Partial Boil

[jaymack]

Hi,

Just a little confused, hopefully someone has some advice. Brewing with extract, I have read that you can wait and add your extract at the end of boil or near-end -of-boil.

What is the benefit?

Usually I steep my grains to a boil, remove grains, and add extract to boil for 60 (+) minutes (while adding hops at appropriate times).

I don't understand the premise here. Does that mean I'm just boiling steeped grains for a long time before I add extract? Do I add hops at regular intervals even if the extract is not included?

It doesn't matter what style of beer, Im just curious to understand this method better

Thanks
J

 

[Fatabbot]

Well, you shouldn't be boiling steeping grains, first of all.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=12580

Second, you need to add some malt extract in the initial boil. I think the reasons for a late addition of the rest of the extract is mainly to have a lighter color finished product and less caramelization of the extract. I'm sure hop utilization plays a part, too, but that's over my head at the moment.

 

[Yuri_Rage]

I second Fatabbot on not boiling the grains - steep them at 155-ish for at least 30 minutes, and remove them before raising the temperature. I think the intent for adding extract late in the boil is to lighten the color, especially if you're doing a concentrated (less than batch size) boil. However, I think you're setting yourself up for a poor hot break if you add the majority of your fermentable ingredients at the end of the boil (someone more experienced correct me if I'm wrong). If you do decide to try this, definitely still follow your planned hops schedule.

 

[gruntingfrog]

If you are adding your own hops, then you need the boil time to extract the oils from the hops. By adding the extract later in the boil, you reduce the caramelization of the sugars making for lighter color and some taste difference. If you are using pre-hopped extract, there is no real reason to boil for an hour from what I see. All you really need to do with the extract is dissolve it fully and get a hot break which takes about 15 minutes at the most.

As Fatabbot said, you shouldn't bring the steeped grains to a boil. Above 170 degrees you start to extract a lot of tannins from the husks which can add astringent / puckering bitter tastes to the beer and some say contribute to hangovers (like the kind you get from too much cheap red wine).

To steep the grains, just bring the water up between 150 - 170 degrees and put the grains in. Hold that temperature for 20 - 30 minutes, pull the grains out holding them over the pot to let them drain. Don't squeeze the grain sock, just let it drain. Then bring the pot to a boil, and start your normal process with the extract and hops.

 

[Cregar]

There is a good article at BYO on different ways to boil extract.

 

[gruntingfrog]

I just found this from Monk in another post...

Here it is. I've been doing quite a bit of research online and on paper regarding this late extract addition idea. (I'm no chemist or even a real technically minded brewer, at this point, so the research is pretty "light", but...) Obviously, a big contributor to the lit is the article in BYO, "Boil the hops, not the Extract". Most of us read it, and we at homebrewtalk discussed it. When I did a search online, I found out that every other homebrewer read it too, and they all talked about it on their (inferior) forums. What is also helpful is that many professionals wrote in response to it as well (http://www.cascadiabrew.com/damn_it_jim.asp). Basically, it seems like a real good idea to add extract late in the boil (not all of it, of course). It contributes to lighter, more accurately hued brews, and eliminates much unwanted carmelization.
Here's where my THEORY comes in. I read several times in the articles of some professionals that carmelization not only makes for a burnt sugar taste and darker color, but when sugars are carmelized they become less susceptible to breakdown by yeast. Thus, you get a sweeter beer because the yeast was not able to attenuate as much as it would have. This leads me to think of this scenario:
I'm brewing a batch of amber ale, so I'm (mistakenly) not worried about carmelization at all. After all, it's already pretty dark. I add all the fermentables to a partial boil--7 lbs of LME to make ~3 gallons of wort. I boil the hell out of it for 70 minutes or so, probably carmelizing the pooty out of the extract. I add it to like 1 gallon of cool water. I had no chiller, so the wort is at about 85 when I pitch the poor nottingham. Nottingham goes nuckin' futs when it gets rehydrated and eats all the sugar it finds, which is not all that much, considering how most of the sugar is mega carmelized. Nottingham, as is its wont, finishes up the easy stuff and says,
"oy mates, let's flocculate! It's bloody 'ot in 'ere and those sugars are 'ard to eat! Anyway, this Yank wanted some high flocculatin' chaps--'at's why he bought us."
And so nottingham goes into a coma on the bottom of my carboy. A few days later, I add some US 56,
"whoaaaa! dudes! There's totally no sugar in here, except for this carmelized junk. And check out all the brits asleep on the floor! bummer!"
US 56, as is its wont, doesn't flocculate and just hangs out (slight suspension pun) waiting for the priming sugar.

So, what do you guys think? (Other than that I have too much time on my hands to write long, bizarre posts.)

monk