Will too much water used in boiling the wort ruin my batch?

I made a pretty embarassing mistake yesterday with my first batch; the recipe said to use two gallons to dissolve the DME. I filled the pot up and proceeded to follow the rest of the recipe, and then when I poured it into the fermenter bucket I saw the line measured up to 3 gallons and that I had scorched the bottom of my brewpot. Whoops. So my question is if that mistake will ruin the batch, I'd like to know so I don't waste two weeks taking up the fermenter and put all that effort into bottling, etc.

Thanks.

I wouldn't sweat this at all - you'd possibly get a bit more hops utilization, but that may be a good thing. The scorching sort of depends, i've scorched a couple of times and had no problem. But definitely finish this up, it'll still be beer and will probably be just fine

Untill you put soo much that you have to boil for hours to get your wort to fit INTO the carboy, using too much water is not a problem. It's actually ideal to do full wort boils (i'm assuming you did a 5 gal batch?). That's more important for all grain or when you start bagging grains, but it definitely wont hurt when doing an extract.

Scorching the bottom on the other hand can give you some different flavors, more caramel or possibly some darker flavors / colors. You'll have to see how much (if any) of that comes out in the brew, but i wouldn't worry about it being a bad beer at all. It should be fine

Many people on here have used upwards of 10+ gallons to boil down to a 5 gallon batch. I had to do it with my RIS. Pain in the ass, but with an all grain, sometimes, it has to be done.

Something to keep in mind here - you have two different, unrelated issues. The scorching of the extract isn't related to boiling more water than you originally planned one.

So, let's start with the water. Boil as large a volume as you can. It will improve your hop utilization, it will improve your beer. There's a zillion threads to this effect. This "mistake" in your process was a good thing.

Now then, the scorching of the extract. That is something that will definately have an impact on the taste of your brew - might be good, might not be, depends on the style and how much you scorched. In the future, remove your pot from that heat source before adding extract and mix until you've fully incorporated it.

Good luck!

Another thing to keep in mind -- if you are using a standard Ale Pail type fermenter bucket, the volume markings on the sides are frequently wrong. You'll need to calibrate with a known volume of water at some point, but don't assume that because your wort came up to the 3 gallon line that you actually had three gallons in there.

As has been noted, don't worry about boiling a larger volume than intended. That's a good thing. While you are waiting for your fermetation to run its course (and if you are using a kit, ignore the instructions to rack the beer after 7 days; give it at least 10 if not a full two weeks) read John Palmer's How to Brew. The entire first edition is online. At some point pick up the hard copy third edition. But read it.

Good luck!
Chad

How bad is it scorched???? BAD? or just a little black. If it is bad from my 1st brew experience . . . . . . I tossed mine. I mean mine was like burnt toast black, not tan, not a little black it was BLACK!!!

My local guy gave me bad instructions. Now take everything off the burner and put in the syrup then stir and reheat. No probs but if you brew is BLACK on the bottom - I hate to say it but it will never come back.

It got scorched pretty badly on the bottom; some spots of black at the side. I managed to get most of it off the bottom of the brewpot afterwards; I'm brewing a Canadian Light Ale I bought from my local Homebrew store. Should I just toss this batch or is it worth seeing to the end?

Thanks for all your replies! Very helpful.

Never toss a batch. Give it time and see how it turns out. I have come close to tossing many beers due to mistakes that I thought would ruin a beer. Most of those beers turned out good or even great.

I normally say never toss a brew and if you think there is even a CHANCE I wouldn't. But you really do have to be realistic. Burnt taste will not go away. if you taste it and it tastes like charcoal (like mine did) it's going to taste like that for long long time.

The question is - do you wait 3 weeks and use 48 bottles wasting time and equipment or do you use this as a $30 learning experience and move on.

many people WILL say NEVER give up and Relax but . . . . . be realistic. I'm NOT saying dump it but be honest with your feelings. A truly chard bottom will not make any beer taste BETTER and do you want your first brew to be something you have to apologize to friends with when they drink it.

So did you tast the wart? I sure wouldnt toss it till I at least see what it tast like. If it doesnt taste burnt it's not going to magicly tast burnt when it's done. You already spent your money time and energy to cook it, might as well finish the job. As grinder 1200 say though if it taste like charcoal, that's not going to change.

Haven't tasted it yet; on day two of fermentation and the airlock is bubbling; is it good to taste now or should I wait?

Let it finish fermenting....bottle it, then drink it. You don't want to toss your first batch do you? Let it be a learning experience. You will have a little bit of a "twang" from that burnt extract, but it wont kill you. Grinder is making some bold points based on what looks like only one experience, so be careful ditching a batch based on what one person says. Now, if there is someone who has done this several times and it resulted in bad beer each time, that would be different

Well LOL - how many times do you have to scrape an inch of charcoal off the bottom of your pot to understand what charcoal tastes like LOL

Some say bold - I say realistic. I hate the relax have a homebrew saying - makes no sense in some cases.

But that is fine. Just my experience. I would rather bave GREAT tasting beer then mediocre.

I WISH someone had told me to ditch my first batch - wasted a month. HOWEVER - it did make me buy more equipment.

HOWEVER - let it ferment and bottle it - have a taste, if it was a dark beer you will have a good idea what it will be like. When I tried mine it was pretty chewy, bottled it, carbed it, tossed it 2 months later. She was dead Jim.

tough love here. I like honesty.

WITH THAT said - I have had one batch that was REALLY TWANGY - it tasted great until the aftertaste - WOW ZING - it came around after 6 months and was fine. So you never know.

I ended up tossing my first TWO batches - I was SO concerned with charbroiling my #2 brew I never let it really boil. Since then - nothing but winners!

The point I was trying to make was: that making the call based on what one person did one time would not be diligent.

much love grinder