Scorched mash and boil prevention

[iamninjabob]

I've gotten really good at cleaning off the scorched bottom in my mash and boil from my last two batches. One had a pound of DME at the end of the boil to get the starting gravity I wanted, and the other had lactose. I stirred the wort while I was pouring it in, and I didn't dump it in all at once, so I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong exactly. Any tips on how to keep from having to clean up scorched gunk at the end of the brew day?

 

[Zymurologist]

Not sure about your style of input, but depending on the manner in which you stir, it could create a gentle/aggressive whirlpool, at that point your ingredients are pooling in the center of the pot before they are fully integrated into the wort. ?

 

[GBRbrew]

I had this problem with mine what I was doing wrong was I would keep manually adjusting the temp with the controller during the mash instead of letting the controller do it. I believe this kept turning on both elements and this would scorch the wort. Once I stopped doing this the controller only turns on the smaller element to control the temp and my scorching stopped.

 

[Alex4mula]

I get some on every brew. Never noticed a flavor from it. Unless it is excessive I wouldn’t worry too much about it.

 

[iamninjabob]

Thanks for all the feedback guys! I tried mixing in the 11oz of sugar today by dissolving it in a heat proof container with some of the wort then pouring it in 10/10 will be doing again

 

[Dancy]

Not sure about your style of input, but depending on the manner in which you stir, it could create a gentle/aggressive whirlpool, at that point your ingredients are pooling in the center of the pot before they are fully integrated into the wort. ?

That makes sense to me. For my first two batches on my new M&B, I added a pound of DME semi-slowly as I stirred—and created a whirlpool. I was rigorously scrubbing blackened DME off the center bottom of the kettle. I’ve improved my efficiency so hopefully I won’t be adding DME again.

 

[Dancy]

I’m still getting scorching with my Mash & Boil — just happened last night with a AG Belgian Tripel with hard candi sugar added at the end I stirred the hell out of it to keep it moving and to dissolve it as quickly as possible. Frankly, I’m sick of throwing my back into cleaning black crap off the bottom. I have a bad back (with hardware) and a bad cervical disk. The Series 2 supposedly has an improved ”low density” heating element. I am considering possibly going to a different AIO.

 

[Miraculix]

Why any heat when dissolving extract? It doesn't need to be boiled. Just dissolve it in the whirlpool/hop stand.

... And if it doesn't dissolve fully, no problem either. It will dissolve in the fermenter with time.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

... with a AG Belgian Tripel with hard candi sugar added at the end ...

Could you dissolve the sugar in a side pot (use hot wort from the kettle) then pour the slurry back into the kettle?

 

[HM-2]

Why any heat when dissolving extract? It doesn't need to be boiled. Just dissolve it in the whirlpool/hop stand.

This, though IME hard candi sugar does take a while to dissolve. I tend to put it in my hop spider in the last 5 minutes of the boil.

 

[Miraculix]

This, though IME hard candi sugar does take a while to dissolve. I tend to put it in my hop spider in the last 5 minutes of the boil.

I just edited my post while you were answering. There's no need to fully dissolve it actually.

 

[Dancy]

Why any heat when dissolving extract? It doesn't need to be boiled. Just dissolve it in the whirlpool/hop stand.

... And if it doesn't dissolve fully, no problem either. It will dissolve in the fermenter with time.

My efficiency is nailed down with AIO now so I am not using any extract with my all grain brews. Yesterday, I used that rocky Belgian candi sugar with 15 minutes to go (per the recipe). Perhaps it is some grain dust burning on the bottom although I use a BIAB in the malt pipe.

 

[Dancy]

I just edited my post while you were answering. There's no need to fully dissolve it actually.

That sounds like a nice use of a hop spider I don’t use that much - great idea!