so when it comes to reducing DMS in finished beer what is more important the vigor of the boil or the duration? and a side question does modern day pils malts even need a 90 minute boil like we always heard you need? or is a 30 or 60 all that’s needed these days?
I do a 60 minute boil and get about 5% evaporation on 100% pils beers and have no DMS problems.
thats great, im gonna do that next run cause my problem is my kettle is too wide and my boil off is too high lose alot of volume during a 90 min boil, im gonna try a less vigorous boil too for 60 mins cheers
It’s been shown that vigor is more important than length. As a data point, I sometimes do a 20 min. boil…no DMS. The type of malt amd how it’s made also plays into that.
whats if you are dealing with 100% pilsner malt? can you get away with a less vigorous boil for 60 mins?
In my experience, yes. I use 100% Weyermann Pils and boil for 60 minutes and a mere 5% boil off and do not get DMS. I have the same experience with Rahr Pils as well. Cant speak to much on other types of pils.
cool, im about to take a leap of faith using viking pils
Yeah, probably so. Again, it seems like SMM is lower in malts these days, so chances of DMS are less.
Well…call us crazy, but we do a 90 minute to 120 minute boil. The boiling is very vigorous, a healthy rolling boil.
Ireks malt is used exclusively, with very good results. And no DMS.
And this, from Beer and Brewing:
Consider replacing a portion of the pils malt with pale malt. Even the small amount of extra kilning gets rid of a great deal of SMM.
Stick to two-row barley malt unless you have a specific reason to use six-row (e.g., brewing an American adjunct lager or Pre-Prohibition Pilsner), as six-row’s higher protein content encourages SMM and DMS formation.
Extend your normal hour-long boil to 90 minutes. If you live at high elevation, where water boils at lower temperatures, you might even need a 2-hour boil.
Boil with vigor. Get a nice rolling boil, and don’t cover the pot until it’s cool.
Chill wort rapidly. The longer it stays hot, the more SMM is converted to DMS.
Consider selecting a different yeast strain, especially for lagers, that ferments with enough oomph to scrub DMS.
Be sanitary. This goes for every beer you make, but avoiding contamination is fairly simple and prevents DMS-producing bacteria from spoiling your efforts.
Martin Brungard had published an article in the May/June 2019 issue of Zymurgy that I found very enlightening. It is available to AHA members in the archive edition.
You can simmer for most of the boil, then more vigorous at the last 10 minutes.
Martin Brungard presented on boiling a couple of conferences ago. Look for it in the conference seminars Archive.
Some of that info is not really valid these days.
as more boutique maltsters pop up and heirloom varieities are rediscovered, I wonder if DMS might make a reappearance.
I’ve used a bunch is different craft malts…maybe 6-8 different maltsters and maybe 4-6 different malts from each. No DMS issues in any of them.
One of the things I was going issue with in that info was quick chilling. I know for a fact that no chill works great if that’s what people want to do.
ive never had DMS before, i used to do 75-90 min boils regularly. then 60, now i do about 45 mins. i believe i would definitely have been on the very vigourous side of boiling rather than simmering for all these years, but have started trying to tone that down to get more accurate post-boil volumes of wort.
I don’t see any real advantage to 90 min boils. maybe a full 60 mins of roiling boil if its some all pilsner malt recipe.
historic brewing from the middle ages to 19th century often involved boiling for several hours, this might have been a way to increase FG and perception of sweetness. but imho its just so easy to use a malt like crystal or some darker malts if you want sweetness or darkened wort without the waste of time.
Here is some good reading:
https://homebrewsupply.com/learn/60-90-otherwise-finding-best-boil-time.html
And here:
porters and dark beers - “These darker beers benefit from the flavor contributions of longer boils.”
my experience basically says not in any majorly perceivable way.
the caramelization thing is also sort of a myth to a degree. i think its more just boiling down and somewhat concentrating some flavours. but the boil off difference between 60 and 90 minutes is what, a matter of an additional 750ml or 1 litre out of 20 litres? that isnt caramelization.
would love to hear exactly what you think 30 more minutes of boiling does besides just slightly (additional ~5% or so) concentrate the wort. and if that is good, why not do two hour boils?
I read that article as well and reduced my boil times after reading it. I used to boil everything for 90 minutes and now have cut my boil times for most beers to 60 monutes ( inow there are some here on this forum that even boil for less than that). The two exceptions are my ESB which is still a 90 minute boil because it seems to enhance the biscuit flavor in the beer (at least to my palate) and my Wee Heavy which I boil for 120 minutes to caramelize some of he wort in the kettle.
I get no DMS in any of the beers I boil for 60 minutes, even when using Pilsner malt, and usually have a pretty vigorous boil going. I usually boil off about 1.5 gallons in 60 minutes and use a keggle for my boil kettle.
Perfect timing.
Within two weeks the following batch will be brewed.
First time using 30 min boil, FWH, Mt Hood hops,
Ephiphany-Foundation malt.
AG Batch#40, 4.25 gal
6 Lbs 2-Row (Foundation Ephiphany)
1 Lb Vienna (BestMaltz)
1 Lb White Wheat (Canadian)
2020 Mt Hood Dried Leaf, 4.7 AA (HopsDirect)
FWH = 1 oz
30 min = .25 oz
10 min = .25 oz
90 Min Mash
30 Min aggressive boil.
Yeast = US-05, S-04, or BRY-97, not sure yet
Chilled water is used to fill the fermenter to the 4.25 gal mark.
Evaporation difference won’t be an issue, will add less water.
Not certain how much time it takes, for hot wort from the mash to get to a full boil, under 1/2 hour though.
Hops (hop spider) will be removed immediately when boil is completed.
Less than 1 hour wort will be about 66 degrees.