Burned my grain bag, toss batch?

[AustriaJoe]

Hi, just joined the forums, been reading a lot on here super cool stuff. I figured I might ask this on here. It’s only my second batch I’ve made. Here’s what happened:
I put the grains into (what I believe is a polyester grain bag).
during the mash I didn’t stir far enough down and I think the grain just sat directly against the metal of the pot. (For my newest batch I used a metal strainer to keep it off the bottom).
Now mistake learned.
I went ahead and emptied it into a bucket to asses the damage. It was burned black onto the bottom of the pot, everything at on top of what I had poured into the bucket, it had a clear color difference in a concentrated area.... that I scooped out.
I figured I’d boil it and see what it smelled like after.
During and after boil there was no burned plastic smell. Now, I put it into the fermenter, let it ferment for two weeks, then bottled it. I let it sit, and my curiosity got the better of me. I opened a bottle and tasted it
1. extremely bitter, (we tried making an rye IPA with lots of hops) like the kind of bitterness that at first it’s not bad... but then has a lingering super bitter aftertaste.
2. it has a what my girlfriend described as a “foul” smell. It’s not overwhelming, but it’s definitely there.(I assume I didn’t let it ferment long enough)
3. That weird bitter taste, am I just drinking poison melted plastic taste now or could the extreme bitterness be normal?
60 minute mash, 90 minute boil. Added 4 hops at different time intervals of the boil. Then when I put it in the fermenter I added more hops into it. Also I used like 30% rye in that beer.
thanks for any help/advice!
I’d like to see this more as a learning experience rather than a “complete failure/ waste of time”

 

[RM-MN]

I don't know how long it has been in the bottles but my inclination is that it needs more time before you decide if it needs to be dumped. The downside is you have the bottles out of circulation for that period and will need more bottles if you brew again. The upside is that the beer may condition into a beautiful rye IPA. Bottles are pretty cheap and making a batch of beer to replace the beer you might dump is not.

Hint for future batches: If your grains are milled properly for BIAB (they can be finer than from most LHBS) the conversion happens much quicker than you think and in most instances you will not need to add any heat. Without adding heat, the bag resting on the bottom of the pot will not burn. If your pot loses some heat it may not affect the beer in any noticeable way. Once you have the grains in, cover the pot and insulate it, never add heat until the bag is out.

 

[MikeCo]

The high bitterness may just be from your hop additions if you had a lot of early boil hops with high alphs acids. How many IBUs is the beer supposed to have? Also, sometimes really young beer can have a bitter (green) flavor; it may improve.

How would you describe the foul smell?

 

[AustriaJoe]

The high bitterness may just be from your hop additions if you had a lot of early boil hops with high alphs acids. How many IBUs is the beer supposed to have? Also, sometimes really young beer can have a bitter (green) flavor; it may improve.

How would you describe the foul smell?

yeah turns out the hops we used were bittering ones not aroma.
and we dry hopped right after putting it in the fermentor.

its mellowed already.
the smell isnt as bad. but id describe as..... if rainwater sat in a bucket for a long time.....and you then added a flat beer. bee;n reading yeast as off flavors when still active.

brewing a weizen soon (wheat)....just would l;ike to know how this hops stuff works before hand.....and why the off flavors.

 

[MikeCo]

I recommend buying a kit for your weizen. It will have everything you need and the correct hop additions will be on a schedule in the directions. You could also try fermenting for 3 weeks to make sure the yeast are done. You didn't mention the yeast strain and the fermentation temperature. Yeast fermented outside the recommended range can give off-flavors.

 

[AustriaJoe]

I recommend buying a kit for your weizen. It will have everything you need and the correct hop additions will be on a schedule in the directions. You could also try fermenting for 3 weeks to make sure the yeast are done. You didn't mention the yeast strain and the fermentation temperature. Yeast fermented outside the recommended range can give off-flavors.

appreciate the help.
the one that is in the fermentor now is on week three. bottling this weekend. hopefully no off flavor.
temp control.....well it got as cold as 17C....maybe as warm as 25C but the room is not consistent.
so consistency on temp. ty i will try.

heard on a youtube video that if you use only one packet on beer that is 1.060+ beer it kills the yeast figured this would work.
Liquid Yeast WLP099 Super High Gravity Ale - White Labs

"Can ferment up to 25% alcohol. From England. Produces ester character that increases with increasing gravity. Malt character dominates at lower gravities. "

 

[RM-MN]

heard on a youtube video that if you use only one packet on beer that is 1.060+ beer it kills the yeast figured this would work.

Not true. It may ferment slower and it may not finish as low final gravity but it will ferment.

 

[Beermeister32]

Burned grain bag sounds like a dumper to me. Learn the lesson and move on to the next batch!

 

[amber-ale]

If it smells nasty, dump it. Cut your losses and try again. Don't waste any more time and effort on it.

If it is too hoppy, but otherwise smells nice, taste it and maybe keep it for a few months to see if it mellows . Or add more wort to dilute the hops.

Slight burned taste might be interesting. Keep a few bottles and taste in 4 months.

Next time heat your mash water a bit above what you want to mash at (but not above 175f). Insert bag of grain, stir to moisten everything and measure the temp. If you are lucky, you will be at exactly the temp you need. Turn off heat, put on lid, Wrap in 3 layers of towelling and go shopping (or watch a movie for 1-1.5 hours).

Mash will still be within 1-2 degrees of what you started with.

 

[AustriaJoe]

If it smells nasty, dump it. Cut your losses and try again. Don't waste any more time and effort on it.

If it is too hoppy, but otherwise smells nice, taste it and maybe keep it for a few months to see if it mellows . Or add more wort to dilute the hops.

Slight burned taste might be interesting. Keep a few bottles and taste in 4 months.

Next time heat your mash water a bit above what you want to mash at (but not above 175f). Insert bag of grain, stir to moisten everything and measure the temp. If you are lucky, you will be at exactly the temp you need. Turn off heat, put on lid, Wrap in 3 layers of towelling and go shopping (or watch a movie for 1-1.5 hours).

Mash will still be within 1-2 degrees of what you started with.

Interesting.... okay I might try that... thanks!