Tastes like half-burnt 2x4 lumber

Sooo... I brewed up my very first batch of beer. I was doing a full boil (because I have a big enough pot) on a Midwest Irish Red kit, and didn't really have a long enough spoon (since corrected),

There was about 2 inches of spoon handle sticking out above the wort as I poured the LME in. I THOUGHT I had the LME all blended, but apparently not. There was a pattern on the bottom of the pot where small amounts of the wort had coked up on the burner supports.

Since I had all the junk sanitized, I made a second batch of wheat beer with orange and coriander that day.

It's been 5 weeks since brew day. My second batch tastes good. The first batch is almost undrinkable. I understand about "green" brews, but this tastes really gross. I suspect that aging is not going to improve this fireplace ash taste. I will give it a few more weeks and then post a follow-up whether it ended up in the drain or the belly.

One other thing for the new extract guys. I just brewed again, using DME. It was a pleasure to use and mix, and I got a better OG with it. No more LME for me!

I remember once adding all the LME to the boil without stirring it in- had a ton of burnt flakes floating around the fermenter. They eventually settled out with the trub and the beer turned out ok but I definitely learned my lesson- now I turn the burner off and stir like crazy when adding extract. Glad your second batch turned out.

OK thanks for the tips fellas. I shut off the flame while adding the LME, but never took the boil bucket off the burner. I reckon you are right that the hot supports could have easily scorched the syrup as I poured it in, even with flame off.

Question for unionrdr: Most recipes call for bittering hops at the beginning of the boil. If we add LME or DME at the end and hold temperatures up for a while to pasteurize, does this increase bitterness, or does the bittering only take place when the wort is on a boil? In other words, do we need to compensate by adding hops later (or using less of them)?

As I said, I am a noob. I use a wort chiller, so my temps are not hot for long after the boil is finished, so I have no experience with keeping the wort hot following a boil.