Burnt Taste

I am about 8 batches in since starting to brew all grain. For this brew I did the NB Tombstone Pale Ale. I followed the brew instructions, but I had some things go not as planned during the brew.

1) I tried a new digital thermometer (Char-Broil Coldspot Wireless Thermometer) it worked up until I poured the water in the 10 gal cooler Mash tun then it went haywire. In other words I had no idea what the temp was the whole time. I heated my water to about 175 degrees before transferring it in the mash tun (I checked it with my trusty analog thermo). Mash time and everything else was normal.
2) I tried this new hop basket it I got from my LHBS. it hooks on the side of my kettle and is meant to hold the hop trub/leafs. I found out half way through my boil that it was too tall for my 7.5 GAL kettle. It touched the bottom of my kettle and caused a vicious boil instead of the rolling boil that I am used to, and it left a gnarly burn mark on the bottom of my kettle.
3)My OG was 1.064. I let it ferment for 3 weeks and 5 days. FG reading was 1.017 (which I thought was a bit strange), and it tastes burnt/smoky.

Could I have possibly mashed at too high of a temp? Can that cause the off flavor? I am getting and the lower attenuation for the same reason? I wouldn't think that the burning of the kettle could cause this off flavor.

I put her in my secondary and I am cold crashing now. What are your thoughts?

Oh and I could use some advice on a decent thermo. Preferably digital so I can monitor the mash with the lid on. New SB 15 GAL kettle should solve my hop basket problem, if I ever use it again.

The burnt taste is from the hop basket. The giveaway is the burnt spot it left on the bottom of the kettle. It takes very little scorching to give you an off taste.

Brew on

There is nothing in an infusion mash without direct heat or RIMS coil that will cause a burnt flavor. Definitely from the basket. As doug says, burnt mark is the obvious giveaway. Doesn't take much of anything burning in a kettle to transfer that flavor to the finished beer.

Damn that hop basket! I'm going back to bags!

Dylan42 said:

I am about 8 batches in since starting to brew all grain. For this brew I did the NB Tombstone Pale Ale. I followed the brew instructions, but I had some things go not as planned during the brew.

1) I tried a new digital thermometer (Char-Broil Coldspot Wireless Thermometer) it worked up until I poured the water in the 10 gal cooler Mash tun then it went haywire. In other words I had no idea what the temp was the whole time. I heated my water to about 175 degrees before transferring it in the mash tun (I checked it with my trusty analog thermo). Mash time and everything else was normal.
2) I tried this new hop basket it I got from my LHBS. it hooks on the side of my kettle and is meant to hold the hop trub/leafs. I found out half way through my boil that it was too tall for my 7.5 GAL kettle. It touched the bottom of my kettle and caused a vicious boil instead of the rolling boil that I am used to, and it left a gnarly burn mark on the bottom of my kettle.
3)My OG was 1.064. I let it ferment for 3 weeks and 5 days. FG reading was 1.017 (which I thought was a bit strange), and it tastes burnt/smoky.

Could I have possibly mashed at too high of a temp? Can that cause the off flavor? I am getting and the lower attenuation for the same reason? I wouldn't think that the burning of the kettle could cause this off flavor.

I put her in my secondary and I am cold crashing now. What are your thoughts?

Oh and I could use some advice on a decent thermo. Preferably digital so I can monitor the mash with the lid on. New SB 15 GAL kettle should solve my hop basket problem, if I ever use it again.

Click to expand...

don't think the probes for those were meant for submersion.

what I did to a similar probe is to spread a little food grade silicone gasket sealant around where the metal probe meets the wire. let it get tacky, then slip some heat-shrink tubing around that & heat it up.

now it's waterproof

GrogNerd said:

don't think the probes for those were meant for submersion.

what I did to a similar probe is to spread a little food grade silicone gasket sealant around where the metal probe meets the wire. let it get tacky, then slip some heat-shrink tubing around that & heat it up.

now it's waterproof

Click to expand...

+1 Digital BBQ thermos are not meant to go in liquid. Even if you keep the probe out but the tip, Condensation from the vapors will drip back down the line and mess it up... like the idea above. Might have to try that.

Thanks for the feedback I went and got my self a RT600c pocket thermo. Looks like I'll have to try the tombstone again. That sucks too it was a good brew day. Oh well!