Yet another shortcut

[billvon]

I have yet another shortcut that allows me to start brewing at 6 and have it in the fermentor by 10:30 -

After I recirculate the first wort, I start draining into the brewkettle. As soon as I have about an inch of wort I start the burner and get it boiling. I generally get it to a boil shortly after I start sparging, and I start the "boil timer" at that point. That means that most of the wort gets a full hour boil, but some of the last of the sparge gets around ~30min boil.

What do people think? I get about the same reduction (about 1gal when starting with 7gal) but is there any problem with the last of the wort (which presumably is pretty low gravity) boiling for only 30min?

 

[carnevoodoo]

You will create more melanoidins if you do this. The small layer of wort will caramelize a lot faster with a direct flame, and you might notice that. I wait until I have first runnings and start most of the time. My brew day is typically 4 hours start to finish.

 

[archiefl98]

That's what I do for my scottish ales, but that's because I want the kettle caramelization. For lighter beers, you might find that they come out a bit darker than you'd expect.

I would also suspect that the shorter boil time of the last runnings might not be enough to drive off dms markers, and it may affect your proteins in your hot break? Then again, I drink a lot and make stuff up as I go.

 

[android]

for only cutting 30 minutes off brewing, i would just wait and boil the whole thing as one. you're probably messing up hop utilization doing it this way also. but if it works and you're pleased with the results, fire away.

 

[carnevoodoo]

for only cutting 30 minutes off brewing, i would just wait and boil the whole thing as one. you're probably messing up hop utilization doing it this way also. but if it works and you're pleased with the results, fire away.

I would think he doesn't add the hops until it starts boiling. Hops don't really factor into this.

 

[billvon]

That's what I do for my scottish ales, but that's because I want the kettle caramelization. For lighter beers, you might find that they come out a bit darker than you'd expect.

Maybe, although the boil doesn't really start until the kettle is about 1/2 full. Most of the time savings for me comes from the time saved warming the wort from mash temps (150F or so) to just under boiling.

I would also suspect that the shorter boil time of the last runnings might not be enough to drive off dms markers, and it may affect your proteins in your hot break? Then again, I drink a lot and make stuff up as I go.

I'll have to see what happens with this beer. I've been assuming that the thinner the runnings the less of everything is in it (including DMS precursors) - and the thinnest runnings enter the kettle last.