Adventures in Wort Scorching

Hey Guys,

Quick version: Is what's happening in these pictures wort scorching?

Long version:

I got started doing concentrated extract boils on my stove. I then moved to an apartment with an electric stove. This thing get's insanely hot. It started scorching and caramelizing my concentrated boils. I switched to smaller volume, full volume BIAB batches to avoid scorching the super concentrated wort. I use a Blichmann Boilermaker G2, which is a really nice pot, but has a really thin bottom on it. It's insanely thin.

I tried doing a batch a couple weeks ago, and the spiral burner shaped mark on the bottom formed after I'd boiled. I discarded that batch, in fear that I'd scorched another one, and got a heat stick off amazon with the idea of keeping the temperature lower on the stove burner, and using the heat stick to do the boil. I also used a cast iron serving dish over my burner to diffuse the heat a little bit. You can see that in the picture.

I did a batch with the burner cover and heat stick yesterday, and it seems to have improved, but there's still some "stuff" on the bottom, and I'm having a hard time telling if it's scorched or not. The wort smells and tastes normal to me, but I'm mildly unsettled upon seeing this on the bottom of my kettle.

Does this look like a problem to anyone? Anyone experience a similar problem? Am I doing something really wrong?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Joe

 

I wouldn't get overly concerned about this...seems mild. I have always had similar marks on the bottom of my boil kettles from my banjo burners from the concentrated heat. If you don't taste flaws in your beer, RDWHAHB!

 

I'd say that it's only a problem if it impacts the flavor of your wort. Is there some part about which you're specifically concerned? A little scorched wort is not a big deal, aside from a little extra scrubbing

 

Hey Guys,

Thanks for the replies. It doesn't seem to have changed the wort flavor. I'm just super paranoid because a while back when I was doing concentrated wort boils, I had an entire batch caramelize so that almost all the sugar in the wort was unfermentable. It was a big waste of time, and I think I'm just paranoid about it happening again.

I'll let you guys know how the batch turns out.

Thanks,

Joe

 

My kettle looks kind of like your top picture after the boil, just not as much on the bottom. Since it doesn't affect the flavor, I've decided it's nothing to worry about. I do late extract addition starting with about 1 pound of LME per gallon - maybe that's why I get a little less on the bottom. That might be worth doing, if you're not already.

 

Are you taking the pot off the heat when adding the extract? Boiling (well mixed) wort shouldn't scorch.

 

Neither picture is from an extract batch. I stopped doing extract and moved on to all grain BIAB. Both the pictures are after a 60 minute boil of wort that was:

Preboil: 4.5 Gallons @ 9.2 Brix
PostBoil: 3.5 Gallons @ 13.5 Brix