Bottom of kettle scourced. Is this an issue?

[Kornssj]

See attached for photo. I completely screwed up yesterday. I attempted to brew all gain using brew in a bag.

Somehow I decided that using this hop filter, attached to the bottom hole would be a good idea to stain the wort going into primary fermenter.

Im using a dark star burner. I mashed at way too high of a temp like pretty much at boiling, entire 60 mins. Didn't use a false bottom. The rolling boil made the bag catch on this God awful thing and the bag tore speading my gains all over the bottom. Grains settled and burned to a crisp. Was a lot of fun cleaning that up lol.

I used bar keeps friend to clean the burned carbon off but now there is a pretty dark and what seems to be permanent mark at the bottom of my kettle.

Is this going to be an issue for future batches? Or using the kettle in general?

I plan on trying again Today using a false bottom, and mashing at the recommended 156F. I do blame the instructions. They were awful and told me to boil the grains the entire 60 mins. It also did not mention that I needed to brew with the lid off. Also the temperature Guage seems to be a bit high on the kettle, should I buy a temperature sensor that extends to the bottom of my kettle and make sure temperature does not exceed that reading since the bottom of kettle is way hotter than the top?

I appreciate your advice. Happy to provide more information.

 

[Bobby_M]

I plan on trying again Today using a false bottom, and mashing at the recommended 156F. I do blame the instructions. They were awful and told me to boil the grains the entire 60 mins. It also did not mention that I needed to brew with the lid off. Also the temperature Guage seems to be a bit high on the kettle, should I buy a temperature sensor that extends to the bottom of my kettle and make sure temperature does not exceed that reading since the bottom of kettle is way hotter than the top?

I'd love to see the instructions that said to boil the mash. Please post a picture.

Mash with the lid on. Boil with the lid off.

If you're going to use a bag, remove the dial thermometer and plug the side port. Use a handheld digital to spot check temps occassionally.

The spot on the bottom will probably be fine. I'm surprised bar keeper's friend didn't do anything to fix it. Just watch for surface rusting and keep after it with BKF if it happens.

 

[IslandLizard]

I do blame the instructions. They were awful and told me to boil the grains the entire 60 mins.

I've never seen those instructions anywhere. Where did you get them? Could you post them?

I can recommend reading John Palmer's How to Brew, 4th Ed.
There's an old (1st Ed.) version of it online:
https://web.archive.org/web/20221017185002/https://howtobrew.com/
Regarding those burn marks, any "blueing" is likely to be permanent, discoloring of the metal by intense heat. But if those brown stains are on top of the surface, they should come off with Bar Keepers Friend, or maybe thin out with time.

 

[huckdavidson]

It looks as though you are using Northern Brewers Dark Star burner and a Mega Pot.

Northern Brewer offers some paid for video instructions:

https://www.northernbrewer.com/products/homebrewing-310-brew-in-a-bag
or you could educate yourself with one of the tutorials in the BIAB forum here:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/threads/biab-brewing-with-pics.233289/
YouTube holds a wealth of videos detailing the BIAB process:

https://www.youtube.com/results?sp=mAEB&search_query=biab+brewing
Most kit instructions give mash schedules along with boil lengths, though boil lengths are generally implied by hop additions.

1.) You don't need the mash filter if you are using BIAB (the screen you're holding in the picture)
2.) The false bottom used during the mash will help keep the bag off the bottom of the pot so it doesn't scorch or burn but it's not a necessity.
3.) The thermometer on the pot isn't suitable to read a BIAB mash temperature, that requires a hand held thermometer put into the mash directly.

Basically you want your process to be:

1.) Fill the pot with strike water
2.) Heat the strike water to strike temperature (use a strike water calculator)
3.) Turn off the burner
3.) Put the BIAB in the pot
4.) Add the crushed grains to the bag, stirring them into the water with a wire wisk or mash paddle, ensuring there are no lumps
5.) Measure the temperature of the mash with a hand held thermometer (you can apply a small amount of heat (15 sec - 30 sec max) at this step if using the false bottom - to correct the temperature - while constantly stirring, but most of the time it's best to let the mash ride at the temperature its at)
6.) Wrap the mash tun in a blanket for 60 minutes
7.) Pull the bag and let it drain
8.) Optionally sparge the bag by setting it in a strainer over the kettle and pouring water over it or dunking it in a separate bucket with water
9.) Relite the burner and bring the wort to a boil
10.) The first hop addition starts the boil countdown (60, 70 or 90 minutes - most of the time)

The scorching on the bottom of the kettle shouldn't cause any issues in future brewing sessions.

Following the above instructions and educating yourself on the BIAB process will help prevent future scorching.

 

[day_trippr]

A paste of BKF powder and bit of water well-worked with a blue scrubby will eventually erode those deposits away...

Cheers!

 

[redrocker652002]

I do BIAB as well, and I have that same filter on the bottom of my Gas One 10 gallon kettle and use it every mash and boil. I have never caught it on anything, but maybe I have been lucky. If any of those little wires come loose I try and either tuck them in or give them a quick snip, they can poke you pretty easily. LOL. I will say though, that as I drain the kettle the screen catches a lot of crud from the boil, so for me, I use it and feel it should be used based on what it is catching as I drain. I have added a cheap strainer that fits over my fermenting bucket and that came up pretty clean, so obviously the filter is doing it's job. I don't use the false bottom as I thought I read it creates a dead space and your efficiency might go down. Might try it though just for the heck of it. As far as the temp probe, that ripped my first bag, so now I get my bit spoon, find the post and work the spoon between the bag and the post to keep it from grabbing and ripping the bag. I like having the thermometer in there and I have double checked it's accuracy and it is pretty spot on. Good luck, but I think you will be ok if you can work a bit to get the really brown spots off. I will let the pro's give you advice on that. Gonna just share my experience, take it for what it is worth, not much. LOL

 

[Kornssj]

In hindsight, I probably should have questioned the directions because this is clearly for liquid or dry malt extract.

