2nd Batch in Primary, problem?

[Bill Braski]

With my first batch finishing off it's first week in the bottle I decided to go ahead and get the second one started. It's a porter.

There was quite a difference in my second one compared to the first. The first batch was from a brewers best kit and the second is from AHS.

The AHS kit gives you a LOT more steeping grains, no DME, and one HUGE mini-bucket of LME.

I also got some malto-dextrin and alcohol booster, so there was a lot more sugar in my second batch. The OG read at 1.056 or so.

The only problem I had was pouring in all that LME. The brewer's best kit came with a nice sized can that was easy to handle. The bucket of LME that came with the AHS is almost impossible to handle with one hand while stirring with the other.

Consequently, I carmelized a little LME on the bottom of the pot. It wasn't very much, two globs about the size of quarters.

Is my beer going to taste burnt now or what?

 

[david_42]

It's a porter and probably has caramel in it, so you won't notice it. I always shut the heat off before stirring in LME.

 

[Bill Braski]

I shut the heat off as well. Actaully I just took the whole pot off the burner. I guess it was still hot enough to burn the LME.

 

[tockeyhockey]

yup -- take it off the heat and you won't have this problem.

one of the solutions i have found that works is to use a thin gauge enamelled pot as my kettle, but i set it on top of an inverted cast iron skillet. the skillet sucks up the heat and retains it, but when you need to get the heat off of your kettle in a quick way, you can just remove the aluminum kettle from the cast iron skillet. aluminum doesn't hold heat well at all, and you'll go from a roaring boil to no activity in about 1 second.

your kettle might have a cast iron or stainless steel bottom to it, which is retaining heat even after the flame is turned off.

 

[Bill Braski]

I'm using a stainless steel pot.

I've read that using aluminum can give the beer an aftertaste. Any truth to that?

 

[user 4295]

I do full volume boils in a 15 gallon kettle with a ball valve. As the water in the kettle is coming up to a boil, I have the container of extract sitting in a pot of water on the stove in order to heat it up to make it easier to pour. I put a folded up dish towel in the pot of hot water to avoid burning the plastic container of extract.

In order to avoid scorching the extract, when the water in the boil kettle reaches a boil I open the valve and allow about a gallon or so to drain out into another pot. I then pour the extract into that pot and stir thoroughly to dissolve. Once dissolved, I pour it back into the boil kettle and continue to stir just to be sure that it is thoroughly mixed.

John

 

[Blender]

I found LME is much easier to handle if you warm it up by setting the container in hot water. Take the kettle off the burner and add the LME. You will need to stir this for longer than may be expected because it does take some time to dissolve. I used to put some of the hot water back into the LME container, swirl it around to get the remaining bits out of the container. With each batch you learn new ways to work and thus become better at the process.

 

[Noldar]

What I do is get a pot that can hold the bucket of LME. Fill it about 3/5ths full of water with a towel on the bottom of it. Put the bucket in LME and put it on low heat while you're doing all your steeping and bringing it to a boil. The towel will prevent you from burning the bottome of your bucket of LME and having it leak into that pot. This makes the LME much easier to handle and comes out a lot easier.

I've yet to experience a problem using it, though being a man of habit, I practiced pouring the closed bucket into a pot over and over again so I could find the easiest way.

 

[tockeyhockey]

I'm using a stainless steel pot.

I've read that using aluminum can give the beer an aftertaste. Any truth to that?

i think unfinished aluminum can, but i'm using an enamled non-reactive aluminum pot. it's got a porcelin coating on it, like a good dutch oven might.

it's a very flexible system. but since you've already invested in stainless steel, you shouldn't change anything. you just need to be mindful that even after you take the pot off the heat, there's still going to be a large amount of heat stored up in the base of the pot.