One-Cheeked
Member
I was just thinking about a scotch ale/wee-heavy I just brewed. Part of the procedure I came up with (after a good discussion with the LHBS dudes) was to pull a bit (~3-4 qts) of the first runnings about halfway through a 60 min mash and throw it into a kettle to start boiling very vigorously during the rest of sparging and mashing (~60 minutes). I wound up boiling off about half the volume, and the color looked nice and dark once I had the main batch sparged off and all the rest of the wort ready to go in the boil pot. [I wound up with about 4 gal. boil volume for a ~3 gal. batch.]
My question to you guys is, is that enough caramelization to make a difference in the flavor, and to get that nice malty, sweet overtone in the final beer? Or should you really try to boil it even longer, to the point where it's much more syrupy and sludgy and reduced by more than 50%?
Thanks for your input
Hoppy Hallidays! or... umm... yeah, you know... other way around....
My question to you guys is, is that enough caramelization to make a difference in the flavor, and to get that nice malty, sweet overtone in the final beer? Or should you really try to boil it even longer, to the point where it's much more syrupy and sludgy and reduced by more than 50%?
Thanks for your input
Hoppy Hallidays! or... umm... yeah, you know... other way around....
