Hi All - - Does anyone know if there are any disadvantages if your wort takes too long to reach a boil? Currently it takes me about 45 minutes to reach a good boil after I’ve collected my wort from my mash tun. Is this too long? Should I invest in a propane burner…currently using a gas stove.
Unless yo do a true mashout to denature the enzymes, there will still be conversion going on at a low level of activity. That could make your wort more fermentable than you intended. Frankly, I don’t think it’s too big a deal and wouldn’t worry about it.
To piggy back off this idea, what about if the boil is lost periodically throughout? I tried brewing in heavy wind and the temp was dropping which resulted in me losing both my flame and rolling boil several times throughout. I tried to extend the boil by about 10 mins, and I had at least had 20 mins of good rolling boil at the end.
Any reason to think this will be an issue in the final beer?
In regards to Illini Rookie I think the thing it would have the most impact on is hop utilization. A good rolling has many benefits but I believe the most noticeable would be hop bitterness and potentially some clarity. If you are going for kettle carmelization that would impact it as well.
Then I lucked out! I was brewing a Kolsch. I didn’t want a whole lot of hop bitterness, and no carmelization would be great!
Glad I wasn’t brewing something else. The problem is I told someone we would brew this weekend and it is supposed to be 28F. :o I was also told I am no longer allowed to brew on the stove. Might be a cold brew day.
I think that by adding to the boil and making sure the boil is about the right time, you will be fine. I have run out of propane mid-boil and had to go buy propane to finish the boil. I didn’t notice anything out of hand. I actually think you might get slightly more hop bitterness because isomerization supposedly happens at temps over 170. I still wouldn’t worry too much about it.
Regarding the cold brewday, the sliding glass door is your friend. You can watch the boil and make sure everything is going properly from inside the heat.
Like everybody already said, it doesn’t matter too much. When I do my all-grain batches, I care very little about anything other than the amount of fermentables I’m getting out of the grist. I also brew on a gas stove in my tiny apartment and my 5.5-6 gallon wort takes about 30-40-ish minutes to reach a hot break and I could care less. You shouldn’t either!! RDWHAHB!