Homebrewers don’t usually give a lot of thought to the boil. Other than adding hops from time to time there doesn’t really appear to be much happening. But the boil is essential to a good beer for a number of reasons. Besides accommodating the hops schedule the boil also sterilizes the wort, denatur

After a long brew day and weeks of eager anticipation, there are few things more devastating to a brewer than discovering an unwanted microbial infection or tasting burnt/smokey notes in your latest brew. However, one needs to be careful in direct-fired (gas or electric) systems to ensure that scorc

Many home brewers who are not familiar with grain brewing ask us if we can reduce the time they spend on the brewing day by reducing the time to boil the wort. Usually their thinking is "If the purpose of boiling is to sterilize the wort, Can I reduce the brewing time by boiling the wort long enough