boiling effect of wort （what happens when boiling wort ？）

Wort boiling is a necessary part of beer brewing, and a series of changes will occur during the process, which has an important impact on the brewing process. Many new whole-grain brewers are bracing for the extra difficulty of mashing. They understood the effect of different temperatures, mash thickness, and residual combinations. Since the technique of wort brewing is so simple, they may not understand the important benefits that wort brewing brings to the beer. When asked how to make a good beer, the understanding is not clear enough. Today, the engineer of Micet Craft will talk to you about the function of wort boiling.

what is wort

Wort is a brewing term that refers to unfermented beer. It is important for brewers to understand wort and how it affects the beer brewing process. Wort gives the beer an essential flavor and contains a lot of starch. Boiling is the addition of hot water to the wort to cause enzymes to break down the starch into monosaccharides that can be fermented. This is also an important function of the boiling process.

wort sterilization

Boiling the wort provides enough heat to keep the wort free from any bacterial contamination. The main wort bacteria are Lactobacillus, which are killed by heat. The low pH and antimicrobial action of certain hop components will ensure that otherwise viable pathogenic bacteria and spore-forming organisms are excluded.

wort concentrate

The polyphenols in hops and malt are completely dissolved in the wort and bound to proteins. Proteins and polyphenols and the complexes formed by proteins and post-oxidized polyphenols are insoluble when heated and precipitate in the form of coagulants (flocs) when boiled, which should be separated from the wort as much as possible. If the boiling time is not long enough, there will be residues in the wort, which will precipitate during the fermentation process of the beer, causing the beer to be cloudy. For 20 years, we’ve spoken to thousands of breweries and brewmasters around the world. And helped many breweries build their brewing systems.

Destroy enzymes in wort

Boiling will end the brewhouse process that converts starch into sugar.It may be said that the most important function of boiling wort is to inhibit the activity of residual enzymes after the mashing process. Inhibiting the activity of the enzyme maintains the desired sugar/mash ratio. If the enzyme-catalyzed process continues, it will produce a “thin” beer that tastes bad.

Isomerized Alpha Acid

Alpha acids, which brewers take into account when calculating beer bitterness, are not actually soluble in wort. It is only by boiling that they can be converted into the more soluble iso-alpha acids. Studies have shown that isomerization of iso-alpha acids occurs at boiling temperatures, resulting in more than 90% wort bitterness within the first 30 minutes of boiling. This means that if you want to reduce the boil time and are concerned with correcting the bitterness, you can assume a 10% loss in use and cook for 30 minutes (though the specific gravity will be lower after boiling). Largest isomerization should occur within 60-70 minutes of boiling, take advantage of extra by leaving them in for longer.

Evaporate the water to make the sugar content reach the ideal range and improve the color of the wort. 10% to 15% wort evaporation has long been the hallmark of a quality kettle. Today, evaporation intensity (i.e. total evaporation rate) is used instead.

The formula is: evaporated water / whole barrel of wort before boiling X 100%.

The entire boiling process will take 1-2 hours. The steam heating equipment generally opens the side wall jacket and the bottom jacket at the same time from the beginning of heating to the boiling state to ensure that the boiling state is reached in the shortest time. In the continuous boiling stage, it is necessary to reduce or close the side wall jacket pressure, and heat and boil at the bottom, which can achieve the effect of tumbling and speed up the mixing of accessories. At the same time, it prevents the material from drying out due to the high temperature of the side wall, which leads to the problem of difficult cleaning.

increase color

During the wort boiling process, reducing substances such as melanomas are formed that can bind to the oxygen in the wort. When you cook wort, three reactions occur, each of which increases the color of the wort. The first is the Maillard reaction, which is the chemical reaction between carbonyl groups and amino acids that causes browning in food. The caramelization of the sugar is also taking place and causing a color change and finally some oxidation of the polyphenols.

drive out volatile compounds

DMS is a volatile sulfur-containing compound with an unpleasant odor and taste that affects the taste and flavor of the beer. At the boiling temperature, the half-life of the DMS precursor SMM is about 40 minutes, and the dimethyl sulfide precursor can be decomposed into free dimethyl sulfide during the boiling process, which is dissipated with the evaporation of water.

Lower the pH of the wort

The excess water is evaporated, and the mixed wort is boiled, evaporated, and concentrated to a specific concentration, destroying the activity of all enzymes. Prevent the residual α-amylase from continuing to act and stabilize the composition of the wort.By boiling, various harmful microorganisms present in the wort are eliminated, and the quality of the final product is guaranteed. The active ingredients in the hops are extracted, giving the wort a unique bitterness and aroma, and improving the biological and abiotic stability of the wort.Lower the pH of the wort, when the wort is boiled, the calcium ions in the water react with the phosphates in the malt. The pH of the wort is lowered, which is beneficial to the precipitation of globulin and the pH of the finished beer and is beneficial to the improvement of the biological and abiotic stability of the beer.

Get a turnkey solution for craft brewery equipment

If you are planning and ready to open a brewery, you can contact us. Micet Craft engineers will provide you with a list of craft brewery equipment and associated prices. Of course, we can also provide you with professional turnkey brewery solutions, allowing you more time to focus on brewing great beer. Micet Craft looks forward to working with you!!

Beer Brewing Equipment

Beer Brewery Equipment Manufacturer The brewing supplies provided by Micet Craft can support your brewing needs from small batches of micro beer brewing equipment to 100 barrels capacity. Micet Craft has reached cooperation with many breweries around the world, we can design and manufacture professional brewing systems for breweries, including cellar beer brewing equipment and other

Fermentation Tank

China stainless steel fermentation vessels manufacturer The fermentation tank is where the beer carry out the fermentation process, it provides a place suitable for life activities and metabolism for microorganisms. To adapt to the use of different sizes of breweries, Micet Craft produced a variety of sizes and specifications of fermentation tanks. Customers can choose

Bright Beer Tank

Professional bright Beer tank manufacturer from China The bright tank is a vessel for storing and carbonated beer, it is also called the brite tank. The bright tank is an important part of the workflow of professional beer brewers. It can be used to store and carbonate beer, thus eliminating the trouble of cleaning beer

Brewing Equipment

China brewing equipment manufacturer and suppliers Micet Craft has cooperated with breweries in many countries around the world to provide them with brewing equipment. We provide customers with turnkey brewery solutions, which include designing, manufacturing and installing customized breweries. The Micet Craft team has decades of experience in the manufacturing of brewing equipment, we not

Can regular dish soap be used to clean brewery equipment?

Brewhouse Equipment

Best brewhouse equipment manufacturer from china Brewing good beer requires brewhouse equipment. Whether you are brewing beer for home, business or brewery, Micet Craft can provide a turnkey solution according to the daily output you need. We have brewhouse equipment with 2 vessels, 3 vessels and 4 vessels, the unique design allows you to do decoction

Beer Filling Machine

Professional beer filling machine manufacturer Beer filling machine is the core equipment of the beer production line. Our beer filling system uses stainless steel as the production material. Stainless steel is not easy to wear, and it is easy to clean. Micet Craft provides you with a cheap and efficient way of filling beer. We

Beer Brewing System

Best beer brewing system manufacturer from china Micet Craft is a professional beer brewing system manufacturer in China. We mainly produce high-end customized turnkey brewing systems. Whether you are planning to open a nano-brewery, microbrewery, or commercial brewery, we can provide you with the most complete turnkey solution. Our beer brewing systems are all price-competitive