Boiling kits and malts.

[Awol71]

Does it make much difference if you boil all the malt/sugars and can contents in a pot as opposed to just dissolving them in a couple litres of boiled water in the fermenter?

[emnpaul]

I wouldn't bother boiling all the malts in any event. I might bother boiling some if I was using a half tin of extract out of the fridge or if I wasn't confident that a pack of light dry malt was completely sanitary.I.e. may have been badly handled, leaks air when squeezed, stuff like that.

The other reason I'd boil a portion of my malt/sugars would be if I'd steeped some grains and wanted to sanitise the resultant wort (this is a must) or if I was doing a late hop addition.

Otherwise I'd just take the path of least resistance and dissolve in the fermenter as per Cooper's instructions.

[barls]

Not really going to make that much of a difference for all the effort

[Awol71]

Is it better to steep grain in water with a bit malt that's been boiled or not. Apart from sanitary issues. Does that sound right??? I've just been reading through forums and people seem to be boiling everything for an hour. I would never boil anything that long even if you were supposed to. I'm just looking for a few extra options.

[barls]

steep in just water then boil afterwards. for kits your really only need to boil for about 15-20 minutes.once you go to all grain or extract thats when its important as so many things happen in the boil.

[emnpaul]

Reading between the lines here but it seems some confusion exists between malt extract (often referred to as just "malt") and malted grain (often referred to as "malt"). You don't need to boil malt extract unless you're uncertain as to the state of it's sanitation. The only time I would diverge from that, personally, is if I was trying to get the most out of a late hop addition.

If steeping grain just give it a steep for an hour at 70 degrees then boil the extracted wort for minimum 15 minutes. No need to add any extra malt to the wort.

When people boil for an hour it's usually when making all grain beer, not steeping grains or working with malt extract.

[bullfrog]

Going to disagree with Paul a little here and say that if you are steeping grain then it's most-likely going to be spec-malt so doesn't need to be steeped for an hour. 15-20 minutes is fine.

Also, while sterilising the runnings by boiling is ideal, in my kits-n-bits days, I used to just steep for 20 minutes at ~75 degrees (to pasteurise) and never bothered boiling. Never had a KnB infection.

Disclaimer: The advice preceding mine is more right and proper; my advice is a shortcut and should be read as such.

[Guru]

So what would be the scenario if you had hop additions? In the past I have boiled for an hour (malt extract and specialty grain) and added the hops at the intervals specified. I'm sure this is ok as the beers turned out good, but from what you guys are saying that is probably overkill.

[bullfrog]

With kits-n-bits or extract brewing, you only really need to boil for as long as your first hop addition needs. If you have a 60 minute addition then obviously boil for the hour but if you were only doing a 10 minute addition, say, then you'd be fine to turn off the heat after 10 minutes.

[Guru]

Cool thanks. I thought as much but wasn't entirely sure.

[Oliver]

Just a couple of quick additions:

First, if you are adding hops then be aware that the higher the gravity the less bitterness will be extracted. This is a reason to only dissolve any sugar/extract at the last minute. Try and boil hops at as close to the final, overall gravity as possible.

(Question to the troops: Does wort gravity also affect extraction of flavour?)

Second, don't boil the can of concentrate because you will drive off any hop aroma and flavour.

Cheers,

Oliver