Epic first-time beer making fail. What happened?

I was in my local DIY store on Saturday and picked up a starter kit they put together for $90, which includes all of the fermenting and bottling equipment along with the recipe and ingredients for American Brown Ale, complete with step-by-step instructions. Got home, sanitized, then realized the pot I intended to use in to make my wort was only a 2 gallon pot.
Stupidly instead of being patient and waiting until I bought a bigger pot, I decided to attempt to make a half batch by cutting all of the ingredients in half.
I steeped the grain, then brought the water to a boil and added the Perle hops in the muslin bag as directed and then set a timer for 45 minutes, as the directions said to remove the pot at 45 minutes in order to add the malt extract. However, I checked on it about 35-40 minutes in and all of the water was burned off and a thick, brown goop was burning to the bottom of the pot.
What did I do wrong? Should I have cut the time for the in half too?

 

You don't leave the heat on while steeping grains. I am assuming that what you did and all the water evaporated. Am I correct in what happened?

 

Seems like much a too aggressive boil and maybe some inattentiveness.

Don't worry about it. Go get a 4 or 5 gallon pot and get another kit. Then just pay close attention. You don't have to hover around the pot just keep an eye on it from time to time.

 

Well, looks like you boiled off the water and burnt the wort. Were you not watching the pot when boiling?

Most kits say never leave a boil unattended. You could have easily boiled over or just evaporated the water.

 

I will admit I had walked away for a while as it was boiling.
If I had noticed the water evaporating, could I have just put more water in?
And I left the heat on just enough to keep the temp between 150-160* while steeping.

 

Was this pic before or after adding the DME/LME and starting boil?

 

Wash you pot and get a kit from Northern Brewer

http://dallas.craigslist.org/dal/zip/2958145746.html

It is fairly complex as it also has steeping grains but it have very detailed instructions.

Follow the instructions. The specialty grains add flavor and feel but not sugar so the temperature control is not precise like all grain. A 2 gallon pot is very small and you would need to be adding boilling water on a regular basis. Get an 8 gallon pot minimum but 10 gallon would be better.

Warning! Brewing your own beer can be hard on your wallet as there always another little thing that you NEED!

 

The directions said after 45 minutes to take it off the heat to add the extract. I noticed this happened about 30-35 minutes into the boil before adding the malt extract.
From what I've gathered from friends, my boil was too hard.

 

Yeah, you just boiled off all the water and were left with basically syrup burning to the bottom of your pot. Especially when starting out, I'd recommend following the advice of most people on this forum and not trying to rush anything. Patience is a virtue in this field, but unfortunately it is really hard until you have a few batches under your belt and lots of home brew on a shelf.

 

+1

Most pots will easily boil off an average of 1.5 gallons of water over the course of a one hour boil. With a 2 gallon pot I'll assume you only started out with 1.5 gallons of wort and with an aggressive boil....well I guess you see what happens. Next time after you get a good rolling boil reduce your heat enough to just maintain the rolling boil and check it a little more often. And most importantly don't give up we have all been there before.

 

It's like cooking a great meal. If you want to be proud of what you're serving, you gotta control your cooking. You put great care in selecting and preparing your ingredients. I love cooking and want to put a great meal on the table, I rarely leave dinner unattended.

 

Amen to patience. Brewing is a slow process. Not in my nature but that's one of the things I love about the hobby. Hang out while boiling watch, adjust fiddle. You've got to expect a few fails along the way. It works most of the time and then you get BEER!

Definitely agree with the need for a bigger pot and a good kit from Northern or Midwest. Both have great instructions

Good luck!

 

I would say he may need a new 2gallon pot too or maybe a chisel to get that stuff off with?

I got my 5gl pot from target for 50$ish
Get one and keep and eye on it this time. Im surprised you were able to stay away for so long on your first batch. I rembber checking on my every 2.5 seconds.

Good luck on the next batch

 

Sounds like all is not lost... you still have the other "half", right?

 

Thanks folks.
I was checking it regularly for the first 20 minutes or so, then got distracted with another project. Was trying to multitask and do something my wife had been asking me to do so as not to have her mad at me that I had taken over the kitchen with my beer making.
Next time she'll just have to deal haha