Accidentally Boiled Mash

[Lloyd03]

Hey there,
Just finished a brew day and had an issue during the mash. I have an automatic RIMS system and during my mash I did not realize my pump got stuck. So for about 20 min the burner was running and heating up my mash!!

Once I realized there was an issue the mash was boiling..... When I finished my mash I saw that the bottom of my mash tun was scorched and had a ton of black char.

Will this drastically affect the flavor of my milk stout or is it worth keeping in the fermenter?

Thanks!

 

[jro238]

If it boiled early on in the mash (first 30 minutes or so), then your conversion is probably going to be decently lower than normal. I would be surprised if you didn't get a noticeable flavor from the scorching but since it's already in the fermenter I would let it go until it completes and take a taste--nothing to lose and it might not be bad.

 

[eltorrente]

Yeah, it'll probably affect it - the way it affected it is depending on how long you were mashing before the burner came on and heated it beyond 162degs or so. I think 168 is the "mash out" temp, but anything around 160 will convert very rapidly. Once it went above that range for a few minutes, most of the conversion takes place - and at 168 it stops altogether.

If it happened early during the mash process, you'll probably end up with a high FG and low(ish) OG, and it'll be sweeter and thicker than you wanted (and a lot less alcohol). If it happened late, you'll end up a good beer, but it will likely be slightly darker than expected and may have a slight, to strong, carmely flavor to it.

 

[Lloyd03]

Thanks for the replies! It happened towards the end of the mash. I still ended up with 82% efficiency.

Looks like I'll let it ferment out and see how it tastes!

 

[Trillium]

Yikes, that blows. Unfortunately It will be impossible to remove the nasty burnt taste. I learned that the hard way.

 

[pjj2ba]

I've boiled a couple mashes - some intentional, some not (well one). All turned out just fine, except the accidental one had horrible starch haze, but tasted great. If your pH was in the proper range you shouldn't have any tannin issue, the scorching might give you some flavors, although might not be too noticeable in a stout. I occasionally get a little scorching in my boil kettle and haven't noticed a flavor from it - even in a pale lager

 

[dryboroughbrewing]

If it tastes burnt then that won't fade, otherwise you should be ok. That being said I'd recommend a failsafe flow sensor on your pump output to make sure that the RIMs can't fire without the pump running.