Quick question about boil time

[Uncle Joe]

I am used to brewing 60 minute extract batches. A recipe I am brewing today calls for hops at 80 minutes, which I assume means that there is an 80 boil brew time. Do I treat this the same way as a 60 minute boil, or are there any special steps? Thanks!

[Vienna Lager]

Same as 60 mins. just 20 mins. longer.

[BrewDog]

Treat it exactly the same as a 60 min boil, just 20 mins longer. Also note that you will have 20 mins extra evaporation due to the longer boil, and so you will need to make up for that in your water calculations.

FWIW, I bring my wort up to a boil, then wait for it to hit hot break(ie, it foams up and up and up, then the foam falls in on itself exposing a rolling boil with a much smaller amount of foam on top) . After it breaks, I add my first hop addition and start the clock.

To help prevent boilovers at this stage, I keep a spray bottle of plain water handy and spray the foam to knock it down.

HTH-

[Uncle Joe]

Interesting, how much more water would you suggest adding?

I typically start with 2.5, then add 2.5 to my fermenter, but I usually only get 4 1/4 gallons or so. I wish I was getting more like 5, but I don't want to dilute my beer too much.

Thanks for quick responses!

[larin1477]

Im interested to know the answer to that as well..I typically start with 2.5 and have to add 3...am I diluting my beer too much!!??...BTW welcome Uncle Joe..im a newbie as well.

[HogieWan]

if you're doing partial boils, don't worry about adding water before boiling. BrewDog's suggestion was for those who do full volume boils where you're final volume is what you're putting in the fermenter.

[Uncle Joe]

so I assume what your saying is to add the water after the boil, contrary to before? Seems like that would be a much smarter option, its just that the directios I have recieved with my kits and in books never says to add more before fermenting.

hmm.. but I would much rather just be able to add water post boil.

[BrewDog]

Topping up is a well accepted, time honored practice.
The "issue" there is that hop utilization goes down as the gravity goes up. Your beer will be less bitter with a partial boil than it would be with a full boil.

For a finished 5 gal batch, it is pretty common practice to formulate the recipe to aim for 5.25-5.5 gals going into the primary. This will allow you to siphon off the trub and still have 5 gals going into the secondary.

Final thought, as always, sanitation is key. You should use pre-boiled water when you top up. This kills any nasties, and helps remove chlorine too.

HTH-

[dparsons]

Originally posted by BrewDog
Topping up is a well accepted, time honored practice.
The "issue" there is that hop utilization goes down as the gravity goes up. Your beer will be less bitter with a partial boil than it would be with a full boil.


You'll also get more kettle caramelization with the more concentrated sugars. This can be a good thing depending on the style and what you want.

Going back to the long boil with extract, one of the topics discussed at length is the "extract twang" phenomenon. This basically means that using LME can lead to a subtle but identifiable flavor in the beer. One of the solutions is to cut the boil time of the LME as it has already gone through a boil and benefited from boiling as it needs. One of the solutions was to add the extract later in the boil (at 20 minutes remaining) so that it still has plenty of time to go into solution and to get sterilized, but the twang was reduced. In doing partial boils you can play around with adding half the extract at the onset of boiling so that the concentration is normal and you get the same hop utilization, adding the 2nd half towards the end.

[Uncle Joe]

Interesting, I will certainly play around with that.

I sure don't like twang. :)