Open Fire Boiling

Has anyone tried to boil on an open wood fire? I have a fire pit and this spring I am thinking of giving it a try. If so did any smokey flavors come out?

I would be very wary about temperature control, especially during protein rest and conversion.

Or are you speaking about extract brewing?

All grain, strictly during boil. Everything else would be done as normal.

We did an extract porter over the campfire years ago. Very smoky tasting. It just took some time to mellow.

Conesus_Kid said:

We did an extract porter over the campfire years ago. Very smoky tasting. It just took some time to mellow.

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Im curious to know how any smoke flavor at all would come through in wort boiled over a camp fire. I mean, when cooking meats, they taste smokey because they are in direct contact with the smoke, but a kettle of wort? Wouldn't the smoke just rise around the kettle? Even if it were to billow around the top, the boiling process is constantly purging. Im not saying it didn't happen in your case, just curious to know how that would work.

Whenever cooking over a fire, a surprising amount of stuff always seems to end up in the pot from the fire, I would totally believe that wort cooked over a campfire would taste like it. I suppose that as long you aren't brewing up a light lager, this would be a fun experiment. I might like to give this a try myself

Check out the Nov 10th BBR episode on Stein Brewing...

http://www.basicbrewing.com/index.php?page=video

fretsforlife said:

Im curious to know how any smoke flavor at all would come through in wort boiled over a camp fire. I mean, when cooking meats, they taste smokey because they are in direct contact with the smoke, but a kettle of wort? Wouldn't the smoke just rise around the kettle? Even if it were to billow around the top, the boiling process is constantly purging. Im not saying it didn't happen in your case, just curious to know how that would work.

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The smoke just permeates everything. Main reason just standing around a campfire (not right above it) it will cause your clothing to smell like smoke. I've had an IPA that was open fire boiled and it was very very tasty. Tasted just like campfire.

I also think open fires kick up a ton of ash, which will get into your beer regardless of what you do.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f13/brewing-over-wood-fire-196648/

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f14/thinking-about-brewing-over-campfire-205300/

I don't know the reason it tasted smoky, but it definitely did. And more than a few ashes made their way into the bk!

For the people that have done this, how hard was it to control/maintain temperatures? Did you just get a big bed of coals and raise/lower pot as necessary? Then add wood chips to the coals for smoke flavor?

I've thought about a little liquid smoke or adding charred wood chips to the secondary to get a similar taste but with better temperature control.

SilentAutumn said:

For the people that have done this, how hard was it to control/maintain temperatures? Did you just get a big bed of coals and raise/lower pot as necessary? Then add wood chips to the coals for smoke flavor?

I've thought about a little liquid smoke or adding charred wood chips to the secondary to get a similar taste but with better temperature control.

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sounds like its just for the boil, so no temp control necessary.

Thanks a ton for the input. Im really looking forward to trying this once the 3 feet of snow in my backyard decides to melt.

didja ever do this? I'm calculating the logistics of moving my entire brewday outdoors:

Heat up the water in my kettle over wood fire then pour into cooler(tun) to cool down to correct temp. Once temp hits strike temp, dip my grain bag in and seal the cooler for mash time.

When mash is nearly done begin heating water in kettle over fire to sparge temp. Once mash is done, move kettle off heat then pull grain bag and dip in to sparge. Once sparge is done remove grains, replace kettle over heat to boil.

I'd of course have my garden hose handy for fire safety, and to spray to prevent boil-overs...

turtle said:

didja ever do this? I'm calculating the logistics of moving my entire brewday outdoors:

Heat up the water in my kettle over wood fire then pour into cooler(tun) to cool down to correct temp. Once temp hits strike temp, dip my grain bag in and seal the cooler for mash time.

When mash is nearly done begin heating water in kettle over fire to sparge temp. Once mash is done, move kettle off heat then pull grain bag and dip in to sparge. Once sparge is done remove grains, replace kettle over heat to boil.

I'd of course have my garden hose handy for fire safety, and to spray to prevent boil-overs...

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sounds fun, but like others have said I think it would be rediculious trying to do a mash with heat from an open flame. One time just for the fun of it, sure, but i wouldn't put too much money into that grain bill if it were me

I don't see any issues with it if the heated water is in an insulated cooler. The cooler doesn't really care how the water is heated up whether it's from an open fire, a propane(also open) fire, or an electric stove.

Here's a hot tip I found for using shiny metals on open fire, posting here for reference:

"Aluminum and other shiny cookware gets very dirty over a wood fire and is hard to keep from turning a permanent black. Here's a trick to help in that department. Before you put the pot on the fire, make a paste from water and powdered soap. Apply the paste to the bottom and up the sides of the pot. Now start cooking. The soot will all stick on the soap, which washes off very easily when you're through. Just don't rub the soap off by sliding the pot around on a grill, etc. On frying pans, you need to come up close to the lip with the paste. Just don't get any where it will fall into the food. "