Longer Boil Times - 120 minutes?

[PJ]

Did anyone see the article in the latest issue of BYO about what to do during the boil? It recommended longer boil times to increase break and produce clearer beer. For Belgians (my next batch will be a Belgian Wit) it actually recommends boiling for 120 minutes. Has anyone done this? Pros/cons? Would you really want to boil the extract for this length, or would you add the extract later in the boil. Opinions please.

[Maxence]

Hi,

i don't understood if you're extract was the one of hop or the one of the entire beer. But, anyway, you need hop and your fresh wort to be mixed for getting your break. So the 120 min of boiling are with all the components. The problem with a so long time of boiling, is that you will lose lots of flavours and lots of fermentable sugars for your yeast. I recommand you to use a current time of boiling ( about 60 to 80 min) and use before bottling or at the end of the maturation some tannins or something for precipitating a bit of the haze ( very low concentration, low temperature).

Hope this will help u

Max

[donosborn]

There are a few things going on in your question.
First off, Belgian Wits do not need to be clear, so I would not do anything extra to make them so. In fact, they are supposed to be kind of hazy and cloudy, as far as I know.
Secondly, I would think that there would be better/easier things to do to produce a clearer beer than extend the boil time.
Extending the boil time will 1) reduce the amount of wort you end up with (maybe especially a concern if only doing partial boils) and 2) affect hop utilization (might have to recalibrate some recipes?)

I'm not an expert on clear beer as it is not much of a concern to me, but I would think there woudl be better things to do than get a better break that would allow you to leave more behind in the brew kettle. There are clarifiers and filters to use for a couple things.

anyone else?
Don
p.s. I have the issue that talked about the "no boil" method for adding malt extract if you want to see it. I think the main advantage of that is the possibility of making a lighter beer. I don't know if it had anything to do with the break. I also know some people on this forum have tried it and I believe there are a couple threads out there. Search for "no boil" if interested.

[joseph540]

I agree with above advice and just wanted to add that the longer boil times are a) more important for all-grain batches than for extract batches (this is the hot break/coagulation issue) and b) more important for some types of beer -- Scottish Ale or even a Pilsner Urquell clone need longer boils to caramelize some of the wort. You wouldn't want this darkening or caramel flavor in other types of beer.

Joe

[Brewer Tom]

I always boil my all-grain batches for at least 15 min [and normally 30 min] prior to adding my first hop additon. That gives me a really good hot break so my beers are clearer than before. It also gives me higher utiliziation of hops because the hops don't get incorporated into the hot break particles. I've been giving my beers this longer pre-boil for a few years now.

[PJ]

I'm perplexed as to why BYO would write that. They had a table showing common boil times, and few or none listed them at 60mins. Almost all of them were in the 90 minute range. Some, including Belgians, were even at 120 mins. The all-grain vs. extract comment makes a lot of sense. Thanks!