burnt brew

After about 20 successful brews (extract) I had a really rough brew day last Sunday. First, as I steeped a pound of oatmeal in my stout I left the bag to sit a few minutes. It stuck to the bottom of the pot and when I pulled on it, it tore emptying the oatmeal in the wort. Then about 1/2 way through the boil I added about 3/4 cup of bakers cocoa but didn't remove the pot from the burner. ...at any rate, when I went to cool the wort I had a bunch of burnt in it. I strained the wort cleaning it up but it tasted really, really burnt (the bottom of the pot was pretty fried.) Is there anything I can add when I keg that might help mask the burnt taste? I don't think I can bear to throw out 5 gallons of beer!!! Thanks

Uhhh.. maybe some liquid smoke? Smoke flavor?

Just a thought. Probably a bad one.

Not much you can do about it except give it some time. I accidentally burned some extract once, and the beer actually turned out pretty good - it had an unexpected roasty flavor, but it wasn't bad at all.

If it's still too "burnt" tasting at bottling time, you could try back-sweetening with lactose. That might help a little...

The killer is that it could turn out to be your best batch ever, and there's no way you could possibly duplicate it.

Hopefully it will turn out fine. It may take some time to age, though.

Thanks for the encouragement...what do you think about one of those little 4 oz bottles of fruit flavored flavoring..Maybe a raspberry or cherry oatmeal stout? Or, if it's gonna be burnt I'd probably just end up with a burnt fruit flavored stout. I'm not too hopefull it will turn out roasty tasting at this point...it tasted pretty burnt when I tasted it....

Don't jump the gun by adding flavorings now. Let it ferment and age out a little. Decide later if it needs something more.

I agree. don't flavor yet.

And, if you do... don't do something like fruit. There is no way in heck that you're going to cover up the flavor. What you need to do is find something that compliments it.

It's sort of like telling a fat girl she has a pretty smile. That is far more effective than trying to find her a bikini that fits.

Fruit is that bikini. Just find something that compliments her smile and let it be whatever it is...

Damn Squirrels said:

It's sort of like telling a fat girl she has a pretty smile. That is far more effective than trying to find her a bikini that fits.

Fruit is that bikini. Just find something that compliments her smile and let it be whatever it is...

Click to expand...

Oh god, I'm gonna die laughing!!!!

Damn Squirrels said:

It's sort of like telling a fat girl she has a pretty smile. That is far more effective than trying to find her a bikini that fits.

Click to expand...

...and dumping the batch is admitting that you don't wanna see her naked. You know you do...

Hey... Haven't we all ridden a scooter at one time or another?

I scortched a 5 gallon extract batch once. and I mean I SCORTCHED IT. I had to chisel the burn off the bottom of my kettle. I added the extract to my keggle running full blast with 150k burner. I waited until it all dripped and scortched to the bottom of the kettle before I stirred.

The result was a very dark, scortched brew. I thought it was a failure, but i thought i would pitch the yeast and go trough the motions.

I ended up loving it. And if you think about it... scorched extract is nearly the same as a roasted grain, the sugars become more complex. Anywho, that was the best pilsner i ever brewed.

So chipper up, if all else you can say its a scottish ale


Also another worse case scenario is to make a very light beer and mix the two when they are aging. That way you will have 10 gallons of lightly scortched beer

You might have to let it age for a few months. But that burnt taste will mellow out over time. A friend brewed a scorched brew and let it sit for a few months. Tastes all right. Also, the scorched taste isn't to much different than smoked alder (rauchbier) beer.

Thanks, everyone...for the advice and the chuckles!