Lawrence Brewers Guild

I was just curious if you boil the P' out of your wort during the hour that it is on the burner?

My sister-in law turned the heat up on my beans once

what?

yeah, huh?

r u talking about caramelizing of the wort? The action of the boil will keep that to a minimum. I would think that unless you have a burner that is throwing waaaaaaay to many BTUs it shouldn't be a problem.

assuming that is what you were talking about. If not, then yes, I hate burned beans too. That's why I grill them, cuz beans don't burn on the grill.

I wondered about this a few weeks ago as I was reading to refresh/renew my brewer's smarts. I always thought that boiling was boiling, in that the temp won't go up until the state has changed to steam (and I still think that's the case). And I agree that the caramelization shouldn't be a big problem once the wort is boiling (and after the extract is well dissolved before turning the heat back on, for us extract / partial-mash folks). But I recall reading a couple of things about keeping a solid, rolling boil, as opposed to "just boiling" with a few bubbles, I guess. This supposedly is to help with protein conversion and hot-break. I don't recall the exact articles I read, but these seem to address the topic in a similar way.

"...As well, the wort must actually be fully boiling a "rolling boil" with two-phase nucleate boiling where steam bubbles pass through the wort."
http://brianbeer.blogspot.com/2008/03/i ... -boil.html

This thread discusses chill haze and flavor differences perhaps resulting from not boiling the wort "vigorously" enough:
http://forum.northernbrewer.com/viewtop ... 80&start=0

Off to fry some fish. In the kitchen.
--Steve

Anybody else who can't get, "The Jeffersons" theme song out of your head after reading this thread is a better poster than I.


Moo-hoovin' on Uuup!

I still get to laughing when I read the post

Desirable or undesirable?

Depends. Wee Heavy Scotch ales and other big dark beers(not dry stout) benefit from Kettle Carmelization. It converts some of the wort to unfermentable sugars that impart sweetness to the beer in the short and long term. In the long term the melanoidens created can give you fruit flavors like oven baked rasins in rasin cookies. In wheat beers, light ales and especially lagers, this is a huge mistake. A way to get a good rolling boil is to off center your flame to get a convection going. Another way is to put something in the kettle that concentrates the heat in a hot spot. An older all copper penny works well here, just remember to use a clean penny(not blue or black). The easiest way to shiney up a penny is put it in a cup or dish or old growler lid with a few drops of star san (undiluted).

This is why you joiun the Guild, to get this experience.
Cheers
Chuck

Thanks Chuck.

That is about the best phrased paragraph that I have ever read.

Pennies, marbles and rocks - Oh my.

Well put!

Thanks. Short and sweet to the point. Sharing experience and research.
Cheers