Burnt taste in wort

[hathro]

Hi all,

I brewed a DSGA with rye and cubed it. After the brew, there was wort scorched onto my element. It cut out a few times during the boil. Fast forward to today, I took a sample then pitched the yeast. The sample was sweet like wort but had a disgusting burnt aftertaste. Is it worth seeing this one out or pitching it? Anything I can do at this stage?

Also I've seen threads like this and they all seem to name rye as the culprit as it doesn't happen with their other brews?

 

[peas_and_corn]

You've come this far, might as well ferment it as well. Right now the only thing to do is wait and see, really.

 

[droid]

+1 but the crazy part is that even if its not there when you crack one you'll still be able to taste it, suspicious minds and all

 

[Markbeer]

Hi

How would one avoid it then if you still wanted to use Rye? Switch to gas for that batch?

Or use an over the side element?

 

[sp0rk]

The best measure would be to build or buy a voltage regulator and have a sparky wire it up for you
This way you can lower the input voltage and have a less intense boil, which should hopefully stop the scorching you're getting
This seems to be a very popular voltage controller
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/181228222375?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649
If you decide to wire it yourself (if you do, at least have a sparky look it over), make sure you earth everything properly including the kettle

Out of curiosity, what element are you using?

 

[hathro]

I'm using a 40L buffalo hot water urn, modified.

I noticed this time there were "bits" floating around in the wort during the boil. Much like the skin you get on hot milk. I've done several brews and they all come out fine and all without bits floating around, the only difference here was using rye...

 

[Markbeer]

On my next rye barleywine I will try an over the side and pull it out occasionally to check for burning.

i can only think that if the crap lands on the bottom it wont be landing on my concealed element to burn.

 

[manticle]

Unplug it before pulling it out.

 

[hathro]

Update: This has been frementing for two weeks and the burnt flavour has died off a lot. Once dry hopped and carbonated, it shouldn't be that noticable.

 

[Hopnsandles]

G'day Guys , I had a similar experience with my new all grain brewery . I was trying to be smart and adjust the temp using the controller and with not enough wort in the mash tun I BURNT the wet grain ; only for 10-15 seconds . Threw a wobly , rang my brother and he told me to push on and finish it . I'm sooooo glad I did . It's the best American Smoked IPA I have ever tasted . Sometimes your mistakes can turn out to be Great Successes .

 

[Moog]

Hmmm, interesting that you've heard this about rye, Iam just preparing a recipe for my next brew, and was going to use 5% or 10% rye, in an evil twin hop flood based beer.
My BIAB is electric, but I do have a power controller on it but usually leave it flat out.
Is that the general advise then..........turn the boil down as much as poss?
I guess if you had an ULWD element you wouldn't need to worry...

 

[hathro]

Hopnsandles, I agree. This turned out to be a cracking beer!

 

[mosto]

I have a 2200 element in my kettle. The Mrs kept telling me all my beers tasted like ash, but I couldn't pick it up so told her she was full of shit . However, I did notice the burnt / ashy taste on a CPA clone I did. Was not a great beer, drinkable, but not great. Still hadn't figured the problem out when did my next batch, which was a Dr Smurto Landlord. The burnt taste was more pronounced, but added a wonderful smokiness to the beer and was one of the best beers I've made. So much so I plan to add a small amount of smoked malt to an ESB in the future.

I eventually realised that, despite cleaning the element in the kettle, some burnt wort had built up on the bottom of my element with each brew. It took some Gumption cream and a fair bit of scrubbing to get back to how it should be. Now I pull it out after each brew and give it a proper clean and haven't had any further problems.