Noob Mistakes

Well, I finished my first brew (Amber Ale clone) on Saturday and I have to admit I'm pretty nervous. I came through some small but significant problems. First, was a little bit of scorching. I'd say there was a burn that had like a 5 inch diameter at the bottom after I dumped the wort in the fermentor. In addition, I made the mistake of covering the pot maybe 30 min into the boil and it boiled over. I'm afraid I lost some of the bittering hops. Is my beer gonna taste bit off?

Its monday and fermenting seems to be moving along smoothly, I see bubbling. I just hope my beer doesnt taste like burnt sugar!

relax don't worry have a beer, in the end it will definitely come out as beer, and since you have no point of reference it will probably taste fine to you.

I'm sure it'll be fine. May be a little darker than you expected because of the caramelizing when it burned but should taste fine.

About 80% of the bittering occurs in the first 30 minutes, so you won't taste any difference in an amber ale.
If you can't taste the scortch in the wort, you won't taste it in the finished beer.

Sounds like good news guys thanks for the responses!

:rockin:

With my 3rd batch I had the same problem in my kettle, and the beer turned out great! It was a strong stout, and defintely lived up to its name!!!!

good luck with your brew, as I just did my first obrew on friday i feel your concern. Did you sample it prior to pitching the yeast,mine tasted like watery oatmeal. hoping yeast does their jobs. again good luck don't worrry

I use a thin stainless pot and get "some" scorching, but it hasn't been a problem yet. Last batch I used a bigger Alum. pot and it worked well with no scorching at all.

As far as covering, not only did you increase the chance of boiling over, you maybe prevented the DMS from being boiled out, so leave the cover off!

Some folks have used a spray bottle with water in it, to knock the foam down at the start of the boil. I've had varying degrees of success with this. Others use a substance that keeps it from foaming in the first place. Never tried that. I usually just watch it and turn the heat down a bit when it starts climbing the sides.

Of course the new larger alum pot is much taller, so I don't really have to worry about it for extract beers.