for xmas from the Beer & Wine Guild. It included all the equipment for brewing plus a Budweiser clone kit. I reviewed the instructions for the brew kit and noticed that it said only bring the wort to 170 F. I thought this was an error in the instructions so I contacted the brew master at WBG and he confirmed the instructions and said that it shouldn't boil, only simmer at 170 F for 1 hour... Everything I have read says that the full boil and break is very important. Has anyone ever heard of or brewed at batch where a full boil was NOT required??

 

[wilserbrewer]

RDWHAHB,

That is entirely possible for an extract kit, boiling is required when making wort form grain. With this kit, they have already boiled and made the wort, you are just reconstituting it, like the concentrated frozen orange juice, yet heating it to make it sanitary.

 

[fearwig]

It's to prevent caramelization. You likely don't even need an hour, as long as it's really at 170 for a minute to pasteurize. I don't do extract, but if there are no hop additions (prehopped extract) and it's a pale beer you're better off not boiling.

Word of warning, I think kit makers turn a lot of newbies off by pushing lagers, which have demanding temperature requirements that it's tempting to ignore. Be sure you keep your wort at the recommended fermentation temperature for your yeast (usually low 50s), especially early in fermentation, or you will have an unpleasant surprise.

Don't mean to frighten you, there's always a little wiggle room--just not that much. I have just seen so many people put a Mr. Beer full of pilsner in a closet or whatever.

 

[sdalziel]

hmm... there were grains that needed steeping for 45 min, hops were adder after the steeping and again at last 15 min

 

[fearwig]

hmm... there were grains that needed steeping for 45 min, hops were adder after the steeping and again at last 15 min

So the bittering hops are in the extract, aroma hops added in the 170F steep, that makes sense. 170 is good for grain steeping, they did it this way so you don't have to do an separate steep aside from the "boil".

Boiling is only necessary to get break material out of all-grain batches and to isomerize alpha acids in hops to produce bitterness. I'm not an extract guru but I don't think steeping grains will produce a lot of break protein given the small amounts.

The downside of boiling extract for very pale beers is that a boil caramelizes somewhat--since the extract has already been boiled once in processing you're getting that caramelization twice. You're making a pale lager, so that would be more noticeable.

 

[bajaedition]

If you are adding the hops, then you need the full hour for hop utilization
without the full hour then the hops will be very weak

are you doing a full volume boil? (lets call it a boil even though it is a 170 degree step) because I can see his point if you are not and the sugars are concentrated in a partial volume boil

 

[sdalziel]

It was full volume boil (170 F), 5 gallons for 1 hour

 

[bajaedition]

humm, then carmalization is not much of an issue, no more than any full volume boil, wonder why he does not recommend a full boil?

I know, it is so you end up with 5 gallons, at a full boil you would boil off a gallon and need to start with 6 gallons (or slightly more)
I think he does it so you do not need a 8 gallon brew pot. Most guys are going start with 6 to 6.5 gallons for a full wort boil, At 170 degrees water is not vaporizing so you can use a smaller pot and not worry about boil over and all bugs will be killed

makes sense now

 

[boydster]

...without the full hour then the hops will be very weak...

It's a Budweiser clone - I think they want the hops to be weak. I just wonder if the kit is prehopped with whatever small amount of bittering hops they are shooting for, because I'm not sure that any isomerization is going to happen at 170. I thought the wort needed to be 180+ for alpha acids to isomerize at all. I looked at the kit online but didn't see anything about it being prehopped or not.

 

[sdalziel]

I will scan and post the full recipe/instructions tomorrow... I am just worried that this will turn out bad and won't know for another month...

 

[bajaedition]

AS I said, water does not vaporize till 212 degrees
so the instructions are so you can simmer without losing water and you end up with the 5 gallons you started with

noting wrong with that, at 170 degrees the wort will be sanitized
another point is it will not boil out the oxygen
I see a nuber of reasons he is wanting you to do it that way

for a beginners kit he is trying to make it as fool proof as possible without having to go into long explanations. It is not conventional at all, but we do not know what has already been done by the kit maker.

 

[bajaedition]

It's a Budweiser clone - I think they want the hops to be weak. I just wonder if the kit is prehopped with whatever small amount of bittering hops they are shooting for, because I'm not sure that any isomerization is going to happen at 170. I thought the wort needed to be 180+ for alpha acids to isomerize at all. I looked at the kit online but didn't see anything about it being prehopped or not.

I am weak on the info about wort isomerizing myself. I cannot really comment on it without doing some study because I do not know at what temp it starts, or if that is a temp that is best or what. What ever the kit maker has done before hand also is something we may never know.

 

[sdalziel]

I guess that I have to trust the recipe... Attached is a copy, I am interested in feedback...

View attachment DOC013014-01302014074325.pdf