Kit + DME/LME: To boil or not to boil

[onesoma]

I'm wondering what difference it makes if you boil a kit plus LME or DME.

Having learnt the basic process for kit brewing from craigtube, I'm a bit confused. In some videos he boils the kit + fermentables, in others he doesn't.

I've done two brews now using kits + DME or LME, did not boil either of them. Given that I've been too impatient to let the bottles sit longer than two weeks to condition  : they've had a somewhat malty / rich taste - nice beer alright, but leaving quite a taste in the mouth after maybe 3 bottles.

I'll probably do a boil soon to see if it makes a difference, just wondering if anyone here has done their own comparisons...

[Will_D]

I am not a kit brewer!

How and ever I know a bit about the process:

Kits and Extracts(DME/LME) have all been boiled a lot!

In the case of a LME/DME the malted grain is mashed and then the wort reduced down to what is required:
For LME its reduced to a syrup, for DME its reduced then spray dried to a powder.

For a kit you also add hops. So to get rid of the water without screwing the hop flavours an ideal way would be to evaporate under reduced pressure ( this lowers the boiling point of water significantly and so the hops are not cooked)

MAYBE the better kits do this?? [citaion required!]

So to answer the question: There is no need to boil!. If you add fresh hops then this is like a "flame out addition".

If you want to add a big bittering hop then Ok add hops and boil!

Its all up to you - this is the beuty of homebrewing!

Why not do two brews: One unboiled and hopped, t'other hopped and boiled

HTH Will

[onesoma]

Yeah - I guess I have to do a straight up comparison between the same kit + extract, one boiled, the other unboiled. Preferably at the same time, in two FVs so the bottles are conditioned etc at the same rate.

This is a learning curve I enjoy very much 

[Metattron]

Probably best to add the kit to the end of the boil as the hop flavours in the kit should be barely effected.  If you don't care about the hops in the kit just use a can of LME instead and hop to your own liking.  I've never boiled a kit myself, just dry hopped (to great success, I'm looking at you Coopers Canadian Blonde with 25g of Galaxy!).

[LordEoin]

Yeah, best to add the kit goop after the boil.
The folks making your kit put in a lot of effort to get all the right grains and hops into the goop, with all the right time hop additions.
If you boil the kit can for longer, you're going to ruin all the lovely hop flavora and aromas and turn them into additional bitters.
Like in the graph below:


Some people will boil hops in their malt/sugar wort, then add the kit before topping up with cold water (basically making an extract brew and adding a kit for extra uumph!)
Personally, I just do my hop boils in about 3 liters of plain water in a sealed 5Liter pot, then strain the liquid onto the kit/malt/sugar, followed up with dryhopping.

[Dunkel]

LordEoin and Mettatron,

You both mention dry hopping. At what stage are you doing this? Before, during or after primary fermentation?

[LordEoin]

Once primary fermentation is done.
Add them in a muslin bag once the bubbles have died down a bit (day 5-ish) or if you're transferring to secondary, that's probably the best time.
The reason most people dryhop after the main bulk of fermentation is that the rising gas can scrub some aroma out of the brew.

Personally, for convenience I usually just bang them in loose on day 1 and forget about it although it's not the 'right way to do it'.

[onesoma]

Nice chart there lord eoin.

So I've learnt now that boiling a kit is unnecessary and will in fact detract from the flavour.

Boiling is only required if adding hops for flavour/bitterness etc.

Thanks folks.

[onesoma]

"One of the fastest ways to screw up a kit is to boil the crap out of it" - John Palmer
from this podcast http://thebrewingnetwork.com/shows/698

Plenty more info there too.