What's the purpose of the 1hr boil?

[Doctormcbrewdle]

Let's steer clear of alpha acid isomerisation, there's no mysetery there, the question I'm really looking to gain insight into is: What's the actual reason we want to boil grain? Apart from sanitation

I remember Mark here a little while ago saying that Maris Otter for instance benefits from a 2hr boil.

 

[GalBrew]

There is an old thread somewhere on here that links to a scientific paper reviewing exactly that. Sorry I couldn’t find it for you. MHB might know the one I am referring to?

 

[MHB]

Not quite a scientific paper but worth reading - and been posted plenty of times before...
02_-_The_function_of_wort_boiling1[1].pdf
06 - The process of wort boiling 2.pdf
A 1 hour boil is really a minimum, my default is 90 minutes, longer for some beers, any less and you will notice the quality of your beer going down.
Mark

 

[Black Devil Dog]

Let's steer clear of alpha acid isomerisation, there's no mysetery there, the question I'm really looking to gain insight into is: What's the actual reason we want to boil grain? Apart from sanitation

I remember Mark here a little while ago saying that Maris Otter for instance benefits from a 2hr boil.

You don't want to boil your grain at all. Unless you're going to do a decoction mash step and I doubt that you're doing that.

 

[Doctormcbrewdle]

You don't want to boil your grain at all. Unless you're going to do a decoction mash step and I doubt that you're doing that.

Ha, sorry man, bad explanation. I mean wort!

 

[Black Devil Dog]

There's a book titled How to Brew. A free online version is available, which only has US measurements, but there's also an updated hard-copy version, which has metric measurements.

It is a great place to start and many brewers used it when they started out and many still do use it. Myself included.

Read it at least a couple of times and you'll get a much better understanding of what's going on when you're brewing.

 

[Doctormcbrewdle]

I've actually got 2x copies. 1 older version and the current edition bought just a few weeks ago. Didn't even think to go there first actually but I'll have a look

 

[philrob]

Definitely take note of what MHB advises. I'd back his advice.

 

[Doctormcbrewdle]

Goes without saying man

 

[dr K]

Brewing has many parts and homebrewing is one of them.
A commercial brewer looking at max hop utilization for bitterness will boil for 60 minutes after the first hop addition.
A homebrewer may feel that they do not need this level of utilization and may choose to boil for less than 60 minutes.
The wort will be sanitized in far less than 60 minutes.
Of course there is always DMS..
Hot break is a biggy as well..
as is cooling the wort after flame out as quickly as possible
A perfect alignment may not be possible for a homebrewer, in fact almost certainly is not....so a compromise is always required
A homebrewer who is for example no-chilling (a perfectly valid method) may note little difference (leaving early hop addition utilization and evaporation aside) between a 40 and 140 minute boil.
K

 

[///]

Ahh the magic of a colandria, 45 mins and anything else was a waste. Those were the days.

 

[Danscraftbeer]

Let's steer clear of alpha acid isomerisation, there's no mysetery there, the question I'm really looking to gain insight into is: What's the actual reason we want to boil grain? Apart from sanitation

I remember Mark here a little while ago saying that Maris Otter for instance benefits from a 2hr boil.

In one word. Flavor!
Books are written on all the many details.

 

[HamoAus]

Is this related to kit/extract brewing too. Does the length of the boil matter as much since the grain has been extracted and then the liquid concentrated?
Cheers

 

[MHB]

Is this related to kit/extract brewing too. Does the length of the boil matter as much since the grain has been extracted and then the liquid concentrated?
Cheers

Going to depend on the extract you are using. Coopers claim that the Kits and I believe the LME they make they make are fully boiled, before being vacuum evaporated to concentrate them. That being given, boiling for other than sterilising, processing specialty malt or to add more hop bitterness/flavour/aroma would be pretty pointless.
Black Rock and Briess are quality product, I'm not as familiar with their production process so would have to try them and see how much trub they throw. I suspect they are going to be similar to the Coopers malt.

If you buy the cheapest Extract you can get - mostly designed for bakers rather than brewers, I suspect we are looking at a very different set of parameters. I have seen some that I wouldn't put in beer, some that are mostly made from exogenous (bottled) enzyme extracted barley/adjunct rather than malt. These can have ridiculously high levels of Protein and Glucan useful in baking not in brewing, without ever tasting all that great.

Answer is going to be as if often the case in brewing, Maybe!
Mark

 

[Garfield]

Not 100% on topic but I'm a little curious about this...

If you boil a hopped extract can (for sanitation or whatever), have you affected the IBU? Put differently, are there any late hop additions for aroma in a can of extract, that you will boil off into bitterness/ibu?

 

[MHB]

Any hop aroma will be added post concentration as hop oils/isolated fractions, during the concentration anything volatile (smell able) will be evaporated along with the water.
Unless you are talking a very long boil, the IBU's wont change too much, as in-isomerised Alpha Acid will Isomerise and some Iso-Alpha will degrade.
If the maker has used pre-isomerised hop product to bitter the extract, the total IBU's might fall a bit, but if you are adding some hops, even for 10 minutes you will pick up some.....
Not trying to obtuse, just cant think of a definitive answer that applies to all the products on the market.
Probably just have to suck it and see, mind you, you can get little bottles of Iso-Hop from many HBS's, might be handy if the bitterness has changer more than you expected, can be added post ferment, so fine tune to taste.
Mark

 

[wide eyed and legless]

Let's steer clear of alpha acid isomerisation, there's no mysetery there, the question I'm really looking to gain insight into is: What's the actual reason we want to boil grain? Apart from sanitation

I remember Mark here a little while ago saying that Maris Otter for instance benefits from a 2hr boil.

You can make a beer without a boil, that is how it used to be made, and now it is coming full circle with brewers making a beer with a no boil method. I would point out it does not appeal to me.
http://www.beardedhousewife.co.uk/raw-ale/