intentional carmelization?

Okay I am planning ahead (way ahead) to a scotch ale I would like to make eventually. I have recently had a scotch wee heavy that claims part of its character is due to extra long boil time. I have also seen a recipe that calls for reducing the first runnings from 2 gallons down to 2 quarts to carmelize.

I get the carmelization part but what is stumping me is, how much extra water/grain do you start with to end up with a 5 gallon carmelized wort that is not watered down? I belive the recipe I saw actually only made 3 gallons of finished beer.

Anyone done this can explain?

anyone purposefully carmelize their wort?

Nope, I guess I'd had a grain to give me the characteristics I want, It's more controllable than trying to caramelise.

I guess if I was trying it then I'd make sure I had a back up plan in case I burnt it or it went wrong.

I like to had a dark brown sugar sometimes, not sure if that bitter sugar thing has te same effect.

Well I am not dead set on this method. I just seemed that the couple of places I read of this it seeed to suggest that it was not something that could be duplicated any other way.

Would carmel malt really give just the same effect?

Not sure.

Why not try your own and do a taste test?

Experimenting is good, as long as you're not pissed when you do it.

I've had the same procedure recommended to me for more complexity in stouts.

For all-grain, I would take the first 1/2 gallon or so of sparge and set it in a separate sauce pan. I would just let that simmer on a stove for the entire time I was boiling and sparging. For the rest of my boil, I would just plan on adding a 1/4 gallon back into the boil pot at the end of boiling to keep it at around 5 gallons.

For extract, you probably don't need to do any extra carmelization. The carmelization is present already.

Check out this recipe for Walker's gruagach 80/-. In there he describes the process. If my crappy link attempt doesn't work just do a search. Good luck!

http://digitalninja.org/beer/gruagach_80.html

You might want to look into a thick mash decoction. It's suppose to give a deep, malty flavor to your brew. And use some Caramel 60 for added sweetness.

Vermicous said:

I've had the same procedure recommended to me for more complexity in stouts.

For all-grain, I would take the first 1/2 gallon or so of sparge and set it in a separate sauce pan. I would just let that simmer on a stove for the entire time I was boiling and sparging. For the rest of my boil, I would just plan on adding a 1/4 gallon back into the boil pot at the end of boiling to keep it at around 5 gallons.

For extract, you probably don't need to do any extra carmelization. The carmelization is present already.

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That is what I do also but since I brew such large batches I take the first gallon and boil it down.

If I am adding sugar I will start boiling the sugar in a seperate pot, let it boil for an hour and add it at the end. It turns white sugar a nice brown color if you boil long enough.

monster mash
how big of batches do you do???
JJ