I have been reading a few books lately on brewing. I have noticed that several pro-brewers suggest a variety of boil times for the homebrewer. Some suggest the usual 60min, some say 90min, some say, at least 75min, now this is taking out the variance on beer styles since they all can call for different times, this is the basic base time. Claims vary from 60min being long enough to 90min being the best option for protein break. So my question is what is your go to time on the boil? And if there is a specific reason you have chosen that time?
Longer seems generally better when it comes to the boil for me. I generally let the wort boil for 15 minutes or so before adding my bittering hops. 75 minutes if I am using a pale ale base malt, 90 minutes is more common if I brew with pilsner malts which I believe benefit a longer boil.
I also like to let the boil get going good and finish the break before adding my first charge of hops, so 75 is the average time for me. Unless it’s a really big, dark beer . . then upwards of 2 hours. But Mike’s method of targeting his desired gravity is really the most precise way to do it. Since there is some variability in the boil intensity, your boil off rate is also gonna vary some from batch to batch. Eventually though, you kinda get a good feel for that
I use to do just a straight 60 minutes which began after the hot break disappeared/was skimmed off. I recently just bought a bag of Weyermann pilsner and now do 75 minutes as my standard.
Depends on what type of base malt I’m using. Pilsner gets about 90 minutes total. Two-row or Pale malt gets 60-75 and I’m not above doing 45 minute bittering additions instead of 60.
What I keep an eye out for is the break after the foam rises and then subsides. Once it does that the hops get added and the timer counts down.
What Mike is getting at is that melaniodins in and of themselves don’t add flavor. It’s the Maillard reactions that create the melanoidins that add flavor.
My standard 90-min boils are a product of having too small a pot to do full all-grain boils, I have to boil-down to have enough room to add the last 1-1.5 gallons of wort from the sparge.
Even when I get a bigger pot, I think I’ll stick with 90-minute boils. The longer boil just ‘feel’ better, and I like to feel good when brewing
are you using a refractometer to measure the gravity during the boil? unfortunately, I dont have one yet so i have to take a sample and cool it before taking the hydro reading, which can take up to 20 minutes to cool before getting a good read - i guess i should use an ice bath instead of the freezer to cool it quicker.
Does anyone have a recommendation for decently priced, yet reliable refractometer?
