Burnt Beer...

[L_Power]

Hi guys.

Long story short, new to all grain brewing tried my first decoction in conjunction with my home made false bottom.
Messed up the volume calculations and missed desired temp by 10 deg. or so resulting in the need to apply heat to my tun.
False bottom wasn't sitting right and a heap of mash got stuck under it subsequently burning.

Tasted OK before the boil, but now it has fermented and sat in the fridge for a couple of weeks i can detect an obvious burnt toast flavor. Was supposed to be a pilsener, only used saaz in the boil.

Is there anything i can do to rescue this batch?

Thanks.

 

[Phoney]

I've got a Rye IPA that's been sitting in the keg for 2 months now that has a burnt toast flavour. It fades a bit, but not enough.

You can try dry hop it to buggery to mask the flavour, thats about it.

 

[L_Power]

Thanks.
Can you recommend a variety of hop?

 

[ben_sa]

Dry hop the **** out of it in the keg?

Wont end up being much of a pils though... Citra?

 

[Phoney]

Thanks.
Can you recommend a variety of hop?

What have you got?

 

[benno1973]

I'd suggest that no matter what you do, there'll always be a background burnt flavour. Depending how far it's gone (toasty is fine and good, burnt toast is acrid and horrible) depends on how possible it is to salvage.

As mentioned, dry hopping is an easy option to test. Requires little work and can make quite a difference. Choose a pungent hop and, while it won't be a pilsener, it might be a drinkable beer which is what you're aiming for here. Good hops here would be any American C hops (Cascade, Centennial, etc), Amarillo, Citra, Riwaka, Nelson Sauvin, etc.

If you've kegged it and you have other beers on tap, you can try mixing with another brew. i.e. 50/50 with a stout. Something strong and/or roasty might fit the bill. Easy to do directly in the glass, and it can be a surprising success.

Other than that, the options become a bit more complex and time-consuming (i.e. brewing a new beer for cutting) and generally aren't worth the effort IMO.

 

[L_Power]

got some cascade, but that is reserved for my pale ale, and some por... but that's staying in the fridge.
will have to buy some for this batch.

 

[Nick JD]

I burnt a Wit once heating a decoction too quickly without enough stirring. I know exactly the flavour you've got.

If it hadn't finished fermenting I reckon a way to fix it would be to do a quick steep/mash of a few hundred grams of smoked malt and add that to the fermenter. The smoked + toasty flavours would meld well, and it would taste "deliberate" in some way.

Smoked Pils? Sounds better than burnt pils...

 

[bkmad]

Maybe you could turn it into a shwartz beer. Steep some black malt or carafa for a bit, strain, give it a boil and add to the beer. The burnt flavour might go ok with some roasty flavour.

 

[black_labb]

I had a weizen that I boiled for 3 hours due to distractions and such that had a burnt flavour from burning on the element. I decided to add some ginger to mask it. The beer ended up fine and it didn't take long for the flavours to come together and the ginger wasn't even noticeable nevermind the burnt flavours. I don't know if that would work as well with a pilsener though, and burnt grain is different from protein burning on the element.

 

[sim]

Probably not really rescuing it how you meant but, i would bottle up half the keg and use for cooking - stocks/stews/curry, and tip the other half. Its the beers that you have a problem with that hang around taking up prime fridge real estate. Chalk it up to experience, and get back to brewing a pils how you wanted it. :icon_cheers:

 

[newguy]

Smoked Pils? Sounds better than burnt pils...

+1. Rauchpils. If anyone asks, say it was intentional.