Boil hops in saucepan is it that much different?

[userzzz]

Was thinking of doing a real cheapo 'hack' brew, i have no proper equipment so though i could just use DME + Sugar and boil the hops in an ordinary saucepan. So the DME + Sugar are obvious enough, how would the hops flavour turn out though is not boiling them together with the wort?

All i can do is try it out, but thought i'd ask.

[Rubbery]

Yes, it should work. Maybe add some DME to the saucepan, to get a little caramelisation. Use a large pan and plenty of water.

Bittering hops need 60-90 mins to work. Latter hop additions for aroma.

[userzzz]

Is there any science behind why generally you add it all in one pan?

[Rubbery]

No, hops in plain water should isomerise ok (i think). I was just thinking caramelisation of a little DME would improve the flavour. The remaining DME is ok to go straight into the FV.

However, I am not sure how much protein is going to be in un-boiled DME. It is usually boiled and irish moss added to turn the protein into sludge that can be filtered out. You probably will not get a clear beer without a boil, so keep your eyes closed whilst drinking it

[Jocky]

This is one area where I don't have a definitive answer, as there seems to be some ambiguity about the answer of why you need to boil hops in wort rather than water. I've found a couple of answers, but both relate to avoiding nasty tasting polyphenols and tannins in your beer. I suspect that the answer may be a combination of both the below:

#1 The malt provides protein in the wort, which reacts with and precipitates (read: drop out as trub) polyphenols and tannins that are produced by hops when boiled.

#2 The malt makes the water slightly acidic (as against regular tap/spring water which is slightly alkaline) which stops polyphenols/tannins being extracted from hops.

Looking around, people seem to relate that boiling hops in water just results in some kind of vegetably mess. Stick to conventional wisdom.

[userzzz]

I thought there would be a reason, just don't have the equipment though. Will add some DME to the hop boil.

[Jocky]

That's all you need to do - also scale up your hops, as the lower boil volume will cause a lower utilisation of the hops.

[userzzz]

Could you give me any idea of hops measurements, just throw some number at me and that's what i'll use.

[Jocky]

Sorry, I think I'm talking rubbish there - just scale down the malt inline with the volume so that your wort is roughly the same gravity as if you were doing the full boil recipe.

[gratefuldave54]

Some people over on the BrewUK forum have had success boiling the hops in just water and their beer looks crystal clear. I'm gonna give it a go for my next extract brew.