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GCB (C&F/CSK) 2009: Section 3: Wort boiling

Institute of Brewing and Distilling

General Certificate in Brewing (GCB)
Section 3
Wort Boiling.
3.1 Wort Boiling

When the wort has been separated from the malt husk, it is boiled. There are
several important reasons for doing this:-

• To sterilise the wort. Malted barley is contaminated with moulds, and

bacteria mainly on its surface. These contaminants are extracted into the
wort and need to be destroyed.

• To stabilise the wort. The enzymes that converted the starch into sugar and
the protein into amino acid will continue to work. Boiling stops any enzymic
action and fixes the mixture of sugars that has been created.

• To evaporate away the unpleasant aromas that are associated with the
wort. DMS, the sulphury character found in lagers is generated on the malt
kiln and during boiling, it is also evaporated off in the copper/kettle.
Aldehydes, the substances that give beer an unpleasant straw/grassy
aroma are evaporated off.

• To dissolve the bittering resins from the hops and to stabilise them.
(See Section 3.2).

• To denature and coagulate some of the protein derived from the malt.
Protein has the potential to make packaged beer go cloudy as it ages. Its
removal it at this stage will protect the beer’s stability.

• To develop wort colour and flavour through the action of heat on sugars
and amino acids (the chemical reaction between sugars and amino acids is
known as the Maillard Reaction).

• Finally, and most importantly, to increase the strength or concentration of

the wort. Wort concentration is a factor in ensuring that the chemical
changes described above actually occur. It is also important in the
production of strong beers whose original gravity is higher than that of the
wort coming from the wort separation system.

© The Institute of Brewing and Distilling, November 2008 (version 2009)

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GCB (C&F/CSK) 2009: Section 3: Wort boiling

Kettle (Copper) additions.

The boiling stage is the correct time to add certain other raw materials and
process aids to the brew:-

• Hops or hop extracts are added because the bitter resins

(alpha acids) dissolve better in hot wort. These alpha acids need to be
modified by ‘isomerisation’ reactions which are heat induced to stabilise the
bitterness that is typical of beer flavour.

• Liquid adjuncts like sugar are added here because they need to be
dissolved and well mixed. They also need to be sterilised by the boiling
wort.

• Copper finings is an additive that improves the way that the protein
coagulates during the boil. Copper finings are made from natural products
that contain carrageenan, an example being seaweed. Copper finings help
wort protein molecules to clump together and form ‘break’, the flocs or trub
which settles out and can be easily removed from the wort.

Notes.
Draw a diagram of the copper in a brewhouse that you are familiar with.
What type of heater does it have?
What raw materials are added to the copper in the brewhouse that you are
familiar with?
What effect do they have on the wort and beer produced?
What process aids are added to the wort in your brewery? At what stage are
they added and why?
What effect do these process aids have on the worts and beers produced?

© The Institute of Brewing and Distilling, November 2008 (version 2009)

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GCB (C&F/CSK) 2009: Section 3: Wort boiling

4.2 Hops and Hop Bitterness

Hops.
Hops are only essential to the brewing process in that they impart flavour to
the beer. Up to the years 1400/1500, 'ale' was brewed in England without the
use of the hop as an ingredient.
Hopping of beers grew in popularity, not only because of the flavour but also
because of the plant's antiseptic properties and now its use is universal.
The hop develops very bitter resins and oils around the seeds of the cone
which is the fruit of the plant.

Resin (alpha acid)

Cone
leaf

Seeds
Cone

These resins are dissolved when hops are added to the process and remain
as a strong flavour component of the finished beer.
The resin, whose technical name is α acid (alpha acid), is modified during the
boiling process where it changes to isomerised α acid, which is both more
bitter and more soluble than the original α acid. The isomerised form is more
stable and it survives in the finished beer to give the beer its bitter flavour. It
can be measured as parts per million of ‘Isohumulone (EBU)’; this unit is
internationally recognised as a measure of the beer’s bitterness.

Hop oils are aromatic and give beer its hoppy ‘nose’ and character. They are,
however very volatile and will be distilled off along with the other vapours in
the copper unless added late in the boil. Beers with a strong hop aroma are
likely to have been late hopped, dry hopped (that is hops added to the cask)
or have had hop oil added at an appropriate stage in beer processing.

Hop products.

Whole hops can be added to the copper but commercial 'extracts' from the
hop resins and oils are also a popular means of bittering beers.
Whole hops tend to lose their brewing value during storage, even when dried
and kept in a cold store, but extracting the brewing value, either as
α acid or hop oil will overcome the storage problem.

