I love the hard boiled egg, but hate a hard to peel, messy egg.
Are there any proven cooking methods that make the shell easy and clean to remove?
What do you know? Thanks.
Fresher the egg, easier to peel.
Tablespoon of vinegar added to the boil.
Peel under running water.
The older the egg, the easier to peel.
Boil three minutes, pull off heat and let sit covered for 8 minutes, then dunk in ice water.
I just cover the eggs in water and put on the stove. When it gets boiling, remove from heat, cover, and let sit for 20-25 minutes. Then I let them cool for a bit before putting them in the frdige. Never had a problem with it except that I hate the things. But I do this for the wife.
and if you use the egg carton to store them in, make sure you mark it Hard Boiled… ;D. You don’t want to get them mixed up.
Well that just confusing didn’t it? ;D
In my experience I’ve had better luck with older eggs due to a weaker membrane.
My method - Eggs into cold water. Bring to a boil. Turn off heat and cover for 15 minutes.
Although I’d really love to have one of those immersion circulators so you could really set the temperature of the egg and get the perfect just set egg.
One has to pierce a small hole in the wide end to allow for the expansion. You’ll never have cracked eggs if this is done.
Cool quickly and they are easy to peel.
Vinegar does absolutely nothing AFAIC.
I like my still a little soft in the yolk- yum!
I stand corrected 
Ms. Tubercle has already admonished me for this…she’s the chief egg boiler. I knew it was one or the other.
Again - according to Ms.Tubercle - the vinegar softens the shells to keep them from cracking making them easier to peel in larger chunks and not having those pesky little shards.
Yeah definately the older the egg the easier the peel.
When eggs are just laid there is a tiny airspace, that airspace gets larger with time making the peeling process easier.
We originally got chickens because I tired of my over easy eggs having broken yolks
We then realized that fresh eggs are impossible to peel.
No worries, the ones sitting on the counter for near a week or those in the bottom of the fridge get turned into pickeld eggs/egg salad now ;D
FWIW
“Fresh” Eggs at your local supermarket can be a month old
Hmm. I grew up eating loads of hard-boiled eggs. I’d watch my dear old mom and chef-extraordinaire boil eggs. She’d add vinegar to the water and I’d ask why. “To keep them from cracking son…”
Invariably, 3-4 would be cracked. ???
Once it was understood why eggs crack in the boil I never added vinegar again.
As to cooking times it varies if the eggs are still cold or at room temp. I prefer room temp.
No sweat though. Just eggs…
Euge, its kind of funny but I can’t help but “hear” your posts in an Eli Wallach voice, thanks to your avatar.
“There are two kinds of hard boiled eggs, my friend. Those that come in by the door, and those that come in by the window.”
LOL 
The drop of vinegar works great for poached eggs. A drop in the boiling water before you crack the egg in there. Not sure what happens to make it work but it keeps the egg more intact in the water.
I knew this woman years ago, she could put a hard boiled egg in her mouth and then spit it out peeled. Man, I should have married her.
I tried it once and couldn’t get it to work.
I have no idea what this is doing on a brewing forum, but I can’t resist replying.
There is a tried and true method for hard boiled eggs, and I’ve used it for years. Here it is:
Put the eggs in a pan, but use only enough to make a single layer of eggs on the bottom of the pan. Add enough water to cover the eggs, about one inch above the tops of the eggs. Bring the water to a boil, as fast as possible.
Once the water has reached a boil, remove the pan from the heat and cover it. Let it sit for ten minutes.
While waiting for the ten minutes to elapse, fill a big bowl with ice water (plenty of ice cubes). Use a slotted spoon to transfer each egg gently from the hot water to the ice water, and let them sit for five minutes.
There! You have perfect hard boiled eggs. To peel them, tap the egg all over on the counter to crack the shell, then roll it gently back and forth a few times. Begin peeling from the air pocket (the large end), and you can generally take the entire shell off in one or two pieces.
Excellent, thanks for all the tips.
I think perhaps fresh eggs are my main problem,
typically next day straight from the cluckers out back
I will try to let some sit around a while.
How long do eggs last?
;D Thanks for the informative reply,
one thing that amazes me about the diverse group of folks that call them selves homebrewers…they sure know about lots of stuff!
You know…like how to boil an egg! 
Cheers.
Hmmm… seems like everybody is forgetting the most important step. After you cool and peel the eggs you need to pickle them:
I was just up in Houghton this last weekend visiting friends and very much overindulged in pickled eggs making for a very unpleasant Sunday morning.
Don’t boil the eggs in beer. Drink the beer. Drink more beer, forget about the eggs.
Dude, what are the odds you came up with my secret recipe independently! :o