Every "mistake" is a learning experience. So what will I learn from this?

Oops, after steeping and removing the grain flavor at 165 degrees F, I was supposed to bring the water to a boil and then add the extract (all extract brew). Oops. I removed the grain at 165 and added the extracts then. Oops. Oh well. Brought to a boil and continued.

What do you predict I will learn?

You'll either learn what burnt extract taste like, or simply how to make a beer darker than it should be.

And

You'll learn to do late additions.

Maybe how to clean burnt extract from the bottom of your brew kettle?
Dang treed

i don't think thats going to matter much with your final product. extract is a lot more forgiving and adding before the boil probably only raised the possibility of scorching very slightly. everything should be fine.

hopefully you have learned that you have a lot to learn. Confucious say, true knowledge is to know the extent of one's own ignorance. (chinese accent)

woozy said:

What do you predict I will learn?

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sometimes mistakes aren't that bad.

you'll learn that you really have to try to ruin your beer to actually ruin it

GrogNerd said:

you'll learn that you really have to try to ruin your beer to actually ruin it

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I agree, unless the extract was burnt on the bottom if the kettle, it won't have too much affect on the final product.

The only reason to bring the liquid to a boil, take it off the heat and then add the extract, is to make it easier to stir in. It doesn't matter if you add it at boiling or at 165 degrees. It's all the same.

One thing I would suggest for next time is to add the majority of the extract at the end of the boil, so the beer has less of a "cooked extract" taste. Extract doesn't need to boil at all- the purpose of the boil is to isomerize the hops- so you can add the bulk of it at the end with great results.

>> so the beer has less of a "cooked extract" taste.

See, I figured that adding the extract 12 or so minutes earlier at a lower temperature and bringing to a boil would have some degree of "cooked extract" taste. I wasn't sure how much nor exactly what the quality of "cooked extract" would be in practical terms.

So I guess, my actual question was: Now that I have down this what are the likely effects and what should I look out for in the final product. A "cooked extract" taste, more so that usual? Nothing at all?

Scorching? Well, I brought it to a boil while constantly stirring so that wasn't an issue. Kettle was a breeze to clean.

>>>One thing I would suggest for next time is to add the majority of the extract at the end of the boil, so the beer has less of a "cooked extract" taste. Extract doesn't need to boil at all- the purpose of the boil is to isomerize the hops- so you can add the bulk of it at the end with great results.

Really? Interesting. But obviously you need *some* malt to isomerize the hops. So, what, maybe 3/4 of the extract in the last 10 minutes?

woozy said:

But obviously you need *some* malt to isomerize the hops. So, what, maybe 3/4 of the extract in the last 10 minutes?

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I don't know that "obviously" you need malt to isomerize hops. Hops oils can isomerize in plain water, plus if you steep grains there would be some sugars in there as well.

But I know that many brewers do use a pound or two of extract in the beginning and the rest at flame out. I don't think there is any real science to hops isomerization in doing that, though.

Your beer will be the same adding the extract before boiling as after- after all, you take the pot off of the heat to add the extract anyway. It's just faster to come to a boil if you bring the liquid to a boil first.

OP: sound like you are going to be fine, thankfully.

But some of these responses brought up a couple questions from me.

1. Are you saying you don't need to actually boil the LME and DME for 60 minutes? What difference is there in the outcome? lighter/darker/less hoppier or aroma, more? Just add them both in the last 15 minutes, maybe?

2. One time (not ready to taste yet) I did not remove the kettle prior to dumping in the LME. So yes, the bottom burned. I think I caught it early enough, not sure yet. However, I did notice black burned pieces floating around, so I continued to scoop them all out. Hope that don't ruin my Honey Kolsch. Supposed to be for my summer!!!

>>> One time (not ready to taste yet) I did not remove the kettle prior to dumping in the LME.

Ah! Clarification. This error was really a dyslexic brain fart more than anything else.

I bought these ingredient kit and recipe from my local brewing store and they come with what I believe to be quite good and well written instructions. They include the instructions:

...
....

In my anticipation and eagerness (I'm still pretty now to this) when I removed the grains I pretty much skipped a line and did:

...
....
So, no, no scorching. It was really a matter of reading and then realizing "oh, crap". I never thought I'd actually ruined the beer but this is the first batch where I've been actively taking notes and I realized "well, better take a note of this and when the beer is done and in six weeks I'll note if this has an effect. It might be .... gee, I don't really have any idea what effect it might have. Be more carmalized????"
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>>>>1. Are you saying you don't need to actually boil the LME and DME for 60 minutes?

Apparently, yes, they are saying that! Apparently you don't need to boil it at all! And yes, it's news to me. But I went back to the instructions of my Mr. Beer Insta-kit (That was batch #0. It doesn't count as an actual batch) and reread and realized that, yeah, there you merely bring the water to a boil and take it off and add the pre-hopped malt extract to the hot water and that's it. No cooking at all!

Still, I'm having a hard time imagining boiling the hops without any malt. Seems counter intuitive to this noob (but I know that I don't know, so....) Also to add the malt you'd have take stop the boil, wouldn't you, and wouldn't this have an adverse effect on the hops? (In other words, we add the extract at the beginning only because that's the only window during the hop boil to do so???? But then you could do it *after* the hop boil, couldn't you?)

Out of curiosity I'd like to try this but unless I do a control batch at the same time (which is out of my ability as I only have one fermenter), I don't trust that I'll ever be able to evaluate the results.

But it is interesting, isn't it?
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BTW, this wasn't my only mistake. I forgot to toss in the irish moss at the 45 minute of the boil and tossed it in at the 52 minute (sigh... but I figure as long as it dissolved, the worst that can happen is it simply doesn't work). And between a thermometer tip here, a thumbprint inside the fermenter there, the teaspoon used in measuring yeast somewhere else, my sanitation is, while not exactly slovenly, not going to win any praise.

As stated before you have the steeping grains that belp with the hop utilisation. You can also add 1-2 pounds of the extract at the beginning if you want. Using all the extract for the full boil will darken the beer. A golden ale will look amber, an amber will look more like a brown. I believe you get a cleaner tasting beer using late extract additions. I now use late additions for all my extract beers. By late I mean at flameout, i tried at 50 min and did not like it.

I'll try it next time. This is a blonde ale and it looks rather dark (not that I mind; I like my beers amber) and my previous batch was an amber that *did* look rather brown (tasting at bottling time tasted exactly how I want an amber to taste however).

My SWMBO doesn't like dark beer...so she says anyway. So far her fav I brewed is my Scotch Ale and it is DARK and she doesn't like the patersbier thats a nice golden like a budlight and very easy to drink. (glad it dont taste like BL) Go figure...

Anyway adding the late additions at flame out is a lot easier in that you dont have to bring it back to a boil to finish your Hop boil clock. Just slowly pour it in while stirring to get it mixed well. chill, dump in fermentor, top off, aerate and pitch.

Enjoy a homebrew or 5 and wait

Took a sample gravity reading tonight which means I got 6 oz. of flat beer to drink or throw away. I have really high hopes for this. Beautiful color not at all dark and incredibly clear (at least compared to my first batch) and a very smooth mellow flavor with no bitterness.