Hop Extracts are made by dissolving the α acid in either ethanol or more likely
liquid carbon dioxide. Hop extract may not contain much of the aromatic hop

© The Institute of Brewing and Distilling, November 2008 (version 2009)

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GCB (C&F/CSK) 2009: Section 3: Wort boiling

oil; however when added to the copper it gives the following advantages over
whole hops:-

• The extract has a known α acid content so bitterness control is more

accurate.
• Storage is easier because the extract occupies a much smaller space than
the large bags (pockets) of whole hops.
• The hop extract does not deteriorate as it gets older.
A disadvantage is that there is no filter bed formed by the spent hops if
a hop back is used during wort production.

Hop pellets are made by pelletising the hops after most extraneous matter
has been removed. The pellets are then vacuum packed which helps to
preserve the brewing value. Hop pellets contain the essential material from
the original hops including the aromatic oils and their use is widespread.
The advantages that hop pellets have over whole hops are:-

• The pellets have a known α acid content so bitterness control is more

accurate.
• Storage is easier because the packs occupy less space than the large bags
(pockets) of whole hops.
• All the brewing value of the hops (α acid and hop oil) is present after the
pelletisation process.
• The hops deteriorate much more slowly during storage.
• Processing of pellets is cheaper than extracting.

Isomerised hop extract is made by processing hop extract in a specialised

plant so that the isomerisation that normally takes place in the copper during
boiling is achieved before the hops are added. In this way the beer can be
hopped at the end of the process and the losses that occur during brewing are
avoided.

The advantages of using pre-isomerised extract are the same as those for the
use of extract but with added savings from better hop utilisation.
There is a view however, that the flavour from pre-isomerised extract is
inferior to the more traditional hopping methods.
Pre-isomerised extract can also be used to adjust low beer bitterness after
processing.

Pre-isomerised extract in a ‘reduced’ form (for example tetrahop) is used

because it is not affected by ultraviolet and therefore the beer will not develop
a ‘skunky’ flavour in sunlight.
Ultraviolet light normally penetrates clear or green bottles but not those made
from brown glass.
Beers treated with tetrahop also exhibit enhanced foam stability.

© The Institute of Brewing and Distilling, November 2008 (version 2009)

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GCB (C&F/CSK) 2009: Section 3: Wort boiling

Hop oils are made by distilling off the aromatics from hops. They are added to
fully processed beer to impart a ‘hoppy’ character.

Hop Utilisation.

Hop utilisation is a measure of the efficiency of hop use. The calculation is

made by comparing the amount of α acid added to the beer in ppm to the
level of bitterness in the final product in EBU (which is also in ppm of
isohumulone).

• Beer bitterness is measured in parts per million (ppm) of iso α acid in the
beer. α acid is added from the hops and our hops contained 10% α acid.
Only a proportion of the added α acid ends up in the beer, in the example
below there is a 50% utilisation which means that half the amount of α acid
that is added is lost.

Hops α acid content of 10%. 50,000 X 25 = 2.5 kg of α acid.

Utilisation of 50%. 1,000,000 X 50%

2.5 = 25 kg of hops.
10%

Hop utilisation is affected by the pH of the wort or beer, the effectiveness of

the boil and the amount of bitterness absorbed by trub and yeast.

Notes.
What types of hops or hop products are used in the brewery that you are
familiar with?
At what stage of the boiling process are they added?
What level of hop utilisation is achieved in the brewery that you are familiar
with?

© The Institute of Brewing and Distilling, November 2008 (version 2009)

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GCB (C&F/CSK) 2009: Section 3: Wort boiling

4.3 Wort Boiling Systems.

Coppers or kettles are designed to provide a vigorous or ‘rolling’ boil and to be
energy efficient. There are two main types, those with the heating element
inside the vessel and those with it outside. A feature of copper design takes
into account the problem that the heating surfaces become fouled very quickly
with deposits from the wort.

Coppers with internal heating elements:-

Copper with
Copper with Copper with heating coil fitted
heating coil. heating jacket. into 'fountain'.
Poor circulation. Circulation Vigorous
improved by circulation.
agitation.

Coppers with external heating elements. The external heater consists of a

shell and tube heat exchanger with the wort running through the tubes. The
fast flow of wort helps to keep the tubes clean.

© The Institute of Brewing and Distilling, November 2008 (version 2009)

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GCB (C&F/CSK) 2009: Section 3: Wort boiling

Copper with external heater

gives a vigorous boil.
The pump can be switched off
once circulation is achieved to
reduce 'shear' on the wort.
Combined copper/whirlpool
gives a whirling boil.
This systems saves the need
for a wort receiver.

The wort boiling process consumes a major proportion of the heat energy
(steam) used in the brewery (see module 6.3) and so boiling vessels
(kettles/coppers) are designed to be energy efficient. Relevant design
features include the following characteristics:-
• They will be insulated.
• Heat will be recovered from the vapour evaporated from the wort.
• Heating surfaces will be easy to clean and will be designed to avoid the
build up of soil.

© The Institute of Brewing and Distilling, November 2008 (version 2009)