I added too many bittering hops for an IPA I have boiling now. If I bump the boil length down to 45 from 60 minutes will I run into any ill effects? I'm not using any pilsner malts.
I would probably shorten the boil a little. 45 minutes may be safe. Hard to say without knowing how your 2-row was kilned. But be sure to cool your wort as quickly as possible.
The off flavor DMS (canned corn...think Rolling Rock) would be the main concern with shortening the boil. If you had some DME laying around you could add that towards the end of the boil, thus raising the gravity and providing more sweetness to balance out the increased bitterness.
Not ideal. As others here said, I would lean more toward raising o.g. to balance. Not only will the shorter boil risk off flavors, it will also reduce the Maillard reactions that happen in the kettle. These are very important even in hop-forward beers. Honestly, I rarely boil for less than 90 minutes any more. When I first started experimenting with longer boil times, I had my doubts that it would do anything at all, but I'm a believer now. It's not unusual for me to go 120 minutes with lower O.G. and more malt-forward beers. Also, once you have the foam under control, crank that shit up. Boil more vigorously.
if bittering is your problem, shortening your boil by 15 minutes is not the solution. a 45 minute boil is not ideal and really doesn't solve anything but rather causes additional headaches. go get yourself some DME or send out the wife if needed. or, enjoy the bitterness. its not the end of the world with an IPA afteerv all. what bitterning hop are you using? you may end up plessantly surprised. Cheers.
oh well . I boiled 45 minutes and my IBUs are still over 100. Hopefully the hops can cover up any potential off flavors. I wish I had come back and read some more responses earlier.
as long as you maintained a good rolling boil and cooled your wort quickly as VikeMan indicated you shouldn't have any problems with off flavors.
