Burned my wort???

[crob24]

Well I brewed my second beer today, an American Cream Ale. With about 10-15 minutes left I noticed the wort was getting very thick. I backed the heat off, but I fear it may have been too little too late. At the end of my boil I had a very syrupy substance with a decent amount stuck to the bottom. I poured what I could into my fermenter and finished off the rest with clean cool water. It seemed to come together at the end and the smell was nice.

What else could I have done?

What can I do to avoid this in the future?

Did I save my beer?

Also, I like bigger bodied beers and I have heard of using dme as a priming sugar. Has anyone done this and if so which and how much do you suggest using?

Cheers

Chris

 

[Yooper]

I can't really answer your questions about your wort- without a few of my own. How much water were you boiling? Did you use LME or DME? Did you remove from the heat when adding your extract? Don't worry, though- your beer is likely fine.

In order to stop it from happening again, make sure your boil is big enough to added the amount of extract you add. I mean, don't do 1.5 gallon boils and try to add 9 pounds of extract, for example. Also, remove the pot from the heat and add your extract, stirring very well until dissolved. Then put it back on the heat to boil. Stir occasionally, especially if it gets thick.

I don't notice any difference at all priming with DME vs. priming sugar. You can do that, of course, but you won't notice more body because of it. If you want bigger bodied beers, you have to do that in your recipe by incorporating more non-fermentables. Carapils is one, munich malt is another. Priming really has no effect on the body, since you're adding fermentables to provide carbonation.

Lorena

 

[homebrewer_99]

You need to make sure your malt is dissolved before putting it on the flame.

One way to do this is to warm up a pot of water where the little bubbles cling to the sides and bottom. Remove from the heat and add your malt, stir to dissolve. Once all is dissolved then it's time to start the flame again.

What you did, pouring it off without disturbing the goo was the best thing. Now that's not mixed into your brew.

Substituting DME for piming sugar is simple...3/4 C corn sugar to about 1.25 C DME.

 

[crob24]

Thanks a lot for the feedback. It is good to know that my efforts aren't for not. Dissolving the extract off the flame sounds like the ticket.

 

[Jette]

I've got an extract batch going - my first in 10 years since going back to school. The partial boil did scorch a little. After stirring carefully there were some black flakes floating on top. I heated carefully after that. I may have let the LME sit too close to the bottom initially. I'm wondering - if I'm sure to get it dissolved well, can I then use high heat? I have natural gas. How hot do you heat your full boils with those propane monsters? Can it burn after dissolved well?

 

[WrongCoastBrewery]

I've got an extract batch going - my first in 10 years since going back to school. The partial boil did scorch a little. After stirring carefully there were some black flakes floating on top. I heated carefully after that. I may have let the LME sit too close to the bottom initially. I'm wondering - if I'm sure to get it dissolved well, can I then use high heat? I have natural gas. How hot do you heat your full boils with those propane monsters? Can it burn after dissolved well?

I use a high powered burner (SP 10) and I do full boils with my extract batches. Never had an issue with scorching. What I do is heat the water to boiling, then turn the burner off. I then stir the wort up good and slowly pour the extract in. I keep vigorously stirring and using my SS spoon to see if I have clumping on the bottom before going back to boiling. If your extracts are fully dissolves, then you can use propane or natural gas no problem.

 

[Jette]

Three days and the wort looks like it is settling down now. The foam is subsiding and the bubbles are 1 every several seconds instead of every second. Tomorrow I think I'll rack it off into a secondary. Should i keep this at 70 degrees as well? Or cold ferment in my 50 degree heated garage. How long do you recommend i keep in the secondary?

 

[WrongCoastBrewery]

Three days and the wort looks like it is settling down now. The foam is subsiding and the bubbles are 1 every several seconds instead of every second. Tomorrow I think I'll rack it off into a secondary. Should i keep this at 70 degrees as well? Or cold ferment in my 50 degree heated garage. How long do you recommend i keep in the secondary?

What does your hydrometer say? I dont mean to stir up another fermentation debate, but I wouldnt judge complete fermentation by airlock and the krausen.

 

[mrk305]

When you use DME to prime with, remember it boils over just like a beer. I used to boil my bottling sugar in the microwave. You can still do it, but you really have to watch it.