Despite what your parents may have taught you, sometimes it pays to be late. Sure, there are certain things for which it’s generally best to err on the side of punctuality: flight departures, job interviews, your first wedding, etc. But sometimes running a little behind is healthy, too. After all, who wants to arrive early to the party and spend half an hour entertaining oneself with the overzealous poodle until everyone else gets there? Not that I’ve ever been guilty of this myself…
Lateness definitely pays off when brewing with malt extract. What I mean is that reserving some of a recipe’s extract for late in the boil (usually the final 10 to 15 minutes) can improve the quality of your extract-based beer. How, exactly, you ask?
Hops Utilization
Hops utilization is probably the most often cited reason for performing late extract additions. The degree to which alpha acids in hops are converted to iso-alpha acids (compounds responsible for bitterness) during the boil is inversely related to wort gravity: The higher the gravity, the less isomerization takes place.