black flaky stuff in brew?

[DoctorZero]

So my first batch i found this black flaky stuff in my brew right when it started boiling. I thought i had been stupid and left the sticker on the inside of my new pot. Well the brew turned out fine but now I'm brewing another batch amd got that same stuff again. Now I'm thinking maybe it's fried syrup that touched the bottom of the pan. Is this sort of thing heard of? Is it something i need to worry about?

 

[bottlebomber]

It's burnt malt extract. You should kill your heat when you add it, and stir it in. I know it sounds weird, but when I brewed extract I would boil water and add the hops as per the recipe, and then I'd kill the flame and add the extract, stir it in well, and then chill and carry on as normal.

 

[DoctorZero]

Thank you for the uber fast reply. Yes that is contrary to the recipe. It says to add the syrup first. i aasumed it is necessary to boil the syrup for 45 min to ... I dont know make it go through some chemical change or something. I think lowering the temp will reduce the frying of the sugar... But im still afraid to deviate from the instructuons :/ but at least i know its not something too bad. I've just been collecting it in a spaghetti bowl and that works pretty good.

 

[DoctorZero]

Oh i dont know but the instructions say to add the.malt at around 140 and then bribg it to a boil.

 

[RM-MN]

The extract syrup is quite a bit denser than the water you are pouring it into so it likes to go right to the bottom and if the heat is on it will scorch. I never killed the heat when I added but I had a big spoon and stirred like a madman to get it to mix and had no problems with that approach. If you aren't stirring when you add the syrup, make sure you stir very well. It would be best if you had a spoon that would reach the bottom of the pot so you can get it up off the bottom before you turn the heat back on.

 

[rklinck]

Oh i dont know but the instructions say to add the.malt at around 140 and then bribg it to a boil.

Don't feel wedded to the instructions that come with the kits. Most people here will tell you that one of the first things you should do is throw away the instructions they send with you. That's a bit dramatic, but you can certainly add the syrup later in the boil (and remove the pot from the stove before adding it to avoid scorching).

 

[unionrdr]

What I do is add 1.5lbs of plain extract to the partial boil of 2.5-3 gallons. Dissolve well,off heat if necessary. Bring to a boil,do hopp additions. Remove from heat & quickly stir in remaining extract. Cover & steep a few minutes. Since the wort is still boiling hot,& pasteurization happens at 162F,it'll be safe. Then chill it down to pitch temp.

 

[sabo38]

So you guys aren't doing a 60 minute boil? Or whatever the instructions call for. I could see that working on some recipes, but if the recipe has a hop schedule for 60, 45 and 15 minute additions you would almost have to do a full 60 minute boil?

 

[rklinck]

So you guys aren't doing a 60 minute boil? Or whatever the instructions call for. I could see that working on some recipes, but if the recipe has a hop schedule for 60, 45 and 15 minute additions you would almost have to do a full 60 minute boil?

No, you still do the full length boil. You just don't add the LME at the beginning of the boil. I think uniondr can speak about this better because I have not used LME since my first few batches. Do a search for "late addition" of LME. LME has a tendency to darken significantly during the boil and some people think boiling it for the full time period leads to a "twang." The solution is to add the LME later.

 

[helibrewer]

I think you want to keep it at around 1 lb of extract per gallon of kettle water, add the remaining extract at flameout.

So for a 3 gallon boil using 6 lbs of extract, only use 3 lbs during the boil phase, then after the boil is complete, kill the heat and add the remainder of the extract. This reduces the darkening Maillard reactions.

 

[sabo38]

So at 60 minutes I would add my DME and 3 of my 6lbs of LME, do any hop additions as per instructions. At the end of 60 minute boil kill the heat, add remaining LME, cool, add to carboy or bucket, pitch yeast and wait. So the beer should be a little lighter and have a cleaner taste? Or it will only have an effect on color? I may try this on my next batch.

 

[unionrdr]

I can do 60 minute boils for bittering additions with 1.5lbs of extract in 2.5-3 gallons & get good hop untilization. You don't want the wort to be too heavy in a partial boil. So the remaing DME & all the LME goes in at flame out since it's still more than hot enough to pasteurize. It also cuts mailard reactions way down, It gives lighter color & better flavor,more like the kit/recipe intended.

 

[mdgagne]

So at 60 minutes I would add my DME and 3 of my 6lbs of LME, do any hop additions as per instructions. At the end of 60 minute boil kill the heat, add remaining LME, cool, add to carboy or bucket, pitch yeast and wait. So the beer should be a little lighter and have a cleaner taste? Or it will only have an effect on color? I may try this on my next batch.

Your beer will be closer to the intended color (lighter) than if you do a full 60 minute boil with all your LME. With extract brewing you're mostly just boiling for the hop bitterness, flavor, and aroma.

 

[bottlebomber]

Your beer will be closer to the intended color (lighter) than if you do a full 60 minute boil with all your LME. With extract brewing you're mostly just boiling for the hop bitterness, flavor, and aroma.

How will boiling the extract longer, which produces caramelization, make the finished beer lighter I wonder?

 

[JimRausch]

Another advantage in adding at least 1/2 of your extract at the end of your 60 minute boil, is that hop utilization is supposed to be better at lower gravities. The recipe program I use(Hopville.com) has a slot for 'late boil additions' which when used will increase the IBUs by at least a couple of points.

 

[Nightstalker]

How will boiling the extract longer, which produces caramelization, make the finished beer lighter I wonder?

Read his statement again. He is saying it will be lighter THAN boiling the extract for 60 min

Another advantage in adding at least 1/2 of your extract at the end of your 60 minute boil, is that hop utilization is supposed to be better at lower gravities. The recipe program I use(Hopville.com) has a slot for 'late boil additions' which when used will increase the IBUs by at least a couple of points.

Are you saying it has a slot for late additions of malt???
Most programs I have seen are for late additions of hops which will of course raise the IBU's some regardless of when the malt is added. I dont see how a late addition of malt would effect IBUs.

 

[unionrdr]

A lighter wort gives better utilization of the hop oils. And using about 1/3 of the total amount of extract in the boil allows for less mailard reactions. Less caramelization in other words. Lighter color,no extract twang. That's why I add the other 2/3 of the extract at flame out while it's still boiling hot.

 

[DoctorZero]

Thanks everyone for the advice. I really didn't know if it is ok to deviate from the instructions. It's really a pain to remove the burnt syrup so I'll be doing as you all suggested from now on.