Narziss' advice on Marzen

[brewcrew7]

Nico, can you clarify a bit more about your claim that worts classically need between 90-120 minutes of boil time? I've done 90 minute boils and recently have been reducing those times as a result of saving time, advice and my feeling that DMS simply isn't much issue on the homebrew scale with the malts we have access to. I stand to be corrected, of course!

[Bryan R]

DMS, is the least of the reasons why one boils. Yet EVERYONE always just fixates on it.

[Weizenberg]

Typically one wants to make some caramels that way.

[Owenbräu]

[bjanat]

Maillard reactions?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Weizenberg]

Pixie dust

[Kit_B]

Can your wort be scorched in your kettle?
If so...you can create caramel.
It drives me crazy, when people insist on perpetuating the myth that wort is never able to be caramelized.

[Owenbräu]

You have to intentionally create hotspots in your kettle for that to occur, which is harder to do now that everyone is using try-clad bottom kettles. Even the academics still debate if and how much caramelization actually occurs. I had hoped that would have yielded a more productive discussion than it did...

[Kit_B]

If you use a propane burner & the wort goes up the sides of your kettle, as it boils & gets heated beyond the caramelization point...you are making caramel.

[Weizenberg]

Why not just try it? It depends on so many variables on your system and ability to boil.

You can try a much longer time. Say 3 or even 4 hours. You will end up with a substantially darker wort and extra flavours. The bohemian Pils is not far around the corner then.

Another thing to consider is that during decoction schedules a boil is already part of the equation. One could substract 30% of that boil time from the total boil needed.

Either way, unless one is able to boil under pressure or on a system able to reach temperatures up to 150C, the classic schedule of 90-120 minutes is totally textbook.

With bright beers this can make quite a difference.

Maybe you'd like to try different boil times and share your observations? This would contribute immensely to the point you justly raised.