scorching wort in place of specialty grains...

[Grimsawyer]

What would happen if you took a quart of your first runnings and put it in a sauce pan and tossed it on the stove and darkened it up a bit instead of using crystal malts. Would that work?

 

[Beerrific]

This is a traditional (arguably common) way of making Scottish ales. Jamil discusses it on the Scottish ale show, if you are interested:
http://www.thebrewingnetwork.com/archive/Jamil10-09-06.mp3. Argument against is that it is hard to predict or reproduce the results, but it works if done right/well.

 

[brewt00l]

I've scorched the wort by accident with a LME heavy brew...it's got a different flavor profile than crystal grains. From what I recall of that brew it was a slightly cloying sweetness with a burnt quality that I wasn't especially fond of. I would imagine that if you did it under more controlled circumstances, rather than by accident like I did, you could get different results.

 

[Buford]

The scorching I've done before accidentally was a nasty burnt taste, like if you had added a couple pounds of black patent. It was disgusting, like drinking beer with crushed charcoal in it. I scorched the hell out of it, though.

 

[Chriso]

I think we're failing to distinguish between scorching and caramelizing. You want to reduce the liquid, through evap and through caramelization, to a denser, sweet syrup... but you don't ever want to get to the point of actually scorching it.

When I did mine, I stirred the bejeezus out of it with a silicone spatula to prevent it from burning.

 

[Grimsawyer]

Ok, Took about 2 cups of first runnings and boiled it down then darkened it to a dark red color, a bit of it did burn on the bottom of the sauce pan but I'll know what to do differently next time. It dosn't have the burnt ash flavor, not even a hint of it but it does have a darker color. Like when you add the color black to yellow. It darkened up the brew to a lighter than cream soda yellow/goin on a brassy not quite coppery color. Kinda has a darker twinge.... looks good. I'll post a pic when It goes to glass. This meathod worked alright but it'll work better if after I reduce the wort down in the sauce pan then turn down the heat when caramelizing the wort. I'll also caramelize 4 cups or more next time to a lighter color. =)

If anyone is interested in the recepie it goes...

11lbs 2row

.5oz chinook 60min
.25oz cascade 60min

1oz amarillo 5 min
.5oz chinook 5 min
.5oz cascade 5 min

irish moss and yeast energizer, ran out of nutrient.... hehe

Wyeast Fat Tire Ale yeast!!!