Most homebrew recipes, books, and other literature reference a 60-minute boil time. For decades, this has been the standard boil time. However, we're seeing an increasing number of recipes calling for shorter boil times, typically 30 minutes. This prompted us to dive deeper into this topic: what are the pros and cons of shorter or longer boil times, and do we still need to do a 60-minute boil when brewing beer?
Why is Wort Boiled for 60 Minutes When Making Beer?
There's several reasons for boiling wort for 60 minutes, including:
- Sterilisation of the wort
- Isomerization of hops (bittering)
- Stopping enzymatic activity started during the mash
- Protein modifications (hot break)
- Drive off Dimethyl Sulphide (DMS)
Most of these factors listed above only need a matter of minutes to take effect during a boil, which begs the question: why do we still boil wort for 60 minutes?
The Case for the 60-Minute Boil
The biggest reason most people cite is to remove the risk of DMS developing, especially when using paler malts such as pilsner. However, advancements in malting technology have significantly reduced the risk of DMS occurring. There are, however, many documented cases of shorter boils (eg. 30 minutes) using malts such as pilsner with no ill effects.
Experiment and Evidence
Brulosophy ran an experiment back in 2015 where they compared beers made from a 30 minute and a 60 minute boil. The results indicated that most people could not reliably tell the difference between the two different beers, including some BJCP certified judges.
Many YouTube brewers such as David Heath also regularly use 30 minute boils with no noticeable difference.
Why Use A Shorter Wort Boil Time?
Reducing your wort boil time will:
- Shorten your brew day
- Reduce the amount of energy used
- Require a smaller pre-boil volume of wort
- Reach boiling temperature faster (due to lower pre-boil volume)
You will need to make some adjustments to your recipe and water volumes based on a shorter boil time. For example, you will need to use slightly more hops for your bittering addition since the hops will have a shorter period of time to isomerize to provide the bitterness to your beer.
All decent homebrewing software apps such as Brewfather are more than capable of handling this. It's also worth noting that if you reduce your boil time by 50% (ie. to 30 minutes), you don't need to add 50% more bittering hops to compensate - so make sure you use your brewing software to do these calculations to avoid overcompensating and ending up with an overly bitter beer.
The Counter Argument
There's certainly a counter argument of "why risk it" in terms of reducing boil time - and for many the safety net of decades of tried and tested knowledge of 60 minute boil times is perhaps worth sticking to. There's certainly nothing wrong with this, but we like the idea of a shorter boil time - anything that can help shorten a jam-packed brew day is worth considering in our book, so we will certainly be testing it in the near future on upcoming recipes.
Comparison: 60-Minute vs. 30-Minute Boil
The table below highlights the differences in various aspects of beer brewing with a 60 minute and 30 minute boil time.
| Aspect | 60-Minute Boil | 30-Minute Boil |
|---|---|---|
| Sterilization | Achieved | Achieved |
| Hop Isomerization | Complete | Partial |
| Enzymatic Activity Stop | Achieved | Achieved |
| Protein Modifications | Complete | Partial |
| DMS Reduction | High | Moderate |
| Energy Consumption | High | Low |
| Brew Day Length | Longer | Shorter |
Tips for Adjusting Recipes
- Use brewing software to adjust hop quantities.
- Monitor boil-off rates to adjust water volumes.
- Experiment with different malts to see how they respond to shorter boils.
Have you been using 30 minute boils, or do you tend to stick to 60 minute boils (or longer)? Leave a comment below and let us know.
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