Is it essential to boil wort?

[robintes]

@Yooper well thanx for the heads up I had missed the tab on calculators. I am now truly humbled down to the dummy class

Interesting the Brix/SG conversion calc. I knew that the refractometer was affected by ABV and so was in accurate towards end of brew, but I can now see how to put that to use thanx 10^6

 

[Minbari]

@Yooper well thanx for the heads up I had missed the tab on calculators. I am now truly humbled down to the dummy class

Interesting the Brix/SG conversion calc. I knew that the refractometer was affected by ABV and so was in accurate towards end of brew, but I can now see how to put that to use thanx 10^6

Ya, the refractometer can be used with the formula to correct it. I don't trust it for true accuracy.

What is can be used for, even uncorrected, is trending. At the end of fermentation, you take a reading, record it. Take another 3 days later. If the reading is the same, the active fermentation is done, even if the value read is wrong.

 

[Brew Cat]

Well to answer your question. No you don't need to boil wort to make beer. Sanitation is not really an issue if you're using clean water, doing a mash with a hot water mashout. I've made plenty of drinks from fruit using spontaneous fermentation. Beer was made before hops were used using spices so that's that. However what you make may not be to your taste . So I would say depends on what you're making.

 

[robintes]

Well to answer your question. No you don't need to boil wort to make beer. Sanitation is not really an issue if you're using clean water, doing a mash with a hot water mashout. I've made plenty of drinks from fruit using spontaneous fermentation. Beer was made before hops were used using spices so that's that. However what you make may not be to your taste . So I would say depends on what you're making.

Yes this is what bothers me. Ale was first brewed without hops. Hops were added ca 200 years ago as it was found to be an excellent preservative for Ale which went sour (from natural yeasts within 3 days). Hops thrown in plus a higher abv ca 5% made beer which lasted much longer (in cask) say 7-10 days).
Ale preservatives used spices eg Cinnamon bark, cloves, Bay leaves, Ginger root

I guess that the bittering factor came as a gradual antidote to sweetish Ale - in UK

Notice that EU farmhouse Ales referred to hops as the English weed. See how the application of hops has become something of a pretentious fetish IMHO. Out in the far east hops were not used. Asahi (Japanese old and highly respected product and now the owner of my birthplace beer Fullers) used 30% sticky rice (ie short grain) as well as wheat to make their classic Dry Lager (ie no sweetness)

 

[Brew Cat]

Once i brewed a smoked beer By throwing an red hot rock in the mash for a mash out. That would take care of sanitation concerns. And get the malliarde reaction desired. It was a fun brew day.

 

[Donoroto]

Once i brewed a smoked beer By throwing an red hot rock in the mash for a mash out. That would take care of sanitation concerns. And get the malliarde reaction desired. It was a fun brew day.

Huh. That’s how I make stone soup. Almost exactly.

 

[cowboy7307]

Chlorine, yes, but not chloramine. Sodium (or potassium) Metabisulphate (Campden) addresses both instantly. 1/2 gram in 6-8 gallons is what I use.

that is 1/2 Gram ,or is it one to two , and is that left over night or just put in to the water and carry on with the brew as normal

 

[Herm brews]

Generally, a half tablet of Campden will treat ~5 gallons of water, and does not require overnight exposure for effect of removing chloramine. Lucky for me, my city water does not have chloramine.

 

[Donoroto]

that is 1/2 Gram ,or is it one to two , and is that left over night or just put in to the water and carry on with the brew as normal

One half gram. I crush it a little and toss it in whole I’m filling the pot with the hose. No need for overnight, the chemical reaction is a fraction of a second.

 

[Mont Y. Märzen]

that was history, today in brewing circles municiple tap water is generally safe to drink (unless otherwise advised)

A now sadly closed brewery in Bossier, Louisiana used to have as their slogan, "Making Bossier water drinkable since 2013". (they were on the Red River across from Shreveport)

 

[Mont Y. Märzen]

I'll add that considering your equipment constraints, if you really want to essentially make a 'diluted beer' from your own concentrate (what most of these fad '5 minute brewing' kits do) then you'll likely need to use hop extract, rather than actual hops. It won't quite be the same, but you can still get lots of IBUs to balance the sweetness from malt/extract which gets you close enough for hanging with the fellas. There are several varieties out now so you have more options than long ago. Of course, this costs more, considerably by comparison.