Here is the link of what I purchased : Unicorn Fart Pale Ale | 5 Gallon Beer Recipe Kit | All-Grain | MoreBeer

Here are the instructions I received with the kit. I should have known something was foul. When I started brewing in the middle I was like "wait what about grains? Where are all grains instructions?" Now I realize what has occurred. I am partially to blame, but I'm pretty Noob.

 

[Bobby_M]

Yeah, they should probably give you a new kit after that.

 

[IslandLizard]

In hindsight, I probably should have questioned the directions because this is clearly for liquid or dry malt extract.

Here is the link of what I purchased : Unicorn Fart Pale Ale | 5 Gallon Beer Recipe Kit | All-Grain | MoreBeer

Darn!
The good news is... (yes, there's good news)!
MoreBeer has a very good and quite generous "return and replacement" policy on their recipe kits.
Contact them, and chances are they'll send you a new kit.

 

[Kornssj]

Darn!
The good news is... (yes, there's good news)!
MoreBeer has a very good and quite generous "return and replacement" policy on their recipe kits.
Contact them, and chances are they'll send you a new kit.

For sure. I might do that. It was a rather expensive kit.

 

[redrocker652002]

Having started with their kits and read the same directions as you have, I can very much see where the confusion came from. The bulk of the directions are for Extract Brewing and while I don't have one right in front of me to look at, I remember being a bit confused myself. I would call them, I have had very good luck with their customer service dept and they seem to really want to make good with the customer. Good luck and keep at it.

 

[Kornssj]

Yeah, they should probably give you a new kit after that.

Darn!
The good news is... (yes, there's good news)!
MoreBeer has a very good and quite generous "return and replacement" policy on their recipe kits.
Contact them, and chances are they'll send you a new kit.

It took a minute but they just issued a refund on the original kit. Thanks for your help! Glad they were able to rectify their mistakes because the kit was like 40 bucks.

Cheers!

 

[IslandLizard]

Glad they were able to rectify their mistakes because the kit was like 40 bucks.

If MoreBeer is your (main) source for buying kits and brew stuff, sign up on their email list.
They have offers and run specials not mentioned on their site, like 3 kits for $xx, and such, or email-list coupons no-one else gets.

 

[redrocker652002]

If MoreBeer is your (main) source for buying kits and brew stuff, sign up on their email list.
They have offers and run specials not mentioned on their site, like 3 kits for $xx, and such, or email-list coupons no-one else gets.

I just did that. Had no idea it was there. Thanks.

 

[Kornssj]

If MoreBeer is your (main) source for buying kits and brew stuff, sign up on their email list.
They have offers and run specials not mentioned on their site, like 3 kits for $xx, and such, or email-list coupons no-one else gets.

Thanks I'll take a look. I did the math on some of their kits and when they go on sale, its much better than buying separately. When not on sale, they can get expensive.

 

[IslandLizard]

Thanks I'll take a look. I did the math on some of their kits and when they go on sale, its much better than buying separately. When not on sale, they can get expensive.

You can do the same for Northern Brewer, if you like that place. They also have similar kit deals.

A forum brew friend always buys a bunch of kits when they go on such sales, stocking up for a few months to a year. We did the math, if he buys the loose ingredients locally, he'd be spending the same (in the best case scenarios) but usually more.

You can always buy more or different hops (YVH, Hops Direct, etc.) to boost or substitute in kit recipes. Or add some other malts, or other fermentables.

That said, homebrewers in our wider area are lucky to have 2 wonderful and well stocked LHBS', for many within a 30-40 minute drive to either, or both.
There's no reason to look elsewhere, while we sponsor local (homebrew) businesses. Plus we get a 10% discount because we're homebrew club members. There are some other perks too... such as hosting (homebrew) events (Big Brew, meetings, etc.).

 

[redrocker652002]

You can do the same for Northern Brewer, if you like that place. They also have similar kit deals.

A forum brew friend always buys a bunch of kits when they go on such sales, stocking up for a few months to a year. We did the math, if he buys the loose ingredients locally, he'd be spending the same (in the best case scenarios) but usually more.

You can always buy more or different hops (YVH, Hops Direct, etc.) to boost or substitute in kit recipes. Or add some other malts, or other fermentables.

That said, homebrewers in our wider area are lucky to have 2 wonderful and well stocked LHBS', for many within a 30-40 minute drive to either, or both.
There's no reason to look elsewhere, while we sponsor local (homebrew) businesses. Plus we get a 10% discount because we're homebrew club members. There are some other perks too... such as hosting (homebrew) events (Big Brew, meetings, etc.).

I would love to find something like that around here. I would rather give my money to a smaller shop than a big business. The place in San Francisco closed up about 6 months ago I think.

 

[Deadalus]

If you do get a hand held thermometer, a longer probe will allow you to sample the temperature at the bottom.