Burned Wort

[Yob]

Afternoon all... a few months back I tried doing a 2x23lt side by side single hop comparison. Perle and Cascade.

Ive been blending them for a while with good results but wanted to know what they were like on their own..

When boiling my wort from the spec grains (BigW 19lt pot) I was perhaps (assuredly) a little lax on stirring to keep from burning the bottom, when all was said and done and the mix went into the fermenters I was upset to find several scalding 'rings' on the bottom of the pot :angry:

If it wasnt for the creed of 'you brew it, you drink it' they would almost certainly have gone down the sink.. I couldnt bring myself to throw em and have been making my way slowly through 40lt of almost the crappest beer Ive ever made..

Im not very good at describing the taste of it, but the first ones out of the cupboard made me want to spit after each mouthful.. drinkg it outside became very important.. :icon_vomit:

has anyone else destroyed a brew like this? Did it get better over time? to my tase buds it does appear to be getting better but I may just be getting used to it... will be happy to never do it again and Ive become alot more careful with boiling the wort...

I guess a little investment in a better pot will go a long way

 

[Dave70]

Don't Stone & Wood plonk hot river stones in the wort to get the same effect for their 'Stone Beer'? (ha ha, now I get it..)

You must have really had the burner cranking to scald the bottom of a 23l batch of wort.

Guess I'll shelve the idea of using the oxy / acetylene heating torch then.

 

[black_labb]

I was distracted by a couple things and did a near 3hour boil on a hefeweizen. Not stirring and the long boil allowed some trub to settle onto the element and give the wort a burnt flavour. I added a touch of ginger (boiled in water then filtered) which I added to the ferment. The burnt flavour seemed to settle out and I now have a ginger weizen. I cant taste the burnt flavour but I've only had one that wasnt properly carbed yet (bottled 1 week ago, drank the first 2 nights ago to see if the flavour was bad).

Sounds like you werent so lucky

 

[Nick JD]

There's no way I could burn the wort with my stove's element. I can get it to 100C though - not much above that though because of the 95% water.

 

[unrealeous]

If it wasnt for the creed of 'you brew it, you drink it' they would almost certainly have gone down the sink.. I couldnt bring myself to throw em and have been making my way slowly through 40lt of almost the crappest beer Ive ever made..

This is crazy talk. Life is too short to be drinking rubbish. Tip it out, brew another batch, move on - There are better ways to punish yourself.

 

[browndog]

I'm pretty sure you can't burn wort and slightly caramelising it should make it spittable. More likely an infection of some kind.

 

[aaronpetersen]

I didn't know people stirred the wort during the boil. Is that common? I know I've never done it and I've never had burnt tasting beer. Maybe my burner isn't grunty enough (italian spiral on low pressure reg).

 

[HeavyNova]

I'm pretty sure you can't burn wort and slightly caramelising it should make it spittable. More likely an infection of some kind.

Hi Browndog,

I've only recently become aware of 'kettle caramelisation'. What do you mean by "spittable"?

 

[Dave70]

I was distracted by a couple things and did a near 3hour boil on a hefeweizen.

Distractions during the boil can end badly.
I recall being distracted one afternoon when my wife popped down to the garage in a rather amorous mood.
But whats 3 minutes on a 90 minute boil..

 

[argon]

Hi Browndog,

I've only recently become aware of 'kettle caramelisation'. What do you mean by "spittable"?

i think he means that caramelisation should not make it spittable... ie unpleasant to consume

 

[Pennywise]

I didn't know people stirred the wort during the boil. Is that common? I know I've never done it and I've never had burnt tasting beer. Maybe my burner isn't grunty enough (italian spiral on low pressure reg).

I only stir a few times while it's comming up to the boil, once it starts a rolling boil, you shouldn't need to stir it, it's doing it itself, thats why they call it a rolling boil.

:icon_offtopic: What volumes are you boiling with that low pressure reg?

 

[HeavyNova]

i think he means that caramelisation should not make it spittable... ie unpleasant to consume

Cheers. I just wasn't sure if it was some special brewing term or not.

 

[aaronpetersen]

I only stir a few times while it's comming up to the boil, once it starts a rolling boil, you shouldn't need to stir it, it's doing it itself, thats why they call it a rolling boil.

:icon_offtopic: What volumes are you boiling with that low pressure reg?

It'll do a 23 L batch no problem. Haven't tried anything bigger yet.

 

[browndog]

Hi Browndog,

I've only recently become aware of 'kettle caramelisation'. What do you mean by "spittable"?

woops, I mean should not make it spittable (going off the OP saying he wanted to spit it out) kettle caramelisation adds complexity to the malt and is good thing unless you are makeing an ultra blonde nocarb no taste lager thingy

 

[haysie]

I dont agree the boil is an issue here. If the beer is that ********* that it is spittable. It would be a fermentation/yeast issue.

 

[manticle]

I'm pretty sure you can't burn wort and slightly caramelising it should make it spittable. More likely an infection of some kind.

Caramelisation/maillard reduction type thingys are lovely but you most certainly can burn wort.

I've over caramelised my reductions before and it's stinky, black, crusty and burnt. I think Scruffy once reduced his entire pot to black crust after falling asleep and letting the boil go 8 hours.

 

[goomboogo]

iamozziyob, can you clarify whether this beer is full mash or extract with specialty grain?

 

[haysie]

I think Scruffy once reduced his entire pot to black crust after falling asleep and letting the boil go 8 hours.

Thats cause he was drunk!

 

[manticle]

No chance

 

[browndog]

Caramelisation/maillard reduction type thingys are lovely but you most certainly can burn wort.

I've over caramelised my reductions before and it's stinky, black, crusty and burnt. I think Scruffy once reduced his entire pot to black crust after falling asleep and letting the boil go 8 hours.

I meant burn wort in practical terms.