Why boil for 1 hour? Why not just boil for a few minutes?
A boil of one hour may seem excessive, but it is vital in producing beer with a well-developed hop character and stable, clean flavor. Short boils as specified by some beginner kits do not allow the beer to develop its true stability and hop character. Brewing is as much an art of shaping as of mixing. Malt and hops are not merely combined in hot water to form wort, they are boiled vigorously for 1 hour, ridding the malt through collision and coagulation of its raw haze and off-flavor causing proteins, and evaporating excessive aromatic hop oils while converting insoluble hop alpha acids into clean dissolved hop flavor. Like a lengthy slow simmer develops the flavor and texture of a delicate sauce, a vigorous boil shapes the flavor and polishes the look of beer.
