Is it ok to boil down to final volume?

[Yettiman]

Still very new to BIAB, and still dialing in my system. I have been over shooting my target pre boil volume and then boiling down to my final volume.

Is this good or bad practice?

I normally make heavy chewy dark beers so if the only issue (if there is one) is potential caremalisation, that will be fine.mi would like to know though, as I am going to attempt a Blonde some time this year.

Any advice, gratefully received.

[Blackaddler]

Boiling for longer, to reduce volume, shouldn't be a problem.

[Belter]

+1 done this loads of times

[mysterio]

I would go as far to say that longer boils (within reason) can only be good for beer. Even with pale lagers, any colour pick up is minimal.

[AnthonyUK]

If you're hitting your OG or as close as then fine.

[Yettiman]

Huge thanks,, I am trying to 'dial in the system' but I had hoped it was ok and safer to boil down, than dilute up

Again many thanks

[barney]

The only consideration that you must make is that for the bitterness calculation from your hop addition.
If the beer IBU was calculated from a 60 minute addition then a longer boil ie. 90 minutes will effect more alpha acids from the hops and increase the IBU. Only a slight problem, but worthy of consideration.

[Yettiman]

Great point Barney, totally forgotten about the effects of a prolonged boli on the hops, either the bitterling or aroma.

Thank you

[boingy]

Just take a guess at your extra boil time and adjust the hops to suit. It's not a precise science, 10 minutes either way on the hops won't make much difference. Once you are over the hour mark there is not that much extra bitterness to extract anyway.

If you are only overshooting by a small amount (10% ?) you could always opt to have a slightly larger quantity of a slightly weaker beer. I've done this in the past with good results. It saves time, fuel and steam!

But definitely work on your process to get closer to your target volumes, even if it means your efficiency drops a little. Making beer is easy. Making consistent beer is a much bigger challenge.

[Redimpz]

Sounds like a standard practice to me, create extra wort and boil down to the volume you want. if you take notes when you do your first attempt you'll know how long it'll take etc you can then adjust your hop times accordingly.
I would like to be able to do this method myself but my pot size stops me.
If you know how much finished wort you are looking for you could make a measuring stick which could take some of the guesswork out of it.