Scorched?

I just cooked up my first batch of extract. I was working off of a Fat Tire clone recipe (HERE) Overall, it seems like things went OK, but the wort is nearly black - far too dark wind up as a coppery, amber beer like Fat Tire. I am wondering if the guy who put together my grain order (at the LBS) screwed up, or if I possibly scorched the DME when I put it in. I realize now that I left the (gas range) burner on while adding the DME, so I could have scorched it, but I actively stirred the whole time, and did not wind up with a lot of stuff stuck to the kettle bottom like I would experience when scorching pasta sauce or milk, etc.

Can anyone tell me how to tell if I have scorched the DME and ruined my beer? The smell definitely has dark edge to it, but not outside of what I might expect from a dark porter or stout (a little nutty, chocolatey, smokey, etc.).

Don't worry. It sounds like you did things sufficiently. The wort always looks darker than you would expect your first few times. As an entire batch, it will look dark. In a glass, it will be much lighter in color due

Did you have black residue on the bottom of your pot? If so, you scorched it a bit. It's probably not an issue though. You just lost a little sugar to the beer gods. We all have to make our offerings as noobs.

If you didn't, you will next time or the time after that. It's not usually a big deal unless you leave a half inch thick layer of burnt sugar on the bottom of the pot. Extract is just prone to scorching.

Hint: Use heavy duty Easy-Off to clean the black stuff out of your pot.

Nah. No black stuff on the bottom of the kettle. Cleanup was a quick rinse. But the wort is pretty well black. Looks almost like a Guinness.

Fermentation is rolling along nicely, though.

InsubordinateK was probably right then. It's just that you're looking through five gallons instead of a pint.