Recipe Clarification Please For The Confused Newbie

[mattcarty]

hi there

top of the mornin to ya

in the recipeDB there are some awesome beers that I will slowly try one by one.

doing K&K brews at the moment, i notice there are a lot of recipes that talk about boiling LME with ingredients such as the Honey Baby that suggests cooking or boiling or whatever is the apporpriate word to use and adding hops at 15mins and then flame out but how long is the cook for? also in the Pickafights Sister Ale there is talk of boiling the LME with various ingredients but again no indication as to length of cook

is there a standard length of time that is to be assumed unless otherwise stated or is it an experiemental dealeo?

does this Q make any sense as it is being written in my hungry, sleep deprived, slow news day, state of mind

all these q's and more answered in the next thrilling episode, same ahb time same ahb channel

Cheers
Carty

 

[microbe]

If not otherwise stated it would be fairly safe to assume one hour. Addition times are in time left to flame out (or off the element).

Some people or recipes might boil longer (90 or 120 minutes I've seen) but usually quite clearly stated.

Cheers,

microbe

 

[Spartan 117]

+1 microbe, where not stated I've always assumed 1 hour and no problems yet, i also do the same with mashing 1 hour unless other wise stated.

Aaron

 

[mattcarty]

really that long for K&K+bits and pieces recipes?

cheers
carty

 

[Offline]

It depends on what you doing.

Generally i would assume no boiling on a k&k plus bits. The boiling is mainly for hop additions and a couple of other things not really necessary with kits.

Some people use unhoped malt extract (LME,DME etc) then hop it themselves, this is called extract brewing, which requires boiling.

What recipes are you looking at exactly?
You could ask the owner of the recipe to clarify it for you if your still unsure.

Offy

 

[mattcarty]

righteo no probs

yeah i asked a similar Q in the recipe discussion thread of the honey baby recipe and it was cleared up for that recipe but still thought the Q was relevant enough to post on this site as well for a more generic answer.

I guess i will just have to do the research on a recipe by recipe basis but the info given here is also a help to clear up a few things

thanks guys

cheers
carty

 

[lobo]

carty,

i have no scientific reason for saying this, but if a k+k and bits recipe askes you to boil hops for 15mins, i would bring it to the boil and count 15mins. any malt extract, especially hopped tins(if thats what ur using) the only reason you would be boiling for 15mins or less would be to get the flavour and aroma out of that particular hop. so the only reason you boil extract is to bitter,flavour and aroma. there is no point boiling extract for 45mins then adding hops for 15mins, as your recipe asks for, as you must be getting you main bitterness form another tin, etc.

Lobo

 

[mika]

Boiling of kits is generally only done if you've steeped some crystal or some such and then you really only need to boil for 15mins or so to kill all the bugs that came from the grain.
If steeping and adding hops, I'd add the hops at 15minutes to go till flameout and leave the extract/kit/can out until the end. Some sugar present in the mix helps extract the hop acids, a concentrated boil as in KnK with all the bits in the pot will actually impair the extraction of acids from the hops and result in a lower than predicted bitterness.

 

[Fourstar]

Boiling of kits is generally only done if you've steeped some crystal or some such and then you really only need to boil for 15mins or so to kill all the bugs that came from the grain.
If steeping and adding hops, I'd add the hops at 15minutes to go till flameout and leave the extract/kit/can out until the end. Some sugar present in the mix helps extract the hop acids, a concentrated boil as in KnK with all the bits in the pot will actually impair the extraction of acids from the hops and result in a lower than predicted bitterness.

+1 for this method, this goes for Kits+Grain. For Unhopped Extract Partials, boil for the full 60 Minutes (of steeped grain liquor) with bittering hops, ad flavour and aroma hops as necessary (20 mins, flameout). Then add the Cans of goo at flameout.

Cheers! :icon_cheers:

 

[mika]

No need to boil for 60mins in that case either. 15mins would be sufficient, 30mins to be sure to be sure.
AGer's boil for 60/90mins to drive off DMS from Pils malt and the such and to reduce the solution and thus increase the gravity. Basically a means to an end, or the amount of grain and hops would become ridiculous.
With a Partial that you're going to dilute anyway, no point in reducing the solution to raise the gravity. As long as you've sanitised the wort, 15+ minute boil, you're good to